It’s a topic I’ve written about many times. Get familiar with funeral costs way before you expect you may need to arrange a funeral. Funeral directors can take advantage of consumers who aren’t informed. And it can cost you a lot of money.
A first-time, undercover investigation by the Federal Trade Commission showed that some funeral homes didn’t give accurate information over the phone to consumers about the costs of goods and services.
The violations of the Funeral Rule including some providers that didn’t give accurate price information over the phone and others that didn’t give out any price information by phone at all.
During 2023, investigators and other staff from the FTC’s East Central Region, Northwest Region, Southeast Region, Southwest Region, Midwest Region, Western Region – Los Angeles, Western Region – San Francisco offices, and the Bureau of Consumer Protection’s Division of Marketing Practices made undercover calls to more than 250 funeral homes from across the country to try to obtain price information.
Staff determined that 39 funeral homes violated the Funeral Rule on these calls:
- On 38 of the calls, funeral homes either refused to answer questions about pricing at all or provided inconsistent pricing for identical services.
- On one of the calls, the funeral home also misrepresented that the local health code required remains to be embalmed if more than a certain number of people wanted to view the remains when it wasn’t required by the local health code. Most states don’t require a body to be embalmed, and the few states that do, it’s required only in limited circumstances, such as if refrigeration isn’t available.
- On another call, the funeral home promised to send a general price list, which is required to include important disclosures and itemized services, but instead provided a list of package prices that didn’t meet the Funeral Rule requirements for a general price list.
Among the 39 funeral homes receiving warning letters from the FTC are: Airport Mortuary & Shipping Services, Burns Funeral Home Inc., Davis Funeral Home, SCI Texas Funeral Services, L.L.C. d/b/a Forest Park Westheimer Funeral Home & Cemetery, McCormick and Son Mortuary, Stephens Funeral Home, and Todd Memorial Chapel.
If you’re asking about funeral arrangements by phone, the FTC suggests you ask the following questions that the funeral home is required by law to answer:
- What type of services do you offer?
- How much does the service cost and what’s included?
- Will there be other costs, such as for transportation, death certificates, or obituaries?
If a funeral provider won’t give you information about prices, services, and merchandise over the phone, look elsewhere.
The amount of money these cost is incredible.
Indeed, but with planning ahead, the costs can be reduced. What’s really unfortunate is when people aren’t informed and they buy an expensive “sealer” casket with an expensive “mattress.” The body decomposes whether it’s in a regular casket or whether it’s in an expensive sealer casket.
The required price lists helps consumers compare prices.
Both of my parents opted for a simple funeral. Cremated with no calling hours. We only had a church service and private burial. We did pay a funeral home to get the cremation done and handle the death certificates. But my nephew, the groundskeeper of our cemetery of choice, handled the burial. Between all, including the food, the cost was less than 4000.00. My parents didn’t like going to wakes and didn’t want to subject their family and friends to one.
Yes, exactly. If you know about the high costs, there are many choices, such as those made by your parents, to reduce the costs. But you need to be aware that the costs are high and you need to be wary. Funeral directors will often try to talk uninformed consumers into costly goods and services. And, as the article above points out, some wouldn’t provide cost information over the phone as required by the funeral rule.