The Love of my life passed last Saturday. I went to forest meadows Funeral home and they were wonderful. They are under new ownership now and they helped me so very much and the funeral went off very nicely. I highly recommend them. read more

Sadly, my husband and I have had representatives at Forest Meadows care for our family on 2 occasions. They are caring and professional. Most recently, Ms. Regina Tookes has been there for us. She is sincere, compassionate and accessible as she helps address our needs. We feel she genuinely cares for our family on more than a superficial level. read more

Do not have your loved one taken care of by these people. I have used them for 5 loved ones in the past because I had a girlfriend that worked there. At that time we had no issues. Mom passed in early december and we are still waiting for her headstone to be installed. We paid almost 4000 for a simple heart and we are in the middle of April and no headstone. I have spoken with Deborah several times to no avail. Today I'm told that someone named Kirby will call me back. We shall see. The nerve of these people taking your money happily while your grieving and in the end screwing you over. Next step for me will be legal action. read more

From Planning to the final Ceremony Kerstin was amazing, held my hand and walked me through everything. Funeral Director Anthony was so nice and patient. Last but not least Debra at the Cemetery office has truly found her life's purpose. For such a sad time this was truly was the best experience. Such a beautiful ceremony and works great for all budgets and cost. read more

I lost my baby in a miscarriage and Becca Anderson was an angel in disguise. She let me cry and talked to me for as long as I needed to until I felt better. We cried together and laughed together and hugged each other. She made me feel like she was there for me and my feelings, she even gave my baby to me in a teddy bear so I could hold them forever. I am so grateful that she was placed in my path and I will forever be thankful for her kindness and caring soul. read more

For those who may object to staff being rude. Let me say... I do appreciate directness and honesty.... especially in dealing with these matters. It is never easy or inexpensive. Especially with perpetual care. They made my catastrophic loss bearable. You just can't imagine or appreciate their approach until something like this happens to you. Forest Meadows had my deepest gratitude. Michael Pastorello- Gaineville, Florida read more

My 98-year-old grandmother was in a non-responsive coma at Haven Hospice with stage 3 lung cancer. She had days to live, and adding to our difficulties, my husband and I needed to be out of the country in just a few days, and would probably not be back before she died. Choosing a funeral home to collect her body, embalm her, and hold her until we came back was very important to us. We researched and contacted Chestnut, Forest Meadows, and William Thomas. Forrest Meadows Funeral Home was the last funeral home we contacted and the funeral home we ended up contracting to handle Gram's funeral. Initially, we only wanted her body collected from hospice, embalmed and held until we returned, then shipped to Mississippi for burial. We ended up contracting Forest Meadows to do the whole thing, burying her in Gainesville at Forest Meadows Cemetery. You are at a huge disadvantage when you go to purchase a plot and plan a funeral. You are torn between love and guilt and lose, and so many other emotions. We were not quite as compromised as most people in this situation; my husband has known a lot of death in his lifetime, and I am an in-law granddaughter. We were not emotionally leveraged, but we still had time constraints, unlike buying a car, if you get disgusted with the sales game, you cannot put it off and come at it fresh in a few months, and also unlike buying a car there are not a lot of dealer choices. It really came down to just these two funeral homes in Gainesville. Other than that, it was just like buying a car: over priced options that are really not options, for example dressing the body for $450 - it is not like we could let her go to her funeral nekked. Overall, the whole situation is a bit unsavory, and not something you should do if you are emotionally overwhelmed, or compromised. Overall, I felt David, the sales guy, did a good job for us. He understood my husband wanted the bare basics, no up charges, and a rock bottom figure. My husband was not emotionally compromised. I believe David worked hard to deliver the lowest number he could deliver. My husband will negotiate ANYTHING, but he went kind of easy on them, at least at first. He chipped a little here and there, but he did not deal aggressively. But then, something happened that set off my husband's car dealer paranoia; they did not include the grave plaque in the final price. They were thinking originally that we were shipping her to Mississippi. When they reworked numbers for a full funeral and burial, they overlooked the plaque on the stone. My husband had told me hours earlier to look for some kind of last minute upcharge, and it happened. My husband went into aggression mode, and the sales manager came in, and they put their boy things down. My husband went to battle, eventually bringing the final number back to the number the agreed on in the first place. My husband will walk on any deal, but here is the thing, they worked with him to make it right. But it should not have happened and if they do make an error, they need to fix it without fighting the family member. Unless we deal with them again, or someone else has this experience, we will never know if this was an honest mistake. Moving on. Bruce, the Funeral Director, was super. The weather was iffy at the time of the funeral, and he moved the graveside service into the mausoleum. He did this without prompting or extra charges. Bruce rocks. The mausoleum itself has very good energy. There is love in the mausoleum that you can feel in your heart. It was all very good. I would like to give Forrest Meadows 5 stars, but when families are in grief, and emotions are running that high, everything should be flawless. No mistakes. Mistakes were made, and we can never know if they were honest mistakes or exploitation. And some of the options that seemed to have crazy pricing make you suspicious of the other items. They have 3 levels of vaults. Why would you buy any vault other than the least expensive? And the difference between each level was about one thousand dollars. Why are you buying a $3700-dollar super vault when the $1400-dollar vault does the same thing? And seriously? $1400 dollars for a concrete tub with a lid? The 3700 dollar one will resist nuclear fall out, so I understand the pricing on that one; you do not want your loved ones to be irradiated after a nuclear holocaust. I got off track. I want to give Forest Meadows 5 stars, but I just do not have enough information. My experience was not without suspicions, but overall I am very pleased with the outcome. The rock bottom price to bury someone at Forest Meadows in our experience is about $10,000. I recommend Forest Meadows - the funeral, the mausoleum, the Funeral Director, all of it - but keep your eyes open when negotiating on a final number with the sales guy, and do not let them talk/guilt you into a lot of unnecessary expense. read more

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I've been dealing with this staff at this funeral home for about 3 months now. My father's cremated remains are there. Everyone I've been dealing with has been so nice and helpful and understanding of my situation. Until today. I called to speak to someone about another person possibly claiming him for me, as I am in CT and having a hard time coming up with the financial resources to have my father shipped home. I spoke with the office manager, Tracy. Well, as soon as I said that I had a lady that was my father's friend willing to claim him for me her while attitude switched. I told her that after doing some research online and talking to USPS, I found that it would be much less expensive to have someone claim him and ship him to me, versus having the funeral home do it. Tracy then started very rudely telling me that it will still cost me the same amount of money, which after much research and asking around and phone calls I've found that to be not true at all. I was told that it would only be 25 dollars less than if the funeral home shipped. When I asked her why they would be more expensive I was told "well the funeral director who has a 6 year degree has to drive and go stand in line for 30 mins at the post office and waste time so of course they're going to get paid for that" Wow! I understand that there would be a charge but to be told in that rude manner? Absolutely uncalled for. I have been grieving my father and stressed out about how to get him home to me and to be told that in such a rude, condescending way really stung! And to make matters worse i was hung up on when I got upset and pointed out that she didn't need to be so rude in the way that she explained things. Hung up on before she gave me any information about how to get my dads remains claimed. "Send me a notarized letter giving permission. Have a nice day" CLICK. I'm only giving this place the one star review because every other staff member I've talked to has been exceptional. Tracy ruined it for me. When you work in a place that deals with sensitive issues, such as death, you should really have a certain level of compassion in my opinion. When I'm calling and stressed out because I haven't been able to get my deceased father's remains home to me, and im met with that kind of terrible attitude, it seriously makes me wonder what people who go to that funeral home in person are treated like by this person. Nobody deserves to be treated that way when they are dealing with such a hard thing. I'm disgusted. read more

They took the time to listen - not just to our needs but to what our mother would have wanted. They explained each step and option which helped us make our decisions. Their suggestion of a memory board with photos of people and things important to her was a source of wonderful memories raised by the friends and family viewing it during the gathering prior to the service. They took care of everything and made a difficult time far less traumatic. read more

The compassion shown me, their understanding in this difficult time, and the their care. I appreciate the patience of the funeral director and the fact that I was never rushed to get things done. read more