Co-op Funeralcare Reviews 5,379

Smooth, hassle free purchase, which protects me from future price rises.

It was easy exactly what I needed

Called to change my funeral plan which I paid for in full over 10yrs ago. I've now decided to get a pure cremation funeral, They made the change over so so simple and I'm even getting a substantial reimbursement on my initial payment, Winner Winner. The Guy that dealt with me was so understanding and professional with a great attitude and a few laughs along the way, I'm so Happy with the service.

Setting up funeral plans for my husband and myself was very simple and quickly done via the CO OP website

This is an example of a business quick to take a payment and then hide behind a call centre when you want to know anything more.. like if payment has been received. I thought I'd arranged a direct cremation when my bank made an extra quick payment to enable Co-op funerals to proceed and book it in. Several days after they should have received it, the only thing that co-op funerals can only tell me is that no one can tell me if they've received the money. That means that their franchise (local branch?) can't proceed. Co-op can't even tell them if they've received the payment!
Since I wrote this, the local branch has progressed the cremation - thank you to them, still with no word from Co-op funerals.

Fiona was excellent, friendly and professional. Everything went very smoothly.

I would strongly advise anyone considering Co-op Funeralcare in Chingford or Manor Park to think very carefully before using their services.

At one of the most difficult times of our lives, we were met with a complete lack of compassion, poor communication, and what I believe was a serious disregard for both my late father and our family.

Despite making it absolutely clear that we did not want my father to be embalmed, he was embalmed anyway. This was deeply upsetting and completely against our wishes.

On top of that, we were charged for services that were either not provided or that I ended up having to do myself. Rather than the funeral director arranging key aspects of the funeral, I had to organise the church and cemetery personally. I also had to make repeated journeys between Chingford and Manor Park to deliver paperwork and make payments, despite my local branch being Chingford, where my father lived. The Chingford branch was frequently closed, and getting hold of staff—particularly Tara—was extremely difficult. Phone calls and messages often went unanswered, leaving us chasing information at a time when we should have been allowed to grieve.

Instead of feeling supported, I felt abandoned. Every step of the process became far more stressful than it needed to be because I was effectively doing work that I had paid the funeral director to do.

What has stayed with me most is the way we were spoken to and treated during such a vulnerable time. Families place an enormous amount of trust in a funeral director to care for their loved one with dignity and to provide compassion and guidance. Sadly, that was not our experience.

I have recordings and documentation that I believe support my concerns about the way our family was treated and the standard of service we received.

Losing a parent is devastating enough without having to battle the very people you have trusted to help you through it. I cannot recommend Co-op Funeralcare in either Chingford or Manor Park based on my experience, and I sincerely hope no other family has to go through what we did.

I wanted to use the COOP as my wife had recently taken out a policy for her mother and the process had been trouble free. My wife had been able to pay for the plan using her own bank account without question at a Branch in Manchester. I telephoned to take out a plan for my mother (I have full Lasting Power of Attorney) and was told that I could not pay for the plan out of my bank account as it had to come from her account. I explained my wife had carried out the same transaction two weeks earlier to be told in a snappy response she should not have been able to do this. I said I wanted to lodge a complaint. Nick a complaints handler called my and said my sales agent was correct and that my wife should not have been able to pay for her mothers funeral plan from her own account. Nick suggested I pay for the plan from my mothers account, but hers is a simple account with no card. He eventually came up with a compromise of a six month plan to come from my mothers bank account which I could authorise. Nick said someone from sales would contact me the following day. Nobody called so I proactively called sales, we had got some way through the process when the agent said I would need to pay £99 deposit from my mothers account by card, same issue. I asked the agent to speak to Nick in complaints and come back to me. Nick called me back and apologised saying he had forgotten about the deposit having to come from my mothers account as a gesture had spoken to his manager and agreed I could pay it and then a six month plan from mothers account and someone from sales would call me back. As usual no call back.I called again and spoke to a female agent who explained she had a heavy call, nut would go through the process. I nearly hung up half way through the call as the agent struggled to understand me and got my mothers bank account details wrong on several occasions. I only continued with the call as I just wanted to get the plan in place, my mother is 94. The stance taken by the COOP is ridiculous, I have full LPA given to me from a court. They have a self imposed policy not anything based in financial law. I only stuck with the COOP as they have local funeral director tour family know and they are a big name. My advice is shop around.

I was treated with helpful friendly professional advise when purchasing my funeral . I decided to pay for my funeral in advance to save my loved ones having to cope with this at what will be an already difficult time for them . By doing this in advance I also got discount on my Co -Op card !

Arranging the funeral for our beloved Mam was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. During such a difficult and emotional time, the care, compassion and professionalism shown by everyone at Co-op Funeralcare meant so much to our family. From my very first telephone conversation with Emma, I felt supported and reassured. Emma is truly an exceptional person, kind, empathetic, caring and incredibly professional. She guided us through every step of the process with patience and understanding, making an overwhelming situation so much easier to manage. I would also like to thank all of the staff involved. From the evening Mam passed away and was respectfully taken into your care at the chapel of rest, right through to the day of the funeral, every member of the team treated her and our family with the utmost dignity, kindness and respect. We are deeply grateful for the outstanding service we received. Knowing that Mam was cared for so lovingly brought us great comfort during one of the most difficult times in our lives. Thank you all for helping us give her the beautiful farewell she deserved

Simple straight forward planning,staff very friendly

We was early but they were already waiting and no waiting around, she was very thorough on providing the information

Good phone call in the first place as was the second as info was clear . Did the application on line and that was really straightforward to do ! Clearly laid out all the possible types of funeral plans available.

Very easy to arrange a Direct Cremation online. Such a straight forward process. T's and C's in simple to understand language

The plans were explained in detail, so you know just what you are paying for, and a good choice to choose from. I chose the one that I was looking for and very happy with the price, I would recommend the Co op every time.

The young lady was so very helpful and made everything very clear and easy to understand.
I can easily recommend Co-op Funeralcare.

It was really good to actually sit down and discuss my circumstances and what I wanted as a funeral plan with Daniel
He was very kind, friendly and professional and made the process very easy explaining everything clearly. I couldn’t thank him enough.
I can’t recommend the Coop funeral care service highly enough.

At one of the worst times of our lives, we needed a team who were respectful, empathetic and professional and that is exactly what we had. Our initial meeting at the Weymouth branch was with Karen and she took the time to go through everything with us regarding the pre paid plan. Right up to the funeral day they kept in contact with us ensuring everything was going as we wanted. On the day of the funeral Karl and his team were professional and respectful and talked us through every step.
It was an extremely hot day and they still wore their full suits with hats and didn’t falter.
No one would have minded if they didn’t. On the day of collecting our mum again they were very professional and empathetic right up to the last minute.
We would definitely recommend the co-op funeral care at Weymouth. Thank-you for making a hard day as easy as possible.