If you have been unfortunate enough to have to make funeral arrangements you have probably had the…read moredispleasure of coming face to face with some to the sleaziest and shameless individuals you might ever meet. Most have no qualms about playing on your grief and weakened state to hit you with markups and up charges. If you are in a place where you can pay attention to details you quickly learn that you should never order anything (flowers, catering, car service, etc) from the funeral home. They tend to average 200% - 800% markups. This is especially true where the casket is concerned. Luckily for me a friend had been though this and pointed me to this business. Direct Casket Outlet despite the sound of its name is a small locally owned business. It is a bit out of the way to find, but worth the trip. The husband and wife that own it handle pretty much everything them selfs so there is little risk of anything falling though the cracks. They were patient and understanding. It was very clear that their only focus was on what we needed and what they could do to help us. Not only did they NEVER push us to spend more they actually talked us into spending $1000 less! Let me repeat that. They knowingly gave up an additional $1000 just because they did not believe it was in our interest to spend it! That is a VERY rare thing to find any more. This is not anything I look forward to going though again, but when it does happen this where I will be going. Not just for the casket, but for recommendations for funeral homes and anything else we might need. I was that impressed and trust them that much!

Recently I suddenly lost my younger brother who is a single father of three children ages 18, 14,…read moreand 12. After learning the devastating news my mother and I began the horrible task of funeral planning. At the time we were deciding between a casket or a cremation. His oldest son accompanied us to the casket store but we told him to wait outside in the car.. As my mother and I sat down at the table with one of the owners (the older one) he was very abrupt in speech and did not seem at all sympathetic to our situation. For him it was business as usual I suppose. When we told him we may need a specialized casket b/c my brother happened to be obese, the older owner said, "Oh yeah, I heard we had a big boy in. How much did he weigh? Whew!!!" "That's a big dude!" My mother and I gasp at his boldness. By that time my nephew had walked in to ask a question and heard what the owner said. My nephew said, "How rude!" and walked back out. A phone call was made to the funeral home that held my brother to find out what size casket would be needed to accommodate the bigger size. Again this owner was very uncaring in his demeanor and non nonchalant as to whether he would be able to help or not. About that time some more customers came in and he turned his attention away from us and went to go help the incoming customers. The younger co-owner took over from there. I voiced my concerns about the behavior of the older owner. There were apologies on his behalf, however we did not feel the need to purchase any items from the casket store. We left the store feeling bruised and insulted. I don't plan to step foot in store again.

I received a call informing me of the very unexpected death of my father, late afternoon, on…read moreMarch 27th. I called my wife and I left work so we could start the 6 hour drive to Independence. The next morning we started to initiate a plan because my father did not make any arrangements. I was unfamiliar with any local services and relied on faith when I chose Newcomers Noland Road Chapel from my google search. We were able to meet with Don Birney and discuss our options. We really relied on his experience to guide us. What I expected to be a difficult task turned out to be extremely easy and affordable. Don was very compassionate and thorough during his assistance. Since my father was a Veteran, Don informed us of veteran's assistance. We had arrangements completed within an hour. We had many other matters to attend to and Don assured us he would continue to oversee my father's arrangements as well as the death certificate procedure. We returned to Illinois and Don stayed in daily contact with updates. His perseverance with getting the death certificate signed was invaluable. I received my father's remains in a very timely manner. I can't express enough our appreciation and satisfaction with Don and Newcomers. I highly recommend them for your family.

From the owner: Celebrating each life like no other…read more Each one of us is unique with our own story to tell. As North America's largest provider of funeral, cremation and cemetery services, Dignity Memorial professionals excel at helping families create meaningful tributes that truly celebrate the lives of the individuals they represent.With an extensive network of more than 2,000 locations throughout the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, Dignity Memorial providers offer families personalized services and advanced-planning options to meet any need. From the simple to the extraordinary, your Dignity Memorial professionals are here to see that your special story is told.

From the moment we met Nichole, we felt at peace and knew we had made the right decision with…read moreNewcomers funeral home in Independence, Missouri. She put our family at ease, she was professional, sympathetic, listened attentively and offered guidance and suggestions. We went in late afternoon on a Friday to make arrangements and Nichole went above and beyond to make everything happen so the funeral could be on Monday so our loved ones could all be there! The price was very affordable. My Mother looked beautiful and peaceful. Nicole made a difficult and stressful time for us comforting, She is a lovely lady and a blessing! I would highly recommend Newcomers funeral home in Independence ! The Family of Dolores Siegrist

When my friend Vickie passed away I was told her service would be at Newcomer's funeral home in…read moreIndependence, MO on Noland Rd. When I called a gentleman by the name of Don Birney answered my call. I explained that I was calling to make sure this was the correct funeral home where my friend would be having her service. He confirmed that she was there. I informed Don that I live in Arizona and was wondering if he could recommend a florist for me. He gave me a name and number of a florist. (TLF Alissa Flowers and I) he also informed me that Newcomer's does not receive any form of compensation from them. Don then proceeded to give me the details for Vickie's service. I called the florist and a lovely lady took my call. I must apologize I don't recall her name. She took so much time with me. I told her what colors of flowers that I would like for my friend. She then explained what color the vase, types, and colors of flowers that would be in the arrangement. I highly recommend them. Comes the day of the service I call Newcomer's funeral home, and Don answers the phone. I ask if there's any way I could watch her service.He was able to bring a laptop into the chapel so I could watch and listen to the entire service. Cassie (Vickie's daughter) even talked with me. At the end of the service Don took the laptop up to Vickie so I could see her one last time and say my good-byes. Don went out of his way to accommodate me and gave so much compassion to me when I wasn't able to be there and say good-by to friend. Thank you Don for all you Kindness, Debbie Savona

