Everybody is always trying to sell something. But while that’s understandable most of the time, on some occasions, it’s quite unacceptable.
One of the best examples of that would be this Redditor’s story. The woman received a phone call before Christmas from the funeral home where she had laid her husband to rest a few years prior. While initially it seemed like a nice gesture that pleasantly surprised her, the emotions quickly changed when this turned into a sales pitch. Scroll down to read the full story!
More info: Reddit
Christmas can feel much less festive for people who recently lost someone, but some businesses, even knowing the situation, still won’t miss the chance to try to sell something
Image credits: Pavel Danilyuk (not the actual photo)
A woman received a call from the funeral home where she buried her husband a few years earlier
Image credits: Damir Kopezhanov (not the actual photo)
While the call started out seeming like a nice gesture before Christmas, it quickly turned into a sales pitch that caught the woman by surprise
Image credits: tristin03
When the caller asked the woman if she and her husband had time to pick out the burial plots for the future, she got furious, explained the situation, and ended the call
It was right before Christmas when the OP received a call from a funeral home where she buried her husband in 2019. The conversation had a very nice and friendly start, with the person asking the author how she’d been, which led the widow to assume that the call was just a nice gesture to help with the holiday and grief combination.
Things took a quick turn when the caller suddenly asked if the woman and her husband had time to review the info regarding purchasing the burial plots for their future, as it’s been a while since they visited.
The woman was surprised and maddened by this insensitivity. And, to make it worse, she was driving her daughter at the time of the call and had her phone on speaker.
The OP passively aggressively let the caller know that it indeed was a while since they visited because the last time they were there was when they buried her husband, which quickly concluded the call.
The commenters seemed almost as upset with the story as the poster herself, but this didn’t stop them from making jokes, which the woman was thankful for. A few Redditors were also sharing their own stories, some even worse than what the OP had experienced.
Image credits: Engin Akyurt (not the actual photo)
The funeral industry is, first and foremost, supposed to provide services. However, it doesn’t shy away from also engaging in sales, and, often enough, does that quite aggressively at a time when its clients are the most vulnerable.
Markian Hawryluk of Fortune says that this business is actually very profitable. In the USA, this industry, which is made up of about 19,000 funeral homes, is now worth over $23 billion.
Currently, only about 20% of funeral homes belong to funeral home chains and private equity-backed firms. But while the rest are currently owned and operated privately, the corporations are constantly searching for opportunities to acquire more. Once they do, the prices spike to almost double.
While this industry may seem out of control, there are people out there trying to tame it. One good example is the Funeral Consumers Alliance, which is a nonprofit organization founded in 1963.
Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)
According to NBC News, this organization spends most of its time monitoring industry trends and mediating complaints. However, its most notable work is alerting consumers of the vitally important Funeral Rule issued by the Federal Trade Commission in 1984.
This rule states that the directors of funeral homes are required to itemize all of their service costs. It is intended to keep this industry in check, but due to it being relatively unknown, there are incredibly high and widespread numbers of noncompliance, with around 75% of price lists violating the rule, at least in some way.
Because most customers have no clue about this rule, they’re unaware of what they’re entitled to and what options they really have, despite what may be presented to them. Thus, the Funeral Consumer Alliance is committed to achieving 100% compliance with the Funeral Rule.
But while this organization stays optimistic about the future, the current situation is not good. Funeral homes are extremely overpriced, with some asking for caskets as much as 5 times more than what the customer could pay by buying them at a casket store or even at Costco, which recently decided to also jump into the business.
In addition, some funeral homes might go as far as using Machiavelian tactics to discourage their clients from buying anything funeral-related from any other place, with at least one person reporting that they were told the coffin they ordered from a store would be filled with roaches and mice.
In the end, for an industry dealing with something that is usually one of the most challenging moments in people’s lives, it is quite insensitive. Money is something that none of us can really go without in this society if we want to live a comfortable life, but there has to be a place where we draw a line when it comes to cash-grabbing businesses. After all, an insensitive sales call from a funeral company, which should be well aware of your situation before calling, would upset anyone, even the most money-hungry ones.
Commenters were as upset with the funeral industry as the poster herself and bashed them for their insensitivity while also sharing stories of even worse similar happenings
