Co-op Funeralcare, Thornaby (inc. Thomas Rea and Sons)

Co-op Funeral care Thornaby, Andrea, Michelle and Katie all went the extra mile to make sure that my late father-in-law was cared for very professionally while resting in their Chapel of rest, they also looked after Beryl, Patrick and myself they did an amazing job Bill's Funeral was lovely and when we interned Bill's ashes Andrea said a few words which were very caring and personal which we really appreciated. I would highly recommend this Funeral company they are committed to making Funeral arrangements easy in difficult situations.

Prior to my Nana's funeral the communication from the funeral director was poor, we didn't get confirmation on the timings and additional orders of service until after 5pm the day before the funeral. On the day of the funeral the flowers couldn't be delivered because the funeral home was closed for a meeting so we had a reschedule the deliveries. The funeral director refused directions to my Nana's home because her 'friend lives near there, I know where it is'. The funeral was scheduled to go from Nana's home at 13:10, we were stood waiting and tried phoning and were told "they're on the way". The funeral director didn't know where the address was, luckily a couple of men walked past, noticed our attire and said if you're waiting for the funeral cars they're parked up two streets along. One of the men kindly ran back round to where the funeral cars were to tell them they were at the wrong address. A few minutes later the funeral director walked round and said they're round the corner and asked if we could walk round, we said obviously not, the funeral is supposed to go from my Nana's home, so that's where it will go from. We asked why she didn't come beforehand to make sure she knew where it was, and she abruptly said she did twice, and she knows exactly where it is. We asked how she had still went to wrong place, she didn't have an answer. We said the service was supposed to start in 2 minutes, we were already 15 minutes late, and she said right let's walk round then, so we again said that we are not walking through the streets to get to the funeral cars, the funeral is going from my Nana's home, so they need to bring the cars to us. Finally, they drove round. At the church the orders or service and the 'forget me not' seeds hadn’t been put out, and the music we had agreed on hadn’t been arranged. As we were late, people were already inside waiting to pay their respects. It was raining at this point, and the funeral director asked us to wait whilst she went and handed the orders of service out, we said it's not good enough, and that it should have been done earlier, we can't stand outside in the rain waiting. She completely lost it and started being very rude, blaming the church, the fact that she's new to the area, and the Vicar for all of the issues, she accepted no responsibility and offered no apology. I said to her there's no need for the attitude, it's already a stressful and upsetting time and asked her to be professional and respectful. My mam and aunty were crying at this point, the funeral director saw this and shouted "I'm obviously not good enough, I'm not doing it" and refused to do anything further. She took her hat off, and sat in the front seat of the car, with my Nana's coffin still in the back. I went over and said you can't be for real, it's already sad enough without this and she went "well I'm new to this, so what do you expect!". I said that I'm new to losing my Nana, my Mam, Aunty and Uncle are new to losing their Mam, and the funeral is already off to a bad start, so I asked her to do her job, and give my Nana a nice and respectful send off like she deserves. She wouldn't even consider it. The pallbearers had to ring head office and tell them the funeral director was refusing to direct the funeral, and ask them to send someone else down ASAP. With the Vicar's help the pallbearers had to arrange to take my Nana into the Church, meanwhile the funeral director was still sat in the front of the car. None of the music was played, about 20 of the 150 orders of service and seeds were given out. Since the funeral we have discovered that they failed to take my Nana's fingerprints so we no longer have the option of keepsakes which we wanted. You only get one shot at giving a loved one a nice send off, do not use Co-op Thornaby.