Aegis Cremation and Funeral Services, Binghamton NY

I've been meaning to write this for months to commend Aegis Cremation Service for the excellent care and efforts Paul made to make a stressful time less stressful. When my brother died in 2016 and my father died last November, he promptly responded and acted with compassion. Since pre-arrangements had been made it also made it easier.
His staff have also been kind and supportive. I think very highly of them, and although not looking forward to the next time we will certainly be using them in the future.

The owner Paul Mikeska, did not honon our familys signed contract. Then he took our familys money and would not return my emails or messages I beleive this behavior.is illegal.

My family and I were beyond satisfied with help of Paul Mikeska and Aegis cremation. I would definitely have them help again! Paul was very caring, professional, understanding, and just very easy to work with, even at such a heartbreaking time! I highly recommend Paul Mikeska and Aegis cremation!

I am extremely satisfied with my experience at Aegis cremation. Paul Mikeska was very helpful and was great with communicating with our family. He was very caring, understanding, and professional which made this difficult time a little easier for my family and I. The service was beautiful as well. I would highly recommend Aegis cremation!

When we tragically lost my 24 year old son in 2012 Paul worked carefully and with great respect to help us with the arrangements of cremation and selecting a suitable urn for my son's remains. His work was gracious, kind and reasonable. As a pastor, I have since that time, helped officiate numerous funeral services over the years which Paul has overseen and directed. I highly recommend Ageis and the professionalism of Paul Mikeska to any of my parishioners.

When we tragically and unexpectedly lost our 30 year old nephew a few months ago, Paul was there for our family from the minute he answered the first call till well after the burial. We were at a complete loss, as my nephew was living in Tennessee, with no insurance and we were clueless about our options. Paul went over every possible scenario with us, prices and suggestions (and was very generous with us on the pricing being aware of the situation). He went above and beyond. The afternoon before the services when I realized I hadn't gotten cards, I called Paul hysterical. He had them printed and hand delivered them 45 minutes later. Our family has always used another funeral director for generations who we love and respect but we opted to go different this time because of the situation. We were not disappointed. Paul was kind, compassionate, respectful, professional, and took our personal needs into consideration. We will definitely be using Aegis for our future family needs.hopefully not too soon. Thank you Paul!

From initial contact, though date of death, burial & follow on I am concerned by the unprofessional/unethical behavior I have encountered while dealing with Paul Mikeska, Owner, and Licensed Funeral Director of Aegis Cremation & Funeral Services regarding my Family member's prepaid funeral.

My experiences concern me on many levels. The lack of professionalism, inaccurate billing, lack of transparent communication, lack of response to emails & phone calls, along with the practice of repeatedly trying to talk me into purchasing services/items that he would benefit from (& were not needed) are not issues that a grieving Family should have to deal with.

On the day that the contract was made Mr. Mikeska kept trying to lead me to add additional expenses, stating he should get whatever monies are left regarding Medicaid spin down vs.county/nursing home. He raised his voice and was aggressive; repeatedly stating that it is not right to give it to the county when it could go to him. This behavior was very alarming to me; I had hoped once her death/burial time came that he would not continue this behavior, sadly, the behavior continued. On the date of my family members' death I was not given guidance regarding if they picked up her body or not. I called numerous times trying to get information regarding where her body was, when she would be cremated etc. The conduct of Mr. Mikeska was cold; the lack of communication was unsettling.

Due to timing of the year she passed (frozen ground) & then COVID-19 travel restrictions we were not able to have everything settled by the end of spring as we had hoped. When we realized we could not get there in the near future, due to continued restrictions, I asked Mr. Mikeska to proceed with burial of her ashes & explained that a funeral mass would be at a later date when we could attend. I asked for clarification regarding some of the fees on the contract & stated that some of them were not going to be necessary due to the current situation; He had told me that there is some flexibility with fees on the contract, I asked that any money not used for a service at the cemetery be rolled into the other agreed upon sections. He stated he would do this. But what he did instead was bill $600 for not agreed upon expenses, which went directly to him.

In addition, during the planning of her burial he gave me conflicting information & did not seem able to answer some basic questions. He stated that I should phone the cemetery myself (I thought it was his job to coordinate & answer questions accurately). He then tried to up-charge again during the process of scheduling the burial date, he repeatedly tried to tell me that we needed a vault; I told him that this cemetery did not require a vault. I was getting frustrated as I felt that it is his job to know the requirements of the cemeteries.

Once again, the day before the burial, he told me that I needed a vault. I again had to tell him that it is not required and we do not need it. Due to the pattern of his actions I began to hypothesize/suspect that he was once again trying to manipulate me to purchase more than was needed so he could bill for more (make more).

In good conscience I can not recommend Aegis Cremation in Binghamton, NY.

At the time of this review, there are 2 reviews with 5 stars posted by the owner himself, giving himself 5 stars. Actions speak louder than words.

Paul and Aegis have caused one of the worst experiences of my life to be even worse. My mother passed away suddenly and it was not Covid related. However, due to Covid Paul refused to meet with me to make the arrangements and insisted everything be done via email. His communication was nonexistent and when I called to question where the email was he got testy and reprimanded me claiming he was in the middle of 2 other funerals and didn’t have time to deal with it but would send the email that evening. I still didn’t get the email. He had my mother for 36 hours before he finally sent the paperwork. I signed and filled out what I had to and sent it back. I didn’t receive a confirmation from him. 36 hours later I call to find out what the next steps would be. Again, I’m reprimanded because he was in the middle of dealing with another family (who I guess he wasn’t concerned about Covid with). I tell him that evidently my mother isn’t as important as any of the other individuals he’s dealing with. At this he tells me “of course I care about your mother I went to get her in the middle of the night! ” I asked if he is sure that he has my mother and hasn’t mixed her up with someone else because we didn’t call him until 9: 30 AM and he did not in fact pick her up in the middle of the night. His response was I’m dealing with 15 other deaths. Paul is rude, disrespectful and incompetent. To add insult to injury he made numerous errors on my mother’s death certificate as well. Even in death he treated my mother as if she was just another number. If you care about your loved one and want them to be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve I would steer clear of Aegis.