I attended a virtual funeral service for Ms. Henreta Lillet Tennant on January 09th, and almost two weeks later, I remain shocked and horrified by the incompetence I witnessed. There was no order of service posted for viewers to follow, nor any orderliness in how the service was conducted. Worse still, the streaming was done in a slipshod fashion, rendering a dizzying, unstable view. The camera could not have rocked more were I in a dinghy struggling to cross the Drake Passage!!!
As part of the service, advance contributions from distant participants were to be shown onscreen. One does not expect such worthy contributions to be cast upon an old television of poor quality, rather than a large screen clear and visible to all, or for the image of those contributions to fade in and out; nor does one expect a camera to be dragged, with furious shaking, to the television screen, rather than zoomed inward for clarity of image. One does not expect the audio to be so low, so wretched, that a tribute read by distant participants, who took the time to pre-record themselves, could not be understood by those in attendance.
From beginning to end, the funeral was one ghastly vision of error. From the wrong song being played, or music not playing at all, to long, awkward pauses, to pre-recorded scripture reading not being heard, to the internment never being seen - unless, of course, the viewer sat in eternity staring at a black screen hoping for an image to re-emerge. (Or so it seemed, for not long after the service, the view disappeared with no explanation of what was happening. The last thing I saw was not even the procession of vehicles, but the road from what appeared to be the front seat of a car. Only later did I learn that the internment should have been livestreamed, too. In absence of notice, how could I, or anyone, have known that? Sigh.)
Rather than sit through the service, as she should have been doing, honouring the memory of her mother, my dear Auntie Nessa was marching in and out of the room, trying to manage the disarrangement unfolding before her eyes. Did any of you at this worthless home consider the distress you cause people already in mourning? Do you even care? It is hard to imagine that an establishment, whose industry functions on a premise of respect, could conduct a service with such astonishing discourtesy!! Scott Funeral Home, you should be ashamed of yourselves!! By your ineptitude, and the flow of excuses that likely ensued, you have tarnished a very precious moment, an hour of solemnity and remembrance that only comes once and never again. You have shown terrible disregard for our dearly departed, Ms. Lillet Tennant, and to her daughter, Nessa, and loved ones, and you did all this doubtless expecting to be paid the full amount despite the dreadfulness of service delivered. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER recommend your Woodbridge chapel, nor any associated with your brand. Again, I say shame on the lot of you!!! You’re a disgrace!!!!