I have had 3 deaths that I had to make arrangements for. My brother died in 1998 (Colliers had just been built and he expressed the desire, that should he die he'd want to go from Collier's because of their ostentatious "Mortuary Look" which he found to his taste. (Not my taste, I'm more the Ambruster-Donnelly type.)
My 98-year-old mother died in May of 2006, my only child was killed 3 months later - a manslaughter case where my son was a cyclist and the meth fueled perp ramed into my son head-on going 80 mph.
My brother (56 years old, overweight, degenerative joint disorder, poor overall health died while our mother was being cared for by me at my home.) He was found dead by a neighbor the day before my mother was to be x-rayed to see if she could bear weight. The cops called. He probably died on a Saturday night but the Death Certificate date was Sunday. He was taken to the morgue and refrigerated. We went to Colliers on Wednesday. When I first went to Colliers they acted like they were selling me a used car. They were so uncaring and business-like that they even told me they were not certain they could "embalm the remains" since it was not refrigerated immediately and proceded to tell me the grotesque and bizzare problems that embalmers have about the blood coagulating and, I won't go on because it's too gorry, or refrigerated too long or something like that. My 90-year old mother wanted to view her dead son's body so my friend and I took her to the morgue--I had already been there to scope out what she was about to see-- and they allowed her to view him behind the glass windows with the curtains. To tell you the truth, he looked a heck of a lot better than after Colliers got ahold of him. He had plastic under his sweater that was showing which I suppose is there to prevent "leakage." I had no such problems with Hoffmeister Brothers (my mother) or Spanglers Mortuary in California (my son.)
Do not use Colliers. Maybe the jerks have been fired but I do not know if these two jerks were in the family or not. If not, someone should have been watching how the berieved were being treated. The people I spoke with were complete jerks and the worst one by far was about 28 years old and had probably just graduated from Junior College School of Embalming Arts.. I reminded him to be a bit more tactful in the future because he is dealing with the berieved.
Colliers was my first experience dealing with the death and dying business. They were rude, telling me I was 1/2 hour late for an appointment -- mind you, I was trying to get my brother's Navy discharge papers from Page avenue so he could be buried at Jefferson Barracks because he had no life insurance, with a 98-year-old Mother who could not bear weight on her hip. I had to go buy something for him to be buried in. I was stressed out to the max and all they could do was chastise my 30 minute tardiness AND to add insult to injury the Funeral Director told me they could fit my brother into a regular coffin only if there was not to be a viewing, but if he was to be viewed they required a "double wide" like I was buying a trailer! It turned out not to be "double wide" but just wider, so why use the term? Non-caring is the only answer I can come up with.
I put that funeral together from stem to stern. They did nothing but embalm him and make his hair look so plastic I had to mess it up a bit to make him look like himself. And didn't bother to make sure nobody would see the plastic wrap under his sweater. They just didn't give a F. And it wasn't cheap although the "Double Wide" cost more! There was no chaplain to pay, no limo, no flowers, and the flag was $5.95 polyester, no nothing and it still, in 1998 came to $6K.
If I could give NO STAR I would. If I could give MINUS STARS I would.
I just wanted to get this off my chest. Thanks for listening.
Bereived x 3.
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