Funeral Industry Corruption
- Thread starter Drew Ott
- Start date
Barry_Green
Moderator
Back to the OP: it's pretty well known that there's some shifty stuff happening in certain parts of the funeral industry; just like in any industry there are going to be honest people and there's going to be scamsters; I think what in general is offensive about funeral-home high-pressure tactics is that they're pressuring someone when they're at their lowest point, and extracting money from them for things that a confident and reasonable person in charge of all their faculties might find quite resistable.
But yeah, just google "funeral home scam" or "funeral home scandal" and you'll find lots of stuff, including this outrage from Illinois... and if you want to pursue the idea of major funeral home conglomerates, there's always this story... from your hometown newspaper even...
There was one that just happened a few years ago, I can't remember anything about it but it was basically a big huge thing of where the funeral home would put on the big fancy burial, then when the family was gone they'd go dig up the casket, toss the body out, and resell that $10,000 or $20,000 casket to someone else... can't remember the details at all though. Could be way off, but it was a big story five or ten years ago...
Another angle to investigate might be along these lines: http://www.hospicepatients.org/hosp-funeralscam.html
But yeah, just google "funeral home scam" or "funeral home scandal" and you'll find lots of stuff, including this outrage from Illinois... and if you want to pursue the idea of major funeral home conglomerates, there's always this story... from your hometown newspaper even...
There was one that just happened a few years ago, I can't remember anything about it but it was basically a big huge thing of where the funeral home would put on the big fancy burial, then when the family was gone they'd go dig up the casket, toss the body out, and resell that $10,000 or $20,000 casket to someone else... can't remember the details at all though. Could be way off, but it was a big story five or ten years ago...
Another angle to investigate might be along these lines: http://www.hospicepatients.org/hosp-funeralscam.html
Gord.T
Still "Senior Member"
Not really a scam but my Mom prearranged her funeral and had the head stone made up ahead of time.
She gave them an insciption to put on it and ofcourse, they got it wrong.
So she's stuck with a head stone inscribed not with what she asked.
She's a little pissed but feels stuck also.
There could be a legal remedy I'm sure but at this point she wouldn't be interested in persuing it.
Not a scam, but imcompetent and , well, you fill in the rest.
She gave them an insciption to put on it and ofcourse, they got it wrong.
So she's stuck with a head stone inscribed not with what she asked.
She's a little pissed but feels stuck also.
There could be a legal remedy I'm sure but at this point she wouldn't be interested in persuing it.
Not a scam, but imcompetent and , well, you fill in the rest.
I am somewhat familiar with the funeral industry and they parallel a little bit with the health industry-- that being INSURANCE and nickle and diming you.
Funeral home's thought process is when "in need" people show up, and most people have life insurance, they ring up that bill with as much as they can and up-sell everything they can... knowing and telling these grieving people that insurance pays for everything.
--People tend to spend other people's money (ie insurance money) a lot easier, not realizing it actually is their money. So this car salesman mentality sometimes moves into the funeral home industry.
Then when a non-insured family member comes in they tend to keep sticking it to them because they expect to get a similar total sale price.
Funeral home's thought process is when "in need" people show up, and most people have life insurance, they ring up that bill with as much as they can and up-sell everything they can... knowing and telling these grieving people that insurance pays for everything.
--People tend to spend other people's money (ie insurance money) a lot easier, not realizing it actually is their money. So this car salesman mentality sometimes moves into the funeral home industry.
Then when a non-insured family member comes in they tend to keep sticking it to them because they expect to get a similar total sale price.
Hawk Teflon
Veteran
This makes me sick to my stomach.
Ted Ramasola
Veteran
My classmate and close friend from way back in elementary school owns the biggest funeral service on our island back home, this was until a couple of years back when competition made the "prices competitive".
Being close with her, yeah, my friend is a she and shes a licensed embalmer, I get to hang out a lot of times in her place and also got a lot of favors.
In my country where a lot of people are poor and have no insurance, they have also done some help. I've seen many times how they give out at cost services to poor people.
They also provide a small cottage industry with coffin making and flowers and such.
Sometimes they end up hanging on to unclaimed bodies, especially those from foul play. She ones told me that they opened a branch in another island since "business was good" there due to "local customs",
-that is, people don't go to courts to settle but kill each other for revenge. Since some bodies are left unclaimed they had to invest in a "swimming pool". -a term they call a tank filled with formalin to store bodies in it since refrigeration
is expensive.
She extends extra service to people too like in our case, we have "home service" for our grandparents and relatives, they would embalm them at home, so I got to see where they insert the "trocar" tubes to pump out blood in pump in farmalin
at the same time. Also got to assist in several "make-up sessions" for a couple of my kin.
Being my classmate she uses her expensive make up for preferred clients.
She also told me of certain mal-practice "in other outfits" about embalmers "abusing" fresh female corpses. But more common situations they encounter is when competitors play tug of war between bodies from the hospital.
The corruption I have heard often is between hospital staff and funeral home reps. Hospital staff gets commissions form the funeral homes if they contact them regarding bodies in their morgues.
Yup, as most of you have mentioned, its a business and business employ techniques to get maximum profit.
Being close with her, yeah, my friend is a she and shes a licensed embalmer, I get to hang out a lot of times in her place and also got a lot of favors.
In my country where a lot of people are poor and have no insurance, they have also done some help. I've seen many times how they give out at cost services to poor people.
They also provide a small cottage industry with coffin making and flowers and such.
Sometimes they end up hanging on to unclaimed bodies, especially those from foul play. She ones told me that they opened a branch in another island since "business was good" there due to "local customs",
-that is, people don't go to courts to settle but kill each other for revenge. Since some bodies are left unclaimed they had to invest in a "swimming pool". -a term they call a tank filled with formalin to store bodies in it since refrigeration
is expensive.
She extends extra service to people too like in our case, we have "home service" for our grandparents and relatives, they would embalm them at home, so I got to see where they insert the "trocar" tubes to pump out blood in pump in farmalin
at the same time. Also got to assist in several "make-up sessions" for a couple of my kin.
Being my classmate she uses her expensive make up for preferred clients.
She also told me of certain mal-practice "in other outfits" about embalmers "abusing" fresh female corpses. But more common situations they encounter is when competitors play tug of war between bodies from the hospital.
The corruption I have heard often is between hospital staff and funeral home reps. Hospital staff gets commissions form the funeral homes if they contact them regarding bodies in their morgues.
Yup, as most of you have mentioned, its a business and business employ techniques to get maximum profit.
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