Chapman Funeral Homes

Terry was with us throughout every step of the funeral planning process. He made an extremely difficult time much easier and was able to finalize all plans in one sitting. We also really love the incredibly lifelike portrait of my mother. Thank you Chapman and Terry.

I would like to address the negative reviews here, the people who wrote them seem so dissatisfied with everybody and everything most of them just seem to write negative reviews on all their dealings so with that thought I wouldn’t put too much thought in what they say.
I don’t want to get into the specifics of it all on my situation and who passed, but there could not be a kinder, more compassionate, more professional and dignified funeral home. I was so happy that a qualified person introduced me to Terry & Mary.
I was working with one of the BIG mortuary/​cemetery combos and Chapman Funeral was less than ½ with what Forest Lawn wanted for the exact same things. I mean exact from prayer cards, flowers, book all the way to the casket.
It is bad enough you’re grieving the loss of a loved one, but to be taken advantage of at this time is horrible.
Chapman was very respectful and provided quality service at a fraction of the cost with an outstanding staff. Chapman was also very accomadating in my requests and what I wanted which made me feel really good during this difficult time.

Chapman Funeral Homes did our dad’s (April 2013) and recently our mom (July 2015) services and both went very smoothly. Such excellent handling of what needed to be done in terms of paperwork and services required. Thank you Terry and Mary.

It took me a long time to get around to writing this review unfortunately. My dad passed a little over a year ago and we were in such a terrible position. Through our grief and unpreparedness we just did not know if everything was going to work out for us. We called like 25 – 30 places in Orange County and they had the lowest cost of cremation BY FAR!!! It wasn’t even close, so we HAD to use them. We really had no choice but I couldn’t be more happier at the end result. They were really professional and sat us down in their conference room to discuss the arrangements. We were able to select a really nice Urn with some memorabilia for a fraction of a fraction of our estimated costs. Losing my Dad has easily been the most difficult thing to ever happen to me but I am so grateful that we had Chapman Funeral Services to make it a little easier for us. Thank you!

I wish I could choose zero stars. DO NOT SUBJECT YOURSELF to this unprofessional funeral director! We walked out after 15 minutes into the experience after multiple inappropriate comments and behavior. One expects to have a very smooth, and efficient process at such an emotional time.
The experience included:
–talking about himself, including how he understood our grief because he lost his dog 1 ½ months ago (really?);
— sharing personal information about the deaths of others in their care… a violation of privacy;
— interrupting our conversation twice to go answer the phone (voicemail?);
— an apparent inability to complete the death certificate, because he felt the need to change the name of his employer for some reason;
— and the most inappropriate — he questioned our loved one’s decision of organ donation. He called the organ donation organization untruthful, and asked what they told us. The mother of the deceased thought he was implying they misuse or sell the organs on the black market. This is the last thing ANYONE wants to hear in such a difficult time. What was the point of bringing this up at this juncture?
I was there in support of my family as this was a tragic, unexpected loss. My emotions were in check throughout. Multiple times I had to say, «can we please stay focused on the task at hand!?» as these odd behaviors and comments continued. Finally, after the organ comments happened, he left to take the second phone call, we looked at each other, took the information we had given him, and left. It was so surreal!
In such a time of grief, loved ones deserve a funeral director who is compassionate, efficient, and focused on your needs 100% so you can leave with piece of mind. This company is NOT that company. Never have I experienced a situation where someone was so so ill-​equipped to handle a profession. He clearly does not have the social skills to be a funeral director.
Later that day, we went to Saddleback Chapel in Tustin. They were WONDERFUL!

I used them for crematory serivces over a year ago, as well as recently referred them to others. They made a bad situation, better. Took care of everything. Went the extra mile which they didn’t need to do, but they did.
I’m just posting now because I see negative reviews here and I don’t beleive they are justifiable.
As you can see the only people complaining are those that didn’t even use their service. Just emotionally distraught people who decided not to even use them for one reason or another. Over what? $ 30? Not returning a phone call? That’s ridiculous.
Anyone who has used them have only said great things.

This guy (Terry) is awesome. Inexpensive cremation, did not try to upsell us or steer us to a full service anything. I don’t know how others who gave one star arrived at and such a bad spot, cuz I can tell you I can be a PITA to deal with and Terry was real nice to me.

