Superficial Professionalism and Lack of Compassion. It has been more than a month since the loss of my husband, and of course the pain is still strong. But almost as strong are the negative memories of how Strickland Funeral Services caused me even more sadness due to their lack of professionalism and compassion.
When we visited Strickland Funeral Services, Eric Strickland greeted us with a soothing and caring voice, showing us the well maintained exterior of the facility, the nicely decorated interior with an atmosphere of spirituality which is what we wanted, and the main parking lot with his series of family cars, limos and hearses.
Mr. Strickland said that his services were different, that he understood the needs of our grieving family, that we would have no worries because he would take care of everything, he would treat us like he would want his family to be treated and even told us about future services for his elderly father. If we chose him, we should call the next morning because it would be important to pick up and embalm my husband's body that same day to assure that he would keep the peaceful sleeping look that he had when he died. We had other options, but chose Mr. Strickland because of the compassion that he expressed when letting us know that he truly understood our needs and would provide us with the sensitive and memorable Celebration of Life that my family wanted for my husband.
We called Mr. Strickland the next morning to say that we wanted to use him for my husband's funeral services. Then the disappointments began. These are just the major issues:
* The embalming: It took two hours for Mr. Strickland to return my call and confirm that he would pick up my husband's body and embalm him that same day. But he didn't pick his body up until the next day. Then he called to say that the driver smelled gases coming from my husband's body and that an open casket may not be possible. I had to make a special trip to the funeral home to be sure that he was embalmed that day and could still have an open casket service.
* The viewing: The limo driver lined the family up randomly for the viewing entrance and seating and there were no reserved signs on the family seats. I had to rise out of my grief to ask for reserved signs and to ask different family members to switch seats.
* Lack of staff professionalism: My husband's best friends created and brought the funeral programs to the service but the staff took them from my friends and didn't give them to our guests the way that I had asked. I was told after the service that the staff was talking negatively about our family in front of our guests. Mr. Strickland was in the parking lot directing traffic instead of being in the reception area supervising his staff.
* Casket failure: When Mr. Strickland tried to close the casket in order to start the funeral service, the casket popped back open partially. He was not able to close it completely so the casket stayed slightly open during the entire funeral service.
* Terrible singing: The soloist who was recommended by and hired through Mr. Strickland sang the songs that we asked but could not hold a tune. Our guests could not believe that we had paid for him to sing. Mr. Strickland agreed to refund the fee for this service.
* DVD failure: We provided photos of my husband's life for a DVD slide show with music to be played during the viewing and as we filed out at the end of the funeral service. At 8:00 PM, the night before the service, I was called and told the website had 'glitched'. So while coordinating my family the morning of the funeral service, I had to remember to bring my own laptop and music. Because I had to take my laptop with me at the end of the service, it could not be played as we and the guests filed out.
* No compassion: We went to the crematory to carry out my husband's final wishes and Mr. Strickland was there but did not participate. He said that he only came because the crematory informed him of the law stating that he, the mortician, not his driver, had to be present for the crematory to accept my husband's body.
When his staff called me to pick up my husband's ashes, I scheduled an appointment to speak to Mr. Strickland about my concerns. He called back and said that he never meets with families after the services are over. When I insisted, he reluctantly agreed to 'work me in'. I told him that it seemed like he and his staff were not prepared, that they were 'winging it", maybe retraining and a checklist could improve their services so that no other families would have to experience the problems that we did. An appreciation for our using his services and an apology for the 'glitches' would have helped to wash away those negative memories. He declined to apologize, took no responsibility for anything that went wrong, gave excuses and said that he didn't believe what I said about his staff. His now obvious lack of concern, compassion and professionalism is what hurt the most... read more