# a quote for a funeral - changes next day -upwards - very annoyed as it -preys on emot



## NOAH (23 Oct 2010)

I am helping out in a bereavement situation and now a bit browned off and here's why.

I conatcted an undertaker and asked for a quote and got €1,450 for casket, €395 for undertakers extras, €200 for mass/church/priests, €60 for grave opening. total €2,105. I left out flowers, adverts and afterwards.

Today relatives got to finalise casket etc. Select one for €1,650, €395 extras but now €195 is added for embalming, € 60 added for church clerk, €20 added for altar boys, €75 added for pad on top of coffin. A small cross is put in for free. 

Its now a new plot so grave digging is €480 euro an estimate, plot is€ 465. Its now €3,540 in total. I know its €200 extra for coffin but why now add €195 for embalming, €60 for church clerk, €20 for altar boys is an extra €275 euros. Should these not have been put in from outset?

He could not give a breakdown of the €395 for extras that was originally quoted.

Is this the norm?

noah


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## Sansan (24 Oct 2010)

Thankfully haven't had to cross this bridge yet, but it seems to be the old quote low and stick em when it's too late to change routine, utterly shame full but common in alot of service industries,


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## hippy1975 (24 Oct 2010)

emblaming, altar boys, pad for coffin, new plot...... all of those things are completely optional that the family have decided to do for their loved one, they don't have to, but if you opt for those things then you pay for them, seems pretty straightforward to me


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## LS400 (24 Oct 2010)

You really should insist on the breakdown of those undertaker fees. Also when you purchase your plot, I was of the impression you purchased it in its entirety. I then found out that if you want a head stone, which 99% of the time you do,  you pay an extra foundation fee of e250+. Surley this is part of the plot? Its not as though someone else can use that part of the grave.  A final sneaky tax before you depart this world


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## Marietta (24 Oct 2010)

Go [broken link removed]

I think it is a lovely alternative and far far more cost effective.


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## NOAH (24 Oct 2010)

thanks all, it is quite straightforward,  they got completely flustered when asked to give a brakdown of the extras, ie they could not,  they rely on emotion and take full advantage, its a con end of....

noah


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## 4th estate (25 Oct 2010)

How in the name of God could a coffin cost €1,650?????????

Are they hand crafted to the size of the deceased? I doubt it, how could they be made within a couple of days of the death if that was the case?

I reckon they are mass produced. Mahogany on the outside, MDF on the inside. And how much does a bit of silky material cost to be made to fit the average coffin? And a few brass (?) handles, well Really...

Undertakers are taking the you know what, at a very vulnerable time for people. The old Irish way is to look after the dead and that is played upon.

Anyone know how coffins are made? Are they mass produced in a factory somewhere for a few quid?

I still cannot get over the fact that a coffin in this case cost so much. Not to mention the extras. 

I'll tell ya folks, in this recession, the undertakers are the only ones to keep their very lucrative jobs FOREVER!

There is a cartel amongst them too. Just try and get a different quote from any of them in the Dublin City area anyway. Outside Dublin, maybe, but one thing is for sure, I'm going in a cardboard box, and on fire.


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## TreeTiger (26 Oct 2010)

You could try speaking to the Irish Association of Funeral Directors and see what they have to say.  Their site is here: http://www.iafd.ie/


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## TheShark (26 Oct 2010)

Most funeral products in Ireland are manufactured by Finlays in Ardee , Co Louth(no connection). You can purschase directly from them.
[broken link removed]


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## Thirsty (28 Oct 2010)

Not according to their website...



> _Do you Finlay supply coffins and caskets to the public?_
> No we don’t supply coffins and caskets to the public. Finlay coffins  and caskets are supplied to and can be purchased from members of the  Funeral Profession only.



But thanks for the link.

It sounds morbid but I had to make these choices for someone else recently, it seems like a good idea for me to leave a letter and at least let others know what I would have preferred.  It would make organising a funeral a lot easier I would think, and no bickering over 'she liked (or didn't like) XY suit/hymn/reading'.


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## mercman (28 Oct 2010)

Don't forget about the handles, trimmings etc. They don't cost nothing. Somebody has to pay for it.


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## Towger (28 Oct 2010)

BTW. The handles are plastic. I have carried a few over the years and the first thing the the undertakers tell you is not to hold the handles, they will break off.


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## mercman (28 Oct 2010)

Try purchasing the handles separately and you will be surprised at their cost.


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## NHG (28 Oct 2010)

This sounds terrible but here goes, what happens to the coffin when someone is cremated.  My granny was cremated and it is something that I have often wondered about.


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## purpeller (28 Oct 2010)

I always presumed the person was cremated in the coffin?


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## Towger (28 Oct 2010)

mercman said:


> Try purchasing the handles separately and you will be surprised at their cost.


 
I am sure they are cheap enough when bought in the container load from China.


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## Towger (28 Oct 2010)

NHG said:


> This sounds terrible but here goes, what happens to the coffin when someone is cremated.


 
There was a case a in Dublin few years back where the undertakers were recycling the coffins.


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## Mpsox (28 Oct 2010)

I find it strange for the undertakers to be paying priests and alterboys. Any funerals I've been involved with in the past, we've dealt with that ourselves. Likewise, I remember being an alter boy on many a funeral in my youth and it was always the family who took care of these things, never the undertakers. I'd be curious to see how much the priest and alterboys actually got paid. 

Grave opening can be expensive, especially in a council graveyard. See below for some more examples of costs
http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/funeral-bills-and-early-graves-1541453.html


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## mercman (28 Oct 2010)

Towger said:


> I am sure they are cheap enough when bought in the container load from China.



Great, so buy a container of handles to use half a dozen. And in the time of grief as well. Funny enough I haven't seen to many new undertakers start in business. A pretty dead business IMO.


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## Towger (28 Oct 2010)

6 for less than $20 

40000 for 20cent each 

BTW my family business until the early 70's was supplying these and other coffin related paraphernalia, unfortunately there is no one left alive to ask about the prices.


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## mercman (28 Oct 2010)

Well try it if you wish. Better still all and everyone should purchase them for the day in question. Pretty sad if the public can't accept that an undertaker is allowed to make a profit whilst assisting the dead to be laid in peace.

For myself personally it wouldn't bother me as my faith doesn't go for these fancy paraphinalia and bits and pieces.


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## Towger (28 Oct 2010)

To be honest I dont think many people would notice if there was no handles on a coffin.


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## mercman (28 Oct 2010)

Believe me, I know a number of people that are Christian undertakers and the requests they receive for coffin handles and accessories are amazing.


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## SparkRite (28 Oct 2010)

mercman said:


> Pretty sad if the public can't accept that an undertaker is allowed to make a profit whilst assisting the dead to be laid in peace.



I don't think anybody is begrudging the undertaker his profit per say, but rather how some rely on the fact that people are very vulnerable at the time they are doing business with them, and they take full advantage of that fact to rip them off!


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## TheShark (28 Oct 2010)

Slightly off-topic but what happens at a cremation?
My own experience is that when a parent passed away other family members wanted (and got) a top-of-the-range coffin , I have always wondered if this was cremated with the remains.


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## demoivre (28 Oct 2010)

TheShark said:


> Slightly off-topic but what happens at a cremation?
> My own experience is that when a parent passed away other family members wanted (and got) a top-of-the-range coffin , *I have always wondered if this was cremated with the remains*.



Yes. Nothing can be removed from the coffin before Cremation.


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