Borthwick Mortuary

On Saturday December 12, 2015 I had attended a funeral service for one of my aunties. Her service was held in the Maunakea building of the Borthwick Mortuary.
Josephine Ahsing aka Aunty Jojo, of Ewa Beach, was a retired part time employee from Aloha Stadium. She will be greatly missed by all her family members and close friends.
As I entered the building I noticed that towards the left side of the building was the reception area where the tables and chairs were set up. There was a section for the juice and coffee dispensers closer to the other exit door. As well as couple tables set up for the catered food. There was another room located passed the restrooms.
The chapel itself was located across of the entrance doors. As I entered the chapel section I noticed there were three flat screen televisions and the room could hold as much as 100 individuals.
I believe the entire room was filled with Aunty Jojo Ahsing’s family members and friends. More people were out in the reception area as well.
Aunty Jojo… you will be greatly missed. You are now reunited with your beloved husband Henry. You are our guardian angel along with other family members in heaven. Give our Aloha to everyone.

A funeral is a sad occasion and having to plan one at the last minute makes a bad experience worse. Except this time. A friend of mine lost his father unexpectedly and there were no funeral plans at all. Plus this was the first funeral he’s ever had to plan. He asked for my recommendation for funeral services and I suggested Borthwick and a few others. He selected Borthwick and it turned out well for him. From removal of his dad’s body from the house to the cremation to setting up the memorial service, BJ, Nicole and the rest of the staff at Borthwick Mortuary, worked with the family to make this sad process as efficient as possible. I know from experience having disconnects after a death in the family makes things much worse. They helped my friend set everything up and the memorial service was conducted in a somber, yet timely manner to allow attendees time to meet the family to offer their condolences, share memories of the deceased and talk to each other. The alter was simple and set up in a very tasteful arrangement. After the service, mourners were ushered into an adjacent room where refreshments were served and folks had a chance to meet. Even with this being a catered affair, there was no harassment by any of the Borthwick staff that everyone needed to leave immediately. I’m glad my friend went with my recommendation and Borthwick were able to help him. The only reason this is not four stars is their prices are significantly higher than other funeral services but again, it all goes back to what you want. For myself, I would be willing to pay for the best to get the best.

Receptionist is super rude. Not really professional at all. If I could give them a big zero or even a minus star I would. Too bad we didn’t know this sooner. SCI should do better in hiring. NO CLASS!

Borthwick is owned by CSI the largest funeral home operator & cemetery operator in USA. It appears that their pricing for funeral services are on the high end. On the mainland CA they are facing lawsuits. As the largest operator there r advantages and disadvantages.
It is best and cheaper if you pre buy your funeral plans.
I find it amazing that this industry charges for every service individually guess thats where airlines learned to nickel and dime you to death.

Very poor service.
Used them many times, and twice in the past 7 years, and still poor service every time we need them. Next time we’re using someone else. Anyone else.
Paid for a plan many decades ago, they act like they already used that money, so they help us reluctantly, with no desire to earn the money they received and enjoyed for many years.
Multiple contact attempts needed for every action. No response, measured in weeks. They say they will call back, and they don’t.
Name plaques take 90+ days, and are spelled wrong, and need to be re-​ordered again. Everytime I come back, after a family member dies, all new people. I guess this is not a long term career for anyone?
If I could un-​cremate, and un-​bury from them, and their related Hawaiian Memorial Park in Kaneohe, I would.
For orientation and training, they should be required to watch the Japanese film Departures on Netflix and see what true compassion is like.
Does Costco have memorial services? That should be their next service offering, so they can put Dignity Memorial Corporation out to pasture, for good.

When my grandfather passed away, we did all of our arrangements through Borthwick.
My grandparents bought their plan decades ago, but the mortuary was fantastic about going through everything they were entitled to.
We met with a counselor who was incredibly kind and patient, and when part of the plan was unclear, he made sure that my grandparents got all the benefits of their plan. When we left our meeting and forgot to sign one of the papers, he knew where we’d gone and jumped in his car to meet us there to make sure we got it done.
On the day of the services, they had everything ready to go for us, the catering was perfect, the staff was incredibly helpful, and our funeral director hung around the whole time to make sure we had everything, but was never obtrusive or pushy.
After the service, they gave my grandmother a pile of thank you notes, and when she ran out, they made sure she got more. They also mailed over three hundred envelopes for her.
From the planning to the services to the follow up, everyone down to the parking attendant was extremely kind and helpful. With so much to do, my family and I were so grateful they made everything so easy.

