Went through a very recent horrible experience with the funeral arranger we were assigned, at Sunset Hills Memorial, Apple Valley. My advice here, it's important to request for one who is most professional & experienced, don't let them assign you one, ask beforehand. Some at Sunset Memorial, not all funeral arrangers there, have NO business in this field. Ours made it real clear at the very beginning, (but too late to change) it was about the commission she was earning. There was no compassion, or humility in admitting/apologizing for multiple mistakes. Instead, when requesting a change of funeral arranger, she let me know that they "would NOT get the account"! She even blamed me, for her sending Transfer of Body document, to wrong e-mail address, rather than apologizing for not asking for correct spelling (albeit for a very common name Siri even knows how to spell). Her reply to that was, "THAT WAS NOT MY FAULT, THAT WAS YOUR FAULT FOR NOT SPELLING OUT..." !!! My heart fell, mourning a loved one, in this case, my beloved father, and being talked to like that from our funeral arranger. This was the person, that was going to handle our beloved's burial arrangements. Felt awful.
All her mistakes were a "no-brainer", should not have happened. She laid blame on others, when she could very well have done a quick review before sending documents & draft of memorial cards, ect. over to me, especially after multiple times of my fathers first name being wrong. Then, after I did part of what should have been her job, track down where to locate doctor for signature of Death Certificate, after she let a (agonizing as we wanted to put our loved one to rest) entire week go by, I begged her, to please e-mail so Death Certificate could be signed by doctor. Her reply was that she had other families. She went 8 business days past Calif. State law requirement of up to 8 days after death to get the doctor's signature. State of California HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE Section 102775102775
It was horrible & so very depressing to go through, especially under the circumstances. Her lack of skills, definitely delayed our loved one from being laid to rest, a good week longer. Then, there were discrepancies of when she said documents were signed, (Death certificate, & cremation), to when they actually were, later than when she implied.
Better Business Bureau complaint reveals bonus pay offered for more plots sold, complaint did not reveal name of manager at that time, instead used, "Mr. ********", but manager in answer to complaint, had no charity in privacy, but revealed publicly name of who complaint involved!! Google & Yelp reviews also reiterate what we went through, "incompetent, unprofessional, inconsiderate", ect.
Also, expect to pay current price difference, even if you paid in full years ago, In our case, the current fee was approx. $700 more, & pre-planning did not avoid going through some of the paper work again. Another instance where our funeral arranger did not seem to know what she was doing, and she had no preparation for our meeting.
Reason for 2 not 1 Star: But there ARE a few there I was able to meet, and I am hugely grateful for their professionalism & compassion, all the more after having gone through what I did. (Funeral arranger, Shad, offered a complete opposite of negative experience, he was professional, consoling & right at the beginning offered & did make a easy correction of one of her mistakes that involved a very sensitive document. He was wonderful, wish he was our assigned funeral arranger. Then, Kathy, park manager, was there for time of Inurnment of our loved one's ashes. My family & I were deeply grateful & moved by her compassion, how honorably she held our loved one's Urn, her humility & kindness, so thankful & relieved she was the one to assist & be there at the burial. Meant so very much. We couldn't help but ponder & speak so favorably of her, on our way home after our loved one's burial. It's fine employees like Shad & Kathy, that negative reviews for Sunset Memorial, should not be a reflection for all employees there. The funeral director, whoever is in charge there, REALLY OWES the good funeral arrangers & other good employees there, and ESPECIALLY their customers, THE SHEER DECENCY to weed out the bad ones. Sadly, then I see this new story today : https://abc7.com/10803374/ read more