The staff of the Federal Trade Commission have issued a report detailing key findings from the agency’s first-ever undercover Funeral Rule phone sweep, which found several funeral providers failed to provide pricing information required by law.
The FTC’s Funeral Rule requires providers to give information about their offerings and pricing over the phone, when asked.
As detailed in the report, FTC staff reviewed calls placed to 278 randomly selected funeral providers to contact from the largest, middle, and smallest metropolitan and micropolitan areas in the country from February 2023 through December 2023. For each of the randomly selected funeral providers, staff made up to three attempts to reach the provider by phone during business hours (9am-5pm), and up to three attempts outside of business hours. On the calls, staff asked for pricing information, typically for direct cremation, cremation and a memorial service, and cremation and a viewing.
The report notes that staff was unable to obtain price information after business hours from 73 funeral providers (26% of all funeral providers called). Staff also was unable to obtain price information from 21 providers (7% of all funeral providers called) during business hours, according to the report.
The report also shows that in many instances, multiple calls were needed to obtain price information from a funeral provider. After business hours, staff either had to call more than once or wait for a return call from nearly 70% of the funeral providers called during the sweep. During business hours, staff had to call multiple times or wait for a return call for about 30% of the funeral providers called.
Finally, the report details that half of the funeral providers called answered at least some questions about pricing with estimates or ranges, rather than actual prices. The report also notes that at least 33% of the funeral homes provided package pricing for at least one service on a call (such as cremation with a viewing), without giving itemized price information for that service. In addition, staff found that at least 37 funeral providers quoted different prices for the same services on different calls.