Article originally appeared on BizJournals
A cremation in Washington, D.C., can cost less than $1,300 while a typical full-service funeral can cost close to $14,000, and a consumer advocacy group wants funeral homes to fully disclose all costs on their websites.
The Funeral Consumers Alliance says many do not.
The FCA and the Consumer Federation of America released results of a survey Monday that randomly selected 15 funeral homes in each of 10 cities, Washington among them. Researchers searched their websites for price information, and if all costs weren’t disclosed, followed up with emails, phone calls and on-site visits.
Only 38 of the 150 funeral homes fully disclosed prices on their websites, and 24 failed to fully disclose prices both on their websites and in response to an email and phone call.
The FCA wants regulators to require funeral homes to better disclose pricing on their websites in an age where even funeral shopping is being done online.
“The Federal Trade Commission should update antiquated disclosure rules developed in the pre-internet 1980s, just as California has successfully done,” said FCA executive director Josh Slocum. “California requires funeral homes to disclose on their websites the same prices the FTC requires funeral homes to disclose by phone or in an in-person visit.”
The survey also found prices vary widely.
In Washington, D.C., survey results showed the cost of a direct cremation, without a ceremony, ranged from $1,295 to $7,595. A full-service funeral ranged from $3,770 to $13,800.
The Consumer Federation of America says the large price ranges for identical services within individual areas indicate a lack of effective competition.
“The lack of price competition is unfortunate given the relatively high cost of funeral services and the reluctance of many bereaved consumers to comparison shop for these services,” said CFA Executive Director Stephen Brobeck.
What a joke. All funerals are not the same. This is not a commodity and they are trying to make it one. There is no way they are comparing apples to apples and getting the same service and merchandise from one provider for $3,770 and another at over $13k or $1,300 versus almost $8k. Any common sense person knows this and they are making numbers lie for an agenda. With approximately 21,000 funeral homes in the USA how can they claim there is no competition. Any consumer can go to multiple funeral homes and get prices for services any time they want. They are doing a disservice to the consumer by trying to make everything about cost. This is a service business and service is not a commodity.
Well said!
I am all for any group that wants to help educate people on behalf of the Funeral Profession. However, I feel that the Funeral Consumers Alliance is giving the worst information possible. They are so focused on price that they forgot about value and service. They have created “informative sheets” to hand out that only speak of cheap price. This is an injustice to everyone involved. In fact, I have been told that they do no follow up with the families to make sure they got what they needed or if the family just got the disposition and no service or respect. I love the idea of a Consumer Funeral Alloance, but think they need to pay more attention to more than cheap prices.
I agree with Jeff and Frank here. Although I fully agree in helping out the public in educating them about the funeral process and profession. Just posting prices and painting a picture where all funeral and memorial services are the same for each funeral home; and your just showing off who is the least inexpensive is the funeral home you should use is going to set a bad president. Overall it comes to the consumer needs to be proactive and they need to physically go to the funeral homes their looking at and ask questions, tour their facilities and gauge for themselves the value of the services each funeral home offer. Simply visiting a website while being a good first step its no comparison to actually going there in person and asking questions. Because cheaper isn’t always better and as the saying goes you get what you pay for.
Thank you jeff and Frank. As a funeral home manager, I totally agree. This business is totally different from any other business and these people are continually trying to compare us to Walmart and Sears, (for example). I totally agree with price disclosure to the families we serve, but I also agree that the contact with the funeral home is the way for the families to get those prices.
Full disclosure: I am a current board member and trustee of the Funeral Consumers Alliance.
What I am not seeing in previous replies is any dispute of the facts laid out in the survey: 1) that prices for the same basic services vary wildly, 2) that only 25% of surveyed funeral homes fully disclosed prices on their web sites, and 3) that 15% of surveyed funeral homes declined to provide that information in clear violation of the FTC Funeral Rule. FCA would never deny that the quality of such services will vary from provider to provider, but in reality, that only becomes slightly more evident once a visit is made to the funeral home. And how does a consumer decide which funeral homes to visit? By determining early on which of those funeral homes will provide the desired services based on what the consumer wants, can afford, and otherwise meets their needs. And as we all know, in today’s world a rapidly growing number of those consumers will begin their search online; that cannot be in doubt.
And to the argument that we’re talking about services vs. commodities, that’s true enough. But, as a consumer, if I’m going to need an out-of-pocket, highly-priced service such as auto repair, home improvement, or maybe even some personal services, you can bet I’m going to look at the impact to my bank account before I just start calling providers. Everyone does that. If what I’ll get for that price meets my needs and is affordable, I’ll investigate further. But if that information isn’t fairly easily available, I’ll move on to someone else. Even business owners (including funeral home owners) know that…they’d do the same thing. Consumers don’t have the time or the inclination to play games (that’s why we all hate buying a car), and generally don’t have the time or interest to negotiate over the price of funeral arrangements.
As for talking about commodities vs. services, that’s true enough. But if I need to pay out-of-pocket for highly priced services such as auto repair, home improvement, or even some personal service, you can bet that I’ll start by looking at what I can afford before I begin considering which provider to contact. Everyone does that. And once I’ve done it, I’ll start looking for the best value for my money according to what I need done. But I’m probably not going to call someone charging $12,000 if I find someone else willing to provide that same service for half that or less. And if I can’t get that pricing information easily, it’s just not worth my time and effort. And when it comes to funeral services, I’m probably not of the mind to enter a long negotiation over what that does or doesn’t include…I’d want that information up front. And that’s all we’re really asking here: just tell me what you’ll charge, be honest about what that price does and doesn’t include, and make it easily accessible. Once I know that, I’ll decide whether to visit you or take my business elsewhere. Pretty simple, and that’s what this survey emphasizes.
Good advice posted today on the Funeral Consumers Alliance facebook feed:
Don’t try to talk someone out of a funeral that you think is “too expensive” if they have the $.
Here’s a corollary – higher education. Higher ed is one of the most expensive services any consumer will ever pay for, and as in planning a funeral, quality and value are a major concern.
But I can assure you that the clients – students and parents – expect to find fully disclosed prices for tuition, room and board and fees, online. I’ve been a professor for 21 years and can’t imagine asking an advisee to ‘come on over to the university to see what we offer’ before telling them how much it will cost. Many of our potential clientele base their initial decisions on where to visit – on the metric of cost.
I don’t understand why some in the funeral industry seem to have a sense of entitlement about what should be – in the digital age – a common sense professional courtesy. This is especially true given the fact that those in search of funeral information are often newly grief-stricken and no doubt feeling vulnerable and confused enough as it is. Knowing the price and expense can save time, effort and emotional distress, and we can all agree that’s a good thing, right?
For the record I am also a board member and trustee of FCA.
I also just recd’ this Funeral Advantage Program Assists Seniors This is very interesting to me as I already have plot paid and all I need is digging.. vault etc . THEN you have funeral etc. I would just as soon pay for a insurance policy but wholelife -term or term -which way do I go? Then why did I previously believe the ones on tv an sure enough ..YOU are not locked in they wanted money ..RIGHT NOW , I am always skeptical about ”’pay me when I come to your door”’ Just recently changed insurance for the Obama and fine its great ..OMG but the nightmare on phone..hangup ,,don’t have the right area so you hang some more .Never know what to do. I get a name insurance like Prudential .etc they want lots of money when I am already 150% below poverty level .What exactly do you do?? Donate body to Wright State and call it a day. Bury me with my cat in front yard 😀 I give up .So many scams and unkind people out there ..I now know why I am little recluse .I love my apt. /