If you are okay with following up, providing reminders, adapting our plans based on restrictions, personnel issues, or operational inadequacies, then by all means, do not read on, and consider the Gate of Heaven cemetery. If you, however, wish to have a more seamless experience with a company that is organized enough to not make it your problem, then DO NOT consider Gate of Heaven cemetery. I have had a very bad experience working with Gate of Heaven Cemetery. During a time that is already stressful intertwined with so many other emotions, the staff has only added to our sense of helplessness and stress. I would strongly recommend looking into operational changes to allow for better organization and efficiency from the customer's perspective. I have many many family members buried and entombed at the Gate of Heaven. We had plots pre-paid, and it has still been stressful. The staff, though polite and professional in their words, are unable to really be organized and efficient. Payments were not charged, things held up, probably sitting in a folder somewhere. While they will coordinate with your funeral home just fine, I think it best that they do not have any interaction with their customers. Leave that to the professionals at the funeral homes who are able to provide their customers the understanding and support that is needed at these difficult times. read more

I have a lot of family members in gate of heaven they are very professional and helpful with everything that needs to be taken care of

A place I really dont want to review, but I feel if I share my experience I can help people not go through what my family went through. I have a family and friends buried here too. However, I never thought the day would come where I have to come in and help my family plan a funeral. The people here dont give a f. Its all business. All about dollar signs. No compassion whatsoever. You think for a loved ones homecoming they would show an ounce of compassion. Gloria rude as can be. I mostly did translating to my older family. And these spineless souls were so impatient and basically wanted to rush through the entire appointment. I had to check Ms Thang because aint no gonna be catching no attitudes or using firm tones, especially to my Papa. Sadly, since I wasnt POA, my family picked this place for our loved ones homecoming. I would have picked Rock Creek or Ft Lincoln. The Grounds: unkept. They definitely do not keep up with the landscaping. Some of the curbs need to be repaved as its falling apart. There should more signs to get your loved ones plot. A lot of pet waste or animal waste all over. Lastly, they are very expensive for what you get. No matter what your budget is. This is not worth it. Just tour the facility or drive around and youll see what I mean. Their age definitely shows here. Do your research before picking this place. read more

Be very careful before choosing a final resting place for your loved ones. If he/she was in the armed services and is entitled to a Medallion to commemorate their service, and are entombed in a Mausoleum here, this cemetery will not allow it. They forget that we are free because of the brave. Even when they sign the Veterans Administration documents to allow the Medallion for your loved one, they will return it to you and say they made a mistake. They do not honor their signed documents either. My Father was a Naval officer, and he would be appalled at the lack of patriotism, as I am. Catherine Kessler Mills read more

My grandfather is buried here. We have a section in the cemetery that is reserved for all the members of my church. The cemetery wouldn't let us change our grandfathers flat tombstone to a raised one. They stated that once we reserved a space the type of tombstone was already assigned to each spot. We were not informed of this information and they were not very accommodating. The cemetery itself is pretty well kept but there are always huge amounts of goose waste all around the cemetery which makes it seem quite dirty. read more

Today is Christmas Eve and I arrived at Gate of Heaven to clean off my Mom and Dad's graves as I've done for 18 years. We had alot of snow and I was having a hard time finding them. Out of nowhere a voice says " no worries help is here". A gentleman that works there was so kind. He called the office and got the plot numbers, he had a shovel and after a few minutes he found my parents graves! This random act of kindness was truly the greatest Christmas gift I could have possible received. Thank you so much! Sincerely Christins M. read more

Gate of Heaven Cemetery - Funeral Services & Cemeteries Near Me - Silver Spring, Maryland

Potentially beautiful space. But the older sections are not as well maintained today in 2019 as they were in the 1980s when I sadly bought a family plot - that is not home to the sacred shells of my children. It is hard to go and see that the garden in their area is overgrown and pretty much gone, and that the graves are not neatly tended to. read more

