The letter to the ACCC dated 5 August 2020, continued (final part):
RE: Advice on a complaint against a funeral business in breach of contract and multiple unsuccessful attempts made toward a fair resolution
What can the ACCC advise or do regarding our case? How does our family heal and get closure? We were robbed of closure from a business we paid to respectfully and compassionately follow our instructions.
Given this industry is a priority in 2020, I reflected on what needs to be improved:
• Ensure contracts have clauses that state that the service provider must abide exactly to the instructions of the recipient.
• Greater accountability and legal consequences if funeral companies display unconscionable misconduct and misleading / deceptive practices.
Contracts
On the Fair Trading NSW website, it states that a contract has an element of acceptance when the seller agrees to supply a service via an action, such as a signed written agreement accepting the terms and conditions. My family and I were aware that a contract is a legally binding document, which is why we were in shock to ultimately learn that we were deceived by the business in a way that protected them based on the law. The action taken by the business constitutes misleading and deceptive misconduct. A dash in an item line and the representative intentionally not signing the agreement at a vulnerable and distressing time for my family has caused us great inconvenience (see above) and great disadvantage because this was enforced in a very manipulative and calculated way. Would not the dash, then, be a term that gives the business a way to avoid the liability for a breach of contract? Did we, a grieving and vulnerable family, know that a dash was anything different to a recording of a zero dollar amount written instead - $0? Is this not a false impression regarding the service agreed to be offered? Isn’t this against the law?
We suffered loss and damage as a result of the business conduct – loss of closure, respect and our right to at least have the business we paid to conduct the service, follow our wishes and instructions. The additional trauma, injury and distress this has caused over the years, in attempting to hold the business accountable, and for respectful and a fair resolution to give us the closure we need is indescribable. How does one place a value on this?
It was, indeed, a misleading condition – a dash in the contract – without having agreed or having been informed that it means the business can add anything above what is written and agreed to in the contract, without charging the family. We were not informed and had not agreed to this. It did cause damage, especially the attitude that they did us a favour. On the Fair Trading NSW webpage about misleading representations and deceptive conduct (https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/buying-products-and-services/advertising-and-pricing/misleading-or-deceptive-conduct), it is highlighted that “a business can break the law if it fails to disclose relevant facts to you. Silence can be misleading or deceptive when:
• One person fails to alert another to facts known only to them, and the facts are relevant to the decision [eg. our suspicion that Fr. John had pre-informed his brother, the then funeral director, Kon Grillis, regarding the relation to a priest and the possibility of a demand by him. The business could oblige to the priest’s request while also protecting themselves from legal action. This meant that Acropolis Funerals could continue good “business” relations with this priest and his parish].
• Important details a person should know are not conveyed to them [eg. the meaning of the dash and the request that was made by someone not the next of kin. We were not contacted, had no knowledge of the arrangement, had not given permission or authorised such action, but were presented with it the morning of the funeral when our only focus was on the hearse carrying our father and husband after a sudden and shocking and tragic death].
• A change in circumstance meant information already provided was incorrect”.
The silence was both misleading and deceptive in the most unethical and immoral way.
Reviewing the Fair Trading Regulation 2019 Division 2 – Funeral goods and services, my family and I were at a serious legal disadvantage regarding the funeral information in the contract. A dash in an item does not mean anything to a vulnerable family who specifically stated verbally, only one car for three people in the funeral cortege. Therefore, it is very evident that information was withheld from us, putting us at a disadvantage in any future attempt to seek accountability. The website of Acropolis Funerals states that… “We will organise the collection of your loved one from the place of passing, into our care and will further prepare all of the required paperwork needed for legal purposes” (https://www.acropolisfunerals.com.au/our-funeral-services/ ). There is no information stating that if a dash is placed in an item on the legal document, it means anything in that section can be added and no cost will be charged. We did not agree or request anything else to be added. The cost was not the issue. It was unethical and unprofessional to add a car in the funeral cortege for seven strangers without our consent, authority and knowledge, then avoid responding as to why this occurred, and displaying serious misconduct including stating they were doing my family a favour. This was not a favour but a serious violation of their legal obligation to us and, at best, disrespectful and unprofessional.
They are in serious breach of their code of ethics as displayed on their website:
https://www.acropolisfunerals.com.au/code-of-ethics/
Clause 9 in the Fair Trading Regulation 2019 (NSW) Section 8 states that “a funeral director must provide ... a) the price of each of the particular goods and services that will be supplied to the person under the agreement.” (https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_reg/ftr2019208/s8.html). Where does it state, in the regulation, anything about a dash? What about the funeral representative withholding their own signature on the agreement? We noticed this later and questioned this as a family, before learning about the dash in an item line.
As for unconscionable conduct, I will leave the ACCC to decide to what extent all this has been more than just unfair or unreasonable. I have listed a number of points that have come to our attention gradually over the years that exposes how this business knowingly exploited the special disadvantage of a vulnerable, traumatised, pained, shocked and grieving family.
