Monte’s Chapel of the Hills

I just had a great experience at Montes with the owner Ed and his employee Brian. They were sensitive and caring and didn’t pressure any of my decisions. I had other options locally, but I came to find out that none of the other options were locally owned. I wanted an experience with someone who was entrenched into the local community and that’s what I got with Montes. Absolutely five stars!

My experience was one of horrible customer service; unprofessional, lacking of follow through, and under delivery. Yes, a death in the family comes with emotions that might cloud the situation, but two months later I still view this as THE WORST customer service I have ever received.
When my mother passed away we called Monte’s because we wanted to support a local, independent business. I spoke with Ed and he agreed to pick up the body from the hospital that day. I called hours later to confirm. Not only was the body still at the hospital, it was clear he wouldn’t have followed through if I hadn’t called a second time.
In our brief meeting at the mortuary, Ed put a high-​dollar contract in front of us without a word of explanation about what would provided. When I asked, he acted annoyed.
Several phone messages were never returned and simple requests remain unfulfilled.
Do not use this service. The only thing they did well was give the funeral industry a bad reputation.

We at Saint Hilary Catholic Church have always been very happy with the fine service our people get when they go to Monte’s.
As a family business, they provide compassionate care to those who have lost a loved one, and they are also familiar with the Catholic funeral rites, so we don’t have to explain everything from scratch.
Whether the person dies very young, very old, or somewhere in between, we hear good things from our parishioners about Monte’s and are pleased they get such good service there, in their time of need.
Father William E. Brown
Pastor
Saint Hilary Church, Tiburon

I initially intended to use Monte’s Chapel of the Hills to transfer the would-​be remains of my father from Sacramento to Marin County. During my dad’s last days, he decided to have his body cremated immediately and it made sense to do this in Sacramento. However, we needed time to prepare for the funeral mass and the inurnment in Marin County where I live.
Brian generously offered to transfer the cremated ashes of my father into the urn that we picked, to hold the cremated remains until we were ready to hold the funeral mass and later the inurnment. He did all these, without charge. And this is after I canceled my plans to use them for the funeral services because of the change in my father’s last wishes not to have the viewing, etc.
We were treated with dignity and respect. Brian provided his cell phone number and was readily available at every level. Under the circumstances where we were in, the support that caring neighbors showered us meant more than anything.
I highly recommend Monte’s Chapel of the Hills.

i lost my husband unexpectedly a month ago. Brian was just remarkable and sooo understanding. Working within a budget. He was someone that was just a god send during the most difficult time of my life. We just had a ground burial for my husbands ashes 4 days ago. i TOTALLY recommend them for such excellent service. thank you for peace of mind.

I am hesitant to review a funeral home because emotions make this whole process very difficult. But it has been a long time now, and I still have a bad taste in my mouth. To make a long story short, I cannot think of a less reputable person to interact with than Brian. To call him a used car salesman would be a huge dis-​service to used care salesman everywhere. Brian tries to rip you off every step of the way and won’t take no for an answer. He even yelled at me and hung up on me when I brought up some concerns I had. This is certainly not where you and your family want to end up in a time of need and grieving.

My Mom passed away somewhat unexpectedly and we did not have a mortuary lined up to take care of her body. I checked on Unilocal and called Monte’s fairly late at night. They were great. Ddin’t try and sell me anything, which was great as Mom wanted everything kept very simple. Ed and Brian are the co-​owners, very knowledgeable and very helpful. I can’t recommend these guys enough; it was a difficult time for us and they helped alot.

Really disappointed in these guys! Any business that uses personal yahoo and hotmail accounts to conduct business should be suspect.
Got the full used car salesman routine from Brian. Then was repeatedly mislead and misinformed by him.
Along with unanswered emails and phone calls, where canceled appointments and runarounds.
When we called after 5 months to work out a lingering paperwork problem, do entirely to their ineptitude, our meeting was again abruptly canceled.
Bottom line, these two are the biggest rookies in town.
If you want to run a business, act like a business. Total lack of professionalism on every level.
I’ve only written a couple Unilocal reviews but had to speak out on this one.
Thanks for nothing!

Our experience was great. When my mother died we wanted her cremated and we wanted the ashes back in a standard container. Nothing fancy, no service, no flashy urns, etc. The guys at Monte’s got it. They were caring, respectful and quick with the pick-​up of the body and professional throughout the process. No up-​sell, no nonsense. I hope to not have to go back anytime soon, but for anyone dealing with the death of a loved one, I would recommend these guys 100%.

