We had an appalling experience bringing our cat here for cremation. I can't comprehend how this man is still in business, or what it would be like to deal with him for a family member's funeral. Details below.
When our cat died recently, we made an appointment to bring her in for cremation. Chris rearranged our appointment several times, and we ended up waiting in the cold outside his office at 11:00 at night for him to get back "from a viewing." He arrived dressed more casually than I've ever seen a funeral professional at a visitation.
The meeting was a routine as such an experience can be, and Chris told us the cremation would be complete by Saturday (3 days away), and that he would call us when the ashes were ready for pickup - probably by 6:00.
When we hadn't heard anything by Sunday evening, I left a voicemail, asking for a call back for an update.
We still hadn't heard anything by noon Monday, so my girlfriend wrote a detailed email describing our frustration and asking him to arrange for delivery of her ashes.
Monday evening we received an email saying we could make an appointment to pick up for Tuesday evening. We both had prior commitments that night, so my girlfriend requested that he drop off either at her work (near his office) or at our home. No response.
Tuesday afternoon I called to set up an appointment for that evening as we had been instructed. I identified myself, and Chris told me we couldn't pick up that evening, but I should come the next evening. He said another "viewing" came up, but wouldn't even commit to an appointment the next evening - he said it was impossible for him to know his schedule more than 5 minutes in advance. He then began cutting me off when I tried to ask how he proposed we pick up our pets ashes, and said (repeatedly and in no particular order) "You don't understand how this business works; You should have gone somewhere else; I have contracts with the Evanston Police; I'm not going to take this attitude; We're in the businiess of helping people in their time of need."
I pointed out that he wasn't helping us in our time of need. He again told me I should have done my research and gone somewhere else.
We were finally able to pick up our pet's ashes - not from him, but from the flower shop next door. He provided no receipt of any kind, record from the crematorium, or certification that we were receiving our pet's ashes. The florist described him as "a little off."
He uses an AOL email for his business communication, his website works sporadically, and he seems to have bought the business from someone else - he started in the pet cremation business a few years back at another location.
This is a guy who needs to find another line of work. read more