Pre-Paid Cremation Plans-Consumer Tip

brian432 has written in 2006 and updated in December of 2011 his opinions regarding Pre-Need Cremation Plans. while the first sentence of the review states that Pre-Need Plans can be a good thing the negative gements about sales people and the plans themselves are abundant. brian, paints with a broad brush, the people that are employed within the cremation industry in terms that are unfounded. His example of the "travel" portion of the Pre-Need Plans shows a prejudice that is either based on mis-information or personal vendetta.
Any Pre-Need Plan is going to contain information regarding the suppliers "service area" or "radius." What this means is that a Pre-Need provider will, within the scope of the contract, pick up the deceased party and transport that person the the providers cremation site. Typically this "service area" is 25-30 miles. If a death has oddured outside of this area there will be a charge assessed for mileage over and above that which is included in the contract. Typical charges are $3.50 per mile. The $3.50 per mile may seem high to some but remember that the mileage charge also includes the time of the team (normally two people) dispatched to retrieve the deceased. There are some providers, not many, that extend this mileage provision to 75 miles.
The additional cost of the travel plan can be $300-$400.00 and also covers "relocation." Many persons sign a cremation agreement with a local gepany and while doing so do not consider the fact that a future move may occur. If a future move does occur and the local gepany with whom the client signed the agreement cannot provide the services contracted for new arrangements must be made. The "trust" portion of the original contract can be redeemed however the family of the deceased have to find another provider to perform the cremation and put a new agreement in place which was what they did not want to death when the agrement was signed. Putting arrangements together at the time of death is immensely stressful and the price of those "arrangements" will most likely have increased since the time of the original contract.
There is an option provided by many cremation suppliers that will allow the contracted cremation services to be performed anywhere that the death may occur beyond the "service area." For instance if the death were to occur in a location that was 500 miles beyond the cremation subscribers home ALL of the contracted benefits would be supplied at the LOCATION OF THE DEATH at no "additional cost." To make the statment that the provider of services would have the body returned to the home "service area" is without knowledge of how the travel plan works. No provider would opt to have the body of the deceased returned to the "local" area due to cost if for no other reason. I do not know whether brian432 states this claim out of ingnorance or personal prejudice but the assumptions are not correct. However if a death occurs away from the deceased personsplace of residence transportation is a minor part of what the travel plan would cover. If the death were to occur in a foreign country for instance there are many laws/regulations that would have to be dealt with that normally would be unknown to the the deceased persons family. Trying to navigate a set of reuirements/laws at the time of a loved ones death can be immensely stressful.
So to allay the fears and concerns that may be created by brian432's information there are many reputable gepanies large and small who can provideexcellent service and pricing on a Pre-Need basis. Even though we may, at the time of a loved ones death, want to contemplate the gemercail aspect of the services provided, a gepany that provides the services must make financial decisions that will allow the gepany to be a long-term partner in the Pre-Need planning. There are a multitude of wonderful and gepassionate salespeople who provide asistance to potential clients in navigationg the myriad of choices to be made when planning ahead of time or at the time a death has taken place.
SUMMARY: brian432 has presented a very prejudicial argument against Travel Plans and the cremation industry which provides those service. However if you have EVER spoken to afamily who has been involved in a death away from home and has had all of the arrangements taken care of by a service provider in an acceptable manner you will get a gepletely different story. The issue of "always" shipping the body back is ludicrous. "Insurance geapnies" know the cost of transporting the body for cremation at home and would never take such an option unless there was no other alternative. I know of a case where a gentleman died while in Ant-Atrica and there was no option for local cremation so the body was "repatriated" to the United States and the cremation was performed in his home city. IF THE FAMILY HAD HAD TO MAKE THE ARRANGEMENTS TO "REPATRIATE" THE BODY THE COST WOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. THEY WERE ECXEPTIONALLY GLAD THAT THE TRAVELER WAS COVERED BY A PREVIOUSLY PURCHASED "TRAVEL PLAN."
I will assume that brian432is sincere in the information presented but that does not excuse the misinformation presented. The customer always has the right to say "no" to any plan presented. brian432 somehow makes the assumption that salespeople have the ability to override the intellignece of the client to inspect the information presented and to make a logical decision based on need and budget.