How to Complain About a Funeral Director in Tasmania

Funeral directors operate in a fundamentally lopsided market. Their customers are grieving, often in shock, and making significant financial decisions under acute time pressure. Most families have never arranged a funeral before and have no baseline for what is reasonable, what is legally required, or what they can push back on.

This asymmetry is why both Australian Consumer Law (ACL) and Tasmania's specific regulatory framework exist — to provide formal protections against exploitation. Here is how those protections work, and what you can do if a funeral director has treated you unfairly.

Who Regulates Tasmanian Funeral Directors?

Consumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS) is the primary regulatory body for consumer complaints about funeral businesses in Tasmania. CBOS enforces the Prepaid Funerals Act 2004 and the Australian Consumer Law as applied in Tasmania.

CBOS contact: 1300 654 499 or via the online portal at cbos.tas.gov.au.

Importantly, there is no separate licensing body for funeral directors in Australia the way there is for, say, electricians or solicitors. A person can legally call themselves a funeral director without a specific occupational licence. What constrains their conduct is the ACL, enforced by CBOS — the equivalent of consumer protection against any business engaging in misleading, deceptive, or unconscionable conduct.

This matters because it means CBOS is the correct first port of call for most funeral consumer complaints, but its jurisdiction is limited to consumer law violations — it cannot resolve family disputes about who controls the funeral, and it does not adjudicate estate disputes.

Your Price Disclosure Rights

Price transparency is one of the clearest consumer protections in this space. Under the Australian Consumer Law, funeral directors must not make misleading representations about pricing or about what is legally required. In practice, this means:

You are entitled to a written itemized quote. Before agreeing to any service, ask for a full written breakdown of every cost — the funeral director's fee, the coffin or casket, transport, cremation or burial fees, death certificates, and any optional add-ons. Reputable funeral directors provide these proactively; if one resists providing written pricing, treat that as a warning sign.

Verbal quotes are not enough. Get everything in writing before you authorize anything. Contracts signed while you are in the funeral home should be reviewed calmly — you do not have to sign on the spot.

Optional services cannot be presented as mandatory. This is where misleading conduct most commonly occurs. Examples of what funeral directors cannot lawfully claim:

• That a sealed, expensive casket is legally required for burial (it is not, in most cases)
• That embalming is mandatory for a standard burial or cremation (it is not, with narrow exceptions)
• That viewing is only possible with embalming (this is a practical recommendation, not law)
• That a death certificate costs significantly more than the actual BDM fee ($65.96 for a standard certificate; $101.23 for priority processing)

If a funeral director has told you something is legally required and you are not sure, ask them to name the specific regulation. If they cannot, it may not be required at all.

What Counts as Overcharging or Unfair Conduct?

The Australian Consumer Law prohibits several categories of conduct that commonly arise in the funeral context.

Misleading or deceptive conduct: Making a false representation about price, about what services are required by law, or about what competitors charge. Even technically true statements can be misleading if they create a false impression.

Unconscionable conduct: Taking advantage of the vulnerable state of a grieving consumer. This is a higher standard to prove, but it can include high-pressure sales tactics used when a family is in shock immediately after a death, adding charges not discussed or agreed in advance, or pressuring upgrades during an emotionally vulnerable moment.

Unfair contract terms: Contract clauses that allow the funeral director to cancel services but do not allow the consumer to do so, or clauses requiring non-refundable deposits before services are confirmed.

For prepaid funerals specifically, the Prepaid Funerals Act 2004 adds additional protections: the contract must be in writing using a minimum 10-point font; the signed copy must be provided to the consumer within 14 days; any clause attempting to increase the price of agreed services after signing is legally void; and consumer funds must be held by an independent custodian (not the funeral director's operating account). If the funeral home goes bankrupt, prepaid funds remain protected.

The Complaint Pathway

If you believe a funeral director has acted unfairly, overcharged you, or engaged in misleading conduct, follow this sequence:

Step 1 — Raise it directly with the funeral director, in writing.

Send a formal letter or email describing the specific issue, what you believe you were promised or were entitled to, and what resolution you are seeking. Keep a copy. Many disputes can be resolved at this stage when the funeral director understands the family is prepared to escalate.

Step 2 — Escalate to CBOS.

If direct resolution fails, lodge a formal complaint with Consumer, Building and Occupational Services. Contact them at 1300 654 499 or through their online portal. Provide your written evidence — the quote, the contract, receipts, any written communications, and a clear description of the conduct you are complaining about.

CBOS can investigate, mediate between parties, and where warranted, pursue regulatory action against funeral businesses that have breached the ACL.

Step 3 — Magistrates Court or Fair Trading.

If the CBOS process does not resolve the matter and you have suffered a financial loss, the Magistrates Court of Tasmania handles civil claims. For claims up to $50,000, the process is designed to be accessible without a lawyer, though legal advice is worth seeking for complex disputes.

Funerals Australia (the industry body) also operates a complaints process, though this is industry self-regulation rather than a statutory process — its decisions are not legally binding on the funeral director.

What CBOS Cannot Help With

Two important limitations:

Family disputes over who controls the funeral. If the complaint is that a family member is interfering with your right to arrange the funeral — not that the funeral director has done something wrong — CBOS has no jurisdiction. These disputes involve the legal rights of the Executor or Senior Next of Kin under the Coroners Act 1995 and common law probate principles, and the only resolution pathway is legal mediation or an application to the Supreme Court of Tasmania.

Grief or emotional distress alone. CBOS handles consumer protection — financial harm, false representations, unfair contracts. Grief, rudeness, or being treated insensitively by a funeral director, while deeply upsetting, does not by itself constitute a breach of the ACL unless it crosses into unconscionable conduct territory.

How to Protect Yourself from the Start

The best protection against funeral overcharging is preparation before you walk in the door. Consider:

• Contacting multiple funeral directors by phone or email for quotes before committing
• Reviewing the CBOS consumer rights information before signing anything
• Bringing a family member or trusted friend to any in-person meeting at the funeral home
• Getting every service itemized in writing before agreeing to proceed

The Tasmania Funeral Laws & Consumer Rights Guide includes the exact provisions of the Prepaid Funerals Act 2004 in plain English, a checklist of questions to ask a funeral director before signing, and the specific CBOS complaint process with template letter text for escalating a dispute.

See more Tasmania guides →