Skylawn Funeral Home, Memorial Park & Crematory — Local services in Hillsborough

I am writing this complaint with great agony and anger.

My father and I decided to choose Skylawn funeral Home and Cemetery on Sunday,6/17/2018, night. We called them to pick up my mother's remains. When they came, they drove a van with another body in the vehicle. I called many times for a hearse before.

On Monday morning, we met Endeliza Huerta who helped us plan the funeral. I told her that we will take my mother's remains to another religious facility for a ceremony and take her back to the cemetery to bury. And at that time, we did not decide to embalming or not. So we did not sign the contract.

And on that day, my father and I went to the cemetery to finally decide the plot. We met Matthew Wong, a consultant, and decided a plot, A, which is located on the right side of a tree. He gave us 5% off. We did not sign but promise to give him an answer Tuesday. He said on Tuesday he is off work and another female coworker will help us.

The female consultant is Angela Ung. In the Tuesday, 06/19/2018, morning, she immediately added a vault setting fee of 500$ into our contract. She wrote over the 'Vase' and said Matthew Wong forgot it. We had no choice but had to accept it. And she showed us the plot again. But this time, the plot was on the left side of the tree. My father and I felt wrong but she insisted on that she is right.

In the afternoon, close to 4:30pm, we see the funeral contract. I found a fee named 'Religious Facility Funeral Ceremony'. I disagreed with this fee since we have our ceremony at another facility other than their funeral home. Endeliza brought a director named Kim Rifredi. Kim told me because there are gonna be two staff from their funeral home will be standing outside the ceremony, so they have to charge the fee, 725$. I argued with them that it is a robbery on last minutes. Kim told me I can take my mother's remains to another funeral home if I do not pay this fee. And they will not charge me anything. However, I do not have time to choose another cemetery or funeral home. As at that time, I have to bury my mother soon due to religious requirement. I accepted it. I asked them do not take it out on my mother. And we agreed that I will pay them using credit card tomorrow, 06/20/2018. And that Wednesday is the day for funeral and burial. The hearse will start driving to Santa Clara at 11am 06/20/2018. They will arrive at 12pm sharp. And the ceremony will be finished at 2pm. Then the hearse will take my mother's remains back. And the burial will begin at 3pm that day.

On 06/20/2018, due to my fight with Kim and Endeliza, they tried every means to make my mother and my family suffer.

My father and I arrived at 10:40am. We waited 10 more minutes for Endeliza showed up. She came with two staff, James the hearse driver and Jons sitting on side driver. It is close to 11am, but instead of hitting the road, she asked me for credit card to pay the bill. I gave her two cards. And it costed more than 20 minutes for her to process the credit cards. And one of the card is on my mother's name, though I told Endeliza that my mother is just an additional card holder. Endeliza had called the bank and confirmed and wasted a lot of times. We were in a hurry.

Finally we started driving almost at 11:30am. When I rushed to the door to my car saying 'we are going to be late.' Endeliza replied in an indifferent tone, ' It is what it is.'

The hearse drove at no more than 55 miles per hour on hwy to Santa Clara. And on hwy, the driver was not paying attention. The hearse was on lines often and been bumpy. There was a time that even an accident would have happened with another rear car since the hearse was off the lane.

And when we got off hwy and about to arrived at the destination, they missed the turn and drove to the wrong place. I had to get of my car and direct them to the right route.

We arrived at 12:27pm. 27 minutes late. James, told me they did not see the sign of the street. And I asked them on the return trip, keep the hearse inside lane. They pretended that they do not...

11/12/24: Set a date to finally bury the ashes of my Aunt a week out, but now I am being told that our agreement had expired and that we have to re-sign the documents. Asked why would they have their agreement expire even after we signed everything and paid over $20,000 funeral and burial services. Their answer? "That is how the system is designed and it works". Burial already takes 30 - 60 days, but the agreement expired after a month. None of this makes sense. To makes matter worse, they have implemented a new system where the document copies cannot be sent to all parties simultaneously. Meaning we have to wait our turn to sign the agreement. Again my Aunt was scheduled to be buried within a week. If we do not have all parties sign the document within 48 hours of the burial date, they will refuse service. I just want to cry.

10/1/24: Despite being nearly 2 months after my Aunt's cremation, Skylawn still does not seem to care nor keep their promises. I had a conference call with the 2 employees and their managers to straighten out the matter. They all assured me they would review and double check the documents and contracts were sent to make sure there would be no more problems. This was 2 weeks ago and now, I am receiving another update about being overcharged by $200. Unbelievable.

