When you are looking for a funeral home in Miami, it is natural that you will come across some shady ones. But how do you know that it is a shady one? Here are 4 red flags to look out for.
They ask for pre-payment for your pre-planned funeral
Pre-planning a funeral is very commonplace now and more Americans are doing it now than before. Hence, there are many funeral homes that offer funeral preplanning services. However, it will be the shady ones that will insist that you make payment with them for your future funeral. Why is that a red flag? Because there is no guarantee that the business won’t go bust before you die and, in that case, the money you give won’t be recovered. Plus, if you have to make a pre-payment, it is best to make it with a third party so that the funeral homes can’t profit from it. Good funeral homes will suggest life insurance policies or funeral policies that cover funeral expenses with money going directly to the funeral homes in some cases to meet the funeral expenses.
They will say that renting urns or caskets for memorial services is not allowed
It is a little-known secret that you can rent urns and caskets for memorial services when you are going to cremate a body. However, shady funeral homes will convince you that not only it is not possible, but some will also go to the extent to inform you that it is illegal! But good funeral homes will not only offer you this service but will also suggest you rent an urn or casket when you are going to use it temporarily for memorial services.
They won’t show you their low-end caskets or urns
Shady funeral homes will try to upsell their high-end products like caskets and urns. They will show only those to their clients and guilt-trip them into spending more on such items. However, they do have low-cost versions of the same items, only they keep them in the back where visitors can’t see them. Only when you ask for them firmly will they show you those items.
They won’t show you the price list of all services
Most funeral homes will offer packages that include the most common services people need during a funeral. However, not everyone needs everything that is there in a package and so ends up paying for services they don’t need or use as most often these packages give you combined charges and not individual ones. And this is where another red flag about shady funeral homes lies; they will only show you the packages are nothing more. However, a good funeral home will give you a list of services they offer along with charges. It is required as per consumer protection laws but since many people don’t know that shady funeral homes get rich by doing just the opposite.
So, now that you know what the red flags are when it comes to finding spotting a shady funeral home, you can avoid them and find a good one when you need their services.