No one likes to talk about dying or what their loved ones will have to do when it inevitably happens, but the cost of a funeral can cripple those left behind.
Consumer expert Amy Davis has a new way to make sure you're not overpaying in your time of grief.
You might think you're not honoring your loved one unless you spend top dollar on a funeral service or maybe you don't feel right about negotiating the price of something so personal. A new website can help provide answers to questions you may not feel comfortable asking. It's called Parting.com.
Tyler Yamasaki and two fellow Southern California Internet experts created the site when they realized getting price information for funerals is not easy.
"There's huge discrepancies and that's because of a lack of transparency," Yamasaki said.
Funeral homes are required by the Federal Trade Commission to give customers a price list only if you ask for it by phone or in person. Parting.com, provides funeral costs at funeral homes in almost every city across the country.
We typed in a Tomball ZIP code and found the average prices for a funeral at 13 different funeral homes, ranging from $5,800 all the way to $11,000.
You can see a detailed price list for any of the homes. For example, it says we'd pay $295 for the facility and staff for a visitation at Cypress-Fairbanks Funeral Home. At Brookside in Champions, it's $175 for the same service. You should check the prices with each home with the prices listed, and don't ever think you can't negotiate.
If you're getting death benefits for a loved one, it's okay to tell the funeral home that's what you want to spend. They will likely work with you.