The Scenario: My mother passed away July 4, 2021. Me and my brother are the sole beneficiaries on her life insurance policy. I live in New York City. He resides in Milwaukee. After her death, we were BOTH obligated to ensure she was properly buried and that we BOTH authenticated, authorized, and approved both her funeral and burial services.
The Dilemma: Communication. Period. My brother being in Milwaukee selected the funeral home. No problem. After one attempt to communicate with me regarding the coordination and financials, my brother and the funeral home failed to consistently make attempts to keep me in the loop. They called once and as a working man, no human being really immediately answers any unrecognized phone call. No voicemail was ever left. I decided to return to call to gain more insight as to the established date and time for my mother's services and was provided the wrong date and time. I had to confirm the actual day and time with a third party after losing my mother, who absolutely adored me. When I reached out to the funeral home about this, I was met with little empathy, lack of professionalism, and condescending feedback. I suggested they make every attempt, consistently, to ensure all parties, especially the immediate family has the right information, input regarding the services [i.e. obituary], and financial directives. I was only sent an assignment form for my john hancock signature and was never reached out to for my rightful input. This is disgusting. Even though, I signed off on the paperwork and provided it, I would strongly advise anyone interested in the services offered by Serenity to shop around before making any brash decisions. While my brother provided leadership, he is there, but that does not mean he is a competent communicator or that we get along. Some people are simply incompetent regardless of family status. Thankfully, he made it through, but it could not have happened without my consent. This being said, the funeral home should have made sure that there was a means to communicate properly without hindering me in terms of the rightful process I am privilege to. As a higher educated black male, living in a city where business is serious, these types of games are not something I take lightly. I don't play games. I do not give a pass to any black business that does not have the goal to ensure peace and transparency through such difficult times. I advised the coordinator at Serenity, that I will hold them accountable for this complete lack of professional ethic, and I will. The burial grounds Graceland, did a great job of making several attempts to contact me and that went very smooth because she guided me and my brother through the process before sending me paperwork to sign off on, not other way around. Children and family live out of state all the time, that is no reason for any one of then to be lost in translation.
The Good: The funeral services were decent. My mother looked good and the services were standard. Nothing to brag about. Just happy mom got laid to rest. However, my lack of inclusion omitted pictures that only I posses which could have been provided and I was completely left off the obituary in terms of any participation. It's almost like Serenity took sides and then persisted me to sign the paperwork to pay them. It was tacky as hell.
I would not recommend this funeral home to anyone and again would advise anyone in the city of Milwaukee to shop around. You can find better and not the typical poor black business quality we have become so accustomed to. This is why I moved. People in my hometown are so quick to do the odd and not the right. They think we are all dumb and that so fucking far fetched. We deserve the very best when our loved ones have passed. Their homecoming should be smooth.
God bless those who read this and God bless the city. Go Bucks! read more
