Shop around for funeral prices.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/boomerconsumer/2014/03/11/funeral-arrangements-get-price-lists-before-making-decisions/
One of my first big consumer articles in my early day as a consumer journalist was writing about funeral costs.
The
Federal Trade Commission was considering adopting a Funeral Rule, so I
went to the funeral homes in Spokane, Wash., where I lived at the time,
to see what practices consumers were experiencing. All the funeral
directors interviewed said they were offering information on prices to
consumers and weren’t pressuring them about adding services. I didn’t
have a story.
So I did an informal telephone survey. I selected consumers who had arranged funerals more than a year previously because I thought they might be less stricken by grief and more likely to be willing to be interviewed.
The last person I talked to was a man whose son had died. An attorney who was still grief stricken, he wanted to answer the questions so other consumers could be informed about how to make decisions during the emotionally charged task of arranging a funeral.
Eight of the 31 people I interviewed said they didn’t receive a price list of goods and services, and two said they didn’t understand the prices and didn’t realize how much the funeral would cost until they received the bill.
Twenty consumers in the survey said they experienced one or more of the questionable practices the FTC was looking at regulating including encouraging consumers to buy more costly goods and services.
It’s discouraging the FTC found that about 25 percent of the funeral homes undercover investigators visited during 2013 failed to disclose pricing information to consumers as required by the FTC’s Funeral Rule. The rule was adopted in 1984.
Key provisions of the rule require funeral homes to give consumers an itemized general price list at the start of the discussion of funeral arrangements, as well price lists before consumers view caskets and outer burial containers.
The rule also prohibits funeral homes from requiring consumers to buy any item, such as a casket, as a condition of obtaining any other funeral goods or services. By requiring itemized prices, the Funeral Rule allows consumers to compare prices and buy only the goods and services they want.
See my article, “FTC Finds a Quarter of Funeral Homes Inspected Last Year Failed to Give Required Price Information,” for details.
For consumers in Washington state, you can find out what funeral directors and cemeteries have been disciplined in the last year by going to the website of the Washington State Department of Licensing.
The department doesn’t have room on its website to include disciplinary actions for other years, but consumers can call 360-664-1555 in Olympia for that information, said Christina Anthony, spokesperson for the department.
When asked if progress has been made in protecting consumers against deceptive practices since the Funeral Rule was passed, Anthony said she didn’t know and didn’t want to “opine on the industry.”
She said the department would love to hear from consumers if they have complaints about funeral homes or cemeteries, and it offers an online complaint form.
For more information for boomer consumers, see my blog The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide.
Boomer Consumer
The Boomer Consumer is dedicated to helping boomers get what they
want in life through using consumer information, making effective
choices, and sharing their own experiences.
Funeral arrangements: Get price lists before making decisions
Many consumers will find that, like me, they’ll end up in a funeral home making funeral arrangements.One of my first big consumer articles in my early day as a consumer journalist was writing about funeral costs.
The
Federal Trade Commission was considering adopting a Funeral Rule, so I
went to the funeral homes in Spokane, Wash., where I lived at the time,
to see what practices consumers were experiencing. All the funeral
directors interviewed said they were offering information on prices to
consumers and weren’t pressuring them about adding services. I didn’t
have a story.So I did an informal telephone survey. I selected consumers who had arranged funerals more than a year previously because I thought they might be less stricken by grief and more likely to be willing to be interviewed.
The last person I talked to was a man whose son had died. An attorney who was still grief stricken, he wanted to answer the questions so other consumers could be informed about how to make decisions during the emotionally charged task of arranging a funeral.
Eight of the 31 people I interviewed said they didn’t receive a price list of goods and services, and two said they didn’t understand the prices and didn’t realize how much the funeral would cost until they received the bill.
Twenty consumers in the survey said they experienced one or more of the questionable practices the FTC was looking at regulating including encouraging consumers to buy more costly goods and services.
It’s discouraging the FTC found that about 25 percent of the funeral homes undercover investigators visited during 2013 failed to disclose pricing information to consumers as required by the FTC’s Funeral Rule. The rule was adopted in 1984.
Key provisions of the rule require funeral homes to give consumers an itemized general price list at the start of the discussion of funeral arrangements, as well price lists before consumers view caskets and outer burial containers.
The rule also prohibits funeral homes from requiring consumers to buy any item, such as a casket, as a condition of obtaining any other funeral goods or services. By requiring itemized prices, the Funeral Rule allows consumers to compare prices and buy only the goods and services they want.
See my article, “FTC Finds a Quarter of Funeral Homes Inspected Last Year Failed to Give Required Price Information,” for details.
For consumers in Washington state, you can find out what funeral directors and cemeteries have been disciplined in the last year by going to the website of the Washington State Department of Licensing.
The department doesn’t have room on its website to include disciplinary actions for other years, but consumers can call 360-664-1555 in Olympia for that information, said Christina Anthony, spokesperson for the department.
When asked if progress has been made in protecting consumers against deceptive practices since the Funeral Rule was passed, Anthony said she didn’t know and didn’t want to “opine on the industry.”
She said the department would love to hear from consumers if they have complaints about funeral homes or cemeteries, and it offers an online complaint form.
For more information for boomer consumers, see my blog The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide.
Comments
Funeral Homes
Hospitals