During a survey aimed at the fairness of business practices in the funeral services sector (banks, insurance companies, mutual societies, brokers, funeral directors) carried out in 2022, the DGCCRF indicates “that a third of the 69 professionals inspected present (ai) anomalies, which resulted in 27 warnings and 5 compliance orders.”
The non-compliance ranges from the unilateral modification of the content of the insurance contract, to contracts that do not cover certain costs such as the excavation of the grave, with the rest being the responsibility of the family, details the General Directorate of Competition and Consumer Affairs. repression of fraud.
Also common practice: people not being informed that they are contributing well beyond the amount paid at the time of their death.
“This is life insurance, these death insurance contracts are intended to finance expenses related to funerals, they are not savings products and excess contributions are not reimbursed or capitalized,” recalls François Sobry, spokesperson for the DGCCRF.
“This is a sector that is important for us to control because these acts of consumption occur in an emotional context and can affect the vigilance of consumers who, in addition, are not very accustomed to this type of commercial services,” he adds.
Contractual “lack of legibility”
In mid-October, the Financial Sector Advisory Committee (CCSF) adopted an opinion on death insurance contracts, having also noted a “general lack of readability of the pre-contractual information provided to subscribers, in particular due to the inappropriate nature of regulations applied to funeral contracts. Sellers of death insurance contracts are committed to improving their information.
In 2020, the DGCCRF also monitored the business practices of funeral services, revealing numerous inadequacies in terms of consumer information, resulting in potential additional costs for the families of the deceased.
Some operators maintain confusion between legally obligatory services (provision of coffin, cremation and/or inhumation) and optional services (funeral cleaning, provision of vaults or marble work). “Significant differences between the price of the coffins on display and that charged to the families” were also observed.
Given the observed deficiencies, the DGCCRF has initiated a new national investigation aimed at the funeral services sector that began in 2024 and will continue until 2025.
Recommendations to consumers.
The DGCCRF has issued several recommendations to consumers when signing a funeral contract. The first reflection is to inform your loved ones the existence of a pension contract to avoid duplication. It is also possible to check whether the deceased has already signed an insurance contract with the Association for Insurance Risk Information Management (Agira).
It is also advisable be well informed on the different types of possible contracts, as well as the payment conditions provided to clearly identify what the subscriber pays and what is paid to the beneficiary. Also, it is useful compare competitive offers thanks to the lists of local funeral directors that are necessarily given to families in health establishments, town halls as well as mortuary chambers and funeral homes.
It is also important request a free quote and demand clarification on the content of each service before signing. This allows you, for example, to know which services are mandatory or which you can do without.
And finally, in the event of a dispute, it is possible to contact the consumer mediator to which the professional is affiliated and file a complaint on the SignalConso platform.
Source: BFM TV
