3. Outer Burial Container. You cannot tell consumers that state or local law requires them to buy an outer burial container, if that is not true. You also must tell consumers that state law does not require them to purchase an outer burial container. You satisfy this obligation by including the mandatory disclosure on the Outer Burial Container Price List. The mandatory disclosure about outer burial containers also tells consumers that grave liners are suitable for meeting any cemetery requirement. You may not tell consumers that a particular cemetery requires an outer burial container, if that is not true. You may want to keep updated rules of local cemeteries to make sure that your information is accurate. If the particular cemetery does require a container, then you should explain this to the family. 4. Legal and Cemetery Requirements. You cannot tell consumers that any federal, state, or local law or a particular cemetery or crematory requires them to buy a particular good or service, if that is not true. If you do tell a consumer that he or she must buy a particular item because of any legal, cemetery, or crematory requirement, you must identify and describe the particular requirement in writing on the Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected. 5. Preservative and Protective Value Claims. You cannot make any representations to consumers that funeral goods or services will delay the natural decomposition of human remains for a long term or an indefinite time. Although the Rule flatly prohibits you from making this representation, the Commission recognizes that it is possible for some funeral goods or services to delay decomposition for a short period. Example : A family selects a funeral with a viewing. You may explain to the family that embalming will temporarily preserve the body to make it suitable for viewing. But, you cannot tell them that the embalming will preserve the body indefinitely. What consumers cannot be required to purchase You cannot require consumers to buy unwanted or unneeded goods and services to get the items that they do want. Consumers must be able to choose only the goods and services that they want, with certain limited exceptions noted below. Accordingly, you cannot condition the furnishing of any funeral good or service to a consumer on the purchase of any other funeral good or service except for your basic services fee and any items required by law. You also cannot refuse to serve a family because they do not purchase one particular item (e.g., a casket or embalming) or a combination of items or services from you. In addition, you cannot include the charge for an optional item of service (such as embalming) in a non-declinable basic services fee. This would have the effect of making the optional item a required purchase for every customer. The Rule expressly prohibits you from charging any fee, as a condition of furnishing any funeral goods or services, other than the fees for: ● The basic services of funeral director and staff (the one non- declinable fee allowed by the Rule); ● The funeral goods and services selected by the consumer; and ● The funeral goods and services required to be purchased by law (or by the cemetery or crematory), as identified and explained on the itemized Statement. This means that you cannot charge an additional fee or surcharge to consumers who purchase a casket elsewhere. Such a fee would not fall within the three categories of allowable charges listed above. This extra “casket handling” fee is simply a hidden penalty for those consumers who exercise the right to purchase a casket from another seller.
You cannot tell consumers that funeral goods (such as caskets or vaults) have protective features or will protect the body from gravesite substances when that is not true. Federal law requires you to make all warranty information available to consumers. Therefore, you must allow the family to read any of the manufacturer’s warranties. However, you should indicate that these claims are made by the manufacturer and not by you. Example : Mr. Morton has chosen casket A. You should allow him to read the written warranty that the manufacturer offers, but you must not adopt as your own any statement about preservation or protection that you know to be in violation of the Rule. You may want to inform Mr. Morton that the manufacturer has made certain statements about the product, but that you do not have personal knowledge of the protective value of the merchandise. 6. Cash Advance Items. If you mark up the charge on cash advance items or receive a commission, discount, or rebate that is not passed on to the consumer, you cannot state that the price charged for the cash advance item is the same as your cost. If there is an added charge, or if you receive and keep a rebate, commission, or trade or volume discount, you must tell the consumer that the price is not the same as your cost. You do this by including the mandatory disclosure on your Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected. The Rule does not prevent you from adding a service charge, nor does it require you to disclose the amount of that charge. However, some states may have laws or regulations that prohibit any mark-up on cash advance items. 7. Other Misrepresentations. Other kinds of misrepresentations, though not specifically prohibited by the Funeral Rule, are also illegal. The FTC Act prohibits deceptive acts or practices. Likewise, the consumer protection laws of most states prohibit deceptive practices. Moreover, you cannot alter your prices based upon the particular selections of each customer. Such a practice also would defeat the purpose of the Rule to give people accurate, itemized price information that affords them the opportunity to select the arrangements they want. Exceptions : The three exceptions to the consumer’s general right to choose only the goods and services wanted are: ● The one non-declinable basic services fee; ● Items required by law (or by the cemetery or crematory); and ● Impossible, impractical or excessively burdensome requests. You do not have to comply with such requests. However, you cannot refuse a request simply because you don’t like it or don’t approve of it. Example : During July, a family requests that a funeral occur five days after death but does not want embalming. You don’t have refrigeration facilities. Your state law does not require embalming under any circumstances. However, in this situation, you can refuse to provide these arrangements, unless the family buys embalming. You can consider such a request impractical or excessively burdensome. Note : If a customer requests an item that you do not normally offer, you do not have to comply with the request. However, you are free to do so. “Free” Items : You cannot list any of the 16 items required to be separately itemized on the GPL as “free” or “no charge.” Because you recover the cost of the free item in your other prices on the GPL, the customer may not have the choice of rejecting the charge. However, you can offer items not required to be separately itemized on the General Price List (such as acknowledgment cards) at “no charge,” as long as your state or local laws do not prohibit this practice.
Book Code: FTX1624
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