Gate of Heaven Cemetery - Funeral Services & Cemeteries Near Me - Silver Spring, Maryland

Incompetent management. I know when service is awful it is a top-down issue. Where to start? Disorganized: The disorganization is unforgivable. Make sure to not leave without your ALL of your ITEMIZED receipts and copy of what will be engraved...basically make sure you have EVERYTHING and do not believe them if they say they will mail it to you. They mailed me one pink receipt that had no information on it and when I went to check with them, they have "no records" and could not explain why. How antiquated is your system or is it just incompetence, or a combo of both. Uncaring: Their tone (minus one of the front staff) just looked so annoyed and bothered to speak to all their customers. We are grieving families, if you have no empathy or the job is just redundant and you are burned out, move on in your career. Do not make any of us have to pay for your unhappiness. Liars/excuse makers: COVID has caused delays on engraving, so be prepared to wait 6-8 months. If you paid for a vase make sure, once again, you have all your receipts, because if you don't they will swear you never ordered or paid for a vase...$800 they will want to charge you again because the customer is the problem, not then or their lack of a good organizational system. In reality, THEY JUST DON'T CARE. Read the other reviews, it goes to show they really don't care because until today they have made no changes. Carmen, truly, do you love no one in life? Where is your compassion. I heard you speaking to a Latino family repeating over and over again, almost yelling, that this is the way "we do things here." The only way you sleep through the night is if you just have no conscience. Carmen is the issue because this place is a mirror image of her incompetence. JUST DISAPPOINTING and horrible. read more

We made about 7 or 8 monthly payments and at the end we made the last large sum payment. When I contacted the office of GOH by phone after sending the last payment by check and noticed that the bank has cleared the check, I talked to Ana Maria and asked her about how do I get the Deed for the 4 parcels we bought? Now this is around April 15 2018, Ana Maria told me that the Deed will take 9 months to process which I immediately reply ''9 month''?, why does it take that long ? ( we were never inform from the beginning when we first purchase these that will it take that long ) Ana María response was that usually that is how long it takes. Considering the circumstances and not having any other choice we waited patiently for 9 month. I started to call occasionally to the GOH office around mid-January which at this point it has been exactly 9 months, every time I called either I was transferred or answered by the same Ana María. I supposed no one else worked here. Well she never called me or email me. I waited 2 days for her call and nothing, so I decided to call back and once again Ana Maria on the phone ( at this point I'm asking myself, is there anyone else that works here? ) so I Introduce myself and after explaining my situation again to Ana Maria, guess what she responded to me?,......yes! I can't see your information. At this point I am extremely concerned because I don't know what is going on? Ana Maria is not seeing nor letting me know what is going on with my information and I started to think if this is the way they treat the live people I can't even imagine how will they treat the dead ones! I mean come on now, have same respect for people after all if you are only going to manage this place as a '' for profit'' business at least have the decency to value the customers and respect by training your employees!!!! After she once again told me she will contact me I, once again waited and waited and waited. At this point we are at February 6, I called again thinking this matter shall be resolved, let me also mention that when we made the last full payment I contacted the Accounting department and ask them to send me a copy of a satisfied payment to have in my records! Well I'm glad I did because when I contacted Ana Maria on 2/8/19 still nothing is solve and she will call me! At this point I'm done, the following morning, I went to the office and after waiting for Ana Maria for almost 1 hour to see me she told me she can't see my information so Is asked her why is she not able to see my information I mean I usually like to respect people specially womens but I was so closed to ask her if is she stupid, mentally challenged or simply don't know how to do her job. I have to decode that what she meant is that her system shows as if I have still owe money and that is why she can't produce the Deed that I needed this is after she also tells me several times that she updated her system and she doesn't understand why I have a paper which I bring with me, showing that I paid in full , which is the copy the accounting department sent to me when I finalize my payments and requested this. Then she comments: ''you know you can you your parcel if you needed '' as of it doesn't matter if you have a paper or not, it still your! I thought this was so disrespectful and so wrong in so many levels!!!!! How can you talk to a person this way?????and here I am standing in front of her and asking myself why in the world this incompetent people still have a job in such a place that in normal circumstances people are devastated for the lost of their loved ones and have to also deal with the stupidity and ignorance of this low life people? My family and I spend $10,000 + here and this is the kind of service I have to deal with? I also mentioned to Ana Maria that I know people from ADW and the Catholic Cemetery Controller and her response was that I am welcome to talk to anyone I want! She not only not took me seriously from the beginning but also never had have the initiative to check with the accounting department about my situation nor have any respect for me as a costumer!!! Oh and she also told me she will not be on the office the following Monday 2/11 and 2/12 so I asked if their is anyone else that can help me while she is out and she said not. So I basically have not choice but to wait for another week for her to come back and maybe she remembers to contact the accounting department and clarify with them If I pay or not. I will contact ADW, Catholic Cemetery Controller, Catholic Standard and El Pregonero. read more