I’ve come here several times for services and never had a problem. The parking is fine and the attendants are friendly and helpful. The service area can accomodate different religious beliefs. The audiovisual system is great… i enjoy seeing photos from the loved one’s past and learning mpre about them. The kitchen area has a sink and adequate counter space for food prep. The renovated restroom is clean and well stocked… there is potpourri and a live plant on the counter!
The mortuary provided pens, envelopes, & a beautiful book with removable pages for guests to sign in and space for newspaper clippings and other memorabilia. Overall, we had many good experiences here.

Borthwick changed General Managers in recent years. The new guy they got from the mainland after Borthwick joined a big regional funeral group — is horrible. I understand the company morale went down the drain. Employees are unhappy with the way he treats them. Word is the position had gone to his head and treats everyone in Hawaii poorly being that he is from the mainland. You know the type.
They really miss the last General Manager who the mainland group replaced with this clown. More and more of the old employees are leaving the company. Too bad — one person ruins a long time successful local company. Sad!!! Just look at all the bad reviews.

It is such a pity to read all these negative reviews because I have had nothing but a great experience with this mortuary and its staff, during the hardest time of my life when my brother was killed in Afghanistan (April 2012) while serving for the U.S. Army.
From the moment we walked in, we were made to feel welcome. In fact, the receptionist started to cry after we told her our story. Jerry was the representative assigned to us. He appeared always confident and knowledgeable with the right combination empathy for our loss. Everything was well coordinated at Borthwick, even the burial at Punchbowl cemetery. He even had extra staff working with him the day of the funeral.
I suppose perhaps it was because my brother’s death was a high profile one. He was in the media for three weeks, from the moment of his death to when he was finally buried. Because so, the mortuary probably already knew that state politicians and military dignitaries as well as the media would be there for the memorial. And they fully prepared for it. This is an assumption, but probably as a result, Borthwick staff kept themselves in line and were just extra careful with everything. And top it off with the fact that the military paid 100% of whatever we wanted, so we never had contract or billing issues as everything was taken cared of through the military’s mortuary affairs office. The whole process, which I never want to repeat in my lifetime, was seamless and easy. Perhaps Bothwick did well for us because of all these reasons. But, it also shows that they are capable of doing very well and having very little serious issues, too. They have been in business for a long time and I’m sure if they have been consistently bad that they’d be out of business a long time ago.
I do have a few minor gripes as follows:
1) Parking was tight and limited, but there was a parking attendant directing the flow of traffic.
2) The supposed «limo» we rented for lots of money to ride 3 miles to Punchbowl cemetery looked like a converted hearse, and I didn’t feel I was riding in a limo.
3) It was extra cold in the chapel that some people had to step out; it was so cold I swear I saw my breath a few times.
4) I overheard one of Jerry’s assistant/​colleague tell someone else that he should have ironed the flag draped on my brother’s coffin because he thought it had some wrinkles. It did. Why didn’t they iron it?
5) That same assistant/​colleague manned the video control during the memorial service and he started one of the videos in the wrong spot even with a very long pause. I had to go back there to tell him where to start. To which he tells me he got it. But he did not. It was all wrong and awkward for the person singing and waiting for her cue. I never forgot this, as it was the single biggest problem we had to what was an almost perfect memorial.
I did look at the invoice. Everything was well over priced. Even if we didn’t have to pay anything out-​of-​pocket, I still cringed at the prices — ick!
Having someone you love die is already very difficult. Final arrangements should be made simple. We were unlucky because of my brother’s death, but we were lucky because Borthwick took very good care of us and I’m surprised by all the lower ratings.

