Neptune Society of Northern California

I just made my pre-​arrangements with the Neptune Society, and it’s a relief to know that my children will not have to deal with this in the future. I found them to be very professional and prepared to deal with all the required forms at my death. I chose them because I have previously used them when my husband died, and they were respectful of our family’s wishes. They did not pressure us in any way. I highly recommend them and the peace of mind that comes from being prepared pre-​need.

I was disgusted by the way my elderly father and I were treated when we went to the Neptune Society offices to make arrangements for my mother’s cremation. The so-​called counselor was obviously a salesperson on commission. She used every trick in the book to try to sell us services and products that we didn’t want. I’ve worked in sales myself and had no problem seeing thru her but it confused my poor, distraught father. Avoid this place. They were bought out by a big corporation several years ago and have totally abandoned all the business practices that they used to follow. Later in the year, when my father, himself, died I just used a local mortuary. Not only were they efficient and compassionate, they ended up being cheaper!

I have never been so determined to write my very first review on Unilocal until today as my family and I were so aggravated on top of being in grief during my aunt’s viewing at 10am at Dignity Memorial in San Leandro, the funeral home that Neptune Society uses. I’m sharing this as a lesson. My aunt passed away on the 25^th of May, we waited longer for the viewing because of her kids from abroad that we had hoped to make it to see her for the last time before her cremation. The next day following her death, our family went to meet with Brenda in her Walnut Creek office to arrange her viewing, cremation, and everything else that came with it– picking up her body at John Muir, keeping her in their freezer, making her up, etc. Everything went smoothly (hence the one star rating) and was paid for, including and especially her casket. Before my aunt’s passing, she had requested for an inexpensive casket, because she said she «was going to be cremated anyway». So my uncle and brother chose a decent casket. Well, we walked in to the viewing room this morning in utter disbelief. I cried harder today than when we were watching her slowly and peacefully pass at the hospital. My aunt was made up to look pleasant, but she was laid in a cardboard box– yes, that brown carton that you use for packing. Even the packing tapes were obvious. They just partially placed a floral quilt over
the box. I understand some people really have no means and have no choice but to go for a carton. And I also understand Brenda did not place my aunt in that box. But from my knowledge the viewing room was open the whole time we were waiting for everyone to arrive. I could be wrong but I believe Brenda was also there before everyone else arrived. Couldn’t she have peeked inside and checked first? She received the FULL payment for the services anyway. We did not blame Brenda at the scene, but we did not fail in expressing our discontent after the Catholic blessing of the priest we had invited, and we were as polite as we can get, also to give respect to my aunt. We also knew someone else was accountable. She expressed her regret for the mistake and was very apologetic and offered free viewing of my aunt’s cremation. Nevertheless, however much Neptune tries to make it up to our family, they can NEVER erase that memory of seeing a loved one in such setting. It’s her lifeless body’s final resting place on earth, for Christ’s sake. We are not blaming Brenda, she
unfortunately just happens to be the face of Neptune. She’s such a nice,
professional lady, but it was such a preventable mistake on their part. She couldn’t have done anything right then and there but if only someone cared enough to check what was in the invoice that was paid for beforehand prior to the viewing, it could’ve made things a little less depressing.

You have to go visit Linda Feldman for all of your pre– planning needs! She is the best at her job. This branch is so lucky to have her. She is so educational in what she does. My husband and I set up our pre-​arrangements with Linda, and everything worked out great. I recommend visiting this office, and especially going through Linda. She is the best! After meeting her, being an attorney, I felt it was necessary to give a review.

I wish I could say that our situation improved with the Neptune Society but that simply is not true. Miraculously two days after they gave us the devastating news about my grandmothers remains not being ready, they suddenly call and say they are ready and we can come after 3:30 pm to retrieve them.
When we walked in there was no one at the front desk, so I rang the bell and sat down. I waited 5 – 7 minutes before anyone appeared and even then she seemed surprised to see us. She took us into a «family» room and left to retrieve the urns.
She brought them into us and I will say that they were beautiful. In with the paperwork was the business card of Michael Rogers, Director of Operations. The lady helping us said he would be calling, so they wanted to be sure we had his card.
Suddenly Brenda appeared (she was with another family) and came to express her apologies once again. She displayed remorse and was very empathetic, telling us how terrible everyone felt. She emphasized more than once that Michael Rogers wanted to do right by our family and would be calling. She talked about what a great person he was and how badly he wanted to make things right. And with that we collected my grandmother and walked out.
Nearly two weeks have gone by and we still have not gotten a call from Michael Rogers. My mother sent him a personal email describing her distaste for their shady practices. Surprisingly she did get a reply which said he would call her first thing on Monday (yesterday) at 10:30 am. The call never came. Once again completely disappointed with this organization’s integrity. My opinion remains unchanged.