I had a few days to shop around for services. I found either extremely high fees or scary bad reviews. Then I found Chapman. This is a truly mom and pop operation. They were very helpful and kind. Their fees were very reasonable and clearly explained ahead of time. Without any pressure to up sell or games. They even accommodated my schedule without question. I can’t recommend them highly enough. Thank you very much for your help.

My mom passed away recently and feel very fortunate to have found chapman funeral homes. Terry and his wife, Mary provided their services with the upmost care and support. They are very kind and they made sure everything went as smoothly as possible.
My family and I are very thankful to them, especially Terry since we worked with him mostly.
Thank you both for all your help.

As a priest in the Orthodox Christian Church who has experienced working with different Funeral Homes, I feel that Chapman Funeral Homes is absolutely wonderful. They are caring, compassionate and love serving families and have communicated with me perfectly. When a family from my community chooses Terry and Mary Harmon I am at ease because they know what we expect and I feel that the families will get the best care and value.. I have known them for over 5 years and every time I have worked with them they have been wonderful. In fact I have them as the official funeral directors of the church that I serve. It’s sad to see others having bad experiences and I feel that it’s unfortunate to misunderstand these wonderful people and miss out on wonderful and caring service.

I called a few days ago to get info on cost… I spoke to Mary and had made an appointment to meet with her at the nursing home where my mom stays… I even gave her the address… It was 12:15 and finally called as no one had arrived… the receptionist said she was there… I said I was in the lobby and saw no one come in, she was to call me back once she located her. She did not call, so I took it upon myself to call back to make sure she had the number… and was told that Mary was in her office??? When I spoke to Mary she said that I was to meet her at the funeral home, I said excuse me there seems to be some miss communication, why would I give you the address to meet me here… My Mom is very ill and I needed to be with her… I was told that I could print out the forms, but told Mary I had no printer and asked if I could pickup the forms, she stated that she could meet me and bring them to the nursing home??? So when she didnt arrive, she responds to me that she couldnt print the forms at the nursing home… What the hell… dont you have forms printed out for your customers to fill out?
She called and then left a message that she was now leaving to go to Orange and I would have to make another appointment and she could meet me at the nursing home??? Hello why would you even say that if you are not able to so call print out forms… I feel that this is the worse customer service and unreliable business… especially at a time of need… VERY UNPROFESSIONAL!!!

I am not confusing with you with another location. and in regards to your private message if you would of contact me a week or two after my initial review i probably would have revised it. 4 months later shows your lack in customer service and you are trying to make face since you have 2 bad reviews in the past 6 months.
Please do not contact me anymore, there is nothing you can do to «make me happy».
Hi Josephin,
We’re a small family-​run business, and we take bad reviews very seriously. We’re sorry about your experience, and we’d like a chance to make things right for you. Is there anything we can do to make you happy?
Sincerely,
Terry Harmon
Owner

My 38 year old son died very suddenly of unknown causes. We wanted to donate his body to a medical school, but because an autopsy was required to determine the cause of death, it was not possible. I needed to find a place that provided cremation services and looked on the internet to see what was available. After calling several places to get quotes, I chose Chapman Funeral Homes because they offered the most competitive price.
Mary explained the whole process to me and told me exactly what the costs were going to be. She was very compassionate and caring as I tearfully explained that we did not even know when my son’s body would be released from the coroner’s office. She said that they would pick up his body once the coroner had notified us that it was available and that it would then be cremated. She carefully explained the process and told us she would call when it was time to pick up the cremains. She also ordered the death certificates for us.
She asked if I planned on purchasing an urn and I told her no. I really appreciated that she did not try to pressure me into buying one. She explained that the cremains would be in a plastic box (I kind of expected a cardboard box!) My husband and my other two sons came with me on the day the cremains were available, and we were so impressed to see a lovely black plastic box inside a beautiful red velvet bag. Mary placed the box in my husband’s hands and gave each of us a very heartfelt hug and once again expressed her condolences. We were very touched by her compassion and caring – you could tell it was genuine. We even received a thank you card from them for using their service and an offer to continue to help in any way that they could. I would highly recommend Chapman Funeral Homes to anyone in need of cremation services. Mary and Terry handled everything for us during this most difficult time in our lives.

They were great and took care of everything in a compassionate, professional and timely manner. Terry arranged for the service at the National Cemetery in Riverside and all the details were taken care of. I even requested that my father’s pacemaker be returned so I could donate it to UC Davis Vet School because the battery still had 7 years of life left and will help out some deserving puppy dog. My father had signed up for the Neptune Society many years ago to lock in a low rate. Even 30 years later, Chapman had a better price or cremation. I highly recommend.

