Michael Walsh Funeral Directors

I contacted a few funeral directors and the reason I chose Michael Walsh was the way they responded to me. I wasn’t made to feel like simply another enquiry or transaction.

I called the office after I’d received a couple of nice follow up emails from Sharon and this is who I spoke with initially. I was advised by Sharon, in a nice manner that with my permission, she would pass me to the lead funeral director, David, due to my location(Dumfriesshire) as he knows the working practices in my area.

David called and the way he spoke and what he said quickly made me think my father would be in safe hands. That was early afternoon and David kindly arranged to collect my father from the hospital the following day.

When I visited the office, I was in for circa two hours and we chatted about all sorts. There was no rush, I was made to feel at ease and I was assured my family’s requests would be carried on exactly as described.

From that point on, David’s team took care of everything and certainly went the extra mile for us in every way, including introducing me to a celebrant called Susan, who was truly wonderful.

Funerals are extremely sensitive occasions but I had no concerns as the team were brilliant and certainly exceeded our expectations.

Thank you for your compassion, professionalism, excellently timed humour(I am sarcastic and this was immediately sensed) and for simply doing the job we wanted done and more.

You are a credit to the wider Dignity group.

Many thanks

Colin

Dreadful experience so much so we had to move my dad to another funeral director. Kept telling my granddaughter she couldn't visit her great-granddad until the green form was received which was in fact 13 days after death due to lack of care from his GP surgery. The obituary wasn't written so I rang to ask if I had to provide the wording & was told yes. Something I hadn't needed to do for my mother. It still wasn't done and I rang to enquire why but was told the person was responsible wasn't in. In the meantime our celebrant came to see us luckily and made us aware even with pre-paid plans you do have the right if not happy to move your loved one to a different firm. I rang to make the person at Walsh's/Walker's aware of this and was asked why so I gave her the list of concerns the topmost one being lack of respect for my father but also mentioned after 11 days there was still no obituary. She then spoke to me rather rudely saying yes it has I've sent you an email link which she had but this was after my call regarding the delay. This link didn't work after several people tried it and the obituary was never shown on their page. When we informed them we were moving dad David refused to let him be moved unless we paid £205 immediately, virtually holding dad to ransom either we paid or we didn't get our wish. It was an extremely difficult to make the decision to move dad as the thought of what it entails is upsetting at an already stressful time. The proper procedure would in my opinion to send us an invoice not treat us like there was a risk we wouldn't pay. The whole debacle seems to be because they aren't interested when it's a prepaid funeral plan. I would under no circumstances advise anyone to use this firm. We had a totally different experience with them in October when my mother died. The staff then couldn't have been more caring & kind. Unfortunately they have moved on and the current staff have a totally different attitude.

I am extremely disappointed with the service we received from Michael Walsh Funeral Directors during what was already an incredibly difficult time for our family.

My great-grandad passed away on 11 August at 9:40pm. Michael Walsh Funeral Directors collected him at approximately 11:40pm that night and we were told that we would be able to see him from the Wednesday evening.

On the Friday morning, I called to ask when I would be able to visit him. I was transferred between several people and was eventually told that I could not see him yet because they had not received the required green form. I was assured that I would be contacted as soon as I was able to visit.

By Wednesday 19 August, I still had not received a phone call. When we finally chased this up, we were absolutely devastated to discover that my great-grandad had not even been prepared for viewing, despite us having been led to believe that he would be ready for us to see him.

This was particularly upsetting because we had spent days waiting and expecting to be able to say our goodbyes, while believing that he was being cared for appropriately.

As a result, we made the very difficult decision to move my great-grandad to another funeral director. We were then told that he would not be released until a fee was paid. While I appreciate that this may have been company policy, I find it extremely difficult to understand why this policy was applied in these circumstances, when the reason for moving him was directly related to the service and care we had received.

Losing someone is difficult enough without having to worry about whether they are being treated with the dignity and care they deserve after their death. Our family was left extremely distressed and disappointed by what happened.

I sincerely hope the company reflects on this situation and ensures that no other family has to experience the same thing during such an incredibly painful time.