Were you involved in dodgy dealings? Have you taken advantage of traumatised relatives, and ‘conned them?
In 2016 Karen Armstrong paid a funeral director £4,565 in cash for a pre-paid funeral plan. The funeral director is now claiming that she did not pay this money, which is untrue.
Brief summary (Karen);
“1. In 2016 I paid £4,565 cash to the local funeral directors for a pre-paid funeral plan in the presence of a my husband and received a cash receipt for the full amount, which I have in my possession.
2. Some weeks later, without my knowledge, the funeral director attempted to inappropriately, if not unlawfully, take the full amount again from my Building Society account. The attempt was unsuccessful, as I had insufficient funds in my account. I have a letter from the Building Society confirming this. The funeral directors did not forthwith contact me to inform me that their attempt to withdraw the £4,565 was unsuccessful, which you would, in my view, expect, had the money not already been paid for in cash.
3. More than a year later the funeral director claimed that I had not paid the £4,565 but offered to provide me with a pre-paid funeral plan if I paid them an additional £1,000. I rejected the offer and asked for a full refund, which was refused. The funeral director subsequently claimed that they did not accept cash payments from clients notwithstanding they had also accepted cash with regards to my mother’s funeral for which I still have the cash receipt. They also claimed that the cash receipt for the £4,565 was provided in good faith without receiving the payment.
4. I have reported the impropriety of the funeral director to Citizen’s Advice, Trading Standards, the Funeral Planning Services and the police all of whom claimed it was a civil matter.
5. I then complained to the National Association of Funeral Directors [NAFD] who did not uphold my complaint and claimed the funeral directors had not breached any provision of their code. NAFD’s letter also claimed it is a police matter, which the police have refuted. It is also important to add that the NAFD sent my written complaint to the funeral director for comment but refused my formal request for a copy of the funeral director’s response to my complaint”.
Carers Want Competence: Your Public Watchdog for Accountability in Care
As a GNS Press Accredited Citizen/Public Interest Journalist (engaging in journalist activities) and independent public watchdog, Carers Want Competence is dedicated to rigorously scrutinising, investigating, and exposing extreme and systemic institutional failures, poor practice, and serious misconduct within all areas requiring duty of care and accountability, including health, social care, mental health, domiciliary, residential, and nursing care across the UK and internationally.
My activities involve comprehensive research, including investigating publicly available information on the conduct of individuals and institutions involved, to inform these exposures. I also engage in investigative work and am sometimes contacted by mainstream media investigative journalists.
We believe heightened public awareness and engagement are crucial to fighting these abuses, restoring dignity, and ensuring an acceptable standard and quality of care for vulnerable individuals, service users, residents, and their families. Our work directly parallels efforts like the recent success of Rashid Abbasi case, underscoring the vital public interest in naming individuals complicit in serious failings to achieve accountability.
Our mission is to foster transparency and secure accountability where it's desperately needed. We highlight:
Corporate abuses of power and organizational toxic cultures that disregard individual rights and duty of care.
The widespread problem of neglect and abuse often disregarded or concealed, denying individuals and families justice.
Fabricated allegations and reverse-blame tactics used by professionals and management to silence whistleblowers and advocates who seek to expose wrongdoing.
Protecting Future Lives: We cannot stress enough the importance of advocating for the rights, safety, and protection of future patients and their families. Our efforts aim to deter poor provision of care and lead to more impactful results for the entire community.
Support Services:
Beyond raising awareness and exposure of poor practises, we offer a completely free service of advice, referrals, emotional and practical support (including face-to-face assistance), mediation, and representation.
With over twenty years of experience as a complex needs family carer and a background as a Support Coordinator in the care sector, I provide informed advocacy and support. We also collaborate with whistleblowing organizations to ensure anonymity for care professionals who wish to report concerns in confidence.
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