The planning went well and so did the funeral. The staff was very courteous and extremely helpful. read more

I really like this funeral home, me and my family went there just recently for my uncle who passed. The staff was incredible, they dressed up in black and red for the sake of my uncle's favorite colors which was so thoughtful and sweet. The video was well put together too, TV's all over the funeral home were showing my uncle. They definitely showed empathy. definitely went above and beyond for me and my family. read more

Disgusting! Thousands of dollars for a plot purchased way in advance that no one could find 8 days before my wife was to be buried. And now, 3 months after her burial there are foot high weeds growing and no marker. Disgusting business model. One of the worst experiences I've ever had. I can NOT recommend Cook-Walden! read more

It has been a difficult last few months for our family. However, Ms. Minh Anh (funeral coordinator) and the funeral director at Cook-Walden ensured that both my aunt and uncle (unrelated) had a beautiful and respectful service. Ms. Minh Anh was incredibly knowledgeable about Buddhist funeral customs and fluent in English and Vietnamese, which was comforting for both older Vietnamese speaking relatives and younger English speaking relatives. My mom was grateful that Ms. Minh Anh walked her through everything step by step and was reliable, communicative, and accessible from beginning to end whenever there were concerns. She also assisted with preparing decor and furniture for the Buddhist funeral. Since our family had to leave to go to the temple after the casket lowering, we could not see the grave being covered with soil/grass turf. For this reason, we were super touched that Ms. Minh Anh sent us a photo afterward of the covered grave site to our family members so that they were updated and reassured. Ms. Minh Anh shared that she wanted to help other families with the funeral process after her dad passed. This was evident in the thought and care she put into the funeral service, and we are forever grateful for her, the funeral director, and Cook-Walden. read more

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I requested help for attending a livestream funeral service today and the attendant was extremely helpful in navigating me to be successful in my search. Thank you very much. read more

What could improve? Everything. Complete lack of communication. As I told them they took a bad situation and made it incredibly worse. Lack of empathy. Lack of follow up. General lack of competence. Despite paying 3k plus. Fail. Fine somewhere else for your loved one read more

We had the great misfortune of having the funerals of our two sons at this funeral home. Our son died at 31 and in the confusion and grief we just defaulted to a known name. The service etc were ok but we had requested that a projector be available to project pictures of our son's life during the service. The projector was of poor resolution/power so that the pictures were not clearly visible. Then we paid to have silver chains with his fingerprint sent to us but they forgot all about it until we had to follow up with them. Several years later, we had the great tragedy of having to have the funeral of our other son at this same funeral home. Prior to the cremation as they placed our son's body in the furnace, they closed the door briefly as we waited outside for a couple of minutes. We were very distressed to hear sounds of laughter coming from behind the door as we waited on the other side!! It was extremely insensitive to say the least. read more

Cook Walden funeral home provided beautiful arrangements for our mother Janie. They showed concern for our needs and assisted every way possible. Brian was extremely helpful and accommodating to our needs as well as patient with our family. The ladies in the office were very helpful and always did their very best to answer our questions. Thank you for the excellent service. read more

I just experienced a horrible loss of my best friend in January 2021. The entire team was very professional, caring and loving to all of us. I highly recommend if you have to experience such a traumatic experience, I would recommend them read more

This funeral home is not about the details. The biggest shock was they shaved my Dad's beard. He had a beard for over 45 years and they shaved it off. I had never seen my dad without a beard and certainly his grandchildren had never seen him without a beard. The response was just a shrug of shoulders. There were a few other things that happened that we were able to just let it go but this was a crushing blow. We will never use this funeral home again and would not recommend to anyone. read more

