Pre paid funeral plans in Covid

edawseivad

As there are regulations applied to Funerals during Covid are there means to get refunds on pre paid plans.  Bearing in mind that there is a maximum number of people allowed at the funeral and where funeral cars etc are pre ordered etc then the funeral directors company will not be subjecting themselves to outlay that was previously paid for. Obviously there are other costs that will not be incurred by funeral company that were pre paid prior to the death of person or persons involved.

poppystar

I received a refund in kind as they discounted the cost of flowers and orders of service which were not part of the plan. Having said that the amount that was paid when the plan was purchased was significantly more than the current price would have been, even without the Covid restrictions, so I don’t feel it was really much compensation.

The experience has put me off the idea of prepaying, especially as my father did it to get his choice of funeral directors and the family firm had sold out to a major chain and all staff changed in the intervening five years. He did not get the service he paid for. 

Technosaurus

Hi - I work in the funeral industry (although not as a funeral director so, trust me, I am not biased!) and yes there are refunds available depending on the plan.

The restrictions in numbers wouldn't automatically entitle people to a refund, as the costs of doing the funeral are broadly the same for 10 people as it would be for 100 - a large amount of funeral costs come from crematorium fees, coffin costs and of course the Funeral Director's fees, which are still the same regardless of number of attendees. 

However, as you mention, certain things that used to be 'standard' are now subject to restrictions (eg there was a period earlier this year where no cars were allowed so that was a 'clear cut' case of a refund where a service had been paid for but not provided)