We are looking into pre-planning final arrangