Neptune Society, one of America’s largest funeral service providers, is being sued by the California attorney general accusing the company of not having enough reserves in the bank and misleading business practices
Neptune Society is accused of pocketing $100 million which should have been kept in reserve in the case of customers ending their prepaid contracts and requesting refunds. The lawsuit also includes accusations of the company falsely claiming to use its own crematoriums when it actually used other crematoriums to perform the service, among other misleading business practices.
The lawsuit says that California customers were misled by Neptune as they thought that their money was protected as required by California State Law. According to the lawsuit the Neptune Society of Colorado, was accused in 2008 of similar faulty business practices.
District attorney Lori Frugoli said that customers that buy a service from the Neptune Society should be able to trust that their money set aside for a funeral service is fully protected. Under no circumstance should they have to be worried that their family will incur the costs or be shortchanged when that moment of need comes.
According to Bob Egelko, who follows the case for the San Francisco Chronicle, the lawsuit is out to get full refunds for any customer that was denied a refund, a court order that obliges the Neptunes Society to have sufficient funds reserved and additional financial penalties.