My experience with Whitehaven Memorial Park has been infuriating and painful. Their actions are the complete opposite of the 'wonderful' impression they give on their website - they only care about their bottom line ($) and their stockholders. They have shown no care or concern for my deceased mother or for our family at this sad, distressing time. As soon as they knew of the upcoming burial, they demanded immediate, full payment on a credit card (no payment plan); they expected immediate responses to their phone calls and faxes; they did not send all of the necessary paperwork in advance, therefore, their mismanagement & failure became my problem; and their general manager has not returned my calls. The most insulting, awful, and agonizing part, however, is that they did not have the burial site prepared in time for the graveside service. The backhoe was still digging the hole, and the workers were still (slowly) trying to figure out what to do 10 minutes before the service was supposed to start. The tent and chairs were not set up let alone clean & dry enough to sit on. They had no back-up plans ready to go, even though guests were arriving. We had to either make last-minute, unplanned changes or wait 30+ minutes until the grave was ready. We moved the service to the mausoleum which was in a freezing cold, bare room - no heat and no runners to prevent slipping on the cold, wet tile floor. It was an extremely maddening, uncomfortable, and depressing disaster. The Whitehaven employee gave no apologies - she seemed disinterested in the fiasco that was her and her company's doing. They are not to be trusted - they take advantage of bereaved families with their whirlwind of paperwork & phone calls. They are not compassionate and do not provide quality service - otherwise they would have been prepared with all of the correct paperwork as well as a safe, dignified burial site. The multiple pages of paperwork and flurry of signatures leaves the family in a vulnerable position -- which Whitehaven Memorial Park's benefit.
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