Abbey Cremation

If you’ve ever been stuck in traffic, you know it can feel like a slow death. Now imagine looking up and seeing this billboard:

Ruminating driving thoughts aside, there are some caveats to paying the $995 that Abbey Cremation advertises on the billboard, which overlooks a busy interchange in New Haven, Connecticut.

The first is that $995 is just the starting price. See that barely noticeable fine print in the bottom right corner of the billboard that states “Additional Fees May Apply”? Well, if you go to Abbey’s website, you’ll see the cremation price is advertised not as “$995” but as “From: $995.” Among the things not included in the advertised price are a cremation container to hold the body and an urn for the remains, according to the price list found under the forms tab.

The second caveat is that there appears to be a condition on the advertised $995 price, which is that you must have “pre-planned,” or arranged for the cremation before the death has occurred.

In fact, Abbey tells consumers on its homepage to contact the company if they would like to “pre-plan” funeral arrangements. The company further states on its site:

Is it time to Plan Ahead? Take control of final planning, and remove that burden from your family. Contact Abbey Cremation Service today to arrange an affordable cremation.

But not everyone is able to plan ahead.

Of note

Funeral home advertising practices have been under regulatory scrutiny of late.

In January, the FTC sent warning letters to dozens of funeral homes after an undercover phone sweep found issues with price advertising. And last month, the California Attorney General announced a $23 million settlement with the country’s largest funeral service provider for falsely advertising pre-need cremation packages.

In the meantime, TINA.org has continued to urge the FTC to modernize its pre-internet era Funeral Rule.

TINA.org reached out to Abbey Cremation for comment. Check back for updates.

Find more of our coverage on funeral services here.