Chapel of the Chimes Hayward

In 2005, my favorite uncle on my mom’s side passed away from a heart attack because he was smoking too much. That’s why I don’t condone smoking… too much. If you do it, so be it, but please do it in moderation or not so frequently.
In 2012, I lost my grandma on my mom’s side to diabetes. Moderation on sugary foods.
I visit my loved ones whenever I’m stressed out, need to cry, talk to to them because they’re much older and wiser than me. I talk to them when no one wants to talk to me and I’m feeling like ending my own life because bipolar disorder is very severe… in a sense that I wanted to commit suicide every year since 2011, but I’m more stable now thank goodness. Being in the hospital of a total of 4 times does you wonders. You never want to be in a psychiatric facility as in an inpatient.
Beautiful place to find a peace of mind and visit your loved ones. I actually went here right after I got my license in 2011. To pay respects to my elders, yes.

1. Neglected to transport the casket to the graveside service. We needed to scramble with them to be able to start the service.
2. Made the memorial marker wrong (name on the wrong side).
3. It took several dozen e-​mails back and forth before we got a correct new marker manufactured and placed. Dad had said: «They’re error prone. Make sure they get it right.» Was he ever right!
4. Non-​responsive staff: fail to respond to e-​mails in a timely fashion; promise an answer by a certain date — and no word; fail to respond to a request for a photograph of the marker once installed (for out-​of-​town next of kin).

Very difficult time made easier by some excellent people at Chapel of the Chimes. Daniel Flores and Tasha were very helpful and coped well with our humorous way of dealing with our father’s passing. That is how dad would have done it. Good enough for him, works for us. Thank You

a 5 star to Daniel Flores — Family Service adviser for doing the right thing and making past issues we had remediated! he assisted in getting a final plot for my mother in the lovely memorial cremation garden — she loves Her «Pieta» statue and its location… we thank you for going above and beyond for us !! Great Job Daniel :)

this review is long over due. my beloved mom passed away in august of 2014. as expected, i was and still am heartbroken. at the time, i was a complete mess and really unaware of what i was doing.
Nancy Wargo made everything so much easier, but she also gave me emotional support in a way that i had not expected. she sort of stepped in like a mother figure (although she is way too young to be my mom!) with her kindness and warm hugs. she even wore purple the first time that i met her along with a purple stoned ring which was my mom’s favorite color. it was a very difficult time for me as it is for most people, and Nancy somehow soothed my pain when i was with her. she’s excellent at what she does, but she has something extra that she offers: she genuinely cares. she even made sure i was able to secure the space next to my mom’s for future use (hopefully not for a long time to come!). she really didn’t have to follow up and check in with me on that, but she did. she even contacted the sales person who represented the owner of the unused space, to make sure no one else bought that space while i was just floating along in my grief not taking care of things that needed to be handled. i really can’t say enough about Nancy. she’s so great, i want to have her in my life beyond chapel of the chimes! she really listened to me and has so much patience! i can’t tell you how indecisive i was about so many things, and how limited my budget was. through it all, she was extremely sweet and patient. i honestly don’t think i have ever met anyone more patient than she is: i can totally swear it! she is also very organized and doesn’t miss a beat… even when i did. i really felt like she looked out for me and protected me.
on a side note, i want to also thank the caretakers of the lawn/​cemetery. my little niece and nephew left small plastic toy flowers on my mom’s grave; and all this time, those little flowers are still there. i’m sure it’s a hassle for the ground’s keepers to remove them and then put them back when they are mowing the lawn, but over a year later, the little bobby flowers meant for a car dashboard are still there. it really means a lot to me that they take such great care of people’s feelings. i feel like everyone here is sensitive and has tremendous respect for those who have lost a loved one.
thank you so much Nancy and to the people who take care of my mom’s grave. I will never be able to express my full gratitude!

my fiancé mother just had her service here at the chapel of the chimes weekend of August 30. Tasha was our coordinator at this establishment, and she was absolutely phenomenal. My fiancé family is having an emotional time right now like any family would have, and Tasha made this part of the process simple, easy, and stress free.
And this family process was more complex, than others. Regarding, viewing services, mass, cremation, and as well as having permits for cremation to have my late mother in law’s ashes to be scattered in her dream place as well as burying it with the grandparents. Tasha took care of all those things for us.
Condolences to anyone that has lost a loved one, and if you are looking into a place that can help your family through this part of the process, Tasha is the one who can be the big help.