It's sad to have to review a cemetery, where there should be so much compassion and respect. Some of the people here are so rude (Gloria&Fernando) whom used aggressive and condescending tones. I expressed my concerns on a few occasions and frustrations and to my surprise the employee said "this is something we hear often". For a cemetery that's not good news people! Had my family and I known this was the experience we were going to have we definitely would have chose a different cemetery. This place is a factory just floured over MONEY! Insensitivity is sadly something I notice happens here often! Just read the reviews and you'll see for yourself. read more

My dad passed away almost a year ago and I still haven't been able to have his name engraved on the stone. I have gone through four people before I finally got a response. Unfortunately it will take 16 weeks so his name will not be in the drive for his first anniversary. Very bad business! read more

My mom died Feb 4th. Gate Of Heaven demanded 550.00 to add her name to the stone which was put out when my dad died. They said it would be 12 weeks before it's gone. The grave is tore up and looks like a big fat mess! Today they said it will now be 16weeks before my mom's name is put on her stone. Come on give me a break! 16 weeks to put her name on a tiny piece of metal? They threw away all our decorations when we specifically asked them NOT to touch them. I'm upset with them. They buried my dad reg depth when my family says we paid for double depth in 1979. Watch out people. Buyer Beware.its not right. They will never admit they made a mistake don't look for them to. This is very upsetting especially when it is your mother who deserves better than this! read more

this is a really nice plot of land to house departed loves ones. my grandparents currently rest here, so i visit whenever i'm back in town. friends and family are allowed to stage their own ceremonies with incense, food, etc without a time limit, which is nice. there is also an on-site chapel which is open to all, although from my experience, it can get very packed inside, so definitely go early if you want a seat! else you will need to stand for the duration of the service. parking is free on-site, but unless you know exactly where you are going, it can be a little confusing since there isn't much signage, or staff, to help with directions. fortunately, this cemetery isn't that big, so it isn't too difficult to get to where you need to go. my only gripe is that it took a really long time (maybe close to a year?) to finish the headstone that bears my grandparents' names. we had hoped that this would be completed by the time we moved them here from overseas, but that didn't happen. despite the delay, my family was very happy with the finished product and it makes me happy to see their headstone each time i visit here. read more

My experience with Gate of Heaven Cemetery has been horrible. They have only added to our sorrow during this whole process. My sister passed away on August of 2020. We made the payments for her marker/plaque back in January 2021. That has been our biggest mistake. If we only new how long they would have taken, we would have payed at the time of burial. We have not been able to get her marker. It seems as if they are very disorganized and unprofessional. If I don't call or email them they don't get things going and they can't really explain the delay. No one takes accountability for their actions. They make it seem as it is only a business and not a mission. Sadly, it seems like my sister won't have her marker by her 1 year anniversary this August 2021 and because of this we are truly heart broken. read more