We wish we could have had the experience that everyone else had. I do not normally post on Unilocal,but I want others to avoid the horrible experience we had. To begin with the person who sold my mom the Neptune package was not the person with whom my mom had to deal after my father died. So she was working with a stranger when she had liked the other women a lot. The people who picked up my dad looked, in honesty, frightening — like you would not normally want to welcome them into your house. The day he died, we went to speak with the woman at the local Neptune society office, and we felt like we were dealing with a sales transaction — like the woman was dealing with real estate or cars. We then had to wait 10 days for my father’s death certificate (he was being cremated which can delay the certificate). However, getting the certificate was an ordeal. After a week of waiting my mom called the Neptune society worker and never got a call back. She called again and my mom felt like she was basically scolded by the woman– telling her that she had been warned it could take this long. When I finally called and asked to speak to the manager we were able to get the death certificate that day (as she «personally» took things into her own hands). However, why did we have to spend so much negative energy around my father’s death and being angry people in order to get his death certificate and cremation done? After getting angry and voicing our frustration, we were finally able to cremate my father 13 days after he had died. The cremation at Apollo was out of a horror movie — The side door leading into what looked like a warehouse was dilapidated and barely marked like we were doing something illegal; the family waiting room/​closet was dusty, with holes in the wall, plastic plants, and a painting that had fallen off the wall. We had to walk through what felt like a factory, past the furnaces, to view my dad,… It was horrible. I cannot believe I am writing a Unilocal review like this and have never written a review, but I don’t want this to happen to other families.

After losing my father to cancer a little over a month ago I’m ready to start Unilocaling again and this was my first place I wanted to review. Nobody wants to go to the Neptune Society, but if you have to take care of such a thing, this is a great place to go.
My step-​mom had to reschedule her first appointment and they were great about it. When we went in the next day, the employees were all very nice and considerate and sat us down in a private room. The techy in me was impressed with the nice TV viewing set-​up and easy to follow presentation to get us through all of the things we had to take care of. They had all the paperwork ready to sign and were very knowledgeable.
The woman helping us was patient and thoughtful. She even offered to help us with the obituary and did a great job of it too.
I hope that you don’t have to go, but if you are looking for a great place for these type of services, you have come to the right place.

Once again, Bari is the best. With the impending demise of our beloved Aunt, Bari has stepped in to make the process as easy as possible on our family. She’s an awesome listener, empathetic without being condescending, just a really good person. Thanks so much Neptune and especially thanks to Bari.

This is the review I never wanted to write.
My mom died from cancer in June after a five month struggle. Her doctors had been cautiously optimistic and she had mobilized herself to fight against her illness, so it was a terrible shock when she suddenly passed one morning without warning.
As mom’s only two heirs, my brother and I were left scrambling to figure out what happened and what to do. Mom had made it very clear she wanted to be cremated, so we asked her pastor, several family friends and family members for a recommendation about where to send her. All of them said the same thing — «The Neptune Society».
So I called Neptune and they were perfect — helpful, sympathetic and upfront about what was going to happen and how much it was going to cost.
The month following my mother’s death is not very clear in my head yet I remember the meeting with the Neptune Society’s representative, Lisa McMenomy. My brother, Lisa and myself sat in a comfortable room, with a large window overlooking the street. My brother and I were exhausted, confused and overwhelmed with millions of details that felt insurmountable. Lisa helped us get oriented as we began our strange journey through the bureaucracy of death.
Lisa’s manner was perfect throughout the meeting and subsequent phonecalls. She was careful, sympathetic and a font of information. I honestly don’t know how she and the Neptune Society do it. This is a business where the clients are uniformly grieving and are understandably not functioning at their best. The job of the business is to provide comfort, information and act as a go-​between with a large bureaucracy. Somehow in all this, they have to politely explain how much it will cost. It simply cannot be easy to do that, yet Lisa and the rest of the staff there pulled it off with an amazing amount of grace.
I am very grateful to them.
My brother and I were given folders of papers with checklists of things we might have to do in regards to our mother’s estate. Each cost, fee or charge was itemized for us and options were clearly spelled out. I felt as though the price was very reasonable given everything. California, apparently, is a very expensive state to die in and that’s not the Neptune Society’s fault.
Recently my grandfather went to Neptune and prepaid for both his and my grandmother’s cremation. He sent out a note to the family stating what to do if something happens to him or grandma. Basically, Neptune gives you a phone number to call when needed and they help you through whatever situation has come up.
This helps take some of the guesswork out of a hard situation. I was not prepared for the level of confusion and lack of mental clarity I experienced during my mother’s illness and death. *Anything* that helped alleviate it was worth it.
I am grateful grandpa handled this in advance. That will help all of us who love them. Not only will some of the work already be done, but we will know for sure that my grandparents’ wishes are respected.
All in all, should you find yourself in a difficult situation like I did, I highly recommend the Neptune Society of Northern California. They will treat you with kindness and give you the information you need to keep going through the process of grieving, which, unfortunately, does include practical obstacles like money and bureaucracy.