Not upheld: Other regulated complaint complaint against Golden Charter Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs R purchased a pre-paid funeral plan from Golden Charter in May 2015, sold by her son Mr R as an agent. Although Mrs R had initially wanted to use funeral company C, she chose Golden Charter to benefit her son with the agent's commission. No funeral director was specified on the application form, so Golden Charter appointed a local one. When Mrs R called in June 2015 to query this, she was informed that C generally would not accept Golden Charter plans and was asked to discuss with her son before making any changes. No further contact was received from Mrs R regarding the funeral director. After Mrs R's death in April 2023, Mr R requested to use C for the funeral services, but Golden Charter stated this was not possible and offered only cancellation with a £199 fee. The ombudsman upheld Golden Charter's position, finding that the firm had fairly applied the cancellation fee in accordance with the plan terms and conditions, as Mrs R had been adequately informed of the issues with using C and had not subsequently requested a change of funeral director.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman determined that Golden Charter fairly applied the cancellation fee because: (1) the plan terms and conditions explicitly permitted the charge; (2) Mrs R was clearly informed during the June 2015 calls that using C's funeral directors was problematic and was asked to discuss with her son before proceeding; (3) no further contact was received from Mrs R to change the selected funeral director; (4) the local funeral director remained the selected provider by default; and (5) Mr R was not listed as a representative in 2015, so Golden Charter was only obliged to deal with Mrs R directly. The ombudsman found no evidence of unfair conduct in 2023 when Golden Charter stated that using C was not possible and cancellation was the only option.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website