Now there is a new funeral goods and services information standard that commenced on 1 February 2020, that funeral directors must legally comply with. However, where does that leave families like ours who were deceived and put through hell by a funeral business before the revised information standard as part of the Fair Trading Regulation 2019? Had there been a standard regarding an itemised quote before entering into a contract or agreement with the funeral director, we would not have experienced this deceptive and unprofessional misconduct. If we had, it would have been held to account immediately. They withheld information, there was no transparency, but displayed an extremely unprofessional and disgraceful attitude, given the knowledge they had that we did not until earlier this year. Also, what is the role of the Funeral Directors Association?
The death of a loved one is, indeed, very painful and overwhelming, especially a sudden and shocking death like suicide. Regarding a quote of advice on the Fair Trading NSW webpage about Funerals, that consumers do their research and ask family and friends for recommendations to find the funeral director right for our needs, that is not always possible, based on the circumstances and traumatic shock a family may be going through. Under different circumstances, my family would never have even considered Acropolis Funerals. Thanks to a priest, we ended up with the usual business they would call at such times in the Greek Orthodox community.
This webpage also states that “remember, although the funeral director ‘directs’ the funeral, you make the final decisions”. I was confident that was a legal requirement. Then why did the funeral director make a decision without informing us and obtaining our permission to proceed or decline another person’s request who is NOT the next of kin? The funeral director misled / deceived us.
In the records attached with this letter for guidance and advice from the ACCC, please find the written copy of the contract we signed (but deliberately not signed by the now funeral director). We did use this and referred to it during the years we have tried to have a dispute resolution. If we are entitled to an appropriate remedy from the business given the service we agreed to did not meet a number of consumer guarantees, then why did this not happen in the many avenues we tried to enforce our consumer rights and entitlements? What does the ACCC advise would be a reasonable reimbursement for damages and consequential loss?
Given what my family has been put through, especially the unprofessional conduct of the funeral directors and employees, we offer suggestions to finally bring this case to a close with a reasonable and fair resolution. This must occur for the closure we need to heal and move on with our lives.*
1. A letter of apology with the reasons why Acropolis Funerals made such decisions against our knowledge and authorisation (initially, this was the only request we made before taking it to Fair Trading NSW);
2. Full refund on the total amount as written in the Funeral Agreement of Costs (given they provided unauthorised services for free to a group of people without our knowledge or authorisation, I think it is now fair to have our costs refunded too. Initially when the matter went to Fair Trading NSW, our request was only for the service cost to be refunded. Given how the business behaved and repeatedly refused any reasonable attempt to resolve this dispute, I think it is fair to now request a refund for the total amount);
3. Paying the invoice of the headstone for our beloved husband and father’s grave, which, to date, has not been organised by us, his family. There has not been any form of closure all this time because of the unconscionable conduct of Acropolis Funerals. This action would truly show some form of respect, to a family the funeral directors of Acropolis Funerals took advantage of, in the vulnerable and fragile nature of our grief, and then continued to be arrogant, unprofessional, disrespectful and rude toward us. After fulfilling points 1 and 2 above, we can bring closure and pay our respects to our beloved husband and father with dignity, by arranging the construction of the headstone. I feel that these three outcomes are the least this business can do to make amends and repair the damage they caused us.
The evidence I have attached are as follows:
• Letters of complaint to Acropolis Funerals dated 14/06/2010 and 21/02/2011
• Documents submitted to Fair Trading NSW in January / February 2015
• Correspondence with the Funeral Directors’ Association of NSW from 2015
• Documents pertaining to the application with the NCAT
• Company information for Acropolis Funerals and Icon Funerals
__________________
* The above requests are no longer available, given the funeral directors (former and current, who were both involved in the deception and unconscionable conduct), have continued to be unconscionable and deceptive. They were also suggestions, as I mentioned. My family, who are reading what I too attempted, need to consider what they require, for years of such emotional distress and unconscionable conduct from directors of Acropolis Funerals, and seek ethical legal representation. Ultimately, the ACCC’s response was to seek legal advice (which the letter explains that we tried and discovered the contractual “anomaly”).
I do wonder if public servants actually listen to the public they serve. Was this letter read in its entirety? It was, after all, a year that the chair of ACCC made enforcement and compliance on funeral business a priority. Perhaps it was preparing me for things to come, this time with the Fair Work Ombudsman, when she made the university sector a priority for cleaning up wage theft. I guess self-insured employer fraud as the lowest diabolical adverse action, causing massive financial damage, is OK for the office of the Fair Work Ombudsman, as it was for NSW State Insurance Regulatory Authority, SafeWork NSW and NSW Police, for years. There may be parliamentary debate to criminalise wage theft, but fraud is already a crime. This case is currently being investigated by an individual in the office of the NSW Ombudsman and, from Service NSW, escalated to the ministerial office of Minister Dib’s portfolio of the NSW Department of Customer Service. I was left all alone, for years, forced to play political strategic war games. To expose, at best, systemic failure and broken communication. At worst, there is a volume of evidence I compiled that, put together, reveals suspicions of a more “sinister agenda”, with some of these “players”.
Therefore, I hope my family make use of this information regarding Acropolis Funerals, because I was concurrently being subjected to another case of power abuse and unconscionable conduct, where I was forced by three workplace regulators, to “manage” on my own. I was denied my human right to a voice. That included my volume of evidence. Records of truth. They are public servants, we are the public stakeholders. They are accountable to us.
This is still only the beginning of my story.
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