Funerals : The True Cost on ITV
Discussing cost of funerals, good that their calling the big companies out.
When I left my previous company this was something I felt passionately about that my new business would be totally transparent.
Bereaved families need to shop around before deciding on a funeral and not be taken in by false valuations on a funeral from television or radio. Independents are far cheaper than corporate companies.
During Covid we never stopped families spending time with their loved ones. Our prices didnt disappear of the website and unlike a many funeral directors our prices didnt increase.
Our suppliers our extended family of funeral directors and support staff in both York and Scarborough give their all providing the best service possible for your loved one and the family as a whole 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.
Service to use. All our prices are listed on our website, Google, Funeral Guide, Beyond Life, Local funeral and our page. They have been from day one two and half years ago. SAIF and the NAFD are now responding to CMA report into funerals and asking it’s members to share prices on their websites and digital presence which we have always done.
Our reviews are user verified not like Google which can be manipulated, which is a great tool and essential to any small business like ours. Both my team and I work tirelessly to attain and maintain such good reviews from the families we serve. We pride ourselves on the word of mouth reviews we receive, our five star independent verified reviews are an achievement in itself and one we are all proud of.
We are a local family funeral directors for local people.
We remember that the funeral is not a day in a lifetime but its a lifetime in a day
Covid 19
busting the myths about funerals during COVID-19
We are hearing more and more, almost every day, reports in the media, in newspapers and particularly in ‘call-in’ radio shows, about people being prohibited from having any form of meaningful funeral. We hear horror stories about families being told that they cannot attend the funerals of their loved ones, or that they cannot have flowers, or cannot visit the chapel of rest to spend a final few minutes with the parent/child/husband/wife they could not see in the final moments of life.
In recent days, I have become more forlorn with these reports, both public and personal. I recently heard of a family informed by their funeral director that they were not allowed to view their father, despite the fact that he did not have COVID-19 when he died. For this family, spending time with their father’ prior to his burial was a very important personal, cultural and religious need, and they were being deprived of it by their funeral directors. This, and countless other similar stories, point to a nationwide problem of funeral directors not allowing families to have the services they really want and need, and using the global pandemic as an excuse for it.
So, lets look at the reality of the funeral industry’s advice and guidance on dealing with coronavirus.
Public Health England (PHE) published advice on 31st March 2020 directed particularly at the funeral industry and those handling the care of the people who have died. In this advice, they were very clear on the following few points about the handling of deceased people with COVID-19
We ARE permitted to embalm the deceased
Contrary to what a number of reports are stating, the PHE advice and guidance makes it clear that the embalming of the deceased is not advised against. Moreover, the process of embalming (if done properly by a trained professional) would cause the deceased person to no longer be of any risk of transmitting the disease. For me, then, embalming is extremely advisable, as it removes any risk associated with working with the deceased.
Viewing with an open coffin IS permitted
Building what is mentioned above regarding embalming, the viewing of deceased people is of no risk whatsoever to funeral staff or family members alike once the deceased has been embalmed. The only precautions to bear in mind with having family members visiting in the chapel of rest are the guidelines on social distancing. We are therefore advising family members who are not from the same household to come in separately and, wherever possible, no more than two at a time.
In light of these clear guidelines, we are led to ask the question as to why so many people across the whole country are being told by funeral directors the opposite of these key things. For me the answer is simple, and it is a very sad and stark one.