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About
Us (continued) But
we do know about funerals and we know about cemeteries and
crematoriums - the older independent versions, as well as
the now recent large corporate versions. We know the good
stuff and not so good stuff. These little Manuals are intended
to share both with you.
We entered the industry about half way through the ascendancy
of the funeral cycle where larger and fancier became the goal
of survivors - even in the West's small towns. Many folks
had visions of funerals with hundreds in attendance - long
lines of limousines - truckloads of flowers. Maybe it was
something they saw in movies or television when heads of state,
or a business magnate died.
Spending more on a loved one's final services
became associated with loving them more
(or a palliative because we didn't love them enough).
(continued in Last Expenses Manuals) - Order
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Today in
Funeral-Land MORE SALES AND PROFITS Are King
-
your
family comes next
(continued) Translation: If the sales rep is
selling funerals for dead people at a total cost of say $8,000
(the best guess at the current national average), they have
to sell future funerals (Pre-Need) at a total of $12,000
in order to keep their job. That's a 50% increase in family
expenses.
The funeral-cemetery folks have been at this Pre-Need approach
for the past 15 or so years - and some 'issues' are only now
beginning to appear. For example: the money you pay is supposed
to be put into a trust fund by the funeral home-cemetery. But
suppose they don't. Six years go by, and it's time to provide
your services when you die - and there's no money. Incredibly,
even leaving aside monitoring the financial soundness of the
trusts per se, only a handful of States even specify that their
state's "unfair and deceptive acts and practices (UDAP)
statutes" apply to the sale of pre-need agreements.
No kidding - Buyers beware.
(continued in Last Expenses Manuals) - Order
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"Pre-Need"
Contracts with Funeral Homes/Cemeteries
(continued)
Can unscrupulous folks loot funeral trusts? Yes. Have any trusts
ever been looted? Yes.
For example: In the Boston area, a funeral home operator was
convicted of felony larceny after spending almost $150,000 collected
from some 33 individuals for "pre-need" contracts that was supposed
to be placed "in an irrevocable burial trust." An Internet search
on Yahoo in November 2006 for "Funeral Pre-Need Scams"
listed "about 60,300" entries. The same search
terms on Google showed "about 841,000" entries
among which was: in Illinois, an announcement that a Freeport
funeral home has been ordered to repay $1.3 million stolen from
hundreds of consumers who paid for their funeral services prior
to death.
And then there's the issue of cancellations of Pre-Need contracts.
You decide to move somewhere else, or get transferred. There
wouldn't be much sense in keeping a Pre-Need Contract for a
funeral <clipped>
(continued in Last Expenses Manuals) - Order
your copy
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