Wrongun

Extracts from a story in Metro, 2 July 2012: 

Beverley Webb and Michelle Blakesley said the way Co-Op Funeralcare handled Gloria Roper’s service was ‘shambolic’ after one worker said: ‘We’ve brought out our 4.15pm instead.’

The coffin was about to pass through the curtains at the crematorium when the family noticed it was a different colour to the one they had purchased. 

Michelle Blakesley said: ‘We tried to tell the manager who had organised the funeral what was going on but she had already left.’

‘They were so heartless and condescending. One of their staff tried to tell us we were wrong, insisting our grief was making us confused. We were distraught.’

The Co-Op of Weymouth, Dorset, issued a ‘sincere apology’ and refunded the sisters £1,000.

A spokesperson said: ‘We are very sorry and have apologised to the family for any distress caused.

‘A full investigation has taken place into why our policies and procedures were not followed and appropriate action has been taken.’

Further details from the People, 1 July 2012:

They also complained Co-op Funeralcare in Weymouth, Dorset, made a string of errors such as having to change Gloria’s coffin plaque after getting her date of birth and death wrong before last December’s service.

The sisters said their memorial rings, costing £575, were also inscribed with incorrect dates. They claimed the family were told they could not have purple balloons because there was a ­“helium shortage” in the UK.

Metro story here. People story here.

Funrealrace

A couple of days ago Paul Hensby at My Last Song sent the following query to Co-operative Funeralcare:

“Would you consider advising families to research the growing number of cheaper and eco-friendly alternatives to wood-based coffins? Are you anticipating a growing demand for more individual farewell ceremonies and if so how are you training your staff to supply these bespoke funerals?”

This is the reply he got: 

“Thank you for making contact

you may find visiting our web site to undertnad how we support a whole range of differing styles of fuenral arrangements. Including the items you make note of.

Cleint Relations”

 

Read the entire sorry tale over at My Last Song here

Another Co-op distancing statment

‘TAMWORTH Co-op has spoken out to reassure people that its funeral services are a ‘million miles’ from the disturbing images depicted in an undercover Channel 4 investigation.

Julian Coles, chief executive of the Tamworth Co-op, says “We are an entirely independent, comparatively small and traditional Co-operative, operating from several funeral premises in the area we serve.”‘

How they must regret having adopted Funeralcare branding. 

Source

No Zil lanes for the dead

The Olympics are going to create a headache for funeral directors and the bereaved in a country where getting to the crem on time is crucial to the smooth running of a crematorium. Some funeral directors are already in despair. According to the Daily Star: 

Moona Taslim of Muslim funeral home Haji Taslim, which sits parallel to the ­Olympic route, said: “We’re completely buggered.”

 

Source

The vital importance of being embalmed

Contrary to popular belief, embalming a body is not required by law.

However, every funeral home requires it for an open casket service. Otherwise, there will be odors and the body may look grotesque for viewing, which affects a funeral home’s reputation.

Source

Sick ghouls

Two callous thieves who snatched floral wreaths from a crematorium so they could use them for free at a family funeral have been fined £35 each.

Full story in the, you guessed it, Mail here.

Camref – the Campaign for Real Funerals

The departing board chairman of Golden Charter funeral plans offers this cold sweat-inducing warning to independent funeral directors in a valedictory address in the Golden Charter newsletter, Goldenews, which we are grateful to have had forwarded to us. He says:

Co-op and Dignity have both acquired significant additional scale, and unquestionably they are operating with a better financial model than independents – on their own – can hope to achieve. There will be no softening of their ambition and there will be greater local commercial pressure. We can also expect consolidation to come from other quarters, particularly private equity.

Not only are these two corporations and private equity seeking to dominate the funerals market, they are making substantial in-roads into the crematoria market. The strategy is to provide future control of and access to crematoria which will potentially form a risk to independents and the prices that they will have to pay.

Corporations like to deal with corporations, and Co-op and Dignity present like-minded opportunity to the insurance companies. In 2007, an over 50’s plan was merely a means of building a financial provision for a funeral – the question of service provision did not come into it.

However, the insurance companies now manage 60 per cent of funds subsequently to be used to pay for a funeral, and it is a reality that they exert considerable influence over who carries out a funeral.

The funeral industry is one of the last bastions for independents. Almost every other market sector has fallen to national or international consolidation. Over the next five years, the choice for an independent funeral director is simple: sell to the competition or come together and exploit your collective strength.

This remains a chilling analysis even after you factor in the chairman’s sales pitch: ‘Over the next five years, the choice for an independent funeral director is simple: sell to the competition or come together and exploit your collective strength. Golden Charter is the only credible collective umbrella.’

Consolidation, done well, benefits consumers and shareholders. The present corporate players will fail to grow their market share if they don’t address pricing, service and positive brand identity, and they don’t look as if they’re going to hack it. But there are unquestionably opportunities for the right player with a brand that dares to speak its name. As we like to say, if John Lewis did funerals…

The days of the independents just have to be numbered, don’t they? Come on, look at your high street and go figure. 

Or do they? 

Consider the work of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). Among its many successes it lists these: 

  • Created a rich and varied choice of real ale – In the 1970’s CAMRA successfully fought the efforts of the big brewers to replace traditional ales with tasteless keg beers. Since seeing off the likes of Watneys Red, Tavern Keg and Double Diamond the campaigning efforts of CAMRA has seen the creation of hundreds of new breweries producing a wonderful array of real ales. 
  • Smashed the Big brewers stranglehold on UK pubs – In the 1970s and 1980s the Big Six brewers, Allied, Bass, Courage, Scottish & Newcastle, Watneys and Whitbread monopolised regions of the country. CAMRA lobbied against this lack of choice in Britain’s pubs and gradually eroded these regional monopolies. 
  • Number of Breweries increased Fourfold – Since CAMRA was founded the number of breweries operating in the UK has grown fourfold to over 840 breweries. Without CAMRA’s presence it is doubtful whether real ale would be as widespread as it is today. 

 

CAMRA is not an industry body, it is an alliance of consumers: CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale is an independent, voluntary organisation campaigning for real ale, community pubs and consumer rights.
 
Much the same as the Good Funeral Guide. And the Natural Death Centre. 
 
The funeral industry is unaccustomed to consumer scrutiny, doesn’t much like it and tends either to keep schtum or react with angry insecurity when challenged and questioned. This is in stark contrast to all those bereaved people who phone and email to thank us for being there for them. 

 

We believe that independent funeral directors, if they are to survive as a collection of characterful and excellent businesses offering richness of choice,  would do well to reflect that their survival, by no means assured, is likely, if it happens, to owe a debt, perhaps a very great debt, to consumer-focussed communities like the GFG and the Natural Death Centre. To them we say: join in the debate. We learn from each other. We want the same thing. Let’s find common ground. 

 

CAMRA website here.
 
Sorry, no link to the Golden Charter newsletter available. 

 

The Good Funeral Guide
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