Reviews of Bruce C. Van Arsdale Funeral Home (Mortuary)

Michael

Losing someone you love is perhaps the most difficult obstacle life presents you with. Emotions are very raw and feelings are real. I don't know anyone that wishes to spend their day having to make funeral arrangements. However, when faced with this task my family and I used Bruce Vanarsdale Funeral Home and our experience was an absolute grand slam despite the circumstances. Bruce was professional, sympathetic and very accommodating to our fathers wishes. My father looked absolutely amazing in his casket. I personally wanted to remember him how he was but after hearing how great he looked, I conceded. Looking back on it, I'm glad I did. Thank you Bruce and Brittany for making this difficult time a memorable experience for my family. You went over and above and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. If we could give you a hundred stars we would!

Jessica Bailey

Worst funeral home ever. Not only was Bruce INCREDIBLY rude to my entire family, my grandmother looked nothing like herself. The makeup was abominable. Go elsewhere. I am heartbroken that we said goodbye to my grandmother this way.

Becky Candelora

When a loved one passes, the family is left with the arduous task of making the final arrangements while enduring the grief of their loss. That task is even greater when the decedent had no means. As the daughter of a decedent without life insurance, I had the task of shopping around for the best arrangements I could find, while allowing my mom to be handled with dignity. That's what I thought I found when I initially spoke with Bruce Van Arsdale about my mom's arrangements. Bruce presented, on the phone, as a thoughtful, caring person who had the best interest of my family at heart. He quoted us a fair price ($1,300) and told us the only additional expenses would be $200 for the crematorium and $20 for a tip. Imagine our surprise when, after meeting with Bruce at his funeral home, the bottom line figure was actually $1,965. Of course Bruce was able to itemize all the charges, hence justifying them. Nonetheless, we were surprised. Bruce explained that my mom, being a medicaid recipient, might qualify for a death benefit which would cover her expenses. Turns out, she did qualify; however, since she was being covered by medicaid, her new cost was $2246. When I asked Bruce why the cost had inflated, he explained that he was doing me a favor by offering the lower price. When I asked if his expenses had increased since learning about the medicaid benefit, he said they hadn't. When I challenged him on the fact that he was committing fraud, he proceeded to tell me, and I quote, " You came in here in your fancy Jaguar, crying about money, and I did you a favor by offering you a low price". In summary, Van Arsdale is the most unprofessional, rapacious, insensitive organization I've ever had to deal with. To add insult to injury, when I phoned Bruce to inquire about the death certificate, he confronted me about my review, threatening to come after me if I filed a complaint with the State Board of Mortuary Science. And, he removed my mother's obituary from the Van Arsdale Memorial page.

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Bruce Van Arsdale

Steve Kwiecien

I want to thank Bruce for his outstanding service during this difficult time in me and my family's lives with my brother's passing. Bruce and his daughter were very kind and compassionate with us. The exterior and interior of the building is well kept and provides a warm and cozy feeling. I liked the way the room was set up, with pictures of my brother and his belongings all around. The video tribute was a nice touch. He gave my family a good rate since my brother did not have life insurance. I give this funeral home 5 stars for the quality work and Bruce's nature throughout the process of laying my brother to rest.

Central Jersey Colon and Rectal Surgeons

The viewing we attended in support of our co worker was extremely professional. The staff was welcoming and the venue was immaculate.

Abigail Recierdo-Edworthy

My baby boy passed away last year. Bruce is straightforward and seems like a kind man. The location of the funeral home was an added plus very close to our house. The exterior and the interior of his funeral home is beautiful. Now, why the two starts only? Well, after our initial consultation with Bruce, he said his apologies for the loss of our baby, but he then proceeded to say to my husband and I that we are a young couple and to not worry because we would have more children. Eight months later and this comment still keeps me up at night. Bruce, I could have 25 healthy children, but no one would take the place of the son I conceived, carried, birthed, and raised for five months. This ignorant comment from a funeral director, of all people! I was speechless. I just lost our son that morning at 3 am and to be told this just 14 hours later I felt like my son didn't matter at all. Our tremendous loss was minimized and was really very painful to hear. The other complaint I have is during the actual wake. It was during the afternoon session while we were using the funeral home and relatives and friends were paying their respects to my son. The owner Bruce and a lady (business partner, we think) were arguing just steps away from my dead son's casket. Family and friends heard the fight. It was loud and it went on for a while. It was very unprofessional. Have respect for the dead and the family, please. I had no fight in me left and was too consumed by grieving that I let it go. However, it left a mark on my family and my friends. They were very upset for me. think I wrote him letter of how that was so unprofessional, but I don't remember. Think twice before you consider coming to this place. I wouldn't want an insensitive comment by someone leave such a hurtful mark on another griever's psyche. I have enough stress and pain to literally last me a lifetime that I didn't need the insensitive comment by the owner and their up professionalism to above to deal with.

Bob Johnson

Spectacular service. Bruce went above and beyond what was required. We had to arrange a service on an extremely contracted timeline. We were also not from the area. Bruce did everything to accommodate our desires. He spend a lot of time working on a Sunday to make sure that our plan for the ceremony could come to fruition. Would highly recommend.

Adam diamo

Hello!! I'm Adam from morocco Casablanca. I miss. Maranda

Pavel Enick

I had the unfortunate experience of planning a funeral for my 5 month old son. Bruce Van Arsdale was amazing to work with during this difficult time, I would recommend him to anyone. We decided to check out a few funeral homes before settling on Bruce - his facility was the nicest, he was the most experienced, and although this wasn't our deciding factor, his price was the lowest too. Bruce was great at explaining the process and was very patient when we had a few emotional moments. He was even kind and understanding when my 2-yr old magically produced a crayon from nowhere and started writing on the walls. Bruce also did an amazing job preparing my son's body for the viewing - even after the state medical examiner's autopsy (legally required for SIDS cases) butchered him up, Bruce did a great job making him look presentable. I have nothing bad to say about our experience.

Gina Poslusny

My husband and I went to support our friend. We knew that the family was in good hands with the staff at Van Arsdale. Well done

Artemis Hunter

Couple months ago, had to use this funeral home's services. Very professional, quick, and compassionate service.

Lisa Lattarulo

This funeral home is very well organized and accommodating. Pricing is very competitive compared to other funeral homes in the area and the quality of service is not impacted. Mr. Arsdale and his staff displayed a high level of professionalism and compassion to our family during this trying time. I would highly recommend this establishment to my family and friends. We thank you for prompt and quality services.

Andrew Ahimovic

Bruce and his family went above and beyond what we could have asked for when my wife passed. Anytime I needed talk to him, he was there right away. We had over 500 people pay their respects to my wife, on a day that was beyond cold outside. He not only took care of us inside the funeral home, but also everyone that was outside near the street waiting to come in.

John Rennie Rennie

Dear Bruce and Brittany and staff, Thank you kindly for your Professional, Caring,Compassionate,Kind services you provided for the loss of our Beloved Dad! Your Professional services were Outstanding and you all were very attentive to our needs! Very Comforting! Excellent Services! A 5 Star rating for Bruce C Van Arsdale Funeral Home! I Highly recommend the Van Arsdale Funeral Home to All! Thank you again Bruce and Brittany and Staff! God bless you all! Thank you also for the Beautiful Stand-up Floral arrangement you provided from the Van Arsdale Family!