Funeral website is total RIP-off
Deceitful price comparison sites could leave you out of pocket
A PANDEMIC is probably a good time for some aggressive marketing if you’re a cynical company selling plans for pre-paid funerals.
Around 200,000 such plans are sold in the UK every year, and MyFuneralPlanSupermarket.co.uk promises to compare providers to give you the best price.
But I found that its results are skewed to push you towards one particular provider – and it’s one that is not registered with the independent Funeral Planning Authority.
When I put the price comparison site to the test, a range of providers were given mediocre 3/5 ratings, and only Empathy UK Funeral Plans was given the maximum 5/5.
Empathy’s “Essential funeral plan” also appeared to offer the lowest price of £3,150.
A sales rep for the price-comparison site who followed up my online enquiry made it sound even better value by saying he could discount it to £2,800.
But the reason this appeared to be the cheapest is because the prices I was given for plans provided by rivals – including Age UK, Dignity, Golden Leaves and Golden Charter – missed out their most economical options.
The rep for MyFuneralPlanSupermarket later called me to try to persuade me to take out an Empathy plan, but I refused when he said I could not see the contract until after a deposit was paid.
So why is this price-comparison site twisting the results to wrongly make Empathy seem the best value?
A little digging reveals that both outfits have people at the top who have long known each other.
MyFuneralPlanSupermarket is a trading name of EMM UK Limited, of Sale, Greater Manchester.
Its director is 35-year-old Scott Unwin and the marketing executive is Gemma Unwin, according to her LinkedIn page.
Empathy is run by 50-year-old Louise Bond, of Lymm, Cheshire. She is also a director of Ravenstone UK Claims Consultants Ltd, where Gemma Unwin’s LinkedIn page tells us that she was office manager for six years. Barry Floyd, a director of Golden Leaves, is scathing about price- comparison websites.
“Some comparison sites have commercial relationships with one specific provider or another and these are usually n o n - Fu n e r a l P lann ing Author i ty providers,” he sa i d . “Particularly aggrieving is the way many of these sites deliberately manipulate information, falsely claim accreditations or the pricing and contents of particular providers’ plans, in order to make them look more or less attractive to a customer.
“Make sure that the company you purchase from is Funeral Planning Authority- regulated – go to the company’s website and look up the credence and pedigree yourself, additionally check with the FPA and always buy directly from the company itself or from one of its authorised representatives.”
The FPA advises: “We strongly recommend that customers only choose funeral plans from providers that are registered with us, otherwise they are not subject to any independent checks or scrutiny.”
Age UK warned consumers to consider more than just price when looking at the different options.
“Funeral plans do vary considerably in terms of the protection they provide and we urge anyone considering purchasing one to make sure that they fully understand the features and limitations of the schemes they look at so that they can make an effective comparison,” said Charity Director Caroline Abrahams.
Neither MyFuneralPlanSupermarket nor Empathy have returned my messages.
Last week, the Government announced that it will bring the pre-paid funeral plan market within the remit of the Financial Conduct Authority, meaning firms will have to be authorised before they can do business.
Some sites deliberately manipulate pricing information