Low Cost Funeral St Neots Archives

The Fair Funerals 2020 Pledge

We are delighted that we have been accepted as one of the first signatories of the Fair Funerals 2020 Pledge.

The 2020 Pledge is Quaker Social Action‘s campaign to highlight funeral directors who are committed to price transparency, by displaying their prices openly and prominently on their websites, enabling potential clients to research costs of funerals before signing up to something they may not be able to afford.

When we established our business in 2010, we were insistent that our prices would be online, despite many funeral directors warning us against this. We were seen as bringing the profession into disrepute by being open about everything.

We knew that clients should be able to see what we charged before committing to our services, and we were very pleased when we started to become known as the funeral directors with our prices online. Other funeral directors around the country who were thinking of doing the same thing started to contact us and ask if it was detrimental to our business, as they had been led to believe it would be.

Now, 10 years later, more and more funeral directors are publishing their prices online, and being open and honest about their charges.

However, there are still not enough.

The Competition and Markets Authority yesterday published some research as part of their investigation into funeral directors and the way the profession operates. The Ipsos Mori survey has interesting results. 74 funeral directors were emailed and asked for a price list. A staggeringly low 18 funeral directors responded, and of those 18, only 11 actually sent one.

The corporate funeral directors are keen to point out that they are being open, and the trade associations are similarly quick to say that they encourage their members to be open.

The reality is clearly different.

Kingfisher Independent Funeral Services of St Neots, Huntingdon and St Ives are proud to be entirely open and honest about everything involved in arranging a funeral. We continue to make all of our prices clearly available online, over the telephone, and in our offices. We believe that we are the only funeral directors in Cambridgeshire to do this (but we’d love to be proved wrong).

For more information please call any of our offices St Neots (01480) 471001, Huntingdon (01480) 412938 or St Ives (01480) 573080.

The Fair Funeral Pledge

July 2016/0 Comments/in Best of St Neots, Funeral Director, Huntingdon, Huntingdon Funeral Director, Independent Funeral Director, Low Cost Funeral St Neots, St Neots, St Neots Funeral Director /by andyh

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).

Avoid Delays Before Funerals by Choosing an Independent Funeral Director

January 2016/0 Comments/in Best of St Neots, Funeral Director, Huntingdon, Huntingdon Funeral Director, Hunts Post, Independent Funeral Director, Low Cost Funeral St Neots, St Neots, St Neots Funeral Director /by andyh

Here’s our latest full page advert, which appeared in The Hunts Post last week. Click on it to bring it up to full size.

Particularly at this time of year, we often hear about long delays between death and a funeral, and how funeral directors tell their clients that the crematorium is full.

In reality, by being flexible, we can almost always find a way of organising a funeral without a lengthy delay.

Large, corporate funeral directors are often conducting funerals for many different offices, so are restricted by the practicalities of vehicle movements and staff whereabouts. But instead of telling their clients this, they blame it on the crematorium.

Small, independent funeral directors are focussed on providing a service to their clients rather than maximising profits for their shareholders. Because of this, we can usually avoid delays with funerals.

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).

Rise in Number of ‘Pauper’ Funerals

December 2015/0 Comments/in Best of St Neots, Funeral Director, Huntingdon, Huntingdon Funeral Director, Hunts Post, Independent Funeral Director, Low Cost Funeral St Neots, St Neots, St Neots Funeral Director /by andyh

Media attention continues to focus on the rise in the number of ‘pauper’ funerals (ie those provided by the local council because families cannot afford them).

As prices of funerals soar, so the number of people facing financial difficulty to fund them rises.

As a company, we are committed to keeping the cost of funerals as low as possible. We do this by rejecting the corporate approach of upselling, and by focussing on the emotional benefit of a funeral.

“We don’t tell you what you need, we listen to what you want.”

Look out for our new, full page advert which is due to appear in The Hunts Post this week. It explains that funerals don’t have to be expensive, and encourages people to speak to several funeral directors before making their decision who to appoint.

We recently saved a client over £1500 simply because she shopped around.

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).