They didn't give any reason why I was overcharged or why they did not catch this earlier after our conversation 2 week ago. And when I asked why this still happened after the conference call, this is the response I was given:

"The original contract that XxxX sent to you was before our conversation. He showed me the new contract with the correct amount. Apologize for the inconvenience. Take care."

Is this how Skylawn keeps their promises? Being brushed off and not taken seriously??

Update 8/28/24: So just got another email from Skylawn because they made another mistake one of the agreements. This time they had written down the address of my deceased Aunt wrong, despite the other agreements having the correct address. I have to sign more forms to cancel the original agreement I signed and then sign the new agreement. Wonderful.

Update: 8/27/24: Just got an email forwarded to me from an employee of Skylawn. Despite working with him extensively on the burial for my Aunt, he still keeps sending the emails to my mother. I asked him why did he not send an email to me? His response? "I am obligated to send your mother the information due to the next of kin. Hopefully this clears things up for you." So I am guessing it is too much for the employee to CC me into those emails just to keep me in the loop? Amazing.

Disappointing service with the two people handling the service for my Aunt. While the funeral and cremation went without too much trouble. The handling of the quotation and total cost for the funeral was just terrible. My family was already dealing with grief, and the constant delays and mistakes on Skylawn's end just left me in disbelief. They kept forgetting to add prices to the draft or had not included requests from my family. Even after the cremation of my Aunt, I am still receiving new updates and price changes to the original quote.

Also context. When my aunt was being placed into an open casket for the viewing for close friend and family. We had already made payment using an E-Check. During the procession, and employee came up to my mother who was in the middle of grieving and told her in front of everyone that because we paid in E-Check, they could not cremate my Aunt until the check cleared. You can imagine how embarrassing and mortifying it was to have friends and relatives listen to this discussion, while my mother was grieving. So we had to provide a credit card payment instead right on the spot, so my Aunt could be cremate as planned. I am still waiting for my refund for the E-Check, but apparently it's not an important matter for...

What should have been a solemn and respectful farewell for my late father was instead marred by unacceptable negligence, disorganization, and a complete lack of compassion from your team—an experience that has left my family and me deeply distressed. Our original funeral director, Eddisela, was terminated less than one day before the scheduled service. I was informed by my community service advisor, Anna Pun, that Ping Wu—Funeral Home Service Manager—would assume full responsibility for the arrangements. Unfortunately, that transition was clearly mismanaged, and the resulting service fell far below any reasonable expectations of professionalism or care. The most disturbing and unforgettable moment occurred when I saw my father’s casket. It was filled with trash. Items such as a hanger, plastic bags, paper bags, and even our family's personal note to Eddisela were left on top of my father's body. These were used to store his clothing and funerary items, but it is appalling that they were not removed prior to the service. This level of disrespect is unethical and inhumane, and I cannot comprehend how any funeral staff could allow such a disgraceful oversight. Additionally, my father's appearance was shockingly poor. His skin tone was extremely pale and gray, suggesting no makeup or proper preparation had been done. It seemed as though he had simply been moved from the cooler to the chapel without any regard for presentation. To make matters worse, Milton—the associate present on the day of the service—was unaware of critical information, such as the number of pallbearers. We had informed Eddisela there would be six, yet Milton believed there were none. The entire service was chaotic and poorly communicated, underscoring a clear breakdown in internal coordination and accountability. If Ping had conducted a proper handover and final walkthrough before the service, and communicated with my family ahead of time, these issues could have been prevented. The lack of basic follow-through and attention to detail is completely unacceptable. While Milton did assist in removing the trash from the casket after I pointed it out, and I informed Anna Pun immediately afterward, I am extremely disappointed that no one from management has reached out since then—not to apologize, explain, or even acknowledge the situation. It is now abundantly clear to me that Skylawn’s service ends once the bill is paid. This is not just poor customer service; it is a betrayal of your own pledge of “Care, Comfort, and Plan.” Instead of peace and closure, my family was left with heartbreak, grief, and lasting anger. That said, I would like to express sincere appreciation for the professionalism of Anna Pun and Darlia Clerico. Anna did a remarkable job during the burial service—she explained every detail clearly and stayed with us until the very end. Darlia showed genuine empathy after learning about the casket situation, offering sincere comfort during a very difficult time. Their compassion stands in stark contrast to the indifference we experienced from the rest...