Gates, Kingsley & Gates Smith Salsbury Funeral Directors

Gates, Kingsley & Gates was recommended by a pastor friend of mine. It was the best recommendation. Mignon Mooring, Funeral Director took care of the details. She listened with care to my mom and honored her wishes for my father. This worked out perfectly. When we picked up his ashes, we met Ruth Goodman. She has been in the business for over 34 years. She was a delight to meet and listen to. If there is any problem, Ruth will know exactly what to do. She made our lives so much easier. I would highly recommend Gates, Kingsley & Gates to family members as well as to my friends. Thank you so much!

The place itself is ok. It is the staff I had a problem with. The person we met with at first, I think this was a new job for him, as he was a bit confused. Found out he was no longer there. So everything he said was negated. On the day of the funeral we got there ½ hour early to set up. When we walked in they rudely said that we could not go in yet thinking we were guests. We said we were the family and were setting up. Plus there were friends in the parking lot waiting, We requested they be let in and not to be left in their cars. They were suppose to have a projector screen which they did not. We were not allowed to use their equipment. My husband had to do his presentation on a sheet that was nailed up. Needless to say that did not work. The person who was suppose to be looking after us disappeared. During the service the slide show that we paid extra for crapped out. The woman also said a derogatory comment under her breath about my sister-​in-​law when she walked in which her husband caught but decided to let pass as this was a funeral. Too many other choices for your loved ones. Go somewhere else.

I have been to several services here and this weekends’ compelled me to write this review. The chapel and the grounds are nice, but the microphone used at the last couple of services have been terrible. A Karaōke microphone would have been a vast improvement. The first speaker was a priest, and his words were nearly inaudible and garbled, and it was a good five minutes before the feedback, etc died down enough to be able to listen without distraction. Especially when a persons words are so important, it is very frustrating to not be able able to hear them properly. When emotional family members took their turn at the podium, it took several minutes for the audio to adjust and for the speaker to get used to the device. A lot of their words are now lost forever. Many of the guests complained to each other afterwards, with several mentioning the microphone «is always terrible at Gates». I find this unacceptable. A big part of hosting a service is ensuring that people who are speaking can be heard easily and clearly. Spend the money and update to a higher quality sound system.

My review here is only based on me being an attendee.
This Funeral Home is a Beautiful Place, first off!
Second, this was the most beautiful service I’ve ever been to. There was so much care in this service-​not only to the beloved Man who had just recently passed away, but also care and sensitivity to the Family and Friends, including me, in our Loss.
And I need to say that the Funeral Director shared with us all some beautifully uplifting inspiring words that I felt brought a truly powerful & positive vibration to the room.
Today we celebrated the LIFE of someone very special and I’m on my way home from a service feeling abundantly Loved and VERY Grateful.
5 Stars (as an attendee)
Thank you for reading.

On Dec 8, my dad passes and I have no idea what to do, so out of the phone book I call this Gates. They tell me the only charge to remove him is $ 595. No more charges of any sort will be incurred. I repeatedly ask again and again. No more charges they say. I say ok. They pick him up. Again, despite my asking, they avoided telling me about their pricing up front, treated me cold and rudely, lacked kindness and compassion for my recent loss, I was not a person but just a symbol of cash, just a number. They were not accommodating about letting me view my father. Instead of feeling informed and grateful they were helping me, I felt brow beaten into signing their paperwork that came with a huge bill, yes you guess it with $ 795 in additional refrigeration charges that they claimed were the law. I was not told, or given adequate opportunity to even move him before my bill reached just under $ 1,400. Now the law does say that in this field, the employees are required to be kind, compassionate and not allowed to act out towards their clientele bc the clientele are fragile over their recent loss. I was upset and felt treated so badly… The end result found me moving him to another mortuary. My sis works for the capital and she was going to write a letter based on relevant laws — section 7685.2. (a) Every funeral director shall provide to any person, upon beginning discussion of prices or of the funeral goods… The end result was that he got moved and my bill was ultimately reduced to only $ 165. I dont know where they came up with that amount. I dont recommend them unless you like being just a number and dont have a need to be treated nicely. I found another mom and pop mortuary, Inglewood Mortuary. They were superb and I highly recommend.