The Co-operative Funeralcare - Andover

This is a long overdue review. I tried to forget about the whole mess, but was then reminded of the company’s incompetence when we recently received a letter from Co-op addressed to my deceased father. My dad’s funeral was in November, 2017. He and my mum have a joint funeral plan. On our first visit to co-op to plan his funeral, my mum was told that there was no joint plan and she wasn’t covered- until they found the correct paperwork in another drawer and confirmed what we already knew. This was within the first few minutes of being there. The night before the funeral, we went to visit my dad for the last time in the chapel of rest. Before we entered, a member of staff said, “I’m just going to check the temperature in the room and make sure your dad isn’t up and dancing around.” I’m not familiar with funeral home humour, but I could have done without this. I downloaded two songs for the funeral and burned them onto a CD (is this really the customer’s job?). On the day, we entered and exited the church in deafening silence. Apparently, nobody communicated in the church and nobody pressed play. Myself and friends carried the casket, so it was annoying to see so many members of staff not having much to do, whilst still missing vital elements of the day. My mum is a traditionalist and expected to throw soil on the casket once it was lowered. There was no soil. I had to dig up some dirt for her. Apparently, soil has to be requested… although this wasn’t mentioned during the planning stage. It wasn’t until days later that I realised these issues had left a bitter taste in my mouth. Especially the music. That silence really hurt. We mentioned it on the phone. A member of staff said she was going to look into the music situation and get back to us. She didn’t. We called again a few weeks later, this time speaking to a supervisor who was outraged and said she “would get onto this like a dog with a bone” and get back to us. She didn’t. We called back a month or two later and the same supervisor was apologetic and offered to refund some of the service. We received a cheque for £30 which I didn’t even cash. Eventually, I found myself talking to the regional manager. I explained everything that happened and he was apologetic, but had reasoning for each mistake and miscommunication. When I asked what was next… he said he was offering a “sincere, empathetic apology”, but there was nothing else that could be done and in terms of management, I had reached the top. I was advised to go through a third party complaints company who would investigate the situation, but I was exhausted and just wanted to continue to grieve. I’ve tried to forget about all of this, but that letter addressed to my deceased made me realise they were still incompetent. I emailed a complaint right away and to be fair, received an apology the very next day. Apparently, my parent’s joint plan had caused some confusion because it was in my (dead) dad’s name. After all these years, that joint plan is still causing confusion in the co-op office. I detest this establishment for the poor execution of my dad’s funeral and the dreadful communication that followed.

I cannot thank Linda enough for her amazing support in arranging my husband's funeral. She was always available at the end of the phone or an email for advice/guidance and took great care to ensure that absolutely everything we wanted for the day of the funeral came to fruition. Linda welcomed the whole family and always took time to put us at ease with her caring & compassionate nature.

I can only say that the service and care I received, from the time of my wife's death at Winchester Hospice, throughout the contact up to and including the funeral and subsequent collection of the ashes, was impressive and happily exceeded my expectations. I was particularly well served by Linda, whose kindness and professional sensitivity made the difficult process so much more bearable for me. As a recently retired member of the clergy who will in due course be active in a pastoral capacity locally, I shall have no hesitation in recommending you to anyone who is expecting or experiencing the loss of a loved one. Thank you so much.

Thank you to Nikki and Rosie who helped us plan and organise a day of celebration for our mum. They were so sympathetic to our needs and guided us to make the day as perfect. From start to finish the communication was second to none, and on the day the compassion shown by Richard and his team really helped us give her the send off she deserved. Thank you very much.