Local Cremation

Everybody at Local Cremation were very friendly and professional. Had a great experience. Asked them to help with some additional tasks that were a bit more difficult because the cemetary is in a small TX town, difficult to locate both the cemetary itself and the people responsible for burial. They handled all the details to perfection. We had a burial-​side service — the display, the seating, the awning, all was very well done. The family and guests were very pleased with the outcome. And Sonya Giles in the Arlington office handled everything superbly — 6 stars for her !

We had a great experience given the sad circumstances. Audra was truly a breath of fresh air. She was professional, warm and just a good person. I cannot say enough about our experience. I’m so grateful for all she did.

DO NOT use Local Cremation! When you are looking for a vendor to help you with a very intimate and difficult experience, these are NOT the people to turn to. I contacted them about a month and a half ago to make pre-​arrangements for my father’s cremation. I was put in touch with a man named, Anton, who promptly sent me an email with a quote on how much the cost would be, as well as the process. I attempted to follow up with this individual for an entire month! He never answered a single email of mine. When I would call their offices, I was given the complete run-​around. No one was willing to step up and help, but instead would push you off to someone else because it was «not their job.» You can only imagine my frustration with them. When facing a very difficult situation such as a death in the family, you would expect the people at a funeral/​cremation service to have empathy and work with you. That is not what these people are about!
Finally after an entire month and a half of trying to get help, I was directed to a man named Jim. I spoke to him about what I needed and gave him my email address, I was direct and short with him stating that all I need was for him to send me the paperwork. At this point, I was ready to work with another service but wanted to give them one last chance. A day goes by and still no email from Jim. I called him the next morning to let him know that I did not receive his email and he berates me. Instead of trying to resolve the situation, he blames every other person and situation, not even willing to look and see if he sent it to the wrong address (he wouldn’t bother because it wasn’t in front of him). I had to hang up the phone because I couldn’t take any more of it.
The entire experience was completely inappropriate, unprofessional and this business needs to look into their internal network because if you are unable to follow-​up, be professional, have empathy, then you are in the wrong business.
Go with another company who will take your needs seriously. All the best to you!

My experience started out ok — the price was right, they seemed friendly and they came out quickly to get the body after they let us wait until everyone came by. However, make sure you ask them if the remains will «fit» in the urn — they called to tell me that our remains were ready to be picked-​up; when I got there, she said, «oh, he didn’t fit in the urn you picked — you can scatter the rest of the remains and/​or put them in keep-​sakes.» She said that it was because he was a tall man, but since he was 5’10″, old, and extremely skinny when he died, it made me wonder if they had the right body. I would have thought they would have told me about any sizing limitations on the urns before you pick them out and buy them. Oh, and they had put the urn in a flimsy white paper shopping bag like you would get from a store, as though I was going to just leave and everything would be ok. I stated that this would NOT be ok with my mother and they allowed me to shop for a new urn. I asked for assurance that ALL of his ashes would be transferred to the new urn (old urn rinsed or something?, since I knew nothing about how they got all the ashes out of the old one and into the new one — all they could say was «yes, we will, but the urn you originally picked couldn’t hold the plastic bag we usually put inside» — again — hmmmm. A few days later, they called to say the remains were ready — this time, again, they had it in a paper bag — I said, «don’t you have a box, like the box the urn probably came in, so I can carry it in my car without it flopping all over the place?» They found one and wrapped the urn in bubble wrap so I thought it was ok and left. When I got the new urn home, I noticed that the coating had come off in some spots and it had scratches on the top — I wonder if someone’s ring scratched it? I didn’t have the time, patience or emotion to go back and complain. I felt like my experience was ok but left an awful lot of room for improvement. If you don’t know the answer, don’t make something up and be a little more mindful upfront so no one else has to go through this!