Expansion of Funeral Services Rules Weighed

Willie and Juanita Roach purchased their final resting place more than 40 years ago at a cemetery in their hometown of Westminster, S.C., planning to be buried in the same plot.

But on a recent visit to the cemetery to place flowers on the grave of Willie’s mother, the couple were surprised to learn that they owed an extra $5,000 for their plot. What’s more, they were told by the cemetery’s new owners that they had to buy an expensive vault if they still wanted to be buried there.

“We have entertained cremation, even though we’ve already got a marker down,” says an exasperated Juanita Roach.

Complaints from people such as the Roaches have prompted the government to consider expanding a 15-year-old rule governing funeral services to related businesses, including the cemetery industry. A public comment period on the matter ended Wednesday at the Federal Trade Commission.

The funeral rule currently requires funeral homes to disclose prices for goods and services and prohibits them from forcing consumers to buy bundles of services. Funeral directors also cannot misrepresent local cemetery requirements, such as telling people they must have a body embalmed.

The advent of casket stores, Internet sales of coffins, keen competition and consolidation in the cemetery and funeral industries, consumer advocates say, has led to aggressive selling tactics that warrant further regulation.

The National Funeral Directors Assn. wants to see the rule strengthened to cover the range of funeral-related goods and services.

Cemetery owners oppose added regulation, and say there has never been a conclusive finding that cemeteries engage in fraudulent business practices.

“The funeral rule was created because there were widespread problems with the way funeral directors were dealing with the public,” said E. Glen Porter III, who operates a cemetery in New Berlin, Wis. “They didn’t find the same problems and abuses” with cemeteries.

Funeral directors, such as Beacham McDougald, who runs McDougald Funeral Homes in Laurinburg, N.C., argue that they need a level playing field.

After one family completed arrangements with McDougald’s funeral home, a cemetery told the family it could not accept a vault on its grounds provided by an “out-of-town” funeral home. The cemetery offered its own vault, at nearly double the cost, McDougald said.

“I didn’t realize they didn’t have to abide” by those rules, he said.

Increased corporate ownership of cemeteries also has changed the way services are marketed, says Steven Sklar, director of Maryland’s Office of Cemetery Oversight. Salespeople aggressively seek out customers, using telemarketing and other tactics, he said.

“They don’t just sit there and wait for people to come in,” says Sklar.

Terry Hemeyer, a spokesman for Houston-based Service Corp. International, which operates 3,824 funeral service locations, 520 cemeteries and 198 crematories, says that the cemetery industry is regulated enough.

Consumer complaints about cemeteries usually deal with maintenance or interment mistakes, matters that have nothing to do with the funeral rule, he said.