John J Fox and Sons, Inc Funeral Home — Local services in New York

I will never recommend this Funeral Home to anyone and here’s why:

Losing my Mother was devastating, but having to deal with Funeral Director, Thomas Roemmelt, and his assistant Janitza Soto, compounded this painfully difficult time making it the worst experience ever.

I first contacted John J. Fox Funeral Home by phone, while my mother was in Hospice and received a price quote from Thomas Roemmelt. When I called back to request his general itemized price list, he was very rude, and snapped,” I already gave you pricing.”  I insisted on the price list, which he then agreed to, but I never received anything from him.

The following night, my mother passed and I was told her body needed to be picked up within six hours. Understandably distraught, I phoned John J. Fox Funeral Home and Ms. Soto picked up my mother’s body. I made an appointment to meet with Mr. Roemmelt the next day.

When I arrived Thomas was not there even though I called and spoke with him to confirm our appointment.  Consequently, Janitza met with us and went over the charges.  She needed to get back to me with answers to questions only Thomas could answer, therefore, I left without signing the paperwork. Needless to say, Janitza didn’t get back to me that day.

The following day, at the funeral, Janitza called me into the office stating the Life Insurance Company would not give a verbal guarantee of payment and further stating that most Insurance Companies do give a verbal guarantee. After several conference calls with the Insurance Company and Janitza, the assurances the Insurance Company offered were accepted by her and I thought we were done.

I was wrong, not even 5 minutes later, Janitza, approached me again offering me a discount if I paid on a credit card that day.  After tearing me away multiple times to harass me for payment and strongly insinuating I had a sub-standard Insurance Company, I declined the offer. Under different circumstances, I would have welcomed the deal but all I wanted now was to be left to grieve.

After declining the offer, she walks away, only to return minutes later summoning me back to the office, for what must have been the 9th time that day.

I now finally meet the mysterious, Thomas Roemmelt, who thus far hadn’t the decency to introduce himself to me, but instead chose to roam anonymously amongst my family and me. He sat behind his desk with a look of distain and in an extremely rude and confrontational way, he demanded I sign a document stating, I guarantee payment if my Insurance Company does not pay. I looked over the document to ensure they didn’t add any extra charges etc. and signed.  I requested a copy of the document I signed and it took them a while, so a friend stayed behind to wait for the copy.

Upon reviewing the copy the following day, I was in disbelief. The Funeral Home had altered the amount of the bill, dates of my signature, and even added a date in the terms, stating the bill was due the following day, and if not paid a 1% interest charge would apply; changes all added after I had signed the document. Additionally, Janitza Soto notarized the Assignment document after I left with the wrong date which is fraud.

After calling Thomas to advise what he was doing was fraud, he was very rude and explained he added the date to protect himself.  He then updated the amount of the bill to what we agreed to and emailed me a revised copy.

What they have done goes far beyond callousness, it is shameful and altering legal documents is illegal.

I have contacted my attorney and placed them on stand-by in the event Thomas attempts to include nefarious charges to my...

In the past 10 years John J Fox and Sons have provided funerals for several of our family members and we could not be happier with the level of service and professionalism they provided.

I see a couple of negative reviews on here saying that the staff wasn’t professional or no one picked up the phone, other nonsense and I have to say this was NOT my experience at all and we’ve been going to the funeral home for years with the same funeral director (Tom Roemmelt).

The staff is extremely accommodating. For our most recent funeral, our beloved Auntie Ro loved playing the lottery. And we mentioned we wanted to have some sort of floral arrangement that would somehow honor that.

Tom says “let me see what I can do.” He calls up the florist, explains to them the situation, and a few seconds later he hangs up and looks at me and my wife and says “It’s done.” And sure enough, the arrangement came out BEAUTIFULLY, and everyone who came to the service loved it. And it provided quite a few smiles on such a dark and sad day.

Also our beloved Auntie Ro was 95, and Janitza Soto made her look absolutely wonderful. They dyed her hair exactly the way she liked it and did her makeup flawlessly. Rose would have loved it. They took every single instruction and request we gave them and executed it perfectly right down to the pink rosary we gave them to have Auntie Ro was holding in her hands.

They never once rushed us. Or pressured us. And they were always at all times professional, courteous and respectful.

Tom even gave me his personal cell number to contact him directly no matter what time of day or night. To which, last minute things came up and I had to text him at midnight at he responded IMMEDIATELY.

Cannot say enough nice things about this funeral home and staff. Highly recommend working with them....

I would like to recommend this beautiful, family type business. When I lost my Jewish mother, I didn't know where to turn, and I spoke to Tom Roemmelt and he reassured me that they could handle it. They did a most comforting and proper job...arranging a Rabbi for us and a proper coffin and setting. I was so very grateful to Tom, Janitza Soto and Don Martin, who felt like family to us. Later, when my husbands brother passed, again the Funeral home was comforting and went above and beyond. Tom arranged for a Navy contingent to be at the gravesite, which brought tears to our eyes. I know that they handled both situations with grace and love. My family and I are so very...