Lawrence H. Woodward Funeral Home Inc.

Reviews 3

A.

A. Ntozake Lundy

December 3, 2014 I just got off the phone with Shurnette of Lawrence H. Woodward Funeral home. On the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving I received a call stating that my Mom’s death certificates had arrived. Today, a week later I decided to call and check because they have not arrived. Shurnette informed me that they were actually on her desk and had never been mailed. My Mom was a fierce proponent of spending money in her community long before it was in style. Therefore LHW was an obvious choice for her homegoing services as she grew up around the corner. My thoughts are that LHW is capable of doing the minimum for you and your family in your time of need. They are not capable of any kind of warmth, but they are quite capable in dressing your loved one and shipping the body. My Mom was shipped to her native North Carolina. I asked for 30 death certificates because my Mom owns a lot of property and in settling her estate I wanted to be able to produce documents whenever asked. The woman ‘HELPING US’ told me she knows millionaires who have not needed that many. Being that I am paying for the certificates and they are not free, I am not interested in who she knows. No one has any idea the lifestyle my Mom led and I do not enjoy being mocked for any of my requests. I do understand that small business people are not required to obtain any training in customer service and are often overwhelmed. This may result in great difficulty being kind to others, even when they are fully aware that their customer is grieving. On the evening of my Mom’s ceremony, November 13, 2014, right after my arrival we were violently accosted by an apparently mentally ill fellow about the video equipment. Turns out we made a mistake by assuming that we would use the equipment. I imagine we misunderstood, were we to bring a DVD…I actually still don’t know. The mentally ill fellow yelled at us for 7 minutes that, ‘THAT WAS NOT ALLOWED&WE DO NOT ALLOW THAT.’ I was going into shock that anyone was yelling at me as my mother lay in a casket behind me. How could that be? The only explanation is that this person is a friend of the owner and suffers from an undiagnosed or diagnosed mental illness. If Starbucks can understand and convey that they want your experience to be as pleasant as possible, surely a funeral home, whose only interaction with people is in the toughest of times, can do the same. Ultimately we were charged $150 for the use of LHW television. People do not enjoy feeling ripped off by nickel and dime charges that are essentially preposterous. I was not, as I imagine most customers are not, able to put up a fight…So we were ripped off. Not that big a deal, right? The cherry on top of my deplorable experience with LHW is that now that my checks have been cashed, the little interest in my family that was shown is nonexistent. I have been informed that the death certificates that I was charged for, and chastised for requesting an amount beyond my need…were truly beyond my need…as LHW has not sent them. It really does take a lot to wow me, yet LHW has. Death, I believe everyone knows, is unpleasant. I am deeply saddened that LHW has made it more so. Follow Up: It appears that the business has asked people to review them after I left an anecdote of my familys experience. You will notice that A)all reviews occur after my review, the business just discovered social media B)Perhaps the people they asked to review had a wonderful experience, we did not C)I also reported LHW to the BBB of NEW YORK(you can visit the site to peruse) D)Please also visit Yelp where space was provided for me to provide a photo of the apology letter from Lawrence H. Woodward. I wish I could have posted a photo here.

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Anonymous User

Having a funeral run by this team won’t get you that sense of completeness one might hope for. I didn’t care for the speech at the graveside (given before the minister even spoke) stating that this concludes our services. As the rep was speaking, she removes flowers from a floral arrangement (that we paid for) to give to members of the family to place on the casket. All the while, the arrangement is falling apart. I consider this tacky. You want a neat graveside. I know the deceased can’t see it but a funeral is really for the living. It was sunny. There was no canopy. There were 4 chairs – all dirty – in front of the casket. There were other grave sites that had been recently dug. Their flowers were strewn about. Very sloppy. (I know this is more a function of the cemetery – Rosehill in New Jersey – but it didn’t help.) There was no time by the graveside at all. I think you need to give folks at least 5 minutes! Also, they could have supplied plaques to place in each driver’s window so other drivers might realize it was a funeral procession. I’ve seen this done before in the north. Unfortunately, I’ve been to recent funerals in the south and they would put this service to shame. There (and I’m referring to North Carolina), they also had a grave side mini feast of the deceased favorite food and beverage (which happened to be pina coladas and chicken and dumplings). I’ve never experienced this but it made me feel better. The funeral procession had police cars in the front and back. I know this won’t happen in NY but I was expecting plaques. Note that I wasnt involved in selecting this funeral home or the negotiations. I only attended the funeral srvices and grave side services.

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Marisol Hoedemaker

First, I want to take this opportunity to say Ive read a lot of the reviews and I had to be my own judge, my parents have lived on Fulton St over 40 yrs, my mom health has detrioriated over the last 2yrs, so of course I went to the Funeral home and requested some information about how to prearranged for my moms funeral since I didnt know where to start ; the first impression I got was the cleaness, how warm the staff was, how courteous and the way I was greeted, the understanding, professional, and they gave me so much support at all times not to mention they remembered my name. When I met with Simone not just once but twice before I decided to sign a contract, she was so kind, caring, she listened to me and answer every question as professional as possible, there was no pressure, no hassle, they worked with your budget and helped me with certain decisions. Simone even advice me where I could purchase my moms grave and she gave me the name of the cemetery. My mom hasnt passed as of yet but, I know I made the right decision in going to lawrence H Woodward funeral, the respect and the love, support, care and kindness they showed me told me a lot. I thank the complete staff for their help and professionalism.

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