I have to agree with all the reviews seen so far. My father suddenly passed away in February and I had to make a split decision on which mortuary service to go to as I was standing over his body. I was on the phone with his doctor who had just pronounced him and he mentioned two mortuaries that he knew of, one in town and one outside of town. I didn’t have the composure to think about looking up reviews. I had to handle things right then. I went with Borthwick and had a very bad experience.
The body removal team was great and compassionate. Two big Hawaiian guys with a lot of aloha. Jessie was the lead brother’s name. They contract with everyone and they were the best part of the bad experience. Borthwick followed up with me and arranged a meeting the next day or the day after. That ended up getting postponed because something came up at their end. No problem.
I met with one of their people (counselors, do they call them? Salesmen is more appropriate, I think) and called in my siblings for a group call so we could decide together. We needed simply for my father to be transported to FL for burial in the family plot. We would need him embalmed and flown. Everything was in the Dignity Provider network, so there was nothing to worry about. Billing would all be done at one side. The salesman said we could buy the casket at their end or at their affiliate’s end in FL. If we wanted to get the casket in FL, they would ship him in a free container, which the salesman described as a type of «cardboard box». We laughed at the idea of someone who just lost their father the day before shipping him halfway across the world in a cardboard box. We literally laughed out loud and said we would get the casket in Hawaii. Unfortunately, there was little selection. We could get one of three caskets since my Dad was on the larger side – the blue metallic, the ivory white (for women), or a wooden casket. They were all the same price of roughly $ 3K. We would have to pay that to Borthwick up front. As well as the flight costs. I returned the next day to find out that the flight costs, which we had to pay up front, would be about 50% more for oversized cargo. That was annoying. Then I later heard the flight was delayed, although it didn’t affect us and was beyond their control, really. I had asked the salesman how much we should be expecting to pay at the other end since we were paying roughly $ 4K or $ 5K with them. I was told we were getting all kinds of discounts since it was all in-​network and that we could expect a low figure of $ 1295 or something. I thought that was pretty good. In the meantime, we were filling out the paperwork for the obituary and I had to get back in touch with our salesman about a few of the details. After I had paid for everything, I sent him a series of emails about the obituary without ever hearing back. My brother emailed him. No response. From the point of payment on, we never heard back from our salesman. Not once.
When we got to FL we were shocked to meet up with the funeral home and get a bill for almost $ 6K. We were warned that there may be small extra charges here or there for tent setup, etc, but even with these figured in, it shouldn’t have been 3−4x the price estimated to us. The funeral director in FL told us, when we mentioned our shock, that part of the problem in price was that we spent 3x what they charge for the casket in FL. Which explained the characterization of the temporary free container as being a «cardboard box». I emailed our salesman in Hawaii again. No response. The director of the home in FL said that I would be getting a mailing from JD Power and Associates and that I should be sure to share my experience with them. I said I would certainly do so.
When I returned to Hawaii I miraculously got a call from Borthwick. They had my death certificates. I told her I was astonished to hear back from them. She said she would have a manager call me. I got a call later from a manager who was in his car driving somewhere. I explained over 30 minutes what happened and all the problems. He said he would «counsel» the salesman and get back to me. He got back in touch late and said that he had let his salesman know about the concerns. He did not address some of the other issues that I had (that I have not mentioned here for brevity’s sake). I wrote back to him and never heard back. After a month or so I got the JD Power and associate questionnaire. I was brutally honest. A few months went by and suddenly I got an email from the same person who never returned my email months before. All of a sudden he wanted to look into the problem. I sent him the bills and he wrote back explaining the line items and explained to me how our bill was actually on the cheap side. I didn’t follow up. Every time I call is like opening the wound again and reliving my father’s death. No thanks. Borthwick was a horrible experience over and over and over.