Kingfisher Funerals win Best in Category 2015

March 2015/0 Comments/in Best of St Neots, Funeral Director, Huntingdon, Huntingdon Funeral Director, Independent Funeral Director, Low Cost Funeral St Neots, St Neots, St Neots Funeral Director /by andyh

2015 is the fourth consecutive year we’ve been in the top five best-loved funeral directors in the UK. In 2012 we came fifth, in 2013 we moved up one place, last year we came third, and this year we are very proud to announce that we have become the winners of the category in the annual Local and Loved awards.

The awards are run by The Best Of – a UK-wide business with franchises in many towns and cities in the country. Winners are chosen based on the number of positive testimonials they receive from clients during the year. The testimonials are verified before being accepted.

We strive to be the best funeral directors in our local area, and in particular in Huntingdon and St Neots. Our independence allows us to stand out amongst local competitors because we are able to encourage our clients to do whatever is right for them when it comes to arranging a funeral. We are not under any pressure to sell expensive or unnecessary items, and we genuinely make sure that each and every one of our clients to be treated as an individual.

Kingfisher Independent Funeral Services continues to grow as a business. As more and more local funeral directors are bought by large, faceless, corporate companies, we thrive on being open and honest about our ownership, our services and our costs. We believe that we are the only funeral directors in Cambridgeshire to openly display all of our prices on our website.

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).

Dignity Acquires T L Cobbold Funeral Directors in St Neots

December 2014/in Best of St Neots, Funeral Director, Huntingdon, Huntingdon Funeral Director, Independent Funeral Director, Low Cost Funeral St Neots, St Neots, St Neots Funeral Director /by andyh

T L Cobbold Funeral Directors of St Neots, together with Woodman & Sons of Biggleswade and Cecil Newling of Royston, have been sold to Dignity plc. Dignity is a huge company, which, according to Wikipedia is the largest provider of funeral services in the UK. Their own website states that they own more than 690 ‘funeral locations’ and operate 39 crematoria.

Speculation that Lodge Bros would sell the businesses was aroused in March 2014 when the freeholds to the three premises were sold by auction, with provisos that they were leased back to the business with 15 year contracts.

Dignity already owns William Peacock Funeral Directors in Huntingdon, Swearers of Ramsey, Clarabut & Plumbe in Bedford, Harry Williams & Sons and Weyman Funeral Services in Cambridge. The acquisition of three more funeral directors in our locality leads us to call for much clearer declarations of ownership. The vast majority of people who deal with funeral directors under the ownership of large, corporate companies, believe they are dealing with small, local individuals.

Kingfisher Independent Funeral Services are rightly and justly proud to be the only locally-owned, fully independent funeral directors in St Neots and Huntingdon. We take huge pride in providing a personal and individual service to each and every client. We are open and honest about our independence. We hide absolutely nothing. We display our prices on our website, and we believe we offer the very best value available in the local area. Small, independent funeral directors’ charges are almost always lower than those of large, corporate funeral directors.

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).

Hayley’s Coronation Street Funeral – Humanist Funerals and Coffin Choices

February 2014/0 Comments/in Best of St Neots, Funeral Director, Independent Funeral Director, Low Cost Funeral St Neots, St Neots, St Neots Funeral Director /by andyh

Yesterday evening’s screening of Hayley’s funeral on Coronation Street will have made viewers think about funeral choices, and in particular humanist funerals and cardboard or eco-friendly coffins.

We very much hope that bringing a funeral such as this into the wide public domain will inform people that they do have choices, and will inspire people to ask for what they want, rather than what they think they have to have.

We encourage each and every one of our clients to tell us how they want a funeral to be. We have no set ideas or ideals. We pride ourselves on tailoring funerals individually and providing as much help as a client wants to ensure that a funeral is a very personal event.

The term humanist funeral is often assumed to mean anything other than a religious or church funeral. In fact a true humanist funeral will make no reference to God or the afterlife, instead concentrating on being a celebration of a life. Humanists denounce the exitence of a higher being, and look to science rather than religion to discover and understand the world.

A critic could say that this imposes values as much as a church funeral imposes religion.

A further option is known as a civil funeral. Civil funeral celebrants design funeral ceremonies unique to each person, and will not “impose their values on others”.

