Rookwood Crematorium

Impressive size and the majority of it is very well kept. Plenty of parking and access to function rooms, cafe and flower shop

I deliberated for some time before posting this review. However, given the seriousness of what occurred and the complete lack of accountability shown to date, I feel compelled to place our experience on public record. The loss of a loved one is an extremely vulnerable time for any family, and one reasonably expects funeral services—particularly at a reputable crematorium—to be delivered with professionalism, care, and sensitivity. My brother-in-law, Sujoy Kumar Chattopadhyay, passed away on 26 November 2025. His funeral service was held on 4 December 2025 at Rookwood Crematorium, South Chapel, with Paul from The Academy Funeral Services acting as the funeral director. While the service itself was conducted respectfully, the live-streaming service was handled in a profoundly unacceptable and distressing manner. Importantly , the live stream itself was technically mishandled by Daniel (if I remember his name correctly) the staff member responsible for operating the system. The music was so loud that none of the speeches could be heard. Family members overseas—including the deceased’s son—were unable to hear any audio , for the entire service to pay their final respects and farewells.They could see visuals only, rendering the live stream effectively useless. We were informed that the edited version of the link would be provided to us by the crematorium office , to this day nothing has been sent. During the service, we received repeated calls and messages from distraught family members overseas who were unable to participate in this final farewell. Immediately after the service, my friend Sayan contacted Daniel to report the issue and request a corrected or edited recording. Daniel assured him the problem would be rectified and that an edited version would be sent on 5 December 2025. This never occurred. On 11 December 2025, when my sister Swati (the deceased’s wife), my husband Ashis, and I attended the crematorium to collect the ashes, we raised this matter again with a staff member named Kay (name noted to the best of my recollection). We were told Daniel was attending another service and that he would contact me. He never did. The following day, I contacted Paul, the funeral director, who stated that this issue was the responsibility of the crematorium office. I again contacted the office and spoke to Kay, who was abrupt and dismissive, advising that Daniel was busy and would return my call when available. No call, explanation, or resolution has been provided to this day. The complete lack of follow-up, ownership, and empathy shown throughout this process is deeply disturbing. At a time when our family was grieving profoundly, we were repeatedly ignored, misled, and treated with indifference. As a result, our family has no usable recording of the funeral service—a loss that is permanent and irreparable. This was especially devastating for family members overseas who were deprived of the opportunity to meaningfully participate in the final farewell. I have attended multiple services at this crematorium in the past and have never encountered such negligence, poor communication, or lack of compassion. The manner in which this matter has been handled falls well below the standard expected of an institution entrusted with caring for families at their most vulnerable moments of their lives . We feel deeply hurt, ignored, and unfairly treated during one of the most painful times of our lives. Our family remains deeply distressed by this experience. Shampa Bhattacharjee 16th December 2025

Our father was cremated in a lovely ceremony at Rookwood two years ago. I recently returned to the office to organize for some of his ashes to be prepared to be taken overseas. The process was a little complicated, but, Leanne from the office went far beyond what was required. Her kindness and generosity was truly impressive, and much appreciated. Thank you again.

Absolutely derailed the burial process of my late father. While browsing optional plots, they showed us an already sold plot wasting out time back and forth from the office. They manage all their important details via paper format and derailed the timing of when we can book out dad's burial. 4 separate people have since had to reschedule their lives around some technicality that cannot be changed on our end. I just want my father to rest in peace but the process has probably him turning in his grave (if he can even be placed in one). For context, I tried calling the place multiple times in a week being bounced back and forth between members of the team. I was finally at the correct person, Sabrina, who requested we put a date down for the burial earlier in the month. I had to get timings from the family and called back 10 mins later only to be told she had left for the day at 4pm. Called again on the following day around 9am only to be told that Sabrina was also not in again. Her coworker indicated I could book it in the calendar without her. A week passes and I had a suspiscion that my booking didn't make it through based off the issues we had to go through to get on a phone with them. I was told a day before that 'there was no booking' and 'never was one' since my sister is the primary person they engaged with and did not want to work with me on it.I told Sabrina that my sister doesn't want to get involved with the planning or booking anymore but she dismissed this immediately during the call. Very little care, empathy and professionalism was displayed by Sabrina and the team. Thank you Rookwod Memorial Garden for making my dad's passing another haunting experience.

I thought for some time about whether to post a review or not. I decided to post out of a sense of obligation to help others make informed decisions. Firstly my situation was complicated by my family member not completing the process/paperwork correctly. Invocare were great in getting this resolved and I appreciate this. My issues were more with the performance of the customer representatives, the two individuals I dealt with directly. I feel that if things are straight forward, the experience is most likely a good one. However, where there are complications, I don't feel the customer representatives are adequately skilled to manage it, and this led to my poor experiences with them. Firstly, the staff members were unresponsive to numerous requests for updates or guidance over a significant period of time. This led to me having to on multiple occasions escalate issues with management who were helpful. The biggest concern for me was a comment made by one staff member. Having agreed with Invocare on a path forward, I attended the office to finalise payment. When finalising payment the staff member stated to me, "It is a shame that your Father is not having his wishes honoured". Firstly the staff member felt she had met my Father, stated this on numerous occasions despite providing details that she in fact did not know my Father at all. Regardless of whether the staff member knew my Father at all is irrelevant, you keep these opinions to yourself and certainly do not share them with a grieving family. I find this is something quite extraordinary given sensitivity is you would think a key competency in this industry. In addition to the insensitivity, this staff member also then went on to proceed to issue the wrong work order. This too was resolved but required multiple escalations. My advice to families who find themselves dealing with this company is to have someone who is not grieving attend meetings and negotiate plans, especially if the family are in mourning and not thinking straight. For us the comment about my dad's wishes did not trigger me, I know my Father. However, these kind of insensitive interactions can be triggering to others.