Neptune Society

I had to wait a few months so that my anger would not cloud my review. My father passed on June 7^th 2015. We notified the Neptune Society in Woodland Hills on June 8^th. From that point on they made a sad and sensitive situation MUCH worse. First they required both myself and my brother to complete contracts with no real explanation as to why. When they sent out the contracts they were flooded with mistakes, mis spellings, wrong dates etc. I had to go through the contract, correct everything and then FAX it back to them with corrections. It took them another week to get the contracts back to us, again with mistakes. I then had to fix and send them back again. After not receiving any response back from them for a week, we followed up and they gave an excuse that they couldn’t read the files. Needless to say, it took ALMOST A MONTH for them to get their paperwork straight and move things along.
In my efforts to escalate the issue, I tried calling their corporate office listed as in Florida, and got nothing but passed around for 2 days. Finally I was sent back to the office in Woodland Hills and was told they had a new manager. Once we got Dana involved things moved along but that was not until June 29^th. My father was not cremated until July 1^st! They gave us a credit for the cost of the death certificates. .. big deal, but they still billed us the $ 1,600+.
We had enough grief loosing our father, this Neptune Society office just piled on more grief and frustration. I would avoid them at any cost.

Just got a message sent to me regarding customer service to contact in Sherman Oaks. Name and number was on it. Can’t find. Please text message to my phone number on file or email address… Thank you!

Don’t use this service. Simply do not use them. They want your money, but they do not want to perform the paid for services. I think they must stall the process in hopes another entity will step in and complete the process. It is a nightmare added on to the grief your loved ones will already be feeling. A complete nightmare.

After reading the reviews for the Neptune Society, I felt compelled to write mine. My loved one passed on August 30. I called in the early morning hours and Kathy was my contact. She could not have been more compassionate, sensitive and professional to me in a very emotional and stressful time. She was always available to answer my concerns and eager to help. Thank-​you.

This company is not what you think it is! My ex husband passed on Sept 1. It was supose to be just 2 weeks for death certs and cremation. Well now its going on 3 weeks! Kathy Lowe should be fired! She lied to my kids giving different dates as to when the cremation was happenening. They were suppose to pick up everything yesterday and come to find out he wasnt even cremated yet! So all of a sudden they were able to do it last night, so my son goes to pick up remains and certs. and she misspelled the middle name incorrect, blaming it on the state, but it was her info that they copied!!! So now we have to wait until the correction is made etc. I would never reccommend them to anyone, you woud be better off going to a mortuary. Incompetant people working there. This is already a sad time, these people are suppose to make it better!!! So just remember, DO Not go to the one in Sherman Oaks and deal with Kathy Lowe!!!

I have called these people over and over again to stop sending me letters in the mail. The message, apparently, has not sunk in. I’ve already filed a complaint with the BBB — I hope that teaches them a lesson in not respecting people’s wishes to be left alone.

Horrible. They dont believe in returning phone calls, responding to emails and everything they send you is a constant attempt to up sell. More involved urn, more jewelry to put the cremains in. They are ridiculously expensive anyway and then to try to sell more??? Wtf? There are far better and more reasonable places

The reviews for this company are quite drastic. I suppose that is how it might be for a company that handles such delicate matters. We definitely looked at Unilocal reviews before choosing Neptune Society and it made me hesitant, but we still decided to have a consultation with them. As it turns out, we had a nearly perfect experience with Neptune Society particularly thanks to Carolyn Simpson.
We may have started off on the wrong foot when there was a mishap with the body pick up. However, after a conversation and apology from Carolyn, we were back on track.
Sometimes people are brought together for a certain reason. Without going into too much detail, as we were making arrangements with Carolyn and answering questions, it became clear that Carolyn had a lot of empathy for our situation. She gave us tips and advice and really understood our situation.
Seeing as this was my first time dealing with cremation and services for a loved one, I would suggest being as involved as possible and as thorough as possible. If you have a question, do not be afraid to speak up and ask! Read everything you are signing. If something seems fishy, don’t sign it. Ask why or change it. I told Carolyn I am always available via telephone and email and boy, she was on it. We talked on the phone everyday. But that gave me peace of mind I needed.
Two more things to point out: my Mom wanted a mini keepsake urn to keep some of my father’s cremains in. At first, we were going to have to wait until after the service to receive it which was a bit inconvenient. But upon our last meeting with Carolyn at the office, she was able to find the keep sake urn my Mom wanted brand new still packaged at the office and gave that to my Mom instead. Again, we just had to speak up and ask.
The service itself was quite lovely. Captain Alice clearly has been doing this for a long time and knows the routine. But that is exactly what my family and I needed. After having gone through so much after my Father’s death, it was nice to have someone else take charge and steer the boat.

