Should funeral homes display prices online?

It pays to shop around when it comes to funeral services: Prices for the same funeral services in the same city can be double or triple that of a nearby funeral home . And to find the prices, you usually have to go door to door. That’s Why Thirty-One Years After Federal Trade Commission Funeral Rule To Make Funeral Home Prices More Transparent Became Law, Consumer Advocates Call On FTC To Require Funeral houses to view prices online.

“Hiding prices prevents consumer purchases,” says Josh Slocum, executive director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, which, along with the Consumer Federation of America, is pushing for change, adding, “Who can afford on this day of mourning ? “

The Alliance has investigated funeral home prices and disclosures in ten regions across the country, researching the prices of 15 funeral homes in each region, including at least part of a funeral home chain. Under the FTC’s funeral law, funeral homes are required to provide pricing information over the phone and a detailed price list in person. The Alliance found that 16% of the 150 funeral homes had not disclosed prices on a website, in response to an email, or in response to a phone call.

One exception: California, where a new law requires funeral homes to fully disclose prices online or list the services they provide and indicate that the price list is available on request; 13 of 15 California funeral homes surveyed disclosed the prices on their websites. “Any funeral home with a website should be required to post its prices online,” Slocum says, adding that opponents in other states should note that after complying with the new California law, ” The California funeral industry has not slipped into the San Andreas is to blame.

The Alliance has discovered that in the same city there is a huge price range for essentially the same thing. Prices for the same funeral services in individual areas almost always varied by at least 100 percent and often varied by more than 200 percent. Direct cremation costs ranged from $ 455 to $ 3,390 in Seattle. Immediate burial costs ranged from $ 1,195 to $ 5,200 in Atlanta. And full-service funerals in the District of Columbia ranged from $ 3,370 to $ 13,800.

“As a lawyer who has researched the prices of consumer services for decades, I have been stunned by the price differences,” said Steve Brobeck, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America.

The FTC has a control List you should take to compare to the one that funeral homes give you. One line item to watch out for – a basic service charge for the funeral director and staff – is a catch-all fee for going through the door. Then there’s the throwing of a more sophisticated (more expensive) casket for the deceased, even if it’s just a matter of transporting the body from the funeral home to the crematorium. If the body is to be cremated, alternative low-cost raw wood, pressed wood, fiberboard, or cardboard containers may be available but not on display.

Slocum cautions not to assume that a funeral home affiliated with a large chain is cheaper than at McDonald’s or Walmart, as it is usually the opposite, although he does say, “It is true that the Most of the time, the chains are expensive; This is not always true. There are no quick and easy rules.

If your loved one dies in the hospital and you haven’t chosen a funeral home ahead of time, ask the hospital to keep the body in the morgue until you’ve made a decision, Slocum says. If the death occurs in an assisted living or nursing home, they will not be prepared to keep the deceased. It is therefore preferable, upon admission, for a family member to visit the funeral homes at this stage if the patient has not made advance arrangements. “Don’t think of this as a process that others can just set in motion,” Slocum says, adding, “You have the right to say ‘yes or no’ to a certain funeral home, to things like embalming.

If you have any issues, you can file a complaint with a state funeral regulator and copy Alliance. “The only way to encourage change is for consumers to express their dissatisfaction,” he says.