Is Your Funeral Director Ripping You Off?
If you don’t have a funeral plan, when someone dies, you may unwittingly stumble into the first funeral home you can think of. Without research, you can’t possibly know or trust what you’re getting regarding value for money.
In the US, a 3-month investigation has revealed that 1 in 4 four funeral homes consistently commit violations of laws designed to protect the consumer. So some people would think funerals are a rip-off.
Funeral homes must disclose all costs up front, but most don’t. They also don’t let customers know that services such as embalming aren’t mandatory and that refrigeration is an effective means for body preservation. Just in the USA alone, profits from embalming range to as much as $3,000.
Get Unbiased Views on Funeral Directors
In the UK and South Africa, this kind of scenario is no different. In fact, if you are planning a funeral in the UK, you’d be wise to look at the Funeral Directors Register which is a useful funeral care resource.
Consumers looking for reputable, qualified and approved funeral director services can rather check out sites like this where they’ll find honest, unbiased views of funeral directors, funeral homes and funeral services in the UK.
In the UK, many people aren’t well off and who can scarcely afford to have a funeral for their loved one. In fact, a study in Scotland has found that more and more people are going into deep debt over the cost of a funeral. Many people don’t know that –
- they are under no legal obligation to use a funeral director
- they can select their coffin or even build their one
- the body doesn’t have to be embalmed
- in the UK you can bury a body on your land
- you can even transport the body you
Some genuine caring funeral directors make dying and the arranging of a funeral a ‘pleasant’ experience. However, there are many funeral directors who are out to gain as much profit as possible. They fail to provide information requested by clients. Making customers believe that they have to take a host of products and services they neither need or can afford.
Compare Prices and See the Differences – See if Funerals Are A Rip-Off
Shop around before you commit to any funeral director. Some researchers in the UK have called several funeral homes in Harrow looking for quotes for the cheapest funeral. They were quoted £2,407 and £3,814, and in Glasgow, they were quoted as much as £4,199 for the cheapest funeral.
How can there be such huge price differences for the same products and services? That is why research is so important. When they asked for quotes for coffins, they were given quotes where some coffins differed in price by as much as £500. Do some research and gain a knowledge about it all.
Always look for funeral homes which belong to Associations such as the National Association of Funeral Directors or The National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors. At least then you know that the funeral director won’t be ripping you off. As they and their funeral home have to meet certain high standards. The price for a funeral is very expensive, so it is understandable why some would think funerals are a rip-off.
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All info was correct at time of publishing