Like several other funeral directors, he cited the need to make an “apples-to-apples” comparison. Jim Busch of Busch Family Funeral Chapels wouldn’t discuss the style or presentation of the information in the advertisement, but he did say that he believes the numbers were misleading. “We’re in an era where anything goes,” Jones said. He said an ad similar to Wyers’ had previously been brought to the board, which decided there was nothing wrong with it. “It may not be the traditional way of advertising, but as long as he can back up what he’s saying, I can’t see that he’s done anything wrong,” Jones said. “I find it disturbing that our profession would have somebody that would go the route of advertising the prices of our competition.” Pernel Jones, former president and current member of the Ohio Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, said the ad was out of the ordinary but not necessarily unethical. “It is an emotional thing because it’s never happened in our business in this area before, so when you see it, it’s a surprising thing,” he said. “Nobody’s happy with it, nobody at all.” Jeff Dovin of Dovin Funeral Home agreed that it was unethical and unheard of. I know he’s trying to build a business, but that’s not the way to do it,” said Rich Laubenthal, the director of Bauer-Laubenthal Funeral Home. “He’s making death become something more like selling cars.” Other directors called the ad “unethical.” “I don’t think he’s doing anything illegal, but it’s unethical. “They think it’s kind of tacky that he’s doing it this way,” he said. Jerry Hromada, a director at Gluvna-Shimo-Hromada Funeral Chapel, said the ad has created a stir in the funeral-home community. Some funeral directors are already saying the ad is in poor taste, though. Judy Riddle, the director of Riddle Funeral Home and president of the Greater Lorain Funeral Directors Association, said her group planned to discuss the ad at its upcoming meeting in January. The ad gave quotes for Bauer-Laubenthal Funeral Home, Busch Family Funeral Chapels, Dovin Funeral Home, Gluvna-Shimo-Hromada, Reichlin-Roberts Funeral Home and Reidy-Scanlan Chambers Funeral Home. Steve Wyers, director of Wyers Funeral Chapel, said advertisements with price comparisons aren’t new to the business, though they may be new to the business in Lorain County. ![]() It also shows the price of a direct cremation as $795, while other funeral homes’ prices are listed anywhere from 50 percent more to more than twice as much. The ad says that the cost of a funeral at Wyers, which “includes professional services, visitation and funeral service,” is $1,195, while the others are listed in the ad as at least twice as expensive. ![]() “The loss of a loved one should not be a financial burden,” the ad says above the chart, which shows the cost of a direct cremation or a traditional funeral from Wyers as the lowest of the seven figures listed. The half-page ad for Wyers Funeral Chapel ran Sunday below the obituaries in The Morning Journal, featuring a chart comparing Wyers’ prices with those of six other funeral homes.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |