Purse and Son Funeral Home recently did the cremation of my sister. Barry went out of his way to help me deal with everything that needed to be done. He was very kind and considerate towards the family and the deceased. I would definitely recommend him and his staff. Linda read more

Purse and Son recently handled the funeral for my mother in law. I can't say enough good things about Barry and his staff. They were kind, considerate and patient. Barry went out of his way to provide quality care to the deceased as well as to the family. He is easy to communicate with, makes himself available as needed and is quick to respond to inquiries and communications. I wound recommend Barry and his business to anyone in need. Melissa read more

We had my father in law, mother in law and my dad and my aunt cremated. They they are very respectful and kind.

Do NOT go here if you want your loved one to be treated with respect. Upon my mother's cremation I was called and told 'Your mom is ready for pick up' as if she were a prescription from a pharmacy.. In addition, don't expect your personal information to remain private. After my mother's cremation this business handed over personal papers I filled out for her over to a family member without so much as either verifying their identity or even contacting me to verify that it was okay. Complete betrayal of trust. I deeply regret using their services. read more

Short story: I don't recommend that you use this funeral home. Their advantage is that they offer low prices. However, in my opinion that advantage is outweighed by their unreliable provision of services in a critical time of need. And I make that judgement as someone who is low income and struggled to pay for my mother's funeral expenses. Longer story: In January 2014, I contacted Purse Funeral Home from California where my mother was in hospice and close to death. Her dying wish was to be buried back in Michigan where she grew up. She had no money to pay for this, and I did not have much money myself. After multiple phone and email contacts with the owners of Purse Funeral Home in Tecumseh MI, Barry Purse and his mother Marilee Purse, I called to enter into a contract with them. I expected a contract would be emailed/faxed, a deposit made, etc. Instead, Barry told me that final payment would be due the day of the funeral, and no contract was needed. This seemed strange to me, but because I was not sleeping more that a couple hours a night and had never arranged a funeral, I was not at my best, and accepted his answer. I was just given the phone number to call when my mother died. When my mother died 5 days later, Purse Funeral Home (and the CA business they contracted with) took possession of her body, arranged for transport, etc. Per prearranged agreement, the funeral was going to be postponed so that all family could travel to MI in the winter weather. In the meantime, I was in contact with the cemetery because I needed to complete paperwork showing my mother had a legal right to the family plot. The cemetery told me the burial had to be completed by a certain time. I communicated with Barry Purse about the cemetery regulations. Bottom line: he wanted the funeral in the afternoon because he had to drive a distance to the location of the funeral. The first question I asked in my first phone contact with the Purses was whether the distance was too far for them to travel, and they said "No". At any rate, he wanted an afternoon funeral, I did not care what time of day the funeral was, but the cemetery said burial had to begin by 2:30 pm. Barry emailed he would get there between 12:00 and 12:30 and take some time to set up. I very politely emailed that I thought that would cut the time too close, and asked if he could arrive between 11:30 and 12:00. In response, Barry Purse emailed me at 9:21pm MI time and said "call another funeral home to accommodate your schedule". In this same email he then said that I had to pay him half of the fees, though he had not performed half of the work. Due to this strange and erratic behavior I lost all confidence in Purse Funeral Home. I found another funeral home and contracted with them to take over the case. When the 2nd funeral home called to arrange to pick up my mother's body they were told it would not be released until payment was made in full with a cashier's check. It is my understanding that refusing to release my mother's body unless I paid the amount they were demanding violated funeral home regulations and/or laws. I did in fact have to pay the amount of money they were demanding by cashier's check (and had to fedex it overnight) before my mother's body was released. My motivation in writing this review is to try to prevent someone else from having to go through the turmoil that I did. Barry and Marilee Purse of Purse Funeral Home took advantage of me at a time that I was vulnerable. I am writing this so that they are not able to do this to others. read more

I read the first review in Yelp prior to having Purse funeral home take care of my brother. I was skeptical and cautious. However my experience could not have been better. My brother died on Dec 19 2017 at Harper hospital. We did not have much money and it was Christmas time. Gary Purse was the man I dealt with a no nonsense type of guy, and seemed to be a straight shooter. The cost was 695.00 for a cremation. No extra charges unless you wanted some upgrades. We could not afford any. I have got to say other places had extra fees that they just don't want to tell you about. Gary picked up my brother on Dec 21 from Harper hospital in Detroit. By Dec 23 I was able to pick up my brother from the funeral home for Christmas. It all was so smooth and my family was thankful to purse funeral home for the wonderful and respectful job that they did. We will be forever grateful. The West family read more

Mom died April 17, 2020 and we needed her cremated. I'd called around shopping for someone to perform this service. We're not at all religious and just wanted a simple cremation. After speaking with Gary Purse I found exactly what we needed. Gary was very up front with me, telling me that he'd have to charge an extra $100 above the website advertised fee of $695 due to the current situation (COVID-19 pandemic). I was pleased, actually amazed, as the fee was about half of the best price form other funeral homes. Most of the other funeral homes tried to push extra stuff into the mix to raise the price. Gary didn't try to sell me anything extra and I thank him for that. When the bill arrived it was exactly $795, just as Gary had promised. There was a small snafu with picking up mom's ashes at the crematorium. The cremains were mistakenly shipped to the funeral home rather than held for pickup. I called Gary and he had the cremains delivered to our front door, actually getting there before we got home. What service! I'm very pleased. read more