I typically do not place reviews on Yelp and my experience with the site has been limited to viewing feedback on restaurants. However, my experience and that of my family with this establishment warrants comment here as well as forthcoming letters to the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, Better Business Bureau, the State Department of Health and the National Association of Funeral Home Directors. We recently lost our youngest brother after a ten month battle with multiple medical issues. As you can imagine, that period of time along with the transition to comfort care in his final days took a extraordinary emotional toll on us. My sister in-law who is from the St. Stephen area of South Carolina, on the recommendation of her Pastor, selected Henryhand to provide final arrangements. The day following our brothers passing a meeting was scheduled with the funeral home Director for 5pm at my sister in-laws home. WC Henryhand showed up over 3 hours late, with no apology, no expression of condolence and no paperwork that would outline contractual services associated with the direct cremation services we requested. What appeared of greatest interest and importance to them was hard selling a memorial service, prayer cards and programs along with the desire for my grieving family to provide them a meal. The only tangible outcome of this encounter was the declaration that due to how busy they are, it would take seven (7) full days to execute a direct cremation request. The shock of the long time line (with no explanation why) and the rude and indifferent behavior further added to the stress and despair of my brother's wife and daughters. It was reported that Mr.. Henryhand's final comment that evening was, I don't expect you to understand these things... it's business. I contacted WC Henryhand the next morning, his approach and attitude was much different with me, he started with an offer of sympathy and condolence and appeared to demonstrate an understanding from the firmness and directness of our discussion that our expectation would be nothing less than a thoughtful and respectful approach to handling my brothers affairs. I was provided a promise and commitment of concluding all necessary document exchanges with the hospital for execution of a death certificate, as well as, completed cremation services by midweek.
None of these commitments were achieved, the hospital, expected a death certificate for signature on Monday, they did not receive it and actually sent their office manager to retrieve it that evening. When the hospital reviewed the document it was submitted with errors and needed to be resubmitted, thus losing another day in the process. When I called to question Henryhand about the delay (four full days to complete a death certificate), I reached the daughter (Ivori) who could not answer any questions about process because her job was limited to working on our request for out of state obituary placement, she indicated she would have her father contact me. I did not receive a return call from Mr. Henryhand, as promised, instead I received a call from the wife, Linda. She began our exchange by barking at me "who do you think you are" , then proceeded to scold me for questioning how they conduct their business, she further growled that she did not appreciated the fact that I checked on their unmet promises with the hospital personnel and how could I believed the hospitals version of how this business engagement has transpired. What really blew my mind on top of her incredible rudeness, hostility and inappropriate dialogue was the total absence of any sensitivity for what we were experiencing due to their lack of openness and poor communication. I was further confused by her assertion that I was rude to her daughter... I have been nothing but professional in my approach to dealing with this group and I'm outraged by the attempt to shift blame to our family, in nothing short of a disgraceful attempt to simply hide or diminish their own failures and broken promises... it is astonishingly distasteful and sad. I wish I could share with you that this ended well, however their tactics of bullying and harassment continued with my sister in-law by demanding payment before services were complete, insisting payment be made by credit card and having by brothers remains delivered directly to his wife from the crematorium in a standard box separate from the Urn we purchased from them. When questioned about this business practice they suggested that she remove the remains and shake them into the Urn.
It is impossible for me to offer anything positive about our experience with Henryhand Funeral Home and the "family" that runs this operation, other than to express our relief that our business has concluded.. for an establishment in an industry where care, compassion and communication is paramount, they have failed spectacularly.
The one thing they did do timely was email their invoice. read more
