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Suzanne rose

Suzanne rose

Well-known member
Jun 27, 2022
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Sydney
Is your Pre Paid Funeral Really Paid

Sadly my uncle passed away yesterday in an Aged care facility.
He had no children and his wife hardly visited .
My mother was listed as his next of kin and needs to deal with funeral arrangements, due to her recent surgery and illness , I have to arrange it.

My uncle was a proud man and had what he thought Paid for his entire funeral.

I ve just spoken to the funeral place and found out other cost that can't be prepaid but was never mentioned to my uncle.

$3200 to open and close the grave

$600 to transport him from nursing home to funeral palor After hours

$375 to use on-site chapel.

Plus cost of Headstone

These expenses were not included in his prepaid funeral
 
My condolences.
I struck the same problems in 2001 when my father passed. I argued that my father asked for and believed that he had a fully paid for funeral. He had huge expenses when mum died with her funeral plan. He asked for and paid for everything he knew would be needed. I discovered that it is not possible to prepay ($600) for delivery from place of death to the funeral home. (Dads had prepaid for his funeral 20+ years before his death.)
Interest would have covered this figure. As you see the price hasn't changed much since 2001.
My complaint and argument led to the other $2000 being waived.
My biggest concern was that he was sold an average size coffin which (for people less than 5'11'' ) dad was 6'1' so his knees had to be bent to make him fit.
IT'S TIME for government to fix the rip off mentality that exists in the funeral industry.
 
I ended up finding out he had paid for his headstone. But this was after some digging

He had paid for his body to be transported but the extra cost was because he needed to be transported on a weekend , he passed on a Saturday and the nursing home didn't have a morgue and could only keep him for 6 hours .

Opening the grave ,that cost should definitely be in the pre paid cost but it isn't, and this they don't tell you.

I couldn't understand why it cost extra if we stayed while they covered the grave ?

In the end we did stay at no extra charge , my uncle was married to a Fijian lady and all her men relatives filled in the grave and covered it with a Fijian Mat. They were still going to charge but then accepted it was Fijian Religious ceremony
 
This article highlights how dependent we are on what is said at the time of arranging a prepaid funeral. For most it is not the most comfortable conversation and as the consumer we may forget to ask some questions and some funeral directors do not tell us all the facts. We were fortunate when my mother in law passed away in hospital in Singleton NSW that her pre paid funeral covered all the costs and the funeral director was extremely helpful.
 
Can you expose this company to assist others considering pre paid funerals? There have been many "collapses" of these pre paid funeral companies over the years, so I made all arrangements with a Funeral Parlor, accepted their quotation for my disposal, BUT, did not prepay! I have funeral insurance, and told them it would be paid, and the accepted quotation come into force, as soon as my Son, my Executor advised them of my death. I have written confirmation of ALL items I stipulated, BUT, getting my Insurance Policy honored is another question altogether, as I wanted a Funeral Policy, and later found that I had a Life Insurance Policy. This causes delays in paying up, as they will consult my doctors, and anyone else they can, to deny the claim. Unfortunately this is their modus operandi, so I do have concerns that my arrangements will still hit hurdles, due to this duplicity practiced by so many these days.
 
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Can you expose this company to assist others considering pre paid funerals? There have been many "collapses" of these pre paid funeral companies over the years, so I made all arrangements with a Funeral Parlor, accepted their quotation for my disposal, BUT, did not prepay! I have funeral insurance, and told them it would be paid, and the accepted quotation come into force, as soon as my Son, my Executor advised them of my death. I have written confirmation of ALL items I stipulated, BUT, getting my Insurance Policy honored is another question altogether, as I wanted a Funeral Policy, and later found that I had a Life Insurance Policy. This causes delays in paying up, as they will consult my doctors, and anyone else they can, to deny the claim. Unfortunately this is their modus operandi, so I do have concerns that my arrangements will still hit hurdles, due to this duplicity practiced by so many these days.
You have to remember if it's not prepaid then prices could go up which is what we found with my uncles, what he paid 20 years ago prices have doubled with funeral cost , some more
 

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