Kalani L., Val L. and Faye D. pretty much covered it all when it comes to Borthwick Mortuary. I recommend you read ALL comments before making a decision on which mortuary you chose. Unfortunately, we just went by the reputation that Borthwick HAD many years ago. We were pressed for time and wanted to get everything taken care of before returning to the mainland. Something that should have taken a couple of weeks at most, took almost 3 weeks, and probably would have taken longer had we not had help from outside sources and our own work.
We, too, experienced HORRIBLE service, lack of follow-​up from our family counselor, who did very little considering the amount we paid Borthwick. It was like we were doing most of the work! I have to agree with Val L. that we were caused more grief when already grieving and going though much stress. Our counselor had the nerve to argue and yell at us.
We were told that the package we chose would include one of the chapels for a service. We were shown the chapel and counselor talked about how things would be set up, so he really sold us on having the chapel.
The following day, after going through everything (contract, obituary, # of death certificates, and other service details), counselor returns with contract and tells us that the package did NOT include a chapel and that package was almost $ 3,000 more. The other options would be to go with what we had w/​o the chapel or most inexpensive package and add an additional $ 1995 for the chapel! REALLY!!! We were in shock & in total disbelief. We spent a total of 5.5 hrs for this meeting that should have taken 2 to 2.5 hrs. at most. We should have just left, but we were so emotionally distraught that we signed the contract.
Ask to see a sample of the printed cards in the «IN MEMORY» box, prior to it going to print. Something we didn’t think of (you’ll have to think of everything if you use Borthwick). We noticed that the «In loving memory…» cards had an error in it! Too late to do anything, so didn’t give them out. I sent email to Borthwick about what I believed was an error, but have not heard back from them.
There’s more to this story, but whatever you do, do your homework! Look around and go with one of the other mortuaries. We were told, after the fact, that Nuuanu, Hosoi, Mililani are all good – much better and not as expensive as Borthwick.
Since the contract pretty much says you can’t file a law suit, you’re out of luck if you feel that you were treated unfairly, and they are very lucky that they are protected by this clause.
I am giving them two stars, rather than just one, because after speaking to our counselor’s supervisors, they offered to pay for the catering, but let’s face it that’s just a small token when you consider what we went through and the $ 2995 error that was made.
I am writing this in hopes that when you read this and other postings, you will chose another mortuary, so you will have a better experience during this time of great loss of a dear loved one.

My first contact with the representatives seemed like a good start. We planned graveside services at 11:00 a.m. Well, on the day before the services, we find out from Punchbowl Cemetary what their idea of a graveside service is… which is not what we wanted. They tell us no problem, we can give you what you want. The day of the service… we find out the scheduled time is 11:30…not 11:00. I call Borthwick… can’t speak with anybody that can answer questions… I tell them… get that casket here NOW. By the time they come… Punchbowl keeps the family friends 20 feet away from casket which they lower before we have begun our services. While we are having our service… the Punchbowl crew cannot wait and start up with machinery to complete the job… we have to wave them down to stop… we cannot conduct our services… then a few minutes into the service… a Punchbowl burial crew member interrupts our service to talk to us about procedures, what is involved in their completing the burial, where we can pick up temporary vases, etc. I stop him, telling him we are in the midst of our services… he looks at me like he doesn’t understand… it was all so bizarre and upsetting. Punchbowl Cemetary is in need of some new management who can understand who the customer is and how to treat families. The workers had no consideration and just wanted to complete their jobs, and would not give us a few minutes to say a proper goodbye to our loved one. Borthwick need to know what the Cemetary’s policies are regarding burials and scheduled times. What appeared at the start to be a great and efficient planning turned out to be a terrible experience.

These guys were horrible. The day after my mom’s passing we met with a «counselor» who was so unprofessional. She starting the meeting by saying she didnt really know what she was doing and that she was spacey. Her phone kept buzzing during our meeting, at least 6 times and although we had filled out all the information in a burial plan we purchased 2 weeks prior, the meeting still took over two hours. We felt rushed like being told we only had a day to bring in the 30 photos for the DVD even though the service was going to be three weeks away. And in that those three weeks we had to go back to Borthwick 4 times and they wanted us to come in another two times. When we came back to pick up mom’s cremains, stationary, DVD and some other things only 3 of, the 6 things we were to pick up were given to us even though I had emailed the mortuary to be sure it was all there and ready. When calling in to let them know things were missing I was asked «why we didn’t check» and why didn’t we call the person we had the appointment with (who wasn’t there at pickup) at the time of pickup. Basically, it was our fault. So back to the mortuary one more time where the receptionist told me about a big glob of snot that came out of her nose and the office manager after hearing about their service said it made him realize they are supposed to be there for the customer (SERIOUSLY !) then today I called the supervisor and she was just about as bad. After our conversation which I felt she wasn’t really getting, says «I hope that if you ever need this service again you will choose Borthwick» HELL NO!
Let me add the products we received as part of our plan were of poor quality. The bookmarks they made were off center, the pictures in the DVD were fuzzy although they were clear on the thumb drive I gave them. They were also in the wrong order although I followed their instructions and numbered and placed then in the order I wanted and they misspelled names on some printed items even though they were written out for them and spelled correctly on some items.
There is even more that happened but I don’t want to torture you any further. Just DO NOT USE THIS MORTUARY.