We tend to find that once we have explained all these options to our clients, they opt for a civil celebrant, simply because of the flexibility it offers, allowing hymns and prayers if desired.

We are extremely proud of one of our local suppliers, Will at Greenfield Creations, who designed and made the coffin that was used for Hayley’s funeral. Will’s coffins are spectacular and original, and his business has been one of our key suppliers since we established Kingfisher Funerals in St Neots.

We don’t tell you what you need, we listen to what you want.

Kingfisher Independent Funeral Services are proud to be the only locally-owned, fully independent funeral directors in St Neots or Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. We are locally recommended on The Best of St Neots, and nationally recommended by The Natural Death Centre. For more information please call us on (01480) 471001, e-mail us info@kingfisherfunerals.co.uk or call in at Gate Lodge, Cemetery Road, St Neots PE19 2BX.

The Only NDC Recommended Funeral Director in St Neots and Huntingdon

August 2013/0 Comments/in Best of St Neots, Funeral Director, Independent Funeral Director, Low Cost Funeral St Neots, St Neots, St Neots Funeral Director /by andyh

We are very proud to once again have been chosen as Recommended Funeral Directors by the Natural Death Centre.

We sign a comprehensive pledge to provide an outstanding service to each and every one of our clients in order to retain our recommendation. We are also bound to give full and accurate information concerning every aspect of our service at all times.

Kingfisher Independent Funeral Services are privileged to be the only locally-owned, fully independent funeral directors in St Neots, Cambridgeshire. As well as this national accolade, we are also locally recommended on The Best of St Neots. Your guarantee of our completely unique personal service.

Kingfisher in Top 5 Best Loved Funeral Directors in the UK

February 2012/0 Comments/in Best of St Neots, Funeral Director, Good Funeral Guide, Independent Funeral Director, Low Cost Funeral St Neots, St Neots, St Neots Funeral Director /by andyh

The 14 days of love are now over, and we are very pleased to announce that Kingfisher Independent Funeral Services have been named the fourth best loved funeral directors in the UK.

Thank you to everyone who has made this possible. Our reputation is built by the experiences of those who use our services, and testimonials to this effect are the best way for others to find out about us. Genuine comments from satisfied clients continue to promote the unique, personal service which we guarantee to everyone. The non-commercial approach to our business, which can only come from a truly independent funeral director, is increasingly becoming known in St Neots.

You can read testimonials which we have received here and on the Best of St Neots website.

Kingfisher Independent Funeral Services are proud to be the only locally-owned, fully independent funeral directors in St Neots, Cambridgeshire. We are recommended in The Good Funeral Guide 2012 and by The Natural Death Centre, and we are the only funeral directors to feature on The Best of St Neots.

Business Vision is reason for LBA Award

January 2012/0 Comments/in Best of St Neots, Funeral Director, Good Funeral Guide, Hunts Post, Independent Funeral Director, Low Cost Funeral St Neots, St Neots /by andyh

There’s a large article about Kingfisher Independent Funeral Services winning the Local Business Accelerators Award in The Hunts Post today.

The feature highlights the reasons for being chosen as the winner, particularly focussing on Andrew’s desire for the business to stay small enough for him to be able to oversee every funeral from start to finish. The judges were also impressed with the innovative plans that the company has as it grows in the future.

It also mentions, of course, Roxie, our lovely labrador, who is shortly to start her training to become a bereavement dog within the business.

Gail Anderson, reporting for the paper said “Setting up a new funeral services business is a brave step. Companies rely on reputation so it can take years to establish a name for oneself. Though judging from the plethora of thank you cards on display in Andrew’s office, clearly he is working fast.”

Kingfisher Indepedent Funeral Services are keen to point out one factual inaccuracy in the article. The company is the only locally-owned, fully independent funeral service in St Neots, but not in Huntingdonshire. There are other independent funeral directors in Huntingdonshire.

Kingfisher Independent Funeral Services are proud to be the only locally-owned, fully independent funeral directors in St Neots, Cambridgeshire. We are recommended in The Good Funeral Guide 2011 and by The Natural Death Centre, and we are the only funeral directors to feature on The Best of St Neots. For more information or if you require any help, please telephone us on (01480) 471001