Leahy McDonald Funeral Home, Jamaica NY

If I could give this place negative stars I would! Do not go here to send off your loved ones. The staff is beyond inconsiderate and unprofessional!

Horrible funeral home. They had poor communication regarding the burial of my friends loved one. They were very rude to their family and threw out their loved ones items without asking them. I can’t imaging what they must be feeling. At a time like this, they couldn’t even count on a business who’s purpose revolves around making this transition for their family as smooth as possible. This is not the place you want caring for your loved one!

I truly wish I could give this place zero stars. First things first, our loved ones clothing was thrown out, and no one had the decency to even ask us, the family if that was okay. I was told “her clothing needed to be discarded. ” Secondly, we weren’t allowed to participate in the dressing of the body, which was an important factor for our customs. Another thing to add, our loved one was to be cremated. We sat and had a meeting for the arrangements, and no one mentioned to us that her body would be embalmed. As we were reading the receipt, we realized they had done so. After they got their money from us, calls suddenly went unanswered. Please stay far away from this place, I absolutely do not recommend. 0/5 Stars.

Horrible funeral home.
They did not allow the family of the deceased to be apart of the dressing process.
They threw all of the deceased's belongings away without asking our family first.
As soon as they were paid, they did not follow through on anything that was discussed prior.
Please do not use this funeral home if you would like for your loved one to rest in peace and not get scammed.

Communication was minimal and the funeral director has a very nasty attitude. No consideration or empathy was shown when dealing with the family. Don’t bother using this funeral home. You can find better service as well as a more reasonable price somewhere else. Terrible service!

Absolutely horrible business! If you have any respect for your deceased loved ones I would not consider this business. They went ahead and made important and personal decisions for my family such as the embalming process, throwing out personal belongings and the dressing process. Do not support this business!

Just an overall lack of communication and consideration to include families in the entirety of the burial process. You'd be better off having a burial at sea.

The ventilation inside this funeral home is terrible! You can smell traces of embalming fluid or another chemical used in the mortuary prep. I've been here before and noticed the same thing. Also, I saw some other reviews share the same experience. I understand this funeral home is popular with the Guyanese community and they host many funerals in a month, sometimes multiple in a day. So the DIrectors use plenty of chemicals back to back, and you can tell! However, there is no excuse for poor ventilation, making guests feeling sick inside. With all the money Leahy McDonald makes from all these funerals, the owners should do something about this.

The worst funeral home in the area. They don’t return calls, and when other family members bribe them it makes them happy. I have a restraining order against another family member, and all of the directors act like they don’t know what to do when I informed them. All this funeral home care about is money.

My mother passed away suddenly on Dec 3rd. Jim was very compassionate. His sense of detail made everything run very smoothly. Everything was handled with dignity and care, making a difficult situation more bearable.

Lost two family members a few months apart and happy we found this place. Jimmy and his staff go above and beyond to make everything go smoothly. Very good service and always put their customers first.

My father passed away a few months ago and I had a very bad experience with the funeral director, Mr. Jimmy. He is a very rude person and lacks empathy. On my first visit I met Mr. James and he explained the process thoroughly to me. We finalized the agreement and had agreed that I will bring the outfit I wanted my father to wear. My sister was coming from another country and I wanted her to partake in the final arrangements. It was agreed that when my sister arrived we would be allowed to go dress my father. When we arrived that morning with the clothing for my father it was a different atmosphere. We were greet to my surprise the rudest person, Mr. Jimmy. He had nothing good to say to the family. His body language was telling it all, he didn't want us there. He wanted the business but did not have the right attitude to deal with people. His staff who was present kept apologizing for his behavior in his absence. It was a cold winter day and there was no heat in the room of the viewing. On the morning of the funeral there was a snow storm. We left home early to get there on time. On arrival at the funeral home, the entrance of the parking lot was blocked with the funeral home's vehicle. The director and someone else were cleaning the parking lot. The funeral was 8: 30 AM and the were several cars waiting to go into the parking lot. The parking spaces were cleaned but he blocked the entrance until 5 minutes before the service. We asked why we weren't allowed to go in since the roads were bad and incoming traffic were stuck with no where to go. He got furious and exchanged bad words with the driver of my vehicle. We were allowed into the parking lot at 8: 25AM and he opened the doors for us to go in the building exactly 8: 30AM. He was very rude when we got in. The room that my father's casket was in was locked. I was waiting for him to open the door for us to go in but to my surprise that didn't happen. H told me to open it by myself and let my family members in. I was grieving over the loss of my father and Mr. Jimmy made it more difficult with his ruthless behavior. I felt ashamed to have my fellow mourners witnessing this ordeal.
At the time of the initial arrangements, I was promised the death certificate within 3-5 days. I had to wait longer and kept calling everyday before I got it. Several weeks later I received 2 envelopes addressed to me by mail. When I opened it there were death certificates of two other persons who were at Leahy McDonald Funeral Home. They were not my father's and I was confused why these were sent to me in the first place. I called Mr. Jimmy and asked that he sent someone to pick it up. He was very nice over the phone because he messed up. He had other people personal information sent to me.
I will never take any of my loved ones to this funeral home in the future if Mr. Jimmy continues to be the director. He needs to change his ways or hire someone who is a better fit for this job. Will not recommend.