They do not deserve any stars ! Totally shocking , unprofessional, uncaring I could go on . Please do not use Ashcroft , in the past I have praised them , but the place has drastically gone down hill. I’m not prepared to go into details but no family should have to go through what we’ve experienced this week , I’m leaving this review to try and prevent other family’s going through the trauma that we have .
really not happy with the service provided! I havehad time to grieve for the loss of a loved one, so I can now elaborate a little. I went to arrange the funeral and gave very clear intructions that the deseased should be in her own clothes and also the music the I wanted played at the funeral and expressly said if there were any problems then phone me. I went to pay me last respects and the funeral parlor (store) and was directed to a room were I found my mother with make up and hair done which was not like her usual apperance and and more over she was in a shroud something that I expressly said I did not want! On the day of the funeral I got tothe crematutiam and stood outside the door waiting to in when the funeral director came up to me and said that they did not have the songs I had asked for and did I want to chose something else! There was no appology and he offered no reason why I was not contacted prior to this so I could make arrangments for the music to be played! I will never forget this awful experience and of course there is no point in complaining as what was done and experienced can ever be undone!
My mother died 12 months ago and I used Ashcroft Funeral Directors. It has taken me 12 months to write this. After using their services it took me 6 months to return to Walsall Wood High Street. This is due to the stress they caused me; stress at the most difficult time of my life.
Anything admin related this company are not capable of performing. Despite being provided with photos of my late mother, three weeks prior to her funeral, they produced an Order of Service with incorrect photos, one of which was NOT my mother!
They referred to my mother as ‘June’ (her name is Jean) and wrote to advise her collection/donation money was sent to Cancer Research (she died of Dementia and the donation money was to be sent to Dementia UK and Guide Dogs).
Ashcroft told my husband mom’s grave had been dug (it hadn’t), they removed a personal item I had placed in her coffin (photograph) and when my husband attended their premises the morning after the funeral to add additional money to mom’s collection, Ashcroft couldn’t find it as it was not kept in a safe (was found in an envelope under the table). I have complained to the Society of Independent Funeral Directors, but Ashcroft are not members.
Whilst I managed to attend their premises in October 2022 to negotiate their final payment, I still struggle to this day to get my head around their errors. I struggle with the concept I put my deceased mother through this. Ashcroft apologised for their errors and offered to wipe the invoice clean. I didn’t want a free funeral, I wanted a right one. I wanted a perfect funeral for a perfect mother.
If it wasn’t for my understanding employer, a supportive husband, supportive friends and a member of the clergy, who spoke on my behalf to Ashcroft, I think I would have had a breakdown.
Please do not use them.
What a wonderful company! We lost our mom and were total lost how to deal with this. Julie was amazing she talked us through everything so that moms funeral was just what we wanted. So helpful and kind thanks to you and John and your staff. The minister Martyn Jinks was recommended by Julie and he was so kind and talked about mom as though he knew her. We can’t thank all of you enough.
Tried to get in contact out of hours to arrange services , no return call received after two hours of waiting , went to another local funeral director who answered phone first time , the excuse was when i rang them two days later that the owners were on holiday and they were short staffed , my advice , put a message on your answerphone that your services are not available at this time , supposed to be a 24 hour service , if I could leave zero stars for the review I would , very very poor