Griffin L J Funeral Home

We unfortunately needed the services of a funeral home following the death of my grandfather in October 2015. We choose Griffin (Westland location), largely due to its convenient location. In retrospect, I wish we had done more due diligence. Larry, the funeral director who we met with, lacked compassion, empathy and patience as we discussed options and packages. Having paid several thousands of dollars, and given circumstances, one would expect a greater level of respect going through this difficult time, but it felt more like a business transaction again and again. There were also several key items that were not addressed during our initial meeting which we had to follow-​up about which one would think would be standard — inc. personal effects, clergy attendance, thank you notes, etc. which when asked, felt we were imposing on their time. The night of the visitation, Larry briefly stopped by and immediately rudely rebuked me for placing a picture on my grandfather’s casket — doing so in a very inappropriate and unprofessional manner given the sensitive nature of the event going on. He abruptly left without giving condolences, asking how things were, etc. Thankfully, there was one part-​time employee who we interacted with that night who was a helpful resource. The following week we had to return 3 – 4 times to complete paperwork, pick up letters they had forgotten to give to us, etc. and met additional impersonal, transactional colleagues. All in all, a very unpleasant experience was heightened given the personal interactions with Griffin staff — I would strongly discourage others from giving them business.

What exactly can you say about a funeral home? You can’t say «looking forward to seeing them again real soon» can you? However, I felt obligated to take a moment and say how wonderful this location was. I hadn’t been to a Griffin location before, but of course knew of them for years. This Westland location was incredible. Their staff was friendly, understanding, and very compassionate. This location’s general manager was also very knowledgeable, helpful, and a pleasure to work with. The room we were in was very clean and well maintained, plus by having a chapel with organ on site, it really helped in coordinating the entire service. Instead of starting at the funeral home, then to the church, then drive to the cemetery chapel, and then to the grave side, we were able to do it all at one place, then drive en mass to the cemetery chapel, then to our luncheon. That was very helpful and convenient. What I’d also like to speak about is their funeral beautician /​cosmetologist. In the last few weeks of her life, our family member had become very emaciated and frail. So much so that my wife wanted to have a close casket service so she didn’t have to remember her that way. Once we arrived for the family hour we found the casket was open so we looked. Just working off of a picture, they were able to do such a beautiful job presenting her. Her hair, face, make up, everything looked so natural, and it was a relief to see her like that. She didn’t look dead, she looked like she was sleeping and quite restful. That’s when we decided to have an open casket so everyone could see her and say good bye. More than half of our visitors mentioned how beautiful she looked and how peaceful she seemed. This Griffin location did a tremendous job. After all was said and done they presented us with bags that had all of our paperwork neatly organized by what it was and priority. Everything they did helped make a sad situation better. Should we ever need funeral services in the future, we will certainly be going to Griffin Funeral Home in Westland.

Overall accommodating and nice

Thought this was a really nice funeral home. Was here for my grandfather’s funeral, and everything ran very smoothly. We had food in the basement and they seemed to be very accommodating for everyone. The basement could use an update in furniture and could be cleaned, but the main floor was very nice.

Griffin Funeral Home handled family members of ours throughout the years. This week it was for my mom. We did not have David Griffin who helped us before, but his brother Larry. When we called for them to pick up our mom the night our mom died, Larry was too concerned on what time we were coming in and asked several times without being sensitive that we suddenly lost our mom. During our meeting, he laughed and treated it like another meeting. Although I know that is his style, my advice is to remember you are dealing with customers in pain and we look to you for directions. Although death is your business, most of us do not experience it on a daily basis. Please be caring and understanding. Talk to us with concern and patience, not like a backyard conversation.
Griffin Funeral Home will most likely be our choice again. I did provide feedback and hope that our next experience will be better.