My brother passed away unexpectedly, which was a very emotional time for my family. My interactions with representatives at Cook-Walden funeral home were minimal but I wanted to write this review to highlight some of their business practices that were not helpful to my family during this very difficult time. A family friend designed the program for my brother's visitation and funeral services and put together the pictures for the slide show that was featured during the visitation and on the funeral home's web site. I was surprised to find out that the funeral home did not send proofs or drafts to obtain agreement from the family or my father (who signed the contract with the funeral home) before printing the programs and projecting the slide show on the web site and at the visitation. While the programs and slide show used during the visitation were not ideal, fortunately, the funeral home was accommodating and allowed us to make changes in a very short time frame for the funeral service. With the short time frame available, my father delegated changing the program to me. According to instructions given to us by the funeral home, I sent an email to Valerie Sneed that contained the changes my family wanted to make to the program. I was hoping to receive a message confirming receipt of my email, but, I did not. Since I sent the changes the day before the funeral and I was not able to get in touch with Valerie Sneed, I asked my sister to help me contact her so that we could verify that the changes could be made. After a phone call, my sister was able to determine that my father would have to authorize any final changes to the program. A couple phone calls later, we were finally able to arrange a 3-way call so that my father could authorize the changes to the program. But, my father was never able to authorize the changes because my interaction with Valerie Sneed was very contentious. She was not shy in expressing her frustration with having to make changes to the program, she would not allow me to get my father on the phone to authorize the changes and ultimately stated that she didn't want to argue with us and hung up the phone. In my opinion this was very unprofessional and hurtful to me in my time of grief. Ultimately my father was able to talk with Nathaniel and the funeral home was able to make the changes we requested but I think that a change in business practices at this establishment could make interactions with their staff less stressful. If I had future interactions with this establishment, I would hope that: 1. The Cook Walden staff would provide the family (or the person that signed the contract with the funeral home) with proofs or drafts of items being prepared to ensure that the wishes of the family are being carried out. 2. The Cook Walden staff would respond to messages from patrons indicating that their correspondence has been received (especially when the information being sent is time sensitive in nature). 3. Cook Walden staff members are a little more kind, understanding and accommodating. Hanging up on clients is rude and is truly insensitive during a time of bereavement. If these business practices were implemented I believe my interaction with Cook Walden funeral home would have been much more pleasant. I truly believe these changes are not too much to ask. read more

Never have I felt so raped and pillaged! Sure, it's beautifully decorated, lots of nice staff to console you. But what they are charging us to bury our dead family members should be a crime. My beloved mother-in-law recently passed, and she left an insurance policy for the burial costs. It was $4,000. The burial was $13,000.00!!! This was not a fancy-schmansy service or casket, it was a modest, middle of the road choice made. And the worst slap in the face? We had to pay for it in full THAT DAY! Or the death certificate wouldn't be initiated, or the obituary put in the paper. Those people take advantage of people at a very distressed time in their lives. Believe you me, if it would have been my decision, I would have gone elsewhere. They should be ashamed. read more

Over the past few years, I've had occasion to use this funeral home as part of my duties in carrying out the final needs for loved ones. Definitely not the fun part of life. However, each time, the staff here have impressed me with their level of expertise and compassion. This location is the mothership for the Cook Walden facilities in North Austin, and also for the Dignity network, so they're often where your loved one's body is transported immediately upon passing away. Their responsibilities include preparing the body for viewing and burial, refrigerated storage, and carrying out cremations there on site. At a very difficult time, each time, they've done an excellent job and exhibited the utmost respect and compassion. The facilities, including small chapels, are clean, well-appointed, and peaceful. There's nothing fancy, but it's nice. Each time, they've started the process for us as part of our pre-arrangement, and we've had our final services elsewhere, but they treated us as well as if we were having everything done there. The location is just off busy N. Lamar Blvd., but the parking lots are spacious enough to accommodate guests and it's quiet inside. I've never had to make or work through arrangements here or dealt directly with their staff without interface, but overall the experience has gone very smoothly and been as positive as it can be at a time like this. read more

This funeral hime has very bad customer service , I called twice in one day nobody picked up the phone. So I left a message. When they finally called me back the next day, the person over the phone was very rude and clearly pay attention to the detail I left over message, would not recommend. read more

Cannot say thank you enough to Angela and the staff at Cook-Walden on North Lamar! They were exceptional. My Uncle had been giving us exact specifications for how he wanted his funeral for the past 40 years so the pressure was on for us to honor his wishes and do it exactly how he wanted. Angela was so kind and patient with us. We must have called her 50+ times including Saturday and Sunday to make changes, get information and so forth. You don't realize how much goes into planning a service until you are in the middle of it. Angela always answered her phone, responded to text and emails immediately. She put us at ease and constantly tried to support and assure us all would be perfect. The day of the service Angela, Ashley and Michael, and Leslie were there to check in on us and make sure the service went off seamlessly. It was perfect! They truly cared about us as the family and not only paid attention to the details of the service but ensuring we were okay and any needs we had were met including at the cemetery. They went way above and beyond and it was very much noticed and appreciated. Cannot say enough good things about this team and how they made this difficult time easier and allowed us to celebrate a life well lived. read more

Kind of a depressing review, but these folks need some recognition. They were wonderful. Everything was done smoothly, professionally, and with my consent every step of the way. read more

We used them for the services for our beloved and wonderful Father on 7/30/2012. Other than an error on the programs that went the church it was a beautiful celebration of life. William at Cook-Walden is outstanding and so understanding and accommodating. I realize this is not the best circumstance that needs a review because it deals with death but I have to give credit where credit is due! Highly recommend their services. read more

