Browns of Bundaberg Funerals

I have nothing but praise for the staff at f C brown. They were curtious and very caring when arranging our dad's funeral. They did exactly what my brother and I requested. The funeral was beautiful and Michael captured our dad as he was in life. I would especially like to thank Stacey for her empathy and professionalism while arranging the funeral. And thank you to Michael for your most beautiful service. Our dad got a wonderful send off and he would have loved it all. As do we. I would recommend browns of Bundaberg to anyone. Thank you all

I would like to thank Michael and Don for being so caring compassionate and understanding when l had to make arrangements for my husband and at the funeral. You should get a pat on your back you do a great job when someone is grieving so much for there love one.Thank you so much you should be proud of your business Also l would like to thank the lovely young lady at the counter sorry l can't remember your name but dealing with you was a pleasure you were so understanding and caring with me also.

If I could give 0/5 stars, I would… however, Google does not allow this.nMy family and I have had an awful experience with this funeral service company. There are several issues present within their service skills which are entailed below in sequential order.nn1. The undertaker’s damaged our personal property - Two people arrived to escort our loved one’s body. When removing the body, and bringing the trolley into the house… the lady knocked one of our walls, chipping it. She proceeded to look at the chip before pretending it did not happen. Likewise, she scratched our leather lounge quite deeply, and showed no apology.nn2. The receptionists and consultants display no empathy – during a time of such grief and hurt, you should be able to expect that a funeral service would make some sort of attempt at consolation, this was not the case with Browns Funeral Service. When we entered their consultation room to complete the forms for cremation, we were given no empathy. It was straight to business - the staff had no social skills, and did not take time to show any emotion.nn3. No information was given, and staff raise their voices – during the consultation, a few questions were asked by the family in regards to how to answer parts of the forms... During discussing whether the deceased was religious or not, a family member disagreed with the ticking of the 'non-practising box'. The staff member did not like being disputed, and was quick to stand up in her chair, raising her voice and talking over the client.nAlthough it is understandable that the documentation has to be filled out following a specific procedure… it was the manner and abruptness that the staff member replied with, which showed their lack of professionalism best. Her lack of empathy for what the family was going through, the raising of her voice, and her noticeably becoming agitated when family members are simply trying to understand the procedure, just goes to show that this lady should not have a job in such a sensitive workplace.nn4. Overpriced by $2,500 – I should start by stating this funeral service is one of the only ones I have seen who do not have pricing quotes online. Most other companies do, with prices for a cremation alone being rated anywhere from $900 to $1,100 in Queensland Australia, including as many viewings of your deceased love one as you request for no extra cost. Brown’s Funeral Service charged us $3,400 for the cremation (using only a cardboard casket), and an extra $500 if we wished to view our loved one. As this service parlour has no guideline prices online, I genuinely believe they charged us for a full service (cremation + funeral), which we were not getting.nnBrown’s Funeral Service has given my family and I extremely negative service, and have shown their lack of professionalism in countless ways. The undertakers do not take responsibility for their actions, nor do they respect your home and belongings; the staff (receptionists, undertakers and consultants) have dreadful social skills, and no emotional intelligence… failing to show any sign of empathy to grieving families; the staff have no conflict management skills – they become defensive over non-offensive questions, and raise their voice to talk over others very disrespectfully; and finally, Brown’s Funeral Service is heavily overpriced.nnI would not recommend this service to anyone who is going through the hard time of losing a loved one. You, your family, and your property will not be treated with respect, and you will be given so much additional emotional burden if you chose to use this funeral service - this is the last thing you need when you are going through what is the most difficult and hurtful time in your life. Anyone going through such loss should expect to be shown empathy, and this process should not be as difficult as it has been for my family and I.nn0 / 5 stars.

I have held off writing this review for a month since my last interaction with the company to ensure that everything that I have to say is written without haste. For anyone considering using this company in a time of immense grief, I strongly recommend you read this review in its entirety before making your decision. I have taken every effort to acknowledge the good and the tolerable aspects of this companies service before explaining how notoriously hurtful this experience has been.nnThe good: Branyan Gardens is a beautiful location and the undertakers were respectful when they came into our home on a day of great grief for myself and my family.nnThe bad: Everything about this experience, grief aside, has been unpleasant. When meeting the administrative staff to fill out forms following the passing, the lady was cold, disrespectful, rushed, and overall very ignorant of our very real grief. We decided to look around and request an exit fee as we were unhappy with the price and customer service. When hearing that we had considered exiting the service for another company who had been very attentive and friendly over the phone and were significantly cheaper, Browns immediately dropped their price to 40% of the original fee with no further questions asked. This is an insane amount of money to drop from, what were told was, a “standard price”. We were told that we would get a call to advise us of the cremation, and a call when the ashes were ready. We heard nothing. Over 7 working days later, we followed up and Browns and they acknowledged that the ashes were already waiting for collection. Living almost an hour away, my dad had me attend to pick this up. He called earlier in the day to organise it and was told to give email consent for me to collect them. When I arrived, the staff were totally unprepared. They had not printed the forms, they had not checked their emails, and they implied my dad had not followed through.nnThe ugly: Almost a month after the passing my father told me he had not heard anything about the death certificate (a necessary document to complete necessary actions following a death). Wanting no further dealings with this company he requested I call them to follow this up. When I did this, I INSTANTLY wished I could have a transcript following our HORRIFYING conversation. To summarise what was said, I asked the lady who answered my call (Mrs Brown herself) if the death certificate had been generated as we hadn’t heard anything about this despite being advised of a 10-day turnaround time. Beth became quite defensive, and strongly worded the following to me:nn“Look, we have attempted to contact [Deceased parent’s name] and she has not picked up the phone. The certificate is ready, we have attempted to make contact, and we are not at fault for this delay.” I kindly stressed to her that there was no possibility for the person named to answer the phone as she is deceased. Beth firmly told me that it was irrelevant as to why my parent had not picked up the phone, but that the certificate was ready for collection and they had attempted to notify. Frustrated, I once more tried to tell Beth that it would be impossible for my parent to answer the phone when she is the person who had been cremated by their service. Beth huffed on to say that the certificate was ready and I could come in to pick it up at my own discretion. We are not a complex family, and no other family member has a name which reads similar to my deceased parents. I think it is horrifying that the director of such a sensitive service could so disrespectfully answer a phone without having the time of day to listen to the consumer or apologise for her mistake.nnIn a time of tremendous grief of the person we love most, we have been facing further emotion due to this company. One month after my last dealings with them I still factually remember the uncountable awful experiences, even though the emotions attached have lessened.

The Branyan Gardens is a lovely place, The communication and notification was extremely poor to absent, The operational services we requested were done.