I'd give less than a star if I could. This company was one of many listed and referred to me by VM…read moreHospice House in Tacoma, Washington. Since they were on the list, I assumed they were a reputable business. I did my due diligence in vetting all of the companies that they provided. This company, Cremation+plus appeared to be the best option. This would turn out to be one of the worst decisions I've ever made.
Initial contact was on September 12th.
The administrative staff emailed me the information and documents that needed to be completed for the cremation. At the time, I was my aunts DPOA, admin was made aware and had me attach the POA paperwork along with the completed contract document. The staff confirmed receipt and stated that we could then move forward.
Her adult children were not actively involved in her life. They both lived hundreds of miles away but were aware that she'd be cremated. Thus, they were noted in the contract, but did not partake in any decisions. The DPOA was still valid because she had not passed away yet.
On September 19th, my auntie passed away. I had the Hospice House staff contact Cremation Plus. This is where it all went wrong! On September 23rd, admin staff called and said they needed the DPOA. I stated that it was submitted on the 12th. She then says it must have been lost in a spam folder but somehow finds it while we're on the phone. We are then told that the DPOA was not worded correctly and would not be sufficient for retrieving a death certificate or moving forward with the cremation. If the employee had really reviewed the information on the 12th, and was knowledgeable in her job, then why didn't she contact us right away to let us know that there was an issue? It wasn't until five days after my aunt passed away that they say they can't move forward. They need her children's signatures.
Getting the paperwork completed on my cousins end was problematic. Her email and cell didn't work properly (she stated) so it was taking a bit. I was able to reach her daughter who then provided me with her own cell and email. I gave this information to the staff for them to follow up. In between these days, I had either called/emailed to check on status but received no replies. Then on September 30th, the same employee send an email to myself and to my cousin (the email addresses that she listed for my cousin are the addresses that were NOT working, she knew this) stating that at that point it had been 10 days since my aunt had been in their custody and beginning on October 1st, there would be a $50 a day charge for holding my aunts body. I immediately called the office and the employee stated the email was really directed towards my aunts daughter to be like a "scare tactic" to get the paperwork signed. I again, had to remind her that she used the wrong email addresses, had been made aware of the correct email address and that all this could've been taken care of on September 12th, if she'd done her job correctly. I told her there was no way we were going to pay $50 a day for a problem that she created. She then "thanked" me for giving her the correct information (which she already had) and said she'd make contact. Again, this was October 1st, it would be the last time that anybody from that office had contact with me. I left voicemails, emails, and messages with the answering service for follow up...just to see when we would be able to retrieve my aunts cremains...not a word until, Monday, October 14th, only after I left a frantic message on Sunday night to speak with the owner. I was informed that her estranged kid was driving 10 hours to come and pick up her cremains. They stated that they were told that we and the children had talked and agreed that he drive the 10 hours to get her (even though we're five minutes away from their office). In what world does that make any sense? This company has told lie after lie just to cover their a**. All they had to do was contact us to let us know what was going on. It would've saved a lot of his heartache and while I understand the legalities of her children taking precedence over a niece and a sister, my problem continues with this company for not contacting us. The person that I spoke with on the 14th, was a Funeral Director intern who used every excuse in the book for not contacting us. How long would they let that go? We just wanted my aunt remains. They could've told us from the beginning all of this was going on. It would've prevented a lot of heartache. I ended my phone call with the intern asking that the owner of the company contact me for further resolution. I have yet to hear from him and it is the 16th. i'm thinking that I'm never going to receive that call so overall it's a zero out of 10 for me. The price was satisfactory, but with all the problems this has caused I would have paid triple the price just to avoid it all. DO NOT USE CREMATION PLUS.