You can never be prepared enough when someone close passes away. Despite the heartache and fatigue, you have to take care of the business of dying. One of the very first things you must do is select a funeral home.
The hospital wants the name of the funeral home you plan to use right away. So if you’re optimistic your loved one will make it, you may be unprepared when things go wrong. What were the chances of Unilocal having funeral home reviews? It was like having a few friends who had been through this and could help guide me and avoid making bad choices. So first I want to thank the other kind people who reviewed Monte’s — it was a great help for me.
I called from the hospital and talked to someone who was helpful and she said Brian was on the road, but was sure he would call me back very soon. He did, and was very forthcoming and insisted I call him back with any questions or concerns. We talked twice that Saturday evening and said he would be happy to meet with us on Sunday.
Brian went through all of the particulars as clear and straightforward as it possibly could be. He presented some options but never exerted the slightest pressure to consider something in which we were not interested. In fact, Monte’s did everything they said they would, and did it when they said they would, and Brian couldn’t have been nicer.
Monte’s has been in business 70 years and is still independent, and still believes in personal service that is actually personal, and not just a corporate slogan. We talked to a few people later and were surprised and pleased to hear the Monte’s has been a preferred funeral home among many of true Marin County types — and these are people who have no concerns about something costing too much. That said, Monte’s was quite reasonable and direct about each and every charge. There wasn’t anything that was unexplained or that made us uncomfortable.
Of all the difficult tasks we had to confront in that first week, what could have been the most difficult, was made so much easier for our whole family because of good service and honesty. So it is my pleasure to recommend Monte’s Chapel on the Hill without reservation. These are good folks that are there when you need a little TLC, rather than a marketing pitch for a designer casket.

We had an excellent experience with Monte’s Chapel of the Hills after our father passed away. We worked with Brian who went above and beyond to really ensure that we were well taken care of every step of the way. He is a very personable guy and really made us feel like it was his pleasure to serve us. Though we never tried, I feel like we could have called him in the middle of the night with some concern and he’d have jumped out of bed to resolve it. We dealt with Ed to a lesser degree, but he too was fantastic, helpful and supportive. These guys were there and on top of things every step of the way. Also, every option and associated expense was disclosed up front and there were no hidden fees at the end, which is always nice. In fact, after we had paid for everything, we realized we had forgotten to get a signature book for the memorial service; they had one delivered to the chapel and refused our offer to pay for it… obviously not a huge cost, but a very nice touch.
We highly, highly recommend Brian, Ed and Monte’s.

We had a very sudden death in our family. Our «missing link» passed away on Thanksgiving Day. Ed of Monte’s Chapel was so supportive. We called based on the previous review on Unilocal,and he answered right away. He was kind and authorative. He’d take care of everything. And he did. At a very fair price. At this difficult time, you don’t want someone who pressures you or makes you jump through hoops. You want someone who says, «I’ll take care of everything. Don’t worry. » This is exactly what Monte’s Chapel did for us. We called others in our area, and they either did not call back at all or were very high pressure and unsympathetic. Not that anything can make the pain and suffering at a time like this disappear, but someone who will take care of you and alleviate the worry of the difficult task of cremating or burying a loved one without added burden — if that’s what you are looking for, look no further than Monte’s Chapel. Thank you Edward for everything. You truly made a most difficult experience easier to bear.

My dad passed recently and we did not need a whole lot besides transportation and refrigeration. No embalming or a need to use their facilities for anything. I was quoted over $ 8,000.00 from Keaton’s. I paid only $ 1600.00 with Monte’s. I kid you not. Plus, Keaton’s kept going on and on with a list of «charges», which all seemed to be included in one low price with Monte’s. We did not need a casket, embalming or for the mortuary to prepare my dad for burial in any way (Muslims are burried in a simple shroud and nothing else), so I don’t understand how that would cost eight grand. This mortuary will not rake you over the coals in your time of need. The gentleman that runs it purchased it from the family that started the business a million years ago. He is young, honest and a pleasure to work with. Also, when we went to pay and sign the paperwork, I saw the facility. It is absolutely gorgeous with a fireplace and nice furniture. I know it sucks to even have to deal with this kind of thing, so make it easier on yourself and just call Monte’s. You won’t get screwed.