A few years ago I began a project to understand the funeral industry. I went to a few funeral homes in Austin, somewhat "undercover," to pre-plan my own funeral. I wanted to investigate how the sales process worked. At the Lamar Cook-Walden location, I was lied to and manipulated. We of course know that this is a business and has profiting motives, but we should at least expect honesty. Here are some examples: -I was told that a vault was necessary for a casket, so the casket wouldn't be crushed under the weight of the tractors that drive over grave sites. -I was told that vaults are legally required by the state of Texas. -I was told that the more expensive caskets (bronze) would preserve my body longer. -Before touring the "show room" of caskets, I was interviewed needlessly about my history with experiencing death. I was asked questions like, "Have you ever had a person close to you die?" I said yes. The lady then said, "It's the hardest day of your life." In Dignity Memorial's (the corporation who owns Cook-Walden) advertising, they claim that pre-planning helps to prevent emotional over-spending. This is true! However, Cook-Walden accommodates by creating an emotional, sad mood before entering the show room. -Another example was asking me all about my girlfriend, my parents, my job, and my income. I played dumb, and perhaps the saleslady figured she could try to dig into my personal life to figure out how much I would spend. Each of these questions wrapped around to suggestions like, "It sounds like your mom might want you to have a traditional service, THEN get a cremation." The funeral industry had trouble initially with consumers seeking cremations. The current strategy is to suggest an open-casket service (must buy the casket), followed by a cremation and storage in an expensive urn. My mother worked for Cook-Walden for a couple years as a "grief counselor" at a different location in Austin, and she was paid entirely on commission. That is what began my interest--the incredibly soulless notion that the funeral home employees are paid commission. My mom told me that in her sales training, they were taught "Upsell, upsell, upsell!" In one instance, my mom had a low-income family come in grieving the loss of their father and sole source of income. They had $5,000 total in savings. My mom's boss told my mom to try to get them to upgrade the casket, to suggest they could take out a loan... because that's what the deceased father would have wanted! The guilt forced my mother to quit, and I'm happy she did. This location receives two stars because they made no follow-up phone calls to me after I obviously didn't spend any money at their store. Also because, unfortunately, the lying of funeral homes is pretty ubiquitous in our country and this location is no exception. read more

My brother passed away in January. The salesman name Perry did not order the headstone when we paid for it. He gave us the run-around, in which about the headstone. We can not grieve due to other circumstances with my brother's wife, and now with Cook Waldens. Perry stated he could get the headstone but kept giving us the wrong information. With my brother's wife running off with his Uncle and moving away. This caused a huge problem. The wife did not put a headstone on my brother's grave, she left town with his uncle. But his younger son wants to do what he wants to do without putting in any funds. The oldest son paid for the headstone but the younger broke brother does want to what the older one to put anything on the headstone. This was going to be a legal battle from all of the crisscrossed conversations with Perry not being honest with us. So now, my brother does not have a headstone :( ... Cook Walden Funeral Home ( Pflugerville ) this was horrible with the salesman not being honest. read more

My family and I had a tragic death in our family with the unexpected death of our brother. My family entrusted everything to the Cook-Walden funeral services who overall accommodated the requests. Here was the problem, the day before the funeral, we emailed two photos to Ms Sneed and asked if we could get two of the photos changed on the program. My family did not receive a response so I decided to call and follow up to see if the email was received especially since the funeral was the next day. My family, who has a 512 number, continued to call the funeral home but would not receive any response. I have a out-of-state number and as soon as I called Ms Sneed answered. I do not know why this was the case but this was strange. So this was the day before the funeral and when I spoke to Ms Sneed, explained how an email was sent to her requesting that two pictures be changed. Ms Sneed said only immediate family members could make the change, I was the sister, I thought that I was an immediate family member but okay, I told her I would have my dad call. My dad tried to call and could not get through so at this time that's when I did a three-way conversation and called my sister because my dad was sitting right next to her. My sister explained that she tried to call several times so my dad can authorize the changes but no one answered the phone. My sister and I were on the phone with Ms. Sneed to try to change to pictures on the program. Well my sister found out that this was a person she sent the email to and was excited. My sister said, "Oh thank you, I am so happy that I am talking to you." Ms Sneed first told my sister there was a problem and that the funeral company talked to someone yesterday, at the visual, and this person said everything was okay with the program. My sister, and I, did not know what she was talking about or who she talk to and she never provided us with that information. So Ms Sneed went on to say she had about 20 people already call about this and she was working to see if the pictures could get changed. Mind you, we never received a receipt email, I called, my brother-in-law called, and then I called back on three-way with my sister. Regardless of the fact, it should not matter how many times a person calls when they are grieving and they just want to make a change to a program. So next thing we know, Ms Sneed tells my sister you need to call my supervisor tomorrow and talk to her if you have any other problems. My sister, who has a very calm demeanor, said she was confused and didn't understand why she needed to call the supervisor and asked could she explain. Ms Sneed says I am not gonna go back-and-forth and argue with you and hung up the phone. I then said did she just hang up the phone and my sister said yeah I think she did and I can't believe this. I was so shocked because my sister was not rude and just asked why did we need to call her supervisor. Basically why would we need to call your supervisor when we are talking to you and trying to get this resolved. This was totally unacceptable especially during a time of bereavement and if a person cannot be professional, kind, and compassionate on the phone with people especially during a tragic time of death then they are in the wrong profession. This was very very unprofessional, upsetting and should never happen to anyone. I am writing this to let other people know that this is what happened to my family and this may occur if this person answers the phone at this funeral home. During a time of death, this is not the time for a person to be insensitive and rude especially when working in this type of profession. The funeral company did correct the issue, which we was grateful for but again, this review is about the unprofessionalism of one of their employees. read more

