Hanley-Shelton Funeral Directors — Consumer Profile

Hanley-Shelton Funeral Directors is an independently owned, full-service funeral home in Marietta, Georgia, with a family name long associated with the local community — but currently navigating a transitional period that has produced a notable pattern of service complaints. The home holds a 3.8/5 rating on Google across 43 reviews and an 84% recommendation rate on Facebook from 10 reviews, reflecting a divided customer experience. The home offers cremation and burial services, includes dedicated veterans assistance programming, and accepts online pre-need arrangements.

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Locations

Primary Location (sole facility): 473 Lawrence St NE, Marietta, GA 30060 Phone: (770) 428-6333 Website | Get Directions

The home states it is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for immediate assistance. The website references dedicated "Our Facilities" and "Our Fleet" pages, indicating the home maintains its own transportation vehicles. No on-site crematory or owned cemetery is mentioned in the available data.

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Services

Hanley-Shelton offers a range of end-of-life services as described on their website:

• Cremation — listed as a core service
• Burial / Traditional Funeral Services — full-service arrangements
• Celebrations of Life — noted on the homepage with recent obituary listings
• Veterans Services — includes assistance with veterans headstones and burial flags; a dedicated Veterans section is available on the website
• Pre-Planning — online pre-arrangement purchase is available; the site includes a Pre-Arrangements Form and resources such as "Have The Talk of a Lifetime"
• Grief Support — the home provides grief resources and, according to MapQuest, daily messages for one year following a loss
• Out-of-State Transfer — at least one reviewed case involved transporting a deceased person from Emory DeKalb Hospital to Houston, TX, suggesting they handle interstate coordination

The website also provides consumer resource pages covering funeral etiquette, Social Security benefits, and frequently asked questions.

⚠️ Scam Alert: The Hanley-Shelton website displays a prominent warning that families have been contacted by financial scammers seeking fraudulent payments for funeral services. Families should verify any payment request directly with the funeral home by calling the number above.

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Pricing

No General Price List (GPL) data was available in the provided records. The Facebook page lists the price range as $$$ (higher end of a typical scale), but no itemized or package pricing is publicly available through the sources reviewed.

Families are encouraged to request a GPL directly from the home, as federal law requires funeral homes to provide one upon request, in person or by phone. You can also check Legacy.com and Ever Loved for any community-sourced pricing information.

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Reviews

Hanley-Shelton holds a 3.8/5 on Google (43 reviews) and an 84% recommendation rate on Facebook (10 reviews). The Yelp profile is also active. The reviews are polarized, with strong praise alongside serious complaints.

Positive Themes

1. Compassionate family-level care under the Shelton name: One reviewer wrote that "the patience, professionalism, and sympathy that was bestowed to my family during our time of grief was phenomenal." Another specifically praised Mr. Edward Shelton and Emerald Shelton-Taylor for managing a complex interstate transfer with attentiveness through to completion.
2. Personalized guidance through the arrangement process: Multiple positive reviewers describe being "guided through processes" step by step, which families found meaningful during an overwhelming time.

Concerns and Complaint Patterns

Several reviews raise consistent, specific concerns that warrant attention:

• Death certificate delays appear in more than one review. Reviewer Sabrina Washington described being given "the run around" on her mother's death certificate following a COVID-related death in February. Reviewer Shyanne Echeverria independently noted a "habit of never completing or getting death certificates to families" — a significant issue, as this document is required for estate settlement, insurance claims, and other post-death processes.
• Unprofessional phone interactions: At least one reviewer described staff hanging up on family members seeking updates on documentation.
• Concerns about post-leadership decline: Reviewer T. Monet Cotton explicitly referenced the passing of founder Hanley E. Shelton and suggested the home has declined since his death, stating it "is going downhill." This appears to reflect a generational transition in management.
• BBB record: The BBB profile shows the business is not BBB accredited and notes a failure to respond to 2 complaints filed against the business.

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Ownership

Hanley-Shelton Funeral Directors is independently owned. The BBB profile lists Mr. H.E. Shelton as the owner of record. Review data references the late Hanley E. Shelton as a founder figure widely respected in the community, with Edward Shelton and Emerald Shelton-Taylor appearing to represent a second generation of family leadership. The home is not affiliated with any corporate funeral chain. No founding year is confirmed in the available data, though the home is described by Ever Loved as having a "deep-rooted history" in the Marietta area.

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Accreditations

• BBB Status: Not BBB Accredited. The BBB profile notes failure to respond to 2 filed complaints.
• Veterans Programming: The home participates in veterans burial assistance (headstones and burial flags), which typically involves coordination with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, though formal VA recognition is not confirmed in the available data.
• No professional association memberships (e.g., NFDA, SEFDA) or state licensing details were available in the provided data.

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Conclusion

Hanley-Shelton Funeral Directors carries real community roots in Marietta, and families who worked with the home under its founding leadership describe a genuinely caring experience. However, the current record — a 3.8/5 Google rating, a pattern of complaints specifically about death certificate delays and communication, and an unresolved BBB complaint history — suggests families should proceed with careful due diligence. The home's $$$ Facebook pricing designation places it toward the higher end of the local market, making transparency around pricing especially important to request upfront. Families considering this provider are advised to ask directly for the General Price List, confirm timelines for death certificate processing in writing, and establish a clear point of contact before committing to arrangements.