Canada’s Arbor Memorial Funeral Homes Caught Deceiving Consumers

Credit:arbormemorial.ca

A recent investigation by CBC/Radio Canada revealed some interesting practices at funeral homes run by Canada’s largest provider of funeral and cemetery services, Arbor Memorial, Inc. CBC’s Marketplace joined the Toronto Star in the investigation, which looked at six Arbor Memorial funeral homes in the province of Ontario.

The investigation followed a complaint to the station by Judy Wood, whose sister, Dena Parent, had recently died. Dena had purchased a prepaid cremation package from Arbor affiliate Victoria Greenlawn funeral home in Windsor, Ontario. At the time, Parent believed the package covered her final expenses, including a memorial ceremony, in full. But when Judy went to the funeral home to finalize the arrangements, she was told it only covered the cost of cremation, a burial plot and an urn.

The funeral home then quoted her a price of $10,000 to provide a memorial service for her sister.

“We were shocked,” Wood said.

Woods and her family went through the bill and cut out some of the services recommended by the funeral home. Nevertheless, the memorial eventually cost them an additional $4,300 on top of  the $4,000 Parent had already paid. Funeral home staff also convinced the family to embalm Ms. Parent’s body. This cost an additional $525 plus $200 for the use of the preparation room.

Abusive Practices Widespread

To follow-up on Ms. Wood’s and several other similar complaints, CBC Marketplace and the Star sent reporters to six Arbor Memorial locations, including the Victoria Greenlawn funeral home. The reporters, who wore hidden cameras, posed as customers, stating that they had an aunt who was terminally ill. They requested a simple cremation and a closed-casket memorial service at the funeral home.

The reporters uncovered up-selling and other deceptive practices at all six funeral homes. For example, staff at several locations claimed that a plain wooden casket costing $1,195 was inappropriate for a funeral service. Instead, they urged the reporters to rent a more expensive hardwood casket at a cost of $2,200 per day.

When reporters asked if they could use a casket from an outside supplier, they were told they would need to pay an additional $595 for the privilege. Later, a reporter caught a senior staff member at one Arbor location saying that this was a “strategy” to maintain the company’s bottom line.

Bereaved families were often pressured by funeral home staff
Credit: amgamby.com

The investigators also uncovered evidence that Arbor routinely inflated the prices of caskets and funerary urns, often by as much as 400 percent. For example, the $895 that Judy Woods paid for her sister’s plain wooden casket was over four times its wholesale price. And the $2,200 per day rental charge for the casket Arbor staff offered the reporters was more than the wholesale price of the casket and the cremation container inside.

Unnecessary Embalming

Embalming was another service Arbor Memorial staff pushed heavily, the investigation revealed. Although embalming is not required by law and is totally unnecessary in a closed-casket ceremony, the reporters were encouraged to purchase the service anyway. The staff gave various reasons for recommending it, including preventing “potential embarrassment” and infectious diseases.

Sadly, none of the reasons given were true. According to Josh Slocum, of the U.S.-based Funeral Consumer Alliance, Arbor staff were “selling anxiety” to get consumers to buy a service they don’t need.

Arbor staff also told the reporters that 98 percent of the services in the packages they were selling were mandated by law. However, an industry expert said that at least $2,000 of the quoted costs were for optional services. “Their customers are being lied to and taken advantage of,” Slocum said.

No Comment

Arbor Memorial, which reports revenues of about $140 million annually, declined to comment on the investigation when approached by CBC. However, a company spokesperson gave this statement:

“We are confident that our business practices are fair, rooted in our service values and in keeping with industry norms and best practices.”

Judy Wood holds a picture of her sister, Dena Parent
Credit:Marketplace/CBC

An industry regulator, Cary Smith, disagreed. Smith is the registrar for the Bereavement Authority of Ontario, which regulates the province’s funeral industry. When approached by CBC Marketplace, Smith acknowledged that Arbor had broken no laws. Nevertheless, he was “disappointed” by what he saw and promised to follow up.

Still, for Judy Woods, “disappointment” barely touches on the pain her experience with Arbor Memorial caused. Her sister “didn’t get her final wishes the way she wanted it,” she explained. And that’s a terrible burden for any family to bear.