I chose RPM because they seemed compassionate, professional, they only do private cremations for $290 and they offered a scheduled private cremation for an additional $75 which I found to be a fair exchange.
I spent a lot of time on the phone asking questions and getting clear about what was to happen with my pet and I was given every assurance that his body would be handled with care and reverence and with my wishes in mind. I requested that he be cremated with his special blanket. They said it was against the rules and bad for the environment. I understood so I asked that he stay wrapped up in his blanket the entire time. I arranged with my vet that they ALSO do this. I felt nervous that they wouldn't carry out these wishes or that I had not made myself perfectly clear, so I asked my friend to call and make perfectly, double sure that they would keep him wrapped up in his blanket.
When I arrived an hour early this morning, I drove around a bit until someone arrived. 30 minutes before my appointment a man walked up to my car with a large black trashbag full of a very large something. My heart skipped a beat before I knew it couldn't be my baby in there. Whew! Then he says it's his blanket and that he wanted to make sure I got it back. I felt sad and stunned to have it back so soon. Where was my dog? Why wasn't he wrapped up? I was in a daze. When they called me in for the viewing, my dog had been very well preserved. No complaints about that. He was laying on some other blanket...just some random blanket with a southwest print on it belonging to who knows? I tried to tell myself that it didn't matter. He was gone anyway?
I had my friend call Royal Pet and she talked to the exact same woman, Stephanie and asked her if my dog had stayed wrapped up in the blanket. She said, "Yes". She told her how I felt and how it wasn't a pleasant experience to have that change of plan and her story was that they really wanted to make sure I got the blanket back. I was paying to be with my dog in his blanket so I think it was pretty certain I could take the blanket at the appropriate time but she did not seem to be able to grasp this simple concept. For some reason, Stephanie called me personally even though my friend had already conveyed her assurances. I repeated my grief about the way things were handled and she did not apologize or behave accountably in any way. She did say that she was sorry that those wishes were not conveyed to "us". She repeated that twice. I replied, "They most certainly were and I am sorry that you can not own that." She called back and left a message that I feel I will not be able to listen to today as this is the hardest thing I've ever had to do and I was doing it all alone. The blanket belonged to a person who could not be present and it was supposed to be the way I saw him--in his blanket. I knew it would be the easiest way to see him and be okay. I thought I was done with these people but it only got worse from there.
When I went for pick up, the lady at the front desk at Pet Haven Cemetery (who I will be dealing with directly in the future if necessary), apologized for the inconvenience. SHE'D done nothing wrong. I was paying RPM to handle my arrangements not her but thanked her anyway. At that moment, Neal, the general manager from Royal called and asked to speak to me. Thinking he may make things better, I took the phone and he began barking out that my vet never told them to keep my dog wrapped in the blanket (thereby revealing that they NEVER DID! Such liars!) I told him it wasn't my vet's responsibility to tell them anything! I told him that two of us had conveyed our wishes to Stephanie and he only said, "Well, you never talked to me!" I said, "I don't even know you. Why are you making this awful? You messed up and you don't even say you're sorry? I don't want to talk about this anymore." He said, "Well, I have a problem. I'm not releasing his ashes until you have paid me." I was shocked. I'd already patiently read my credit card over and over to someone from RPM last week when I made these arrangements when my dog was still alive! I told him I never said I wouldn't pay and that I was going to the car to get my credit card. I called my friend to help me figure out if the transaction had already gone through. She couldn't believe this guy was doing this especially since the first thing I told the man who handed me the trash bag with the blanket inside was, "Do you need my credit card?" Anyway, I get inside & they say, "Neal is on the phone and he apologizes. It's all cleared up. You're paid up. You can have your dog's ashes." Well, thank you RPM for being moronic, incapable, untrustworthy and unaccountable so I could appreciate my dog even more! It is only common sense that someone who wanted her dog WRAPPED up in her blanket would actually expect that he be WRAPPED up in her blanket til the end and not someone else's. read more