- Report: #819792
Complaint Review: Neptune Society - Sacramento California
Reported By:
ltlrags -
Sacramento, California, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
Neptune Society
5213 Garfield Avenue, Sacramento, CA Sacramento, 95841 California, United States of America
Phone:
9163381111
Web:
Categories:
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Neptune Society Trident Society Neptune Society Trident Society takes 2/3 of your death benefits Sacramento, California
The Neptune Society/Trident Society will take 2/3 of your money. Here's a quick telling of my story so you can see how it happens:
My dad died recently while I held his hand, and within 30 minutes of his death I was asked who should come pick up his body. I told the nurse I thought he had a Neptune Society policy but that I didn't know the details. We decided to call the on-call mortuary in the city to pick up his body. The next day I was told by the mortuary that I should have called Neptune, but not to worry because his policy could be transferred -- it was standard procedure for all mortuaries. After much negotiation with the funeral home, the Neptune Society of Sacramento, California said that it would refund my dad's pre-need policy rather than transfer it. Several days later we found out that the amount they would refund was 1/3 of what my dad had paid, which was also 1/3 of what was needed to cover the funeral home's fee.
That's because Neptune/Trident does it differently than reputable, local funeral homes that have a stake in their local community and live or die by their reputation and service. Neptune/Trident takes the first 2/3 of your payment as fees and tranfers the remaining to a trust which can be transferred.
I'm not saying that they ripped me off in this one instance; I'm saying that their service is set up so that they keep as much money as possible in all situations like this -- which is different than local mortuaries. It's all in the contract, but how many of the people making the decision within moments of their loved ones passing know the fine print in a contract signed by someone else? I didn't and now my family will pay for a simple mistake.
Don't let this happen to your loved ones. If you buy a pre-need contract do it from a local funeral home who will tranfer your trust to any funeral home in the country on demand.
My dad died recently while I held his hand, and within 30 minutes of his death I was asked who should come pick up his body. I told the nurse I thought he had a Neptune Society policy but that I didn't know the details. We decided to call the on-call mortuary in the city to pick up his body. The next day I was told by the mortuary that I should have called Neptune, but not to worry because his policy could be transferred -- it was standard procedure for all mortuaries. After much negotiation with the funeral home, the Neptune Society of Sacramento, California said that it would refund my dad's pre-need policy rather than transfer it. Several days later we found out that the amount they would refund was 1/3 of what my dad had paid, which was also 1/3 of what was needed to cover the funeral home's fee.
That's because Neptune/Trident does it differently than reputable, local funeral homes that have a stake in their local community and live or die by their reputation and service. Neptune/Trident takes the first 2/3 of your payment as fees and tranfers the remaining to a trust which can be transferred.
I'm not saying that they ripped me off in this one instance; I'm saying that their service is set up so that they keep as much money as possible in all situations like this -- which is different than local mortuaries. It's all in the contract, but how many of the people making the decision within moments of their loved ones passing know the fine print in a contract signed by someone else? I didn't and now my family will pay for a simple mistake.
Don't let this happen to your loved ones. If you buy a pre-need contract do it from a local funeral home who will tranfer your trust to any funeral home in the country on demand.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
lostdutchmangold
Gold Canyon,Arizona,
USA
Small correction to rebuttal
#2UPDATE Employee
Tue, May 22, 2012
I apologise but The Northern Calif Neptune Society phone number is NOT 1 800 Neptune. That is for the Neptune Society in all other states with a few locations in Calif, just not Sacramento. But it is an phone number that would be on the ID cards of course.
lostdutchmangold
Gold Canyon,Arizona,
USA
Not the Neptune Society/Trident Society
#3UPDATE Employee
Tue, May 22, 2012
The Neptune you are referring to is not the Neptune Society/Trident society. Sacramento is the Neptune Society of Northern California. Which is a different faction. I know that when there is a death it sometimes can be hard to think and make decisions but what confuses me is that you knew your father was a member of the Neptune Society yet you called the local mortuary!? It is very clearly written that the Neptune Society has to be called upon the death of a member, seems easy enough. Too bad that it turned out that way and you had to pay more. And on my watch I make it absolutely clear to any family signing up that they put their ID cards in their wallet/purse and get them to the people closest to them or in charge of arrangements. Easy number to remember 1 800 Neptune. Hospitals, police, medical personel all know about us as we have been providing service for almost 40 years. As for Neptune keeping 2/3 of your money that is also not the case. The law states that ANY funeral establishment can keep 15% of the fees (service fee which can differ by state and it is possible I don't know the way the Northern Ca NS does this) the other % is in the form of a urn/planning guide package which was bought voluntarily by the member and in his/her possession which means after 30 days is non-refundable. In other words the member kept the merchandise and after a period of time cannot be returned. The Neptune Society follows the laws in every state they are located in. These are the same laws all funeral establishments are required to follow when pre-arranging. The very same thing could have happened if he had signed up for a plan with a local funeral home and at the time of death someone mistakenly called the wrong mortuary. The mortuary that responds is going to charge you for the services they provide and the original funeral home will be required to release the trusted funds to family or other funeral home. So there it is, the same thing over again. Important to KNOW who your family has their plans with plain and simple.
black eyed susie
Lancaster,California,
United States of America
Inability to Perform provision
#4Consumer Comment
Fri, January 13, 2012
I would be really interested to know how many of this company's contracts are actually paid as expected by the purchaser and how many fall into the 'inability to perform' pile.
I would like to know how much money this company keeps every year because they place a fraction of what they collect into the trust account.
I would like to know how many people's loved ones have suffered the shock and pain of learning that, through no fault of their own, they will have to come up with the costs of services and/or merchandise because they are looking at a contract they cannot use.
I would like to know how many contract holders fully understand this aspect of their contract.
I would like to see the Trident Society and the Neptune Society be made to inform each and every current contract holder of the possibility that this could happen to their survivors.
