My family entrusted W.H. Mays Mortuary for my stepfather’s homegoing service planning and care of his remains back in 2009, and it was a wonderful experience. Therefore, when my mother passed away, we contacted W.H. Mays Mortuary. I figured that the exceptional customer service would be the same, although Mr. Willie Mays had passed away. I learned the hard way how wrong I was. I no longer live in Augusta, so I didn’t realize that the mortuary’s quality had shifted dramatically in a negative manner in the last few years. When speaking with friends, church members and extended family members in Augusta, it seemed that people were using Williams Funeral Home – yet nobody thought to share with me that Mays Mortuary would not likely to be a great option for the care and service planning for my mom. The embalmer, Craig, was the person serving as the funeral director, and he was not personable or compassionate during the first meeting. When we met for the planning meeting, he stated that he was getting over a cold, but didn’t have the consideration to put on a mask. I made a comment about requesting the awesome funeral director that I remembered from my stepfather’s service planning, and he informed me that the person was no longer working there regularly. I made a comment about wanting someone with more compassion, and he seemed to take it personally- as he made a comment later about it when we were going upstairs to view caskets. Craig stated that he knew what he was doing regarding being the funeral director; however, in another meeting on a different day, he acknowledged that that was his first time directing a funeral. During the first meeting Craig had offered to ask Sophia (which I later learned was the ACTUAL funeral director) if she would take over, but I decided to give Craig the benefit of the doubt, as I didn’t want to seem difficult with a mortuary who we were trusting with my mother’s remains. Given all our family was already going through and my family’s previous experience with W.H. Mays Mortuary, I didn’t think that I would have had to deal with the difficulties that were to come. During the second meeting I brought my niece with me, and both my niece and I caught Craig looking at my niece’s backside when she was walking away. When my relatives and I went to the funeral home for the family viewing, my mother’s makeup was not done well, and the nail polished looked like a toddler colored my mother’s nails with a crayon. My mother’s hands were also not properly tended to. One of my sisters and I made the change recommendations, and Craig made the changes to my mother’s nail polish and hands, but my mother’s remains should have never been presented to us like that. It was ridiculous to me that Craig thought that those things looked good. He attempted to make some small changes to my mother’s makeup, and she looked presentable, but it was clear that Craig was not used to doing makeup. It was interesting to me that W.H. Mays Mortuary did not have a makeup artist on staff. During the visiting hours, one of my mother’s extended family members volunteered to do my mother’s makeup, and it was a very good improvement. Finally, it took almost 2 months to obtain my mother’s death certificate copies, and followed-up 2-3 times before getting them. It truly seems that we overpaid significantly given the subpar quality of services that our family received. Given my recent experience with W. H. Mays Mortuary, I deem it important to share what the people in my life who knew but didn’t have the respect and forthrightness to share with me: W.H. Mays Mortuary does not seem to provide the same quality of services that they used to, and it may be a good idea to research other options for yourself and/or your loved ones for mortuary services.

Mays Mortuary provided a dignified, personalized service with attention to every detail. They were comforting and in it with us every step of the way which is exactly what we needed.

The service Mays Funeral Home provided for my family and I was nothing short of amazing! The entire staff was awesome. Special thanks to Sophia and Mrs. Mays for guiding me through this difficult journey. My mother was absolutely beautiful!