Just like doing taxes, having to bury or cremate a loved one is inevitable. Here are tips from mortician and funeral director Kari Northey on how to find the right reputable funeral home for you and your loved ones.
Ask your trusted friends and family members that live near you to recommend a good local funeral home.
If they cannot recommend a good funeral home, at least they can let you know which funeral homes to avoid and why.
Visit a funeral home and ask for a price list. If you are not given one, move on. By law, funeral homes are required to have price lists. They are supposed to give these out with no questions asked.
When you have a list of potential candidates, go online to check reviews. Ignore really positive reviews, since a professional writer was most likely paid to write a false review. All businesses do that. Also, ignore really negative reviews, since they are often written by someone with an ax to grind. Focus more on the balanced reviews — those that are not too positive or negative.
If a funeral home does have more negative than positive reviews, check the local Better Business Bureau’s website to see if there are many complaints. This would then be a funeral home to avoid.