Wendy T.
Yelp
This review is long and long overdue. My father passed away in July 2022 and is forever resting at Mountain View Cemetery. This review is not about the cemetery setting/grounds. It's serene and beautiful there, although the roads could be repaired to be in better shape. The rating for the cemetery grounds and the setting is five stars.
This review is about our experience with Piedmont Funeral Services. Overall, the service was pleasant. However, the funeral director is another story. Before I get to his disappointing performance, here are a few things we learned during funeral planning:
- You're not required to purchase caskets with them or any funeral home. You can buy them through a third-party vendor, with potential savings in the thousands, depending on what you select.
- If you're buying from an online vendor, here are a few watch-outs:
- - The delivery of the casket can be made directly to Piedmont Funeral Services, but you will need to set up a delivery date & time with your Piedmont Funeral Services service rep in advance as you will need to meet the delivery driver to accept the delivery of the casket.
-- The Piedmont Funeral Service team will not accept the delivery of the casket on your behalf. They are not legally obligated to do so, and they will likely add a few more obstacles to make this delivery more complicated as they cannot profit from the sale of this casket.
-- The delivery address will likely be 4498 Piedmont, where the deceased are delivered, as the loading dock leads directly to their morgue. Accessing 4498 Piedmont will require a delivery truck to go down Ramona Street, which can get extremely narrow when cars are parked on both sides of the street. The narrowness of the street may be problematic for delivery truck drivers.
-- Piedmont Funeral Services will not dispose of any packaging material. To avoid the headache of packing material disposal (boxes, foam packing, etc.), coordinate the removal of the packaging before delivery. Working with a local casket vendor, such as Divine Caskets, is recommended, as they will work with you to coordinate a smooth delivery using their local drivers. If the delivery is via UPS/FedEx, DHL, etc., they are not obligated to help you remove the casket from the packaging or dispose of the packing materials. If you're personally set up to remove the casket from the packaging and dispose of the packaging, then you're set.
Overall, our family services director, Tony He, was easy to work with. There was a fair amount of waiting for his responses, but once the date of the funeral service was set, coordination was fairly easy. In fact, my mom was super pleased with his guidance during the funeral services and wanted to thank him personally.
The low rating stems from the interactions with Bruce Williams, the funeral director. It was clear he was dismayed at our decision to purchase a casket outside of Piemont Funeral Services. After receipt of the casket, he announced that my father must be embalmed in an effort to add revenue. California law does not require embalmment, and when we reconfirmed our decision of no embalmment, he then went on to say that my father was likely to be completely disfigured and that without embalmment, an open casket would not be an option.
I was present when my father passed peacefully in his home, surrounded by his family. I was there when the nurse came to the house to declare his death officially and when he was placed into a body bag and moved to the funeral home. I know how my dad passed and the condition he was last in, so nothing made me happier than getting mansplained by Williams about how my dad died and the horrible disfigurement he was in, thus mandating embalmment.
To demonstrate his dominance by shouting and speaking over you, Williams declared that he was only obligated to drape my father in a white sheet, completely unclothed underneath, after we paid $410 for the "dressing and casketing" fee. When we repeatedly asked what the $410 fee for dressing and casketing fee covered, he refused to answer and then announced that he would gladly return my father's body to us to find another funeral service.
That's when Tony stepped in and asked if we would be willing to see our dad in the morgue to confirm his condition. We signed a release form allowing us to see him, and sure enough, my dad was in the same condition as when he passed. His face wasn't purple, and there was no disfigurement. Willams had no additional comment after that viewing.
We were already mourning the loss of our father, so having such an enraging and disappointing experience with the funeral director made things more traumatic. It's a shame Williams conducted himself the way he did. He should have known better. He should have been better.
If you decide to work with Piedmont Funeral Services, it's safe to say most of the staff there is pleasant, but be wary of Williams should you need to interact with him.