If this was 4 years ago, I would have given them a 5 star, but with the changes in their mortuary procedures, hiring «counselors» instead of having the funeral director be with you from start to finish, it just made more grief for those who are already grieving for their loved ones. If you do intend to pay more than 10K for their services, don’t expect them to follow up with you. Instead, you need to make sure you follow up, or everything will be dropped. Luckily, we had several family members to coordinate this because if it’s just yourself, your experience will be a lot more devastating dealing with the grief and lack of sympathy and coordination of this mortuary: Here’s my story:
COUNSELOR: Hi, I’ll be taking care of the funeral plans. Don’t worry, I’ll be taking care of everything, from ordering the announcements, setting up the place and coordinating the funeral and burial with the church and cemetery. Just call me if you have any questions. We have several package deals to choose from, ordering flower arrangements with us, as well as purchasing the program, thank you cards and even a painting of whatever picture you choose. We also provide a slideshow on a screen for those to view and have a website to announce the funeral. As we were there, she called the church requested, but left a message.
So, after seeing this counselor, this is what happened within 2 weeks of the funeral and the funeral itself:
Day 1 — 4 of 14: Called counselor for questions. Counselor was not available, and did not return call. Information in the website was not posted. Called the church and they said Borthwick did not contact them after that first call.
Day 5: Counselor finally picked up the phone when we called, and we asked why isn’t she returning our calls. She mentioned she called the church, and asked her to give them the information they need to perform the service. She said she’ll take care of everything. Asked her when we were supposed to give the information for the program. She said 7 days before the funeral.
Day 6: Met with the church, and had to make arrangements with the priest. They said Borthwick has never returned their calls. Information on website was posted, but information was wrong.
Day 7: Had to drop off the clothes and pictures for the one that passed away. A different person handles the clothes, and another handles the photos for the slideshow, but needed the information from the counselor. Counselor was NOT available. She was on vacation and could not be contacted, nor did she have anyone to cover for her They had to scramble to find out what was going on. Another counselor later decided to help, and helped correct the information on the website, but more information was still missing.
Day 8: Tried calling the counselor again to ask about the program and to give information to church, she did not pick up or return our calls.
Day 9: Finally counselor picked up phone calls after several attempts. Mentioned that the website didn’t have all the information. She said it’s in there, and heard her type as she spoke, adding in the information. She also said she called the church to confirm. And we can’t just add anything in the program even if we send her it through email. She said they just use a template with only certain information on it.
Day 10: At least the information in the paper was posted, and website was finally corrected, but had issues with the program. Since counselor was not picking up our phone calls again, called the person who handled the programs directly and she added exactly what we wanted.
Day 11 – 13: Church called and said they still didn’t get the information from Borthwick again, but made final plans with the priest and staff. No word from Borthwick to follow up or confirm plans.
Funeral Day: Because we were warned that they drop the ball, we confirmed with the church. Borthwick’s setup and area was ok. Our funeral director was excellent, but he had to correct a lot of things that were not completed and was not informed by the counselor how things should have been set up, so he had to play everything by ear:
1. We ordered and paid for 300 programs and thank you cards. Only 100 programs and thank your cards were given, so lots were w/​out it.
2. At the service, a different priest appeared bc the counselor called him last minute and had to leave because we our priest appeared as scheduled.
Because I have a limit of words to post on here, to sum it up, Borthwick’s service was horrible, and I wouldn’t recommend them until the change their procedures back to having the funeral director be with you from start to finish. Hiring part-​time counselors just gives more grief and no service to what they promise. We still didn’t get our painting that we paid for.