Armstrong Family Malloy-Mitten

Granted I have no one else to compare service against but the Armstrong Family did everything I requested, respected our religious beliefs, and all the paperwork and cremation came within the time frame they specified. They made a tough time much easier. Highly recommend for Christian Scientists.

The two men who came to our parents home were professional. They told us someone would call us in the morning to go over everything. They did not. We had to call, the two men we spoke with never expressed any condolences to our family, did not go over what the next steps were. When asked questions they were not very helpful, I would have expected better from people who had been in this business as long as they profess to be

Very thorough service. Two AFMM professionals arrived at my Mother’s abode and were very kind, respectful and explained everything. They arrived in a timely basis to pick up her body and dealt very well with not having an elevator that was adequate/​large.

Wish I could give ZERO stars. My dad passed away at home back in July. They sent one person to pick him up … he was unable to do so by himself. Fortunately a family friend helped lift my father onto the gurney. THEN, 2 weeks later I called to follow up on the disposition of his ashes. They didn’t know who I was talking about. The person on the phone (Robert) asked who helped me — HE DID! Apparently the paperwork got separated from the remains … and he needed to be identified TWO WEEKS LATER. I phoned and sent many emails trying to figure out what went wrong. They never responded. These people are insensitive and callous. To them it is just a business — and they make LOTS of money; taking advantage of people at the very worst time of their life.
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!

My friend passed away last year.
They placed him on a gurney in a suit
He wasn’t covered.
He was just there in a suit.
I never saw anything like this before.
They could have covered him with a blanket or sheet
I thought I was in the wrong place.
The building is very small.
The people are nice that run this place
Probably would accomondate 15 people at best
Without being crowded.
Very limited parking
Not in the best of neighborhoods.
Looking at my friends photo album
That his wife and girlfriends brought
Was very interesting.
Yes…I did say girl friends and ex wives.
and all these women were beautiful
He was charming
And his younger photos showed a different side
One with him having real long hair
And quite different from his final days.
At the funeral
I met his daughter… whom I never met
I found out he had other children
My mind swirled with interest
Well, I wonder!
His last days seemed mysterious
He said he had a wonderful girlfriend
Encouraging him to go to church.
Funny thing… But when he died…
I learned so much about him
That I never knew.
So friend… you tricked me.
When I went to your funeral.
I’m still wondering about everything.
That I saw… but,
You are now five stars in Heaven

I am sorry to write this review because at a time when arrangements should be met with compassion, this appears to be an entire industry that has little compassion when money is on the line. And now, about this specific establishment.
Armstrong Family used the phrase «we have the absolute lowest prices» repeatedly. They mentioned that we would not get a better deal anywhere. I do not know if this is true or not, so I will not judge them based on this specific criteria. I do know their prices on the original contract were good and competitive. Even on the lower side. For this I did not deduct absolutely all stars. However, the shadiness of the dealings did remove quite a few stars.
We dealt with Martin Lee. He was kind and patient with us and wrote down all the details and entered them into the pricing list. However, he would add items that we did not need or add additional charges to items that were listed at a lower price. This seemed shady. No. This WAS shady.
Finally, we were quoted a price, and signed a «Funeral Service Purchase Agreement» based on this price. When we returned a few days later with final payment we were helped by a new person. She was nice but suddenly the price was over $ 400 more than originally quoted. We were told no specific reason for why this price was different from the first except that they were «trying to do everything [they] could to keep it down but [they] could not do the work for this price] so it was $ 400 more. When I repeatedly explained that the original price on the contract was lower, the representative called in the mortuary director who proceeded to repeat over and over that they could not go below the new price, bringing the total to about $ 400 more than the original price but that he would see what he could do. He removed some numbers from one column, but then found that he had to add numbers to another column. It was all shady. Here are some details:
«witness cremation, special appointment transportation» was charged to transport the body to the church and was printed as $ 110. However, this price was augmented in pencil on the side by $ 50 for the «return trip» once another price was removed in a different column to save costs. It really should have been included in the original price and adding it after was extremely shady.
The lady tried to charge $ 300 for me to witness the cremation, even though viewing cremation is listed as $ 110.
They charged an interment permit. Then they charged a cremation/​crematory price. In addition to the cremation/​crematory price (which they said came from the crematory, not them) they charged us for the cremation as well but on a separate column. Both of these charges were in the hundreds, each.
In the end, we refused to budge from the contract and repeated that it indeed WAS a contract and they were obligated to meet the agreement. We paid what was in the original contract and the director called the price a big discount for the family because of how much the mortuary cares but in the end it left a very bad taste in my mouth.
The absolute worst part of all this is that they charged $ 98 for cosmetizing the body. However, at the viewing, you could tell next to nothing was done.
This has been such a horrible process. I really wish these things were able to be done online and in clear print and without feeling like every person will be squeezed out of every cent possible on an individual and personal basis. The phrase «It’s Not Personal. Its Strictly Business» really does apply here.
Edit: The original review was created 2÷11÷2013. After looking back on this today (10/​24/​2014) I deducted the last star because I am still upset with the treatment of people at the lowest point in their lives. It is inhuman.