Sinai Memorial Chapel Chevra Kadisha - Lafayette (FD1523)

Dec 2022

My elderly mother was getting close to death, and I wanted to make arrangements with a mortuary before she died. My wife had a generally good experience with Sinai a few years earlier when her mother died, so I decided to go with them, even though they were more expensive than some other places that had good reviews. (My mother was Jewish, but non-observant.)All my dealings were with Roger and Sharon. They were easy to deal with and reasonably communicative in doing the pre-need paperwork. It was only after my mother died (in her assisted living facility in Concord) that they failed. Here is the chronology:12:20 am (Friday) - I get the phone call from a caregiver that my mother died.1:48 am - While I am driving to Concord, hospice calls me, informs me that they have called Sinai, and that Sinai has a four hour window from the time of death to pick up the body, and that they usually arrive in less than two hours from when they are called. ~2:00 am - I get to Concord, and go to my mother's room, where her body and caregivers are.2:41 am - Sinai calls me, tells me that they just notified the drivers, and that they should be there in 90 minutes to two hours. (Why it took them almost an hour to call the drivers is not explained.)4:45 am - I am still sitting with my mother's body with no sign of the drivers. I call Sinai. They don't know why the drivers haven't showed up (and didn't even know that the drivers hadn't showed up). They have now missed the four hour deadline for picking up the body.4:54 am - Sinai calls me back, informs me that the drivers are now on their way, and should be there in a half hour.5:28 am - Still no drivers. My mother's body is cold, and I am getting cranky and tired, and facing driving home to Berkeley from Concord at rush hour. I call Sinai and tell them I am leaving. I leave and drive home.12:08 pm - Sinai calls me, says that the drivers arrived a little after 5:30 am. Their excuse: they say that they had a server problem so the drivers never received the e-mail Sinai sent them, and Sinai had no way to know that until I called them at 4:45 am, so it is not their fault they were late in picking up the body.WHAT? Maybe you should have a system where you get confirmation back from the drivers that they got the message, and they tell you where they are and when they are leaving for the destination. As opposed to a system that is the equivalent of putting a message in a bottle and throwing in the ocean with the hope that someone will pick it up. The drivers might not get an e-mail for all sorts of reasons - their phone died, they are asleep or busy, or hey, the server might be down.And maybe you should have had a clue that something was wrong because it is now 5:00 am and NO BODY HAS SHOWED UP. You only noticed that when I called. Lame.Total fail of systems, total fail of just paying attention, total fail of communication.And the communication didn't get any better after that. They were supposed to have the paperwork submitted for the death certificate on Monday, and the body was also to go to the crematory on Monday. On Monday I hear nothing. On Tuesday I hear nothing. On Wednesday I call them. They confirm that the body is at the crematory, and that they submitted the paperwork. They are vague/evasive about when the body and paperwork were sent, and about when the ashes will be available (they had previously said that with the body sent on Monday, ashes would be back by Friday).As I write this on Friday morning, I hope I get the ashes and death certificate at some point in the not-too-distant future.Given my unhappiness, why even three stars? My prior experience with them was good, they were easy to deal with and communicative before my mother died, they did eventually pick up the body, and I believe that they have actually sent it to the crematory and submitted the paperwork for the death certificate, so things could be a lot worse given the situation. If something changes I'll update this review.Update: it is now about an hour after I wrote the above, a