A funeral plan firm has run out of money and stopped trading - leaving more than 3,000 customers in limbo.
Unique Funeral Plans cannot give any money back and its plans cannot be swapped to other companies.
The firm sold funeral plans from £1,195 up to £3,750.
These plans let people pay off the cost of a funeral or cremation in instalments.
The idea behind the deals is to give peace of mind that the high costs of a funeral have been dealt with before someone passes away.
Are you a Unique Funeral Plans customer? Contact mirror.money.saving@mirror.co.uk
Accountants Grant Thornton told The Mirror that Unique is now insolvent - meaning no refunds for customers.
A Grant Thornton spokesperson said: "I can confirm that insolvency practitioners from Grant Thornton UK LLP have been engaged by the director of Fox Milton & Co Ltd (trading as Unique Funeral Plans), with a view to placing the company into liquidation via a Creditors Voluntary Liquidation, as the business has ceased trading and is now insolvent.
"Unfortunately, this means all pre-paid funeral plans cannot be refunded or honoured by the company.
"The proposed liquidators will continue to work with the director, clients and other stakeholders over the coming days and weeks to ensure an orderly wind-down of the business. Further information will be made available in due course.”
From July 29, funeral plans will be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Unique had not applied to be authorised, and so would not be able to sell any funeral plans after July 28.
An FCA spokesperson said: “People who bought a pre-paid funeral plan with Fox Milton and Co Ltd will be understandably concerned.”
"The Government changed the law to bring pre-paid funeral plans under our regulation from the end of July 2022.
"Until then, firms such as Fox Milton and Co are unregulated and we have limited powers. We’re currently reviewing firms’ applications to ensure they meet the standards necessary to be regulated and we have put in place rules they must follow from 29 July, including protection for consumers if firms fail.”
A statement on the Unique website said: "Unique Funeral Plans has not applied for authorisation and therefore will not be able to carry out funeral plans after 28 July 2022.
"We are currently exploring options for existing plans and will advise customers of the outcome as soon as we can. In the meantime, existing plans will be honoured and funerals paid for when required."
Unique operated from a shared office in London's Covent Garden, according to Companies House.
The company was due to be struck off the official list of companies, but that was dropped in May 2022.
The FCA rapped the firm on the knuckles in the same month, May 2022, and "strongly" advised customers not to buy a funeral plan from Unique.
At the time, the FCA said Unique had not answered its questions about what would happen to existing customers after July 29.
The FCA also said Unique was claiming customers' cash was held in a safe trust - but this turned out to be false.
Unique's terms and conditions said money was held in "the secure Unique Funeral Plans Trust which is independently managed by The Sterling Trust Corporation Ltd".
However, Sterlling said the statements "were not true" and that it had never held any money from Unique.
Unique has been approached for comment.
In May 2022, The Mirror reported customers who lost money to failed funeral firm Safe Hands were told they will lose up to 90% of their cash.
Safe Hands collapsed into administration in March - leaving 45,000 customers in the lurch.
Safe Hands customers paid £3,000 on average for a funeral plan, but have just been told to expect back no more than £300 to £600 and to seek a new plan.
That is because the administrators think there will not be enough cash in the business to repay everyone.
Unfortunately, customers who lost money are also lowest on the pecking order when it comes to getting any cash.
A report from administrators FRP said: "The administrators currently estimate that the total sum that will be recovered for plan holders from the trust assets will be between £10.6million and £16.1million (net of costs), compared to estimated claims against the trust of £71.13million.
"This equates to a return of between 10p and 20 pence in the pound. Plan holders will rank as unsecured creditors against the company for any deficiency from trust asset realisations."