When my husband's grandmother passed away the family wasn't prepared for everything that comes with planning a service. We worked with Andria who was more than helpful. She took the time to thoroughly explain each package and options we had for the services of our beloved Grandmother. When it came down to make the decisions best suited for our needs Andria made sure all of our questions were answered and we were happy with the arrangements. On the day of the service everything went smoothly and as planned. We were able to enjoy a beautiful service with little stress. Cook Walden was more than accommodating, they were truly a blessing. read more

I really can't imagine this process having gone any smother. We were almost exclusively in the hands of Mr. Kent, a true professional and friend. We were treated with the utmost professionalism, kindness and compassion. Every question we asked (no matter how silly, in hind sight) was answered thoughtfully and thoroughly. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Walton Cook to my family and friends. read more

Please do not make the mistake of using Cook-Walden. C-W wrote down the wrong name on my husband's death certificate & blamed me for not spotting their error. They failed to write down my request that my husband's wedding ring & watch not be cremated. Their careless mistakes have made me miserable at the worst time of my life. Their mistakes have been costly as well. After a 3-month wait, the state has not released my husband's death certificate - requiring additional time for an amended certificate. I will not have access to insurance or money from our joint investment accounts until the death certificate is finalized. Cook-Walden has treated me & my daughters with indifference, not compassion. read more

Getting a refund on a cancelled burial insurance policy is like trying to pry something from a dead man's hand. For Cook-Walden's part, written notice followed by three phone call requests over a five or six week time-frame finally resulted in a return call. This Poor Service for me will not, however, deter me from using their funeral services in the future. read more

I attended my sisters funeral today. I have never in my life seen such a disrespectful service.. The lack of coordination and communication was uncalled for. There was a tall thin lady in a grey suit brown hair that seemed to be in charge. The driver was one of the people carrying my sister to the grave. Why would you not ask a family member? There were tons of people there willing. The way she was carried to the burial was unorganized, there was obviously a lack of communication on how to get her to the burial. It was sloppy. Then after the religious chanting and mourning, they realized there was water in the whole. A loud machine was hooked up to suck the water out. As everyone is there trying to mourn. It went on for at least 20 minutes. Until another guy came up on a golf cart with a shovel. Then they guys began to shovel out the water. How was this not seen BEFORE?! it took a total of 30 minutes and should have been taken care of before everyone was there. The tall women seeming in charge then tells everyone to move to the left of the tent. That was all she said. NO proper ending to what just happened, no offering for people to stay or telling us what's going on. Just "move to the left of the tent" This was extremely disrespectful all together. Cook-Walden lacks serious communication and coordination. This was not the time for my brother to deal with that kind of thing. Not when he is mourning his wife. read more

As hard as times like this are, my family and I greatly appreciated the compassion and guidance we received from Cook-Walden. Trey went above and beyond to help us during this sad and confusing time, he made us feel very at ease and not pressured as we made funeral arrangements. He even made sure the Navy was at the burial months later. I can't express how much he helped us during this sad time and how much it meant to us. read more

These people are amazing. My family used them for a funeral, and although I wasn't the main point of contact, I saw how great they were and heard such great things from my family. Then, when I needed to follow up about something after the funeral and get some help for a second memorial service we were having elsewhere, they went truly above and beyond. Makes a really tough time a little easier. read more

It was a family wish to have our nephew cremated with a rosary. I ordered a rosary online and had it shipped directly to Cook-Walden in Austin, Texas. I called on a Sunday to tell them what I had done. I talked to a call service. I said that it was not a show-stopper but if they could, would they get it blessed by a priest before the 10:00 AM Wednesday Cremation. They called me back Monday to tell me they had received my message. They called me Tuesday to tell me they received the rosary. Zachary, the coordinator for our particular services called on Wednesday to reassure me that he had had the rosary blessed by a MONSIGNOR! That was way beyond the call of duty. My thanks and appreciation to the staff and especially to Zachary. read more