FUNERALS DON'T HAVE TO COST SO MUCH!
We are a volunteer-run educational charity, advocating your right to choose simple, meaningful, affordable after-death arrangements. 

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"First Call Pickup" Caution

When calling funeral homes you are considering to hire DO NOT give them the name of the deceased and/or be too specific about the location of a body UNTIL you have decided to hire them. (How to Shop for a Funeral Business to Hire) 

 

Why? In March 2023 a body was basically stolen by a mortuary which assumed it had permission to pick up the body (the day BEFORE the family was scheduled to meet with them for "an arrangement conference", on a Sunday!). The Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, UT record showed that the family had "not yet decided" which mortuary to use. Despite that, the hospital released the body to the mortuary.

Their Outcome: The family threatened to file a complaint with the Utah Department of Licensure, so the mortuary wisely price matched the other mortuary the family wanted to hire.

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The Problem:

-There is nothing in Utah Funeral License Rules about proper protocol for Funeral Directors to perform first call pickup.

-Hospitals DO have protocols for release of a body, but they DON'T openly share that protocol, and the protocols we've seen exclude a procedure for anyone other than funeral directors or medical examiners to pick up a body, which means you are dealing with uninformed, untrained staff.

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Be on the Offense when Calling a Mortuary
Use our mortuary price comparison surveys to compare prices at a glance.

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Even if a funeral home has the body already you can still change your mind and switch funeral homes if you don't like the way they treat you, or don't like the "Statement of Goods & Services Selected" given to you at the end of the arrangements discussion. Of course you have to pay for any services already rendered, but you can either remove the body (after you acquire a burial transit permit), or a new funeral home can go get the body.

 

2023 Scam Alert (asking for more money AFTER you have made arrangements with a funeral home but BEFORE the funeral service):
https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2023/06/scammers-impersonate-funeral-home-staff-prey-mourning-families-can-it-get-any-lower

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2024 Scam Alert Some Funeral Homes are adding fees for first call pick up in the night, or from a nursing home or to send a second personnel.... However the price on the GPL for the transfer of remains already includes “personnel, equipment and vehicle”. The FTC Funeral Rule does not allow for a sliding scale of costs for "first call pickup" based on the number of personnel sent or the time or the place of death. The State of NY sent a strongly worded cease and disist order.