American Cremation Service

Run from this place. They do not use email only fax. They talk to you in a fake sympathetic voice all the while providing the absolute worst customer service you can imagine. Patty will put you on hold multiple times even during the shortest calls. The paperwork was all filled out by hand in chicken scratch. They do not send cover letters with instructions rather they scrawl it in the margins resulting in multiple mistakes. Completing 4 pages of paperwork required faxing back and fourth nearly 20 times. In addition they change offices each day requiring you to fax to different fax numbers. This is seriously the worst experience ever! My father in law passed Dec. 5^th. I was told today we might receive his ashes in three more weeks. That’s an entire month and then some. Patty is terrible at what she does. I was left shaking and furious on multiple occasions. If you are looking to save $ it’s not worth it. If you have to handle this remotely THIS IS NOT THE PLACE.

I used ACS back in 2004. I just found the permit to transport today in my files. And had to look up and see if they were still in business. The gentleman I talked to was the best. Nice as pie. Never tried to sell me anything, which was great, since I hate salesmen pushing their wares. A week after my husband died, he was cremated. Right before the cremation I spent some time with my husband. When I saw him he looked better than when he passed. I was very grateful for their services. Never talked to anyone else but this man, and I am so grateful for his attention to my husband.

When my wife’s uncle passed away in Oceanside we turned to the American Cremation office in Carlsbad for his cremation services. As we live in San Francisco most of the process had to take place over the phone, email and fax.
The people at American Cremation (especially Patty) were serious, respectful, and attentive to our needs, without ever projecting the kind of false sympathy some people in the funeral business seem to emanate. They guided us through the process expertly and efficiently, while taking as much time as was needed to ensure we understood what we needed to do. Patty went above and beyond helping with the logistics.
Their prices are among the best, and they never even tried to sell us extras such as an urn (hint: if you are scattering at sea you do not need to buy an urn). In a sad and difficult situation, they exceeded expectations in every way.

Our Mom left us in Dec of 2013. The folks at American were very kind and professional. The Hospice organization had them on their «recommended» listing and based upon initial phone contacts, that was good enough for me. Very fair prices for the services they offer and you can tailor-​make what you need. The office is easy to find.
I bought an urn online and did not use their offerings, which seemed fine for all — there was no pressure to upsell. We also obtained our own death certificates from county Vital Records just to speed up the process by a couple of days.
I do wish we had spoken a bit more about disposition of the Cremains as Mom wished for her ashes to be scattered, but until then came home with us. So the permit was only requested for «going home». Now, I have to get a new permit for scattering, and that cost them a star on the ratings for me. If this is your first time, you dont know the right questions to ask — I feel thats the responsibility of American to be a guide and on that they just didnt take enough time to get the details right.

This has been a very tough year, we lost my mother-​in-​law in January and recently my father. My in-​laws used a different company (who has consistently low scores on all reviews) for my mother-in-law’s cremation and so when my father passed away last week, we decided to try American Cremation Services. Contacting the company was easy and the staff were friendly over the phone. When we went to our appointment, we met with Steve. He explained everything and we felt very comfortable. The price was great and they completed all of the paperwork. They called yesterday and let us know my father was there for pickup and now we have him home, which was a huge relief because my in-​laws waited waited almost 6 weeks to get my mother-​in-​law back from the other company. It was a welcomed surprise in such a difficult and emotional time.

Ppl on the phone were awesome, the appt wasn’t so great.