These horrible money grabbing people who hope that you die so they can make money.
They keep sending these prepaid cremation notices to me.
what is it… I have another birthday… oh yes… lets go down the list. there she is. lets send her another one. pre paid cremation. I would rather crawl into the oven myself. cheaper
after I posted the above, they sent me a message saying they would take me off the list but it would take some time…(hoping that I will die in the meantime?)

We had a pleasant experience with Jennifer and I found her to be very kind and sympathetic. We called them, the came and picked up my father in a timely fashion and took care of everything. They were responsive and professional. It did take about a week or so to get the death certificate but we weren’t in a rush. Everything went as it should in a difficult and trying time.

Our family has worked with Neptune Society for 3 family deaths over the past 25 years.
Most recently in May for the death of our mother, at Neptune Society, Sherman Oaks, California. All the actual cremation services I believe went as prescribed. There was a glitch in communication in dealing with when death certificates were available for pick up.
What I am impressed with is how the miscue by Neptune was handled. Fairly, quickly, and respectfully.
How a company handles errors and dissatisfied clients is more important than when things go 100% as planned.
All organizations have missteps, and how they are handled is more telling than when things go smoothly.
I have the highest respect in manager Chris A. at Sherman Oaks, CA and how she listened thoroughly to my frustration and then calmly and adroitly addressed the situation.

I lost my Father recently and was devastated. Jennifer was so kind and understanding, as well as, the staff. Jennifer smoothed out the bumps along the way and I received the VIP treatment from her. I’m in a stressful situation, with a sibling that can’t conduct herself in a reasonable manner and Jennifer has endured above and beyond with a great attitude. Thank you.

This is a terrible company. They left my father at the coroner’s office for over 2 weeks when he should have been picked up after one day. Jennifer was too lazy to go get him. No one from Neptune called me or did anything to find out what was happening. They just forgot about me and my family. I have tried talking to Caroline and Jennifer but no one will return my calls. Do not trust this corporation with your money or your loved ones. They do not care.
UPDATE: After I posted this review Jennifer called a family member and asked my family member to ask me, to take down this review. Rather than calling me or addressing my family’s concerns, she calls a family member to ask them, to ask me, to take down my review. Our family deserved better than this.

What an unethical non empathetic way to deal with ones grief. My experience was appalling– I have no words that can describe how a company that is dealing with the end of life arrangements could be so unorganized and unsympathetic– much less leave out pert ant details that would cause the delay of our loved ones remains. The process was so horrific being passed to 4 different sales people –wen all along we were waiting to hear that my grandmas ashes were on the way!!! Thank God that another local cremation service was able to step in and handle our needs in this already difficult time!!! No one should have to arrange a loved ones funeral twice — once in crises and then while grieving!!! People need to come together and report these issues! A matter of fact class action sounds better!!! I would have given NO STARS

