Two regional businesses owned by Australia’s second largest funeral company have each paid a $12,600 penalty for falsely claiming they were local and independently owned.
ACCC’s deputy chair Delia Rickard said the industry was “on notice that further enforcement action will be considered this year”.She urged anyone who had organised a funeral, or worked in the sector, to complete a survey on the commission’s website that targets anti-competitive behaviour and the provision of misleading and deceptive information to bereaved families.
Both are owned by Propel, a publicly listed company based in Sydney which has been expanding into rural markets. It bought Taree’s WT Howard in 2015 and Coventry in Townsville in 2019. Following the acquisition, WT Howard continued to claim it was “proudly local and independently owned”. Fitzgerald’s Funerals said it was locally owned and operated.
Propel owns 130 funeral homes in Australia and New Zealand, including 31 crematoria and nine cemeteries.
digging deep for dirt
juliepower That notice will just lead to another dead end. Sorry. 😕
juliepower Ghouls