Pre-paid funeral plan shortfall - who pays?

Gillybilly_2

I am dealing with step-dad's death for my mum. He had a pre-paid funeral policy which covered all except two items of the actual funeral, the funeral car and orders of service.  At the time of death the funeral policy company were immediately notified and they engaged the funeral director.  Everything went well until the funeral policy failed to pay the funeral director's charges covered by the policy, who then complain to me.

I then make representations to policy company as the amount offered to funeral directors is still £695 short of the policy value. ** I am told that discounted rates are agreed in these circumstances and apart from our additional services, we have nothing else to pay as all was covered by the policy.  I was even offered a small refund for the disbursements I did not use.
I had a missed call from the funeral director and am still awaiting confirmation from funeral policy company that ** all was covered was in agreement with funeral director.

It is such a sad and stressful time, I am trying to protect my mum from as much as possible and it is the first time I have been involved in these issues.  My mum has an identical policy with the same company, not sure whether to cancel it.  There was nothing in the T's & C's about retaining any of the policy value.

Any help/thoughts would be appreciated. No doubt the funeral director will be seeking the outstanding balance from us, even though the contract was with the policy company.  I am still trying to get my head around obtaining confirmation to access the estate.

Thanks
 

Flugelhorn

TBH if the FD  was engaged by the policy company AND you didn't add on any extras not in the policy eg extra cars / flowers etc etc then I would leave it to them to sort out between them. 
Just check that nothing was added on though, FDs are v good at "and would you like XYZ to happen / fancier flowers / more orders of service with photos / more cars / expensive time of day / notices in papers etc " 

Dox

If the policy was one where your mum paid a single premium upfront, there's no point at all in cancelling it - she isn't likely to get her money back unless the terms say she will. If the premiums are ongoing and she cancels, then again, she could just lose the value of what she's already paid. 

You really don't need this sort of argument at a time of sadness. As the post above suggests, if you are quite sure you didn't add or upgrade anything, then let the funeral director and the policy provider sort it out between them. If the matter drags on, ask for a full written breakdown of the costs which clearly shows which items fall outside the terms of the policy and then use the complaints procedure the policy provider must have. 

Gillybilly_2

Thanks for the replies both.  We did add a car and orders of service as extras, which we agreed price and to pay separately.
However, if the funeral director seeks his shortfall from us, we will have lost nearly £695 from the policy and have to find around an extra £1200.  It is a horrible situation to be in as the funeral services provided were excellent.  

My mum's policy was over £3000 and paid upfront.  She will lose £250 if she cancels it.  If there had been no dispute over payment, the policy would be ideal.  I just do not want to go through this all again.   I have spoken several times to both parties, the policy company state it's a miscommunication that has been resolved.  The refund they have offered me is on condition that they are released from any further responsibility for the policy.  The estate left to mum is not huge, so I want to protect it as much as I can.