In facing the end of life, whether sudden or anticipated, the cold, brutal reality of funeral arrangements hits hard. There are phone calls to make and messages to send. Perhaps you need to dig up an old document about some policy your loved one purchased years ago. Perhaps you need to confer with family members about the loved one’s wishes and you’re not all on the same page. Perhaps your loved one died in a facility with particular requirements about what happens after death and you need to contend with the staff’s demands. When grief rushes into your life, pausing to “make arrangements” is challenging. Facing fraud in addition to grief is a cruel outcome.
Cruel and deceptive funeral home sales practices can turn a difficult situation into a financially ruinous and emotionally damaging one. Consider thinking ahead and preparing yourself, or a helpful friend or family member, to assist you when you shop for funeral services, whether before you need them or at the time of the need.
The Federal “Funeral Rule”
Unfortunately, sales practices that may be used for selling gym memberships, furniture, and cars, are also used in selling funeral services. Fortunately, our federal government does regulate funeral home sales practices with the Federal Trade Commission’s “Funeral Rule.” A few of the requirements under the Funeral Rule are:
- Funeral providers must disclose all of their prices
- Funeral providers may not make some services contingent upon sales of other services
- Funeral providers may not require the purchase of a casket for cremation
- Funeral providers generally cannot deceive customers by stating certain products are required by law, when they are not
Florida state rules against funeral sales fraud
North Carolina does not have funeral sales practices laws that exceed these federal rules. However, Florida goes far beyond the federal laws. Florida’s rules for funeral sales practices describe a variety of ugly practices. Remarkably, Florida forbids funeral directors from engaging in emotional manipulation of customers. For example, in Florida, funeral directors are forbidden to solicit people who are ill. They are forbidden to solicit within health care facilities. Florida funeral homes must display their least expensive casket. Florida funeral directors cannot discourage a customer from buying a cheaper product “by disparaging its quality or appearance, … or by suggesting directly or by implication that a customer’s concern for price or expressed interest in inexpensive funeral merchandise or services is improper, inappropriate, or indicative of diminished respect or affection for the deceased.” Florida funeral directors also cannot lie about matters relating to a body’s decomposition or supposed required casket features so as to force the sale of additional services. I can’t help but imagine that such cruelty must have occurred to necessitate the State’s regulation of such behavior. While this thought is upsetting, I find it heartening that these rules so carefully and comprehensively describe the expectations of conduct for funeral providers. I am impressed by the care taken in these rules to protect not only the wallets of the public, but the emotional health of the public. I suppose this speaks to the universal emotional pain of facing the end of life that the state took such care in setting out the expectations for funeral providers in their sales practices.
Protecting Yourself
For a quick read to help protect yourself in shopping for funeral services, the AARP website has a concise list of do’s and don’t’s. If you are concerned that you may be a victim of fraudulent behavior, consider reporting it to your state’s funeral board. Think ahead to protect yourself or a trusted friend or family member from nasty funeral sales practices. Death is hard enough to talk about without the threat of deceptive sales practices.