Valley Ridge Mortuary

My father recently passed away. I am writing this to warn you to never use Valley Ridge Mortuary in [redacted] City. It was the worst experience I have had concerning a funeral home. Initially walking into the mortuary was an offense to my nostrils, it smelled like cigarettes. I received an immediate feeling that this was not the place my father should be in, but we (my family) wanted to support the local business. The prices were outrageously high, but we already were almost $800 in the hole for transportation and would have to add another $800 to transfer.

My mother asked to see my father on Tuesday June 9, but the guy helping us said they were embalming him, which we hadn’t given permission yet (letting it go). We were given until Thursday to pay $5400 by 3pm, which was a partial payment and did not include flowers or a vault. They do not have flowers services at this mortuary, my sisters [redacted] and [redacted] had to use an outside service. My sister-in-law made a partial payment at 10 am and the owner was angry that we had not paid this amount. We were there by 11 am to pay the $5400. When we entered the mortuary for the second time on Thursday my mother then asked again to see my father, mind you we have not seen him in almost five days. The owner said she was alone and could not put him on a table. I kindly asked if there was a way that we could see him without putting him on a table. She became very angry and said “do I have to repeat myself twice.” I became upset and told her to stop her attitude that we were mourning the loss of our father and husband. My mother began to cry because she wanted to have a private moment with my father before the funeral services. The woman told us she was the owner and did not want to speak with us anymore. I did not want to speak with her either. We still had other questions to ask, but she walked away from us. We were left in shock and disbelief and I was beyond horrified with her. She never apologized for her rude behavior.

My sister-in-law found another employee to assist us and moved my father herself. So the owner not only was rude to a grieving family, but also lied about being alone. I seen four additional employees in the back, she was not alone as she had claimed. We left the mortuary without our questions being answered because the owner claimed there was no one to help her and if we wanted another person helping us, we would have to wait until her husband returned and I asked when her husband would return and she said “next month.”

I later learned from many other people how they hate this mortuary. There is a kind gentlemen from [redacted] who owns Norval mortuary. I recommend you use his services. It is worth the drive rather than dealing with the business from [redacted] City. I am still hurt and angry how my mother was treated by this owner.

I called the business Wednesday June 17, 2015 and asked for the owner to tell her to be kind to other grieving family members. She said in an annoyed tone “okaayyy, we’ll work on it.” I told her “no, you do it forever.” This woman is atrocious and should not work anywhere near grieving families. I have heard many complaints since I posted this story on Facebook and learned that she has treated many other families that way she treated our family. People need to come forward with their complaints because she will continue to mistreat people.