Terry at Chapman was very helpful with the arrangements after the passing of my mother.
Forgive my long review, but I want to make sure you understand what Chapman did for us, and how other, less worthy mortuaries handle the same event.
When my mother passed away unexpectedly at my uncle’s house in West Covina, the police officer that responded asked if we had a particular mortuary that we wished to use. Not familiar with the area, and being late in the evening, we said no, so he suggested another mortuary, Custer Christiansen Mortuaries (CCM — see my review of these shysters in a previous post); he said that, in his experience, they were good and reasonable. So, we said OK, and he called them to pick up her remains. More than an hour and ½ passed when they finally picked her up. Without giving me any rates or any info, just having me sign some release papers, they took her away.
When they called me the next day to make arrangements, I told them that we wanted to have her cremated per her wishes. When I asked how much that would be, they told me that the rates started at about $ 2000. I questioned that amount, because I remembered that my father’s cremation was only about $ 500. They said that was their posted rate. I then asked how much it would cost if we decided to have another mortuary take care of the cremation, they said it would be $ 585 for picking her up. He said that they would bill the other mortuary, and we should pay them. I thought that was an outrageous fee just for the pickup.
I immediately started searching for another mortuary, and came across Chapman, which was close to my office in Orange, and close enough to West Covina, so I gave them a call. I spoke with Terry, and explained what was going on. He said that it would be $ 587 for everything, including picking her up from CCM. He said that CCM was gouging us and we shouldn’t pay. He said that, if we wanted them to handle things, he would take care of everything. I told him to proceed.
CCM called and said that Chapman had contacted them and told them that we made arrangements to have her picked up by Chapman, and they said fine, but we would need to pay the $ 585 for their services up to that point. I told them that this amount was extraordinary. I said I would be willing to pay them a fair amount for their pickup service, but would not pay more than what another mortuary was willing to do the entire job for. They immediately became rude and difficult to work with, but finally, they released my mother to Chapman and we were told to never use CCM’s services again. I told them not to worry, I would never consider their services again in the future. We never heard back from them.
OK, now for Chapman:
Terry and Mary were great throughout the entire process. Very helpful and very sincere and made sure that everything was taken care of after they received my mom’s remains.
Thank you so much Terry & Mary. You guys are the best and I will always remember how well you took care of us. Sorry this review was so late, but I told you that I would write one, and I did.
My recommendation: Don’t go to one of the big corporate owned mortuaries; they just keep adding to the bill when you’re at you’re most vulnerable point. Shop around and find a reputable independent mortuary.

My wife found Chapman, and I’m glad we trusted them to help us.
Not only were they «there» for us every step, In our time of pain, we found Mr. Greg Hinkson to be especially helpful with returning my sister’s belongings. Thank you Greg, and thank you Chapman. Keep up your kind spirit of helpfulness.

Mary and Terry are the best to work with during a difficult emotional time of loss. Mary was patient explaining all the different options. Their prices for cremation were half the cost of another competitor. She was accommodating for the potential of diverse needs due to some family members flying in from out-​of-​town.
Thank you, Mary and Terry, for your sensitivity and compassion through a sad time.
I highly recommend using their services!!!

I want to say that I chose Chapman Funeral home due to the reviews of others. All the reviews were spot on! Terry and Mary are AWESOME. We needed to set up things very quickly for my brothers memorial because his daughters live out of state and they has to return.
We had a private viewing and larger memorial service which were perfect. The video/​slide show Mary created was perfect and we will always have a wonderful way to remember him.
Thank you soooo much to both of them.

My wife and I had to make arrangements for my Father-​in-​laws passing. We worked with Terry on all of the arrangements. All of the details were worked out and everything went smooth. It was a hard time for us and other family members did not want to be involved with the arrangements. Terry and Mary are a very caring couple and I just can’t say enough about them. Thank you Terry and Mary for helping us through this difficult time in our lives.

Mary is hands down wonderful. Handling arrangements such as these are about the last thing you ever want to do in life. Alas, it’s very much a part of life.
Mary was so helpful in guiding me and my siblings in what steps we need to take with various institutions in handling my father’s affairs. Considering we had no clue where to even begin, I owe them a world of gratitude! I would absolutely recommend their services.