The antithesis of good care

14/05/2016

This lot have a monopoly in North Northumberland, with offices all over the area of Alnwick that they do not appear to have enough staff to cover.
After a sudden bereavement, my family tried to find a small, family run Funeral Director without success; the only other available option to Alistair Turner, The Co-operative, seemed too big and impersonal.
Nothing could have been more impersonal or unhelpful than the service we received from Alistair Turner. In hindsight, they obtained all the information they required from us without really ever asking what we required of them in regard to personal care. Then an email, sent on a Friday afternoon, to ask about something important is not replied to until the next "working" day as the office is closed.
We found out that they do not handle sending donations to chosen charities; they do not organise or liaise with the printers regarding the orders of service or pay for them on your behalf, though they do collect them when they are ready, if you choose the printer just over the road from their office.
They do not ask or advise you whether the coffin of your choice can be lifted or even what your preferences are in that matter; appointments for the chapel of rest are not easily made and the telephone receptionist might as well have been dealing with an enquiry for a lost glove for all the sensitivity she displayed. After the last goodbye at the chapel of rest in Alnwick when your legs will barely hold you up, you are shown outside, left alone and the door shut behind you.
Finally, at home after collecting the casket containing the ashes of your dearest one, you discover that their name on the plaque, has been wrongly spelt. There is no apology for the mistake and nobody calls in good time to collect the casket to put the error right; in the meantime, a bill is sent instead and arrives on the doormat.
At times like these, it is the small courtesies, the attention to detail, the comfort of a kind word or touch that make the difference. When you cannot think beyond the next grief-filled minute, you need a Funeral Director who will step in and take the worry of the funeral off your hands; there is enough to be done, people to tell.
As a family, we were very much left to do too much ourselves, without being told beforehand that this would be the case. We felt very let down at such a difficult time.
I hope this will help and forewarn anyone bereaved and looking for a Funeral Director in North Northumberland, where choice is sadly not an option.