I give this place 3 stars because we did have a nice service for my grandmother a couple of months ago. Our director Emily has helpful overall (she dropped the ball on a few details for the workers who were on the ground helping us during the viewing).
However, following the funeral, there was no warm hand off from the director to the staff member in charge of accommodations for the cemetery. I felt like I needed to hunt down the person who could help my family and I with arrangements for my grandmother’s headstone.
Once I did get in contact with Kathleen S, it took almost a full month to actually meet with her due to a couple of times where she missed my emails. After the meeting, I was told that once I sent in a photo, I would receive a proof of the headstone after one week. It’s been almost three weeks since I sent in the photo, so I decided to email Kathleen again to ask where the proof is. She responded basically saying I hadn’t sent the photo and this was extremely frustrating.
As a young professional, I understand that it’s difficult to work with multiple clients and keep up with emails. However, it’s also a job to handle all of these details and I personally feel that my family and I have been accommodating and easy to work with.
And although the staff members were friendly, the quality of the service wasn’t didn’t deserve 5 And because Kathleen dropped the ball for most of our communication, I still feel like I had to be extra assertive and reach out to ensure that everything gets done. She’s a nice person but at this rate, it’ll probably be another few months before my grandmother’s headstone will be finished.
I would recommend this place for the facility and grounds, but with my experience, there wasn’t effective communication on the part of their staff members in regards to the headstone and cemetery.

My family and I want to sincerely express our gratitude to NANCY WARGO our Family Service Adviser and DAN CYRONEK our Funeral Arranger for all the help. Once we met with them they put us at ease and didn’t over-​complicate things, they set us straight with their calm and welcoming demeanor and both were always on top of everything. Some big things for us was that they gave us the suggestions we needed — we were a bit unsure what we wanted to do and they walked us thru the process with kindness. Also want to thank all the gentleman RICK, JAMES and JEROME who assisted us during our son’s celebration of life «Flawless ceremony». And to ESTER CLAUDIO thank you so much!
Highly recommend and so glad to have met them. Couldn’t ask for anything more.
–FAMILY OF DAVE CHRISTIAN G.

I want to say a big Thank You to Daniel Flores and Edward Chan.
My grandfather passed away in June and we had no idea how to plan a Chinese/​Chrisitian funeral. Daniel saw how confused we were and he immediately found us help (Edward Chan) from the Oakland Chapel of the Chimes. Daniel was very patient and understanding. He explained the grave side process to us very thororughly. He was also very responsive.
Edward Chan was also immensely helpful. He spent over an hour on the phone with us explaining the entire process. He even called couple of days before the funeral and made sure we had no other questions. On the day of the funeral, he made sure everything went smoothly and it did. He was there from beginning to the end.
Again, thanks Daniel and Edward, for helping us out! We greatly appreciate it.

Thank you to all the staff and to Tasha Johnson our funeral director. My family and I unexpectedly lost our grandmother and did not have anything set planned out. Tasha helped us out a lot by helping us plan and figure out all the finances.
We originally had another funeral director but she was very rude and acted as if we knew how to plan a funeral. 4 stars because this lady was just unprofessional in a place of sorrow.

I lost my father earlier this month and I was nervous about fining a place to hold his funeral. My family and I met with Darrell (funeral director) and right away we felt at ease. He was patient and explained everything to us. He was just wonderful. The facility is gorgeous, clean and the staff was more than professional. I was really amazed that every single person involved was SO AMAZING. Everyone was professional, kind, caring I just can’t say enough nice things. A special thanks to Shawna Jasper and Yolanda Mendoza for facilitating the cremation. You guys are simply amazing, thank you all.

Our dad passed away recently and we had him cremated at the Chapel of the Chimes in Hayward.
We met with one of the funeral directors, Tasha Johnson.
Tasha was kind enough to help us through the process of the paperwork and she went extra miles on all and offered her help to arrange for the scattering of the ashes.
We appreciate Tasha’s effort to make things went smoothly during this difficult time.

Tasha and Daniel were exceptional in helping my family plan my grandfather’s funeral. Everyone at Chapel of the Chimes provided us with courteous and professional service while showing us the utmost compassion. We can’t thank them enough for everything they helped us with.

Although I had issues with the way we were treated by a director in 2006 when Dad died and the lack of signage at my mom’s funeral in 2011, I am updating my previous review based upon my experiences at having attended two more recent prepaid funerals. There appears to have been a change in staff for the better. Very considerate, thoughtful and kind gentlemen directed services. The family was well supported. I feel better about this funeral home now and am glad they have changed.