Why can I not give these idiots ZERO stars?
a. High pressure sales idiots. John Harland alias Boris Bagdassarroff is absolutely off-​putting, pressured my aunt and uncle (seniors) to sign the contract, and had the audacity to talk about «buyers remorse» when I asked what we’d get back if we broke the contract. STAY OFF THESE GUYS. They market products to seniors and get people to sign contracts under duress
b. On the day of passing, a counselor is supposed to be allotted to us, but half a day on, they have not done so (we paid two grand for a Gold Level cremation service)
The counselor from Neptune made 10 mistakes in a 13 page contract.
I will revisit this if it turns out better when grandma is cremated, but these guys are absolute tools. STAY AWAY. Seniors — record every second that you spend with Boris Bogdasarroff. Audio and video
Rob

Sorry to say but we are a «return customer» after our first family death eight weeks ago. Must say that Carolyn was a pleasure and a blessing to work with. Very attentive and helped guide us through the paperwork and whole process. Thank you for the care, support and taking such good care of our beloved grandmother’s wishes and remains…

This company is terrible, insensitive, keep sending this info to older people, upsetting them and they are told not to do so, they ignore it and keep doing it again and again.
Company like that shouldn’t be in this type of business or in any. I would never would use company which doesn’t understand that NO means NO.

Losing my partner of 23 years was very difficult, especially in a world where there is so much hate. We were afraid to be waving a rainbow flag for that reason so we never married, to my great sorrow. It’s been hard to express my loss while trying to be vague, but a wonderfully sweet & understanding woman named Carolyn Simpson was so nice and never once made me feel like my partner & I’s love was lesser than for any reason. They are very helpful and there are so many lovely options. At first I was looking through the expected Grecian urns, etc and then saw a lovely stained glass lamp, so much like Tiffany lamps she had that she thought so pretty, and I could just feel her standing there pointing at my screen going «That one!» They worked out a package for me that let me have the lamp, a small keepsake urn, a basic box for the bulk with a pretty brass plate engraved with a fave song lyric and a nice clipart of a piano with music wafting over it, and finally the small silver heart with a pinch of my true love inside that says «Always in my heart» that will be around my neck ’til they carry me out feet first.
Thank you, Carolyn! You helped make things just a bit less difficult.

I have been receiving repeated mail from this company, without request. When I finally got so sick of getting repeated junk mail in my mailbox that simply throwing it out wouldn’t do, I first went through the papers in the envelope — no information on how to cease mail. Then I went to their website — no information there, either, and not even a number to call that isn’t their emergency services number. When I finally called that number, and asked to be directed to someone who could cancel the mail to me, the man on the other end hung up on me.
This is appalling service — what a joke!

My father passed away a few weeks ago, and I wanted to take the time to write about my experience with Neptune Society, especially in light of some of the negative reviews I have seen on Unilocal.
My parents had paid for the company’s services close to twenty years ago, and I was a bit concerned if there would be any issues. I knew that even the smallest problem could prove horrendous at the time of my father’s death, so when the doctor’s told us that the end was approaching after an illness & decline over many years, we called Neptune Society to find out ahead of time about the process. They informed us that the account was paid in full and in good standing. In fact, if my mother wished, she could have hospice care team from the hospital make the phone call at the time, which they in fact did, saving her the trouble.
The two gentlemen who came to collect the body were professional, respectful, and made the experience as palatable as something like this can be. They sat with my mother for about 30 minutes, gently asking her for the necessary information, then set about their work. Everything went as smooth as possible.
A few days later, I spoke with Trevor B. at Neptune Society who explained the remaining steps, including the purpose of the death certificates. He patiently walked through each possible situation which would require a death certificate, and helped me to arrive at a reasonable number to order. He also emailed documents to have signed and return, and also sent them by post just to be safe.
My father was cremated, and we opted to pick up his remains from the Sherman Oaks office. I arranged a time of day with Trevor, and he was promptly waiting with the death certificates.
I am greatly reassured given the professionalism and helpful manner exhibited by Trevor and Neptune Society, especially since I will at some point have to go through this process again for my mother. At times of loss, the emotional toll is so great that any difficulty can appear compounded by grief. I am so relieved that nothing in our dealing with this company and their employees added to what was already a very sad & difficult time for our family.