By Emily S. Gerson

When someone close to you passes away, the last thing you want to do is deal with the logistics of planning the funeral. However, if you’re not careful, you may find yourself overcharged by a funeral home or even the victim of fraud. While you may want to hurry up and get the funeral over with as soon as possible, don’t rush yourself. Take the time to follow these important steps and ensure you pick the right funeral home.

1. Ask friends and family members for references. What do you do when you need to find a reputable babysitter or excellent dentist? You ask someone who trust to provide a reference of someone with a great reputation. You can do the same thing when it comes to selecting a funeral home. If you know someone who has had an experience with a local funeral home within the last few years, ask them which business they used, if they had a positive experience there, and if they would recommend it to others. If they had a smooth experience, you likely will, too. Your place of worship may also be able to recommend a funeral home.

2. Call around and ask questions. To save time and get it over with, you may want to use the services of the first funeral home you come across. This is a bad idea. Make a call to several of the funeral homes in the area and ask questions about what types of services they offer and what the fees are. Are they helpful and friendly? Are their prices reasonable? Are they willing to answer all of your questions? These calls will help you determine which funeral homes you feel most comfortable working with and will also give you an idea of which are within your price range. If a funeral home doesn’t want to give out prices or is hesitant to answer your questions, move on.

3. Bring a friend. When you’re grieving for a loved one, you’re extremely vulnerable to unscrupulous businesses. If you’re visiting a prospective funeral home, it’s a wise idea to bring a friend or family member not in grief along with you to help you make good choices and to help you to read the fine print. It’s similar to when shopping for a car; if you’re alone, it’s easy to be intimidated and overlook hidden fees and fine print, but if you have someone else with you, you’re less likely to be fooled.

4. Ask about finances. Money tends to be the last thing on your mind when you’ve lost someone you love. However, there are important questions to ask when selecting a funeral home. Ask if they offer any payment options, or if they can accept insurance. If money is tight, you need to be sure to ask these important questions and make sure the funeral home is willing to work with you.

5. Ask if the funeral home carries conventional, standard caskets. These allow for natural body decomposition and are more than sufficient for burials that include a viewing as part of the service. Conventional caskets are less costly than the supposedly more secure, “protective,” or sealed, caskets. In some cases, in order to make more money, funeral homes will only carry the more expensive casket models. If the funeral home director says they only carry “protective” caskets, insist on a standard casket at a reduced rate. Better yet, if you do not plan on having a viewing, opt for a cardboard casket (costing less than $100) with no embalming, which is less expensive and more environmentally friendly. Just because a funeral home claims not to have stock of a particular product doesn’t mean they won’t provide low cost alternatives when pushed. If the funeral home cannot accommodate your needs, find another funeral home that can.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 18th, 2009 at 3:07 pm and is filed under Planning a funeral. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.