As far as places to bury your loved ones Gate of Heaven is peaceful and very expansive. I didn't have a lot of time to really pick out a plot because my mother passed away suddenly. The people in the sales office were very kind and they understood what I was going thru. Im sure they deal with a lot working here. They didn't make me feel like I was being sold something or rushed to buy if that makes any sense. They moved at my pace and were just really comforting. I knew they were going to take care of me and my mother. In the worst moment of my life they were there to make it a little less stressful and for that they deserve more than 5 stars. read more

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My parents, aunt, and several friends are interred at Gate of Heaven, and I have always been pleased with the service. I called today to have soil removed from the area where the vase is stored through an opening in the marker. Danielle wrote up a work order right then and there, and explained how this would be done depending on what was found at the inspection. I was very impressed with the degree of care with which this issue would be resolved. Danielle was very helpful. read more

We had bought a plot for my parents years ago. But when my grandfather passed this past December, we opted to use it for his funeral. They didn't communicate to us on how certain plots of land can have tombstones. This something they really should have mentioned to us. We mourning the death of a loved one and you can't even let us commemorate him in a way he would've wanted to be commemorated. How are we supposed to know this a question we need to ask? We're not in this business, and we just assumed that every grave has a headstone. We even asked if we were to order from an outside vendor and not through the cemetery, they said no we are still not allowed to place a headstone on the plot of land we supposedly own. It makes me feel like they just want our money and they want it now. Also, might I add, the plot they ended up giving us was in a hilly area that is right next to the forest. And to make matters worse, there are deer and geese running rampant all over the place - eating any flowers we leave for our loved ones and then shitting on top of the graves. Not to mention, it takes 5-6 months for a bronzed plate to get placed which is utterly ridiculous. I don't understand why it takes so long when it's not even a full headstone. It's been a tormenting year and now we can't even have my grandfather's bronzed plate before his one year death anniversary, which is two days before Christmas. read more

UPDATE- I was in town for the Christmas/New Years Holiday. I went to visit some relatives and still to my surprise NOTHING HAS CHANGED. I walked into the office- wow, new people. Does this place have a high turnover? I ask to speak to the GM who in my previous review was loud and rude; she wasn't available. Well, that being said I wrote a letter to the Archdiocese and to their ethics hotline. This place has no order and the customer service has gone down the drain. I was given the name of both the CEO and the Director of OPS. I ask to speak to them- was told NO. It seems that this place of business has lost touch of their own mission statement, and their vision of what their faith ought to be. This place is a "non-profit" as they say but they treat it as "For profit". It seems the customer complaints are swept under the rug, maintenance request go untouched for days and even months regardless of weather. Their GM lacks the skills that a true leader in position warrants. I'm not sure how she was promoted other than what I was told in confidence (see previous review). When calling the AODC and their Pastoral Center, the compliant gets re-routed back to CCAW and nothing happens as evident from what I have seen. There is no true transparency and/or accountability. I wonder if I was well-educated with a college degree, speak fluently, have poor customer service skills, bury the wrong person in the grave, lack no sense of common decency and/or no accountability- could I be their CEO? Or even carry an office on the work and after hours relationship with my fellow co-worker warrants a promotion? Granted, that is the word on the street- from fellow funeral homes, KOC, and associates that have stated this to me on one or more occasions. There are more burials than rest days. I have asked GOH to at least address the curb appeal and their grounds. NO. Burials take precedent. I understand as a owner of a said business but natural self repair is not going to work for you. GOH is under the myth of rather ran the risk of burying at a high rate for profit and let our concerns - monument/marker installs, repairs etc. go down by the wayside, which makes no profit at all. This place is a circus. No wonder the Catholic faith has been taking a hit in the news. I thank the heavens I own sites in Ohio. This is no catholic cemetery by my standards and by any other religious standards. At least the previous mgmt. were decent and gracious in addressing the issues. This new regime lacks kindness and accountability to the customer. read more

