Miscellaneous
Click below for information on miscellaneous consumer tops from natural disasters to pets.
Cemeteries
Many people purchase cemetery plots in advance to ease the financial and emotional burdens on their families.
- Carefully read cancellation and refund terms before signing a contract.
- If you pre-purchase a plot, make sure that your loved ones are aware.
- Do independent research on any cemetery owner or operator you are considering buying a plot from.
Funeral Services
- Many people enter into contracts to prearrange their funerals and prepay some or all of the expenses involved to ease the financial and emotional burdens on their families.
- Always insist on seeing an itemized bill for the services you are purchasing.
- Carefully read cancellation and refund terms as well as your portability options for transferring your contract to other funeral homes.
- You do not have to buy all of your funeral items from the same funeral home.
- Call and shop around before making a purchase.
- Caskets are often the most expensive component of funeral services.
- Insist on seeing caskets at different price points before making a decision to purchase a particular model.
- A casket is not necessary when performing a direct cremation.
- The Federal Trade Commission can help you plan a funeral. You have rights under the federal Funeral Rule which allows you to compare prices and choose only the things you want or need.
Natural Disasters
- Scammers sometimes use natural disasters as an opportunity to defraud consumers.
- Often, scammers create fake charities after natural disasters preying on consumers’ altruism.
- A fraudulent charity may be reluctant to provide information about its identity, mission, costs, and how the donation will be used.
- A number of organizations provide information about the trustworthiness and prior track record of charitable organization.
- Before making a contribution, you may want to look up an organization on various charity evaluation websites.
- Fake repairmen often appear after natural disasters to fix damaged homes.
- People may present themselves as roofers, carpenters, electricians and other tradesmen, demanding upfront payment for repairs before disappearing.
- People may make unsafe and incomplete repairs that are not always covered by homeowners’ insurance.
- Before hiring a contractor to make repairs, ask for proof of contractor licenses, workers compensation insurance, written estimates and scope of work in detail, and a copy of the contractor’s photo identification.
Pets
- Scammers sometimes list animals that do not actually exist for sale at “great” and “discounted” prices.
- Beware of listings on sites that use stock pictures.
- Be skeptical if a seller offers a “free” pet and then asks for money to cover the cost of things like “a ventilated shipping crate” or “shipping insurance.”
- Never send money for a pet purchase unless you have seen the animal in person.
- Consider adopting from a local shelter instead of buying from a private seller.
- Scammers sometimes pose as pet transportation companies to defraud consumers.
- Always insist on knowing the location and contact information of pet transportation services.
- Use this information to ensure that the company actually exists and is reputable.
- Never pay for pet transportation services using money transfer services.
- Always insist on knowing the location and contact information of pet transportation services.