Funeral Hall Wreaths, Outside Food, and Cost Transparency: What Changes

[Anchor]

It is time for the Friendly Economy segment with reporter Han Jiyeon. Han, is it true that some funeral homes have been arbitrarily selling condolence wreaths?

[Reporter]

Yes, that has been a source of conflict.

Now, it has been clarified that condolence wreaths sent by mourners belong to the bereaved family, meaning funeral homes must consult with the family in advance before disposing of them.

You have probably seen lines of wreaths placed outside memorial halls at funerals.

You might have wondered where all these wreaths go after the funeral procession and final farewell ceremony.

Until now, the existing standard terms and conditions did not have clear regulations regarding who owns these wreaths.

Consequently, some funeral homes prevented bereaved families from disposing of the wreaths themselves, only to sell them off to wreath collection or recycling companies for their own profit.

Looking at actual complaints that have been filed:

There was a case where a funeral home's wreath supplier demanded to take the wreaths on the day of the funeral procession and offered to buy them for a mere 1,000 won.

There were also complaints of families being threatened with disadvantages when they tried to dispose of the wreaths themselves.

In some instances, funeral homes even blocked other companies from collecting the wreaths and then sold them exclusively to contracted companies after the procession.

These issues are now being put to a stop.

The revised terms and conditions explicitly state that the ownership of the wreaths belongs to the bereaved family.

Going forward, disputes between chief mourners and funeral homes over this issue are expected to decrease.

[Anchor]

Next, I understand that bringing fruit and alcohol into funeral halls will be permitted. What is that about?

[Reporter]

It means that "uncooked" food will be allowed to be brought in.

However, the conditions for what qualifies as "uncooked" are stricter than you might think.

Up until now, there were no regulations at all regarding bringing in outside food.

As a result, many places implemented blanket bans preventing people from bringing anything in.

Now, the criteria have been made clear.

First, regarding fruit.

Not just any fruit is allowed.

Only whole fruits that have not been peeled or cut are permitted.

This means fruit that you peeled and packed at home in advance may not meet this standard.

The same goes for beverages and alcohol.

It cannot be just any bottle; only packaged products with an expiration date or manufacturing date marked on them are allowed.

Along these lines, snacks, nuts, and dried side dishes can also be brought in as long as they are packaged and display an expiration date or manufacturing date.

On the other hand, food cooked outside such as rice, soup, pan-fried battered dishes (jeon), side dishes, meat, and rice cakes (tteok) will still be restricted in principle.

The reason for this is to prevent hygiene accidents like food poisoning.

However, if you consult with the funeral home in advance, these cooked foods can be exceptionally allowed.

One thing you must watch out for here, though.

If a hygiene accident like food poisoning occurs due to food brought in secretly without prior consultation, the responsibility falls on the user themselves, not the funeral home.

As a side note, taking leftover food home after the funeral concludes is also permitted.

If you fall ill due to improper storage of this food, the responsibility again rests entirely on you.

[Anchor]

Lastly, you have news regarding funeral hall costs.

[Reporter]

Service fees must now be broken down into facility rental fees, funeral-related commission fees, funeral supply costs, and cleaning management fees, and explained to consumers prior to signing a contract.

Because funerals often take place unexpectedly, it has not been easy to carefully compare prices and services across different funeral homes.

The problem is that once a funeral has already begun, even if unexpected costs are added, it is difficult to stop midway or change the terms.

As a result, people often had no choice but to accept whatever prices were quoted.

In actual cases, a family was initially quoted a maximum of around 10 million won during consultations, only to be billed 16 million won once the funeral was over. There were also instances where prices were not properly displayed, and funeral homes induced payments taking advantage of the chaotic situation.

To prevent such incidents, the fee components have now been specifically divided into the four categories mentioned earlier.

And funeral homes are now required to explain them to consumers before a contract is signed.

Furthermore, when settling payments, previously you would just be handed a single bill and that would be it, but now you will be able to receive an itemized transaction statement and receipt separately.

This should allow people to thoroughly calculate and review expected costs in advance.

However, these standard terms and conditions are not legally mandatory.

So while they are not being implemented immediately starting today, they were formulated by gathering opinions from both the funeral industry and consumer advocacy groups, and the Fair Trade Commission expects funeral homes to actively comply with them moving forward.

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