This place is pretty decent visually. I've know about it forever and if you've been in the area as long as 30 years or more you'd know about it too. The problem is that the people in the office aren't very friendly. Obviously this is a business where compassion and customer service should be overwhelming. The lady we dealt with (Glory or Gloria....black lady. I'm only giving a description bcuz there is another employee who has a similar name) isn't very welcoming. She wasn't compassionate at all. She came into the office we were waiting in to see her and greeted us in a very simple manner. Even tho she gave us her condolences, it was pretty robotic. She immediately started going over the pricing and options as if we were buying time share. I think if people come in there that they should have a more appealing personality and that they should offer you tea or coffee. At least ask the the customer how they are doing or something. Even after we signed the contract, we voiced our slight displeasure and gave our constructive criticism to Gloria who kind of just brushed it off. So bottom line is that I wouldn't recommend this place if you want to feel good about the $10,000 or plus dollars you're about to lay down to this company. read more

My father died suddenly in 2014. He is buried at gate of heaven. I remember my first visit to the cemetery when his bronze marker was installed. I did not no how to raise the flower holder. A quick visit to the office and a women on staff showed from a show model exactly how to do this. She was very pleasant and understanding. Every time I visit the plot I find it has been well maintained. read more

Nice and quiet place, however, the geese are starting to become a huge nuisance. There is feces everywhere. Something needs to be done about them ASAP. They have been growing and growing in number since my mother was buried here. read more

The actual experience of the burial was pleasant. The staff was there and ready for us. The paperwork in advance was a bad experience. Even though my father died 6 business days before the burial, we were sent the documents less than one business day before they were expected to be returned. Two separate people sent me the documents, clearly unaware that the other had done so. We were sent 6 documents to sign - 3 of which had nothing to do with our situation. There were inconsistencies between what the document said and what the email said. There was no breakdown of the hefty cost involved. I sent an email asking several questions and they replied to one. So I emailed again with the remaining questions and they replied to one. They insisted that I just sign documents that had to with interment when my father's was an entombment and therefore didn't require lowering or any kind of ground conditions. I feel like for the amount we paid, they could create some form documents for entombment that actually apply to our situation. I finally called and spoke to a gentleman who was very helpful. So not all bad by any means, I just feel like the administrative side needs to write up some relevant forms and at least some members of the office staff need to be more attentive to detail. read more

Update - The cemetery added my family member's memorial plaque on an unknown date. No one bothered to call my family to let us know it was finally done. read more

Was happy with Gate of Heaven until we visited my daughter's grave last week on her 2nd death anniversary. We were family and out-of-towners. Unfortumately , to our shock, our daughter's grave was buried under a very huge mound of freshly dug dirt, for a coming funeral. (This could have been carted away or put temporarily into nearby woods). Our grief was great at this desecration. The office said "sorry" , and that they had an average of 6 funerals daily----couldn't cart it away. Such neglect and callousness! I couldn't help but believe that had she had a large gravestone instead of a brass marker, they would have not committed this error. Forget Gate of Heaven if you are thinking a selecting it. read more

My parents rest here and have been for many, many years. I happened to be in he area today and dropped by to see their spot. The cemetery was as beautiful as ever, with many workers landscaping and maintaining without being intrusive. I am so happy to say I did not see one goose, nor their feces; thank you Gate of Heaven for getting these aggressive birds out of our cemetery. A peaceful spot in a busy area, easy to reflect or remember. read more

Be for-warned about Gate of Heaven Cemetery. They think that they control the actual "gates of heaven." My mother-in-law was buried there about a year ago and they told us we had to go through them and their expensive sources for a headstone. They wouldn't let us order from someone else at a lower price and have it installed. My father, a WWII veteran, recently passed away and owns a crypt for himself and wife. You know that these bastards denied us burying him on the day of his funeral and three days afterward because they said that they were too busy and had too many burials to handle. This is a crypt. Al they have to do is open the door and put the casket in. I would never have myself buried in their so called "hallowed ground." read more