Two funeral quotes, side by side

Ask both for the price list first

A price list is what a quote is measured against, and each of these states lets you have it before you commit to anything.

• NSW: a director must give you its funeral information within 48 hours of your request, or within another period you agree, and may send it by email or point you to its website.
• Victoria: a provider must give a copy of its goods and services price list, and its list of coffin prices, to anyone who asks. Its price list must reflect the maximum price it charges.
• Queensland: directors must display an itemised price list at their business and on their website or other online presence, along with the price of their least expensive package.
• Western Australia: a director must give funeral information within two business days of a request, and must offer both a basic burial package and a basic cremation package.

What each quote has to hold

The four states word it differently, but each asks for the goods and services to be itemised and the disbursements to be shown before you sign, and NSW, Queensland and Western Australia also name the total.

NSW. Before an agreement, the director must give an itemised quote showing each of the goods and services it will supply, the cost of any disbursements and the total amount payable, and both of you sign and date the agreement. If the director charges its own professional service fee, NSW does not require it on the price list, though its price must be among the costs disclosed before you agree.

Victoria. Before an agreement, the provider must give you an itemised statement that lists separately the goods and services you chose, the service fees and the disbursements. Each item except the disbursements must match the price list, and the statement must say the business has a complaint-handling procedure and how to use it. For a package, the statement itemises each thing in it and gives the package total.

Queensland. If you ask for a cost-itemised quote, the director must give it within 48 hours (or longer if you agree), or before the agreement is signed, whichever comes first. It must list the goods and services, the cost of any disbursements and the total.

Western Australia. Before you sign, you must be given itemised prices for all goods and services, a list of the extra costs (disbursements) and the total payable. Around Perth, directors licensed by the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board must also put their estimate in writing, as a condition of that licence.

Line them up

A NSW price list must price the same set of goods and services, whoever the director is, and the lists Victoria and Western Australia require cover much the same ground. That shared shape is what lets two quotes be read across. The illustration below uses two made-up quotes, with no prices and no real businesses, to show what lining them up can reveal.

Read across, the made-up quotes raise four questions. Quote B is silent on a professional service fee. Asking settles it, and in NSW any such fee has to be priced for you before the agreement. Quote B prices viewing and Quote A has none, so the totals are not yet comparing the same funeral. Quote B joins two items in a way NSW does not allow on a price list, and uses a word in place of a price; the next step covers both. And the two estimates for the crematorium are for different places, which may explain part of the gap on its own.

Words that stand in for a price

NSW Fair Trading’s guidance for funeral directors is direct about two habits on a price list. A director must not combine two or more items into a “total price”, such as storage together with care and preparation, and must not use terms such as “included”, “complimentary” or “no charge” instead of showing a price. If a list or quote does either, it is reasonable to ask for the separate prices.

A package price can still appear, as long as the itemised list appears too: NSW, Victoria and Western Australia each rule out a package standing in for it. Victoria also requires the price list to say clearly which package is the least expensive.

Read the disbursements on their own

Disbursements are the fees a director pays to others on your behalf, such as cemetery or crematorium fees and celebrant fees. NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia ask directors to estimate the main ones: the death certificate, any other certificates or permits, and the cemetery or crematorium fee.

Victoria explains why two quotes can show the same crematorium fee in different ways. On a price list, a provider may give that kind of third-party fee as a link or reference to the supplier’s own price list, as the price of its most used service, as a range, or as a reasonable estimate. If a Victorian provider does not know the cost of the disbursements when it gives you the statement, it must include a reasonable estimate and then give a further written statement of the actual disbursements with the final invoice. Setting that statement beside the quote is how you check the end of the story against the start.

If two directors estimate quite different amounts for the same cemetery or crematorium, that is worth asking about. Cremation, burial and the cemetery’s own fees explains where some states publish those fees.

The total, and the terms around it

The NSW Government suggests reading the terms and conditions, looking for clauses about interest or late fees, and asking the director to go through every fee that may apply. You can ask someone else to help review the quotes and terms. It also notes that most funeral directors require payment in full before the funeral. Keep both quotes: if something later goes wrong, complaints about a funeral director sets out where to take it, and questions to ask turns these steps into a page you can fill in.