Neptune Society of Northern California

I don’t know if all offices are the same, but if the Castro Valley office is representing this company, stay away. I had an experience about 15 years ago when I lost my mother-​in-​law and it was wonderful. I recently lost my mother and the individuals who came to pick her up from her home were not very compassionate when it comes to losing a loved one. They brought in an old gurney that had the vinyl torn and the metal legs not clean. When they prepared to put my mother on this gurney they proceeded to run over her foot. Then dragged her up onto the gurney from her legs while I was watching her head bob back and forth. I must tell you, this sight will never leave my mind. The next day we went to the office to take care of the paperwork which went fine but it was all business. No compassion! They need to clean up their entrance (front door filthy) and make their customers feel that their loved one will be treated with the utmost respect.

When my loved one passed away it took quite awhile for anyone from the Neptune society to show up. When he did get there he was very friendly and personable and I thought the whole experience would be easy.
When it came to time to pick up the ashes I told the Neptune society that we were told only the executor of her estate could pick up the ashes. The lady there by the name of Faith wouldn’t listen to a word I said nor would she talk to the executor of the estate. Faith called my loved ones brother in Texas, which was fine. The brother told Faith to release the remains to me. The cost was $ 150. Since the estate hasn’t settled I was just going to pay the fee myself. Every time I talked to Faith she was trying up sale urns and other things to put the cremated remains into. My loved one specifically told me she just wanted to be in the cardboard container until her ashes were spread along with her son and husbands ashes. Talking to Faith was a nightmare and as polite as I was trying to be to her, she just wants more money.
She told me she would not mail the cremated remains until I spent another $ 200 plus dollars and the $ 150 for shipping. When I told her I didn’t have the money she then told me she needed to talk to my loved ones brother again. I asked her to get back to me ASAP. More then 10 days later Faith left me a voicemail saying she would now no longer deal with me and that the remains would be shipped to Texas. My loved one, the person I cared for, for more then 8 years is now not going to have her final wishes happen. Faith conveniently arranged things to serve the greed of the company she works for probably on commission. My friend was 93 years old and knew to the end what she wanted after her death and because Faith wanted another $ 200 my friend is probably rolling over in her grave.
HOW DO YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT Faith?
My only recourse is to now beg her brother in Texas to at least honor the wish that the remains would be intermixed and scattered together. Her son and husband have no connection to Texas. She wasn’t at all close to her family there, this is just not what she wanted and I am left to feel the guilt about failing my friends final wishes.
So, be careful when you use the Neptune Society they are greedy business people just like every other business. But, you don’t mess with someone’s dying wishes.

We just lost my father-​in-​law very unexpectedly about a month ago and one of the hardest experiences out of everything we had to do along with mourning was go here. From the beginning to the end they made it such an unpleasant experience and definitely did not make anything about it any easier. Unfortunately, I have had to go into many funeral homes over the last few years planning other family member services and I have never experienced anything like the way it was here. My husband and got there and were just told to wait in this small room without any kind words being said first. While we waited for my sister-​in-​law we were asked a couple questions rudely and then left again. Once she arrived, the lady looked at me and was like, «who are you?» and immediately began trying to UP– SELL everything from fingerprint keychains to the most expensive urns. I know this is part of their business and coming from retail I understand, however there is such thing as tact and in this hard time in people’s lives the least they could do is say we are sorry for your loss when the first come in before starting to try to sell us on everything.
I was about 8 months pregnant so got a little uncomfortable while sitting there after awhile and the lady rudely asked me if I was ok because I seemed restless — more out of annoyance instead of concern. The last straw for all of us was we asked if we could sit in there for a few minutes to discuss a couple things as a family and she said no as she had another appointment and didn’t offer any other space for the family — barely saying bye to us as we left.
When going through such a hard time with planning and coordinating my father in law’s death — this experience really made things tougher not easier which is what you hope for with these type of services.

My folks bought there cremations packages from this company 20 years ago. When it came time for my fathers cremation they said there were no records. At a very emotional time we had to give in and pay. It was horrible having to be hard sold products we had no need for. We finally settled for a cardboard box for $ 270.00 plus all other costs. What a sick joke