Anybody Dealt With The Neptune Society?

[JSngry]

The wife and I are finally realizing that we need to have disposal plans in place for our bodies when they die. We both favor cremation and also favor pre-paid burial/etc plans. We keep getting mailings from The Neptune Society and were just wondering how legit these guys were. Seems like I've heard of them for a while now, but it also seems like their profile is rising as more people appear to be favoring cremation. So....does anybody here have experience with them? Are they on the level and reliable? Will they still be here when we aren't? I know my folks had pre-paid funeral/burial plans that ended up being of invaluable comfort and assistance when they passed. Would like to have the cremation equivalent for our kids, if possible.

[Aggie87]

I don't know anything about the Neptune Society, so I can't address your questions about them.

Pre-paying things like that sometimes are risky though.

We cremated my mother after she passed away at the end of January.  My folks had pre-paid for some things associated with their passing - cemetery plots and headstones, many years ago.  So when we contacted the headstone company to finish the engraving on her headstone (in Elgin, TX), we discovered that the company had been bought out probably 8-10 years ago (though retaining the same name).  The new owners would not honor the pre-paid engraving, and wanted to charge us again for doing that work.  Annoyed, we found another company to do it for us (and at a cheaper price than the original company wanted us to pay).  

The cemetery folks were different though, and couldn't have been nicer.  We ended up deciding to have a small, private gathering and burial, and they told us we could literally dig the hole in the ground for her ashes ourselves if we wanted to, or they would do it for us.   

The other thing I elected to do was to take some of her ashes to Hawaii back in May, and scatter them in the ocean.  There were personal reasons for doing so, and I like to think it made her happy.  

I want to be cremated too.  Scattering her ashes in the ocean was a profound experience for me.  It made me realize I'd like mine to be scattered in some places that are significant for me, and that I don't care to be buried in a cemetery anywhere.  I also don't have one "home town" that is significant enough to me to be buried there.

[BeBop]

My wife had her arrangements with Neptune Society.  I don't know if they're all the same everywhere (doubtful), but she/we had a good experience.  The preparations were business-like but gentle.  My wife was prepared, so there wasn't a lot of indecision.  I think it took about 20 minutes.  I think they would have handles a freak out pretty well too.  When Lisa passed, they did everything they were supposed to do - retrieve the body, fill out a bunch of paperwork for the death certificate, arrange for the cremation, keep us posted, return ashes.  I had to sign a sheaf of papers, but pretty much nothing else.   They also had to deal with an understandably distraught mother (-in law); this was a godsend to me.  My wife had also set up some sort of prepaid memorial service with them; I decided I wanted to do something "classier"; they immediately refunded the prepaid amount.  My mother used them too.  They've been around a long time.

I've got kind of a hang-up about cremation (I was badly burned as a kid), so I'm going with a "chemical cremation".  Otherwise, I'd be going to Neptune Society.  

Good luck with it all.  You're doing the right thing for your kids, just as my wife was doing the right thing for me and her mother.  If I can help with any Qs, better to PM me; I don't get around the forums much when I'm o'erseas...like beginning tomorrow.

Edited July 23, 2017 by BeBop

[felser]

My parents have prepaid with them.  They are both still alive, though (87 and 83).  We'll see how it works for them eventually.

[Ken Dryden]

My grandmother made arrangements with the Neptune Society and was cremated after her death in 1984. A couple of weeks ago we finally scattered my parents' ashes on some mountaintop property they owned. It's one of those discussions people need to have with their loved ones, after my father died, I was the only one in the family who knew he wanted to be cremated, he left no funeral instructions for my mother. The funeral industry is still a racket, watch out for chain homes (even when they keep the names of the local homes they bought), they are notorious for overcharging.

[Aggie87]

16 hours ago, BeBop said:

I've got kind of a hang-up about cremation (I was badly burned as a kid), so I'm going with a "chemical cremation".  Otherwise, I'd be going to Neptune Society.  

Interesting, I've never heard of that before.  According to your link, it's only legal in 11 states, so if you pass away in the U.S., I hope it's in one of those 11.

[JSngry]

Appreciate the input here, thanks.