Compensation

Candie

My Mum passed away recently and was cremated.  We wanted to be present as a family when her ashes were scattered and the funeral company knew this.  It has now transpired that the funeral home told the cremation staff that we did not wish to be there and to go ahead and spread the ashes.  We are devastated and the funeral home accept complete liability and have apologised profusely.  They have also mentioned compensation but we have no idea how much to ask for.  Any advice?

mobileron

Full cost of funeral.

MovingForwards

Compensation is to put you back into the position you would have been in, had they not done what they did do.

I would guess no amount of money could make up for it, therefore what would you like to achieve?
- A family gathering at the site and go through the scattering process, but without the ashes? 
- A donation to your late mom's favourite charity?
- A meal at her favourite restaurant with close family?
- A remembrance gathering with buffet at home?

When you know the outcome, you can then work out the amount to ask for, or you could ask what figure they have in mind and see how that sits with you.

Candie

I agree you can't put a price on what happened and we were thinking maybe a refund of the cost of the funeral. They seem reluctant to offer a figure at the moment

elsien

I would expect a refund of the full cost of the funeral is extremely unlikely.  
What has made you reach this specific figure - how much was the funeral? 


ETA, having said that, there is a precedent if you want the stress of taking it to court if you have to. 
Woman wins payout after Co-op Funeralcare scattered her mum's ashes | Daily Mail Online

Candie

It's a tangible thing rather than plucking out a figure from thin air.  How else may reparation be made?

Pennylane

I would ask for full cost of funeral.  

Robin9

It's the Crematorium that has made the error so you need to exclude the Funeral Directors costs.

Edit 0944 - my error I misread the post - the Crem has done their job and the FD much of theirs correctly)

Personally a donation of say £250 to your Mum's charity

Keep_pedalling

Robin9 said:

It's the Crematorium that has made the error so you need to exclude the Funeral Directors costs.

Personally a donation of say £250 to your Mum's charity

The OP said the funeral home made the error.

Candie

Robin9 said:

It's the Crematorium that has made the error so you need to exclude the Funeral Directors costs.

Personally a donation of say £250 to your Mum's charity

Yeah it was the funeral home and they have admitted liability 

Malthusian

I cannot see how the funeral company should get away with anything less than a full refund.

The family / estate paid for a memorial service with the family present. That didn't happen. The service wasn't delivered. Full refund.

Throwing the ashes away isn't doing part of the job, it's chucking away one of the raw materials for the job.

The only possible alternative for the funeral company is to arrange a memorial service at their own expense, but the family would seem fully entitled to refuse, take their refund and go elsewhere.

Robin9 said:

It's the Crematorium that has made the error so you need to exclude the Funeral Directors costs.

Even if the crematorium had made the error, that's irrelevant if the OP paid the funeral director for the service. The funeral director would be liable for a full refund. Pursuing the crematorium would be their problem.