The Fair Funeral Pledge

Kingfisher Independent Funeral Services have recently committed to the enhanced Fair Funerals pledge designed by Quaker Social Action to encourage funeral directors to put their prices online.

We believe this is a fundamental requirement for any business, and we have openly displayed our prices since the first day we opened our doors. We designed and promoted our estimate generator to allow potential clients to see how different options affected the overall cost of a funeral, as well as introducing and advertising fixed-price funerals which allow people to budget without any worry.

Not very long ago, a funeral director was interviewed on Radio 2 and asked how much a funeral cost. His answer was that he wasn’t prepared to discuss “commercially sensitive” material in public. Imagine how the general public would react if supermarkets didn’t display prices! Why are funeral directors any different?

We are also aware of a local funeral director quoting a potential client nearly £4,000 for a fairly basic funeral. The client came to see us and we quoted £2,200. The client then returned to the first funeral director and asked why they were so much more expensive. That funeral director promptly reduced his or her price to £2,000!

This lack of openness makes it difficult for people without much money to shop around and find a funeral within their budget. There are very large differences between what funeral directors charge, but without being able to check prices before speaking to a funeral director, many people don’t realise this and end up spending more than they can afford, which often leads to crippling debts.

We quote the same price to everyone. Because we openly advertise our prices, we have to. We just wouldn’t feel comfortable halving the price we quoted a potential client in order to undercut another funeral director.

We recommend and encourage potential clients to talk to several funeral directors before appointing one. Shopping around is quite acceptable, and the difference in service is sometimes unbelievable.

Kingfisher Independent Funeral Services are proud to be the only locally-owned, fully independent funeral directors in Huntingdon and St Neots. We are recommended locally on The Best of St Neots and nationally by The Natural Death Centre. Visit our Huntingdon website or our St Neots website, telephone us on (St Neots) 01480 471001 or (Huntingdon) 01480 412938, or call in and see us at Gate Lodge, Cemetery Road, St Neots PE19 2BX or 10-10A Princes Street, Huntingdon PE29 3PA (opposite the registrar).