Empathic and took care of several important notifications. Taylor comforted me several times as I…read moream the Executor of our mother's affairs. Thank you$

Carson-Speaks honored my step dad's pre-need plan. It was a plan bought from the man who went…read morebankrupt, and didn't return any of the money and is now in jail. I vaguely remember it in the news about 15 years ago, but heard about it almost every time I talked with my mom. Our first visit with Carson-Speaks was on July 5th. That gave us only a day or so planning cause of July 4th. My stepdad passed on July 3rd. Seriously, though, the team at Carson-Speaks moves fast. We did the regular meet with the funeral home appointment. Arrangements and settings were explained, and selected. No funeral home appointment is joyous or uplifting, even though they call it a celebration. It's really not a celebration, but I appreciate the selling point. The fact that they are selling something was subliminal, and not noticed with our first funeral director. Our first funeral director did a great job. We appointed a celebrant cause there is no religious affiliation. They gave us a choice of poems, 10 pages of poems, one of which was selected to be printed in the program. We went through over 200 poems on July 5th, and returned to Carson-Speaks the 6th with our selection. On the 6th, we met with the appointed celebrant, for more than 2 hours. My stepdad was a war hero, and it was a full military honors funeral. A special award is given in his honor. The first one was presented to us at the funeral, by a speaker I set up and arranged. The connections went smooth, and I was pleased. On July 6th, we had a different funeral director, who reminded me of a salesman. He was okay, but his personality and energy level seemed high strung and inaccurate. But everyone has different personalities. On the day of the funeral, it went smooth, except for one thing that was never explained to us: a picture on the program was missing. When we picked up the flowers and pictures and picture boards I had made on July 6th yesterday,, our easels were missing from our pictures. It was questioned then, about the lack of a picture on the fold out. It was suggested that this be explained to other customers. That's my main complaint. The rest was really nice, with full military honors at the grave site. They thanked us for selecting "Carson-Speaks for our time of need" after the military honors...It's okay, for a selling point. They gave us a flag cover, shell casings, and it was a very honorable event. I would use them again, hopefully not soon. I will request a picture on the program. The programs appear vacant. They provided us thank you notes, which is going to keep me busy today, so I need to get off of Yelp and get started.

This is regarding a cemetery for which Park Lawn is responsible. Glenridge Cemetery. Owned, I…read morebelieve by Henry DeVry or Hank DeVry. For Memorial Day, he had a ground crew do the once a year spruce up the cemetery because people will be coming event. It looked decent this year except for several flat stones had mower tire track mud on them, including a couple of my loved ones. I would have cleaned off the mud from my vehicle, I had already put away my cleaning supplies, rake, broom, brush, weed eater from when I was there a couple of days ago since, in my opinion, the place isn't properly taken care of like it should be so I have to take care of the ones I love myself. Like it used to be when the Johnson's were caretakers. They did an immaculate job maintaining the cemetery. Again, only my opinion, Hank DeVry/#Henry DeVry is a fraud. He acts all caring when you are making funeral plans, choosing a casket (cha-ching) but put one little complaint about the property he is supposed to maintain, he will not hesitate to call you on the phone, bitching at you so loud it makes your teeth rattle, DEMANDING, not requesting, you remove your complaint. That happened to a friend of mine whose husband is at Glenridge Cemetery. It makes me want to vomit. Hank, you could have had the lawn people or someone or possibly you (I think you believe you live in the real Camelot so you probably think cleaning a sign is beneath you) clean the rules of the cemetery sign because it's still filthy, as is the pond. I guess they did an okay job but I find it disrespectful to run over a flat headstone with muddy mower tires and not clean it up. Shame on you. When will you grow a pair and treat the deceased and their families at Glenridge Cemetery with decency and respect? At your age, never, I'm afraid. Please try.

First class customer service and accommodating staff. They went above any beyond to make our…read moregrandmothers service special.

Our family could not have had a better experience with the care and assistance with the passing of…read moreour father. Due to the nature and circumstances of his passing, McGilley's went above and beyond expectation to accommodate a drive by service of large magnitude to honor our fallen hero. Chris guided our family with the proper arrangements and decision which had to be made in a timely manner. The memorial allowed family and friends, near and far, to be apart of the service. At all times we received the utmost professionalism from the staff at McGilley's . A sincere thank you and much gratitude from the children and family of Robert "Bobby" Rocha.

From the owner: Celebrating each life like no other…read more Each one of us is unique with our own story to tell. As North America's largest provider of funeral, cremation and cemetery services, Dignity Memorial professionals excel at helping families create meaningful tributes that truly celebrate the lives of the individuals they represent.With an extensive network of more than 2,000 locations throughout the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, Dignity Memorial providers offer families personalized services and advanced-planning options to meet any need. From the simple to the extraordinary, your Dignity Memorial professionals are here to see that your special story is told.