Four steps, one at a time
The funeral director
Queensland’s guidance is the plainest: contact the provider directly, explain the problem and the outcome you want, and put it in a letter or email so the provider knows and you have a record. Consumer Affairs Victoria suggests keeping notes of each conversation: who you spoke to, the date, and what was said. It also says there is no set ‘reasonable’ time for a business to fix a problem, and that a reminder may be worth sending if you hear nothing within a week.
In Victoria, the director has to make this step easier. Every funeral provider must have written procedures for complaints that name the person, or their position, who receives them, give that person’s contact details and set out when and where complaints can be made, and must give a written copy straight away to any customer who wants to complain. The itemised quotation must also say how to complain.
An industry association, if the director belongs to one
The NSW and Queensland guides both suggest this as the second step, where it applies. NSW Fair Trading adds that if a director is not part of an association, the association’s code of conduct may not apply, but the consumer guarantees apply to everyone. In Perth, the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board says you may also tell the director’s association, which may act on its member.
The state’s regulator
The table below says who takes a complaint about a funeral director in each of the four states whose pages were read for this guide.
A tribunal
In NSW and Queensland, a tribunal can decide a consumer dispute that is still unresolved, and each publishes its limits. In other states, ask the consumer affairs office which tribunal or court hears consumer claims.
- NSW: the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal hears consumer claims up to $100,000, as at October 2026. It can order payment of money, supply of services or a refund, among other orders. A claim must be made within 3 years of when the problem arose, and the goods or services must have been supplied within 10 years. Most people represent themselves.
- Queensland: the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal hears consumer and trader disputes about goods or services valued up to and including $25,000, as at October 2026.
Who takes a complaint about a funeral director
| State | Who takes it | What the page says |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | NSW Fair Trading | If you cannot resolve the matter, submit a complaint using its form. |
| Victoria | Consumer Affairs Victoria | The Department of Health names Consumer Affairs Victoria as the agency for complaints about funeral directors. It may offer help through its voluntary dispute services once you have tried to resolve the problem yourself. |
| Queensland | Office of Fair Trading | After the provider and any industry association, you can lodge a complaint with the Office of Fair Trading. |
| Western Australia (Perth metropolitan area) | Metropolitan Cemeteries Board, then Consumer Protection | Once you have tried the director, contact the Board. It may investigate, which can mean speaking with you, the director and anyone else involved. If the complaint is beyond its powers, it may refer you to Consumer Protection. |
What to have ready
The Metropolitan Cemeteries Board publishes the details it may ask for when it looks into a complaint about a funeral director. They make a good outline for a complaint anywhere:
- who died, when the funeral took place, and who the administrator is;
- when and where things went wrong, and how: face to face, during the service, or on a call;
- a plain account of the events, and your reason for raising them;
- what you would like done to put it right.
To that, add the papers this guide keeps returning to: the price list, the itemised quote or statement you were given before you agreed, the signed agreement and the final invoice. If you compared two directors, two quotes, side by side explains how those papers line up. For a problem with a prepaid funeral product in WA, Consumer Protection suggests a free financial counsellor as well as contacting it directly.
When the complaint is about a cemetery or crematorium
A cemetery or crematorium is not the funeral director, and complaints about it take a different path.
- NSW: if the operator cannot resolve the problem, Cemeteries & Crematoria NSW takes enquiries and complaints through its complaints and enquiries page. For a funeral director’s services, it points you to NSW Fair Trading.
- Victoria: start with the cemetery trust. The trust is responsible for investigating a complaint, may not disregard it, and should give a written reply. If you are not satisfied, the Victorian Ombudsman can investigate complaints about public organisations, including cemetery trusts. The Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria offers free mediation and assesses requests case by case. A holder of a right of interment can ask the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to review a trust’s decision on a memorial or a place of interment.
One thing a Victorian trust will not do is settle a family’s own disagreement: disputes within a family, or between holders of a right of interment, are for the people involved to resolve. Cremation, burial and the cemetery’s own fees explains who sets a cemetery’s charges in the first place.