Funeral Pricing Comparison Website Targeted with Legal Threats

In an effort to increase transparency, Colin Wong established Gathered Here, a price-comparison website listing prices and posting reviews of funeral homes across Australia. To gather information, Wong posed as a mystery shopper and requested pricing information from more than 600 businesses. He received quotes for high-expense items like caskets and fees for funeral services. Wong, himself a former solicitor, expected pushback from the industry. His expectations came to fruition as he has since been the target of numerous legal threats.

The Australian end-of-life service industry has been heavily criticized for being opportunistic; taking advantage of the grief-stricken in their greatest time of need. InvoCare, currently controlling 40% of this market, has shouldered some of the blame for these unethical pricing mechanisms. Not one of the companies taking legal action, an InvoCare spokeswoman said that the company already had pricing available on its website and agreed that there should be industry-wide transparency.

See Elle Hunt, Funeral Pricing Comparison Website Targeted with Legal Threats, The Guardian, May 29, 2017.