Peter J Connell Funeralcare

As a family we lost our wonderful husband to my mum he was her world, my brother and I lost our gorgeous, kind, loving dad, along with the rest of our family. We cannot thank these people enough for all of their help, kindness, respect & caring manner from start to finish. We have to say that Liberty, was absolutely wonderful she was so lovely and really showed respect and was available anytime we needed her. We did not have a lot to do with any of the other staff as Liberty did it all for us. We thank all the staff from preparing & looking after Dad so wonderfully of which we are grateful to you all. You all certainly gave my dad the very best farewell we could have wished for thankyou for everything we are so very grateful.
May 6th, 2021

My mums funeral: Good communications and a well-run funeral during the challenges of Covid. Very smooth, thoughtful and helpful at such a sad time. After the funeral the backroom staff were unhelpful, not willing to supply accurate receipts for probate There will not be a corrected invoice (just lots of irrelevant information about how the financial plans work and discounts which we had never asked for). The difference between front of house service and admin is chalk and cheese. I felt the admin were cruel at such a difficult time and need to understand the requirements for accurate documentation. I had recommended mum to plan ahead and choose the Coop because I have always believed and supported their philosophy; reality is somewhat different.
Sep 21st, 2020

I'm very sure there were a number of reviews here before mine, so I don't know how long this will stay online. But it is with great sadness that I feel the need to post a negative review for a funeral director given their role in our lives, however given our experience I would not want anyone else to have to go through the same. To try and keep this short I'll list the good and the not so good: The good: The day of the service went without a hitch, everyone was very professional and kind. The whole team did a great job. At some of the more difficult times, such as visiting the Chapel of Rest, the staff were again very good and showed great empathy/sympathy to the family. The not so good: Simply, poor communication. From the first call to them after the death we waited around for 7hrs for the body to be collected despite assurances that they wouldnt be long, and they knew we were waiting. I believe the delay was more an issue with the partner company that performs that service, however its still a communications issue. I had to keep chasing. At the first meeting to arrange the funeral the person dealing with us never introduced themselves nor offer condolences. During later interactions some of the things said were again simply unprofessional. Senior management agreed during a later compliant process. After the cremation we were never called to say that the ashes had been returned, we had to chase two weeks later. The casket given to us was damaged but we hadnt noticed until we got home (3hr round trip) as it was packaged up when we got there. This was the final straw and where I raised an official complaint and wanted a refund for the casket while we got a replacement from another funeral director. The people who Id stated on the complaint that I didnt want contact with were the very ones who contacted me, almost a week later. I raised another complaint. Eventually a letter of apology was sent to us offering a refund on the casket yet it still took another 6 weeks (3 months since Id first raised the casket issue) and me chasing them to make this happen. I believe there have been some staff changes since this all happened however I was made aware of overall staff shortages at the time too, maybe still now. We feel that one of the contributing factors is that this is essentially just a Coop still using the original business name and reputation. Yes, being part of a bigger organisation has great benefits but there are also drawbacks and our experience has demonstrated them, much to the emotional detriment of our family.
Nov 24th, 2018