I have half a dozen immediate family members buried here, several family friends in nearby crypts, and living family with purchased plots. I have been coming here for services and visits for my entire life and will likely continue doing so for the remainder of it.
It is a nice enough cemetery, with the major complaint being maintenance and availability of staff to inquire on issues when visiting a loved one. Our family has one of those (purchased) stone benches along the main row where they are buried in the outdoor crypts. There have been many times where we came to visit and found the bench was loose or somehow damaged. The foliage growing near the outdoor plots is often untamed. There is one particular tree that is often allowed to grow crazily in front of my great-​grandparents’ crypt. In recent years, it is almost impossible to find available flower vases (people often steal those of your loved ones, dumping out your arrangement, due to the lack of vases) — and the water is turned off in the sinks specifically placed for arranging flowers. I came by as recently as last week to find that once again (on a very hot day), there was no available water or vases. That made a trip to pay my respects to several family members partially wasted. Disappointing. The maintenance folks should really stay on top of these things.

My mom passed away last year. She had prepaid everything with Chapel of the Chimes. They took care of everything. They sent a hearse to pick up her body from the assisted living home where she died. I met with the funeral director who went over all the details. They provided the cremation (they have an on site crematorium) they provided the chapel for the services, and pamphlets which we designed and they printed. The chapel was nice (nothing fancy) but they have a sound system and tv on which you can show videos. They were very helpful to my son who lives out of town and was planning all the music and video. He played guitar and sang, and we choose all our own music. They also provided easels on which we set up photo displays. The service went seamlessly.
We did have an issue with them on the following day when we had the graveside service. It was only immediate family (thank goodness) because when we all arrived they did not have anything set up. We had to wait for over an hour while they dug the hole and set up the tent, etc. It pretty much ruined the experience for us.
They also provided the headstone, but because we decided to change it from bronze to granite we got charged at the 2014 rate, so an extra $ 700. I didn’t think this was fair because the granite headstone was actually cheaper than bronze. But that’s their policy. The headstone did turn out beautiful.
The park itself is in such a beautiful setting. It seems well cared for. It is always colorful with flowers because most of them are artificial and they leave them up for a long time. (The deer eat the real ones!)
The week after my mom passed was Mother’s Day and we went to visit her grave. I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived to see several people lining the roadway inside the park handing out bouquets of flowers because it was Mother’s Day. They also gave out free mini pies! They also have a candle lighting event at Christmas.
It’s a nice place, I took away one star because they messed up on the day of the burial.

I want to say a big Thank You to all the staff of Chapel of the Chimes. The service we received from Chapel of the Chimes was professional and they accomodated us in every way they can when we asked. Shawna was patient, attentive and cared about getting things done. She gave very clear explanations and responded promptly after we emailed or called her.
In addition, the two gentlemen who assisted and guided the pall bearers were fantastic. They were calm and acted on instinct. When one of them saw we had corsages, he knew right away that we wanted to place them on my mother’s casket, followed by the pall bearers glove placement. And we did just that… He was just amazing and impressive.
Both my parents are now buried there and I know their graves are well taken care of. I spoke with my husband and we plan to purchase in advance, one of their funeral packages, just like my parents did.

I wanted to say thank you to Chapel of the Chimes for getting everything put together for my grandmother’s funeral service in Fiji. Everything was delivered on time.
Shawna, did an amazing job with coordinating all of the required logistics for the body shipment to Fiji. We will forever be grateful to you.
Happy holidays and God Bless you all.

Very peaceful place on Mission Blvd.
I was surprised how calm and quiet and well kept this place was.
We attended a funeral here today and the staff allowed an Indian priest to come and do some rituals during the viewing ceremony. The staff didn’t rush or interupt the priest’s rituals.
They have DVD facilities, piano and microphone for any speeches or videos anyone else might want to show.
All in all its a nice cute small place. Not quiet as big as the halls at Oakhill off of Curtner Ave in San Jose.

I have had dealings with multiple funeral homes and this one is one of the best in my opinion. Professional was the way i was treated when I have come here on several occasions. My dad is buried here and I was so pleased with the treatment that I signed up for my husband and I to be buried here too. If you want a mini urn for family they put it in a sealed urn that does not rattle with bones like some funeral homes, and you don’t want a rattling urn, it is not a baby toy. The grounds are nicely kept and the people have always been nice.