Document 9B

TV Reports, with Color Photos

These reports, and the material in other Documents, provide the findings and comments of reporters who had time to look carefully into the industry -- and may well indicate what reporters will find happening unnoticed in most communities. These reports give information about many subjects that should be looked into in EVERY community.
(information added in the past two weeks.)

TV INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS

(England) "PAY NOW ... PAY LATER" Investigation, BBC-TV "Public Eye" program, " Feb. 27, 1996.
Expose of the English funeral industry -- and the sales tactics families may expect from the Houston-based SCI (Service Corporation International) funeral chain which has moved into England.
(Summary and photos will be added here shortly.)

"THE HIGH COST OF DYING" Investigation (two-part series) by CHANNEL 2, KPRC-TV, Evening News, Houston, Feb. 3, 1996. (photos)

TWO-PART report of the station's investigation into the funeral industry in Houston,
showing:
• Thousands of dollars DIFFERENCE for the SAME funerals at different mortuaries, with MARKUPS of six to ten times the wholesale cost on caskets -- in addition to high prices on services and "professional" fees.
• "Bait and switch" tactics -- as: giving a price for a casket on the phone, but then telling the family at the mortuary that the low-priced casket wasn't available, and the next one was $1,000 higher.

• A PRICE SURVEY was made of the Houston metro area's 120 mortuaries. It shows prices varying from $1,495 to $9,900 for the lowest-priced metal casket and minimum "traditional" funeral services, and from $450 to $3,795 for the same Direct Cremation.
  Our Phoenix' IFIC did the price survey by long distance phone and compiled the comparative price list by computer. Prices were obtained by phoning all Houston mortuaries and obtaining their price lists by mail and by some personal visits by Houston volunteers.
• One mortician says that he marks up his caskets two to three times wholesale -- but that markups of SIX OR SEVEN TIMES WHOLESALE are common, and may go as high as TEN TIMES wholesale.

Photo 1. The consumer reporter tells about the price survey in his hands. 660

Photo 2. TV chart shows one mortuary's $1,795 price for a casket -- with a markup of six times the wholesale cost -- meaning a profit of $1,495 on a casket that the mortician paid only $300 for, wholesale. One mortician says that he marks up his caskets two to three times wholesale -- but that markups of SIX OR SEVEN TIMES WHOLESALE are common, and may go as high as TEN TIMES wholesale. 680

Photo 3. Chart shows the GREAT DIFFERENCE in price (more than $8,400) for the
SAME minimum "traditional" funeral services and the lowest-priced metal casket at two mortuaries.

• ADVICE: Families need to be careful in selecting a mortuary, and phone ahead for prices. The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) requires mortuaries to give all their prices over the phone to anyone who calls. In some states mortuaries are required to mail price lists to anyone who phones for one. Make sure to ask for both the services price list and the casket price list.

• SCI (Service Corporation International), with headquarters in Houston, according to the program, has bought more than 2,500 mortuaries throughout the U.S. and Canada, along with hundreds of cemeteries, mausoleums, flower shops and other similar businesses. It has now entered Great Britain, and other countries. A number of its mortuaries charged some of the highest prices in the Houston survey. SCI refused to be interviewed but sent the program a fax stating that SCI does high quality work in keeping with the lifestyles of its customers.

Photo. TV chart shows the high prices of several mortuaries for
their lowest-priced funeral and metal casket. Several are SCI mortuaries.

• The program reports that the state funeral board replaced a two-page inspection list (dealing with records, sanitation, etc.), which most mortuaries passed easily, with a new 17-page list. The board's inspector says that the new list was made up to cover all state and agency regulations which apply to mortuaries.
• The program shows an encounter between the TV reporter and a mortuary owner whose mortuary had passed the two-page inspection list but failed the longer list -- and has not corrected the violations. The owner says that there are too many regulations and that he hasn't corrected the violations because he has no guarantee that his corrections will satisfy the board.
• A State Funeral Board representative says that maybe they'll shorten the list (and thus not check on whether or not mortuaries are following all the rules).

The program offers a packet of ADVICE and the PRICE SURVEY of all Houston mortuaries
free to those who send a SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope) to the IFIC in Phoenix.

"R.I.P. OFF" Investigation by ABC-TV NETWORK NEWS "20/20" Program, November 3, 1995. (Photos)

• (F&R Comment: "20/20" mentions caskets costing $2,000 and more; and funerals with casket costing $6,000 or more.
• However, families need to know that complete "traditional" funerals with a metal casket are offered by a FEW decent mortuaries in most communities for $2,200 or less.
  Families need to know that there is a GREAT DIFFERENCE in prices of various mortuaries.
• The KEY to preventing being ripped off is KNOWING HOW MUCH A FUNERAL and CASKET SHOULD COST (about $2,000) and FINDING A MORTUARY with that kind of price.
  Before going to any mortuary -- phone a number of mortuaries and ask for their prices until you find one with reasonable prices.)

Photo 1. Hosts Hugh Downs and Barbara Walters state: "What goes into the price of a funeral? Most people don't know." We decided to take our hidden cameras where you can't ordinarily go. Behind the closed doors of the funeral industry. What John Stossel found there is astonishing. You'll see things you've never seen before." 650

Photo 2. "Unscrupulous funeral directors ready to make a big profit off your loss." >"The funeral industry, say critics, is a business that victimizes people when they're weak -- often $6,000 for a funeral. Often people pay so much because they don't know they have a choice." 640

Photo 3. The hosts say: "After all, when a loved one dies, you
don't have the time or the heart to shop around. and that gives the funeral director
the perfect opportunity to manipulate you."

Photo 5##### 630

Photo 5##### 610

Photo 1. "Thirty-two years ago Jessica Mitford wrote a scathing best seller (The American Way of Death) that said that American funeral directors bully grieving families into paying too much.

Photo 2. Mrs. Mitford says: "The abuse of the consumer in the funeral industry is absolutely vast. It's extraordinary."

Photo 3. Today, she is writing a new book on the funeral industry.

Photo 1. Karen Leonard, Mitford's chief researcher, says: "Because the consumer doesn't know what is going on and how this business is run, they can get away with whatever they want to. "They are constantly selling 'PROTECTIVE SEAL' caskets (with a neoprene seal) -- to 'protect' your loved one. This is outrageous."650

Photo 2. (at left, a hand holds up the edge of strip of black neoprene "protective" seal) "In a 'protective' casket or a 'protective' vault, instead of the natural process of decomposition -- drying out and becoming a skeleton " ... you get a SLIMY, MOLDY, much slower process, and it's much more GRUESOME. If anybody could see the outcome of such an event, they would never choose that. But, they're not telling you that." . . Reporter Stossel says: "

Photo 3. Mortician's convention with displays of caskets, hearses, etc.

Photo 5#####

Photo 5#####

Photo 1. Morticians used false and disparaging statements to sell higher priced caskets. This mortician claims that President Nixon was buried in this type of casket.

Photo 2. This mortician badmouths inexpensive wood caskets by saying that they are just slapped together with wood from the local lumber yard.

Photo 3. This mortician compares metal (probably meaning steel) caskets to coffee cans to coax families to buy expensive hardwood, copper or bronze caskets.

Photo 4. A mortician holds his hand over his heart as he says "Trust me." He then charges a family $2,300 for a casket he had just said was $2,000.