Help Protect Consumers!

There are currently two consumer protection issues that need your help.

1. Help Protect Consumers in New York by having us send a letter to the New York state legislators on your behalf. We strongly oppose the proposed bill that would allow the sale of package pricing of funerals in New York.

2.Help Protect Consumers in New York by having us send a letter to the New York state legislators on your behalf. We strongly support the proposed bill which provides a Cemetery Customer’s Bill of Rights.

To have us send a letter on your behalf, fill in your name and address at the bottom of this page and click 'Send Letter Now'.

To see the legislative bills that are relevant to our members, click here.

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Consumer Protection Issue #1, the following letter will be sent:

NYS Senators & Assemblymembers
Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12248
OPPOSITION: A08132 (Weprin)/S5627 (O’Mara)

Dear Senators and Assemblymembers:

The sole justification for the Funeral Package Pricing bills A08132 (Weprin) and S5627 (O’Mara) is to maximize the profits of large funeral providers. Service Corporation of America (SCI), the largest provider of funeral services in North America, stated in its 2003 annual report: “On a burial funeral, Dignity packaged sales generate on average approximately $2,800 more than non-Dignity sales. On a cremation service, Dignity packaged sales generate approximately $1,700 more than non-Dignity sales.” Additionally, in their 2006, 10 K Filing, SCI reported another increase in average revenue per funeral service of $283 and other increases in the intervening years. So-called Dignity packages contain pricey gimmicks such as a twenty-four-hour Compassion Hotline, Internet Memorial Archive, Bereavement Travel Program, Aftercare Planner, and something mysteriously called Signature Memories. These raise profits but may be of little, if any, value to most consumers. So, according to SCI itself, package pricing can increase the cost of a funeral from $1,700 to $2,800.

Package pricing also threatens small neighborhood businesses, such as florists who cater to the needs of grieving families. Large providers tend to buy their flowers in bulk outside the neighborhood, thus taking money out of the community.

By allowing the bundling of goods and services, these bills would gut important consumer protections put in place twenty years ago to prevent pressuring grieving families to purchase unnecessary goods and services. It is important to note that a spokesperson for the Federal Trade Commission has said that funeral homes may forbid substitution of items in funeral packages. Whereas today anyone can compare prices of items and services by telephoning a funeral home, comparing prices of packages that contain different goods and services would be very difficult.

Federal Trade Commission regulations require that all funeral homes must offer an itemized list to customers, but such lists can be presented as complicated and tedious, so that the high priced packages seem the simpler choice. Current New York law requires that the customer receive an itemized statement. This is the status quo, and it works well.

The bills propose a one-year study by the Consumers Protection Board (CPB), but this agency does not have jurisdiction over funeral home complaints. In a letter dated March 17, 2009, responding to an inquiry from the Funeral Consumers Alliance of L.I./NYC, the CPB acknowledged that it had received six complaints about funeral homes in three years, but noted that it does not have jurisdiction in such cases. The Bureau of Funeral Directing of the Health Department does. It appears that the bills assign the study to the wrong agency. Further, the bills are unfunded. Who pays for the study?

In sum, I believe that A08132 (Weprin) and S5627 (O’Mara) have no justification other than to raise the profits of the large funeral providers, that they would harm neighborhood businesses such as florists, that they would gut important consumer protections against inducing purchase of unnecessary funeral services, and that they assign the wrong agency to evaluate the new law.

PLEASE VOTE NO.

Yours truly,

 

Consumer Protection Issue #2, the following letter will be sent:

Assemblymembers & Senators
Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY  12248
 
SUPPORT: A04219 (Weisenberg)/S4399 (Flanagan)

Dear Assemblymembers and Senators:

Although the Funeral Rule of the Federal Trade Commission requires that important funeral consumer rights be included in the General Price List offered in any face-to-face meeting of funeral director and consumer at the beginning of any discussion about arranging a funeral, there is no comparable federal or state requirement for disclosure by cemeteries.

Because the public lacks knowledge about funeral and cemetery issues, families need greater protection in the purchase of cemetery and crematory services than New York State law currently provides. Families often must negotiate with cemeteries while suffering emotionally and feeling pressure to act quickly. Furthermore, a right to interment may not be used for many years after purchase and may even pass to another generation in a family before it is used, making it even more likely that the family will not understand its rights. As in the case of insurance and banking, government must take an active role in protecting customers in the deathcare industry.

The current law merely requires “posting” of rules and regulations and attachment of a copy to a contract at the time of a sale of interment rights. Families may not understand that the cemetery can refuse interment for nonpayment of the total bill, which may amount to thousands of dollars. Many families do not even understand that they purchase a right to burial rather than a piece of land. Similarly, they do not understand their rights when they wish to transfer or sell their right to interment, nor do they understand other important matters; such as that New York law does not limit the number of urns per grave, nor does the law require embalming or sealer caskets for mausoleum interment.

By amending the not-for-profit corporation law to require cemetery corporations to provide customers with a Cemetery Customer’s Bill of Rights, A04219 (Weisenberg) and S4399 (Flanagan) would make important information easily available to families when they need it the most, at the time of purchase of interment rights and at the time they inter a family member. I urge you to support these bills to provide a Cemetery Consumer’s Bill of Rights.

PLEASE VOTE YES.

Yours truly,

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	Yes, send letter #1 to help prevent expensive package pricing schemes
	Yes, send letter #2 to prvide a Cemetery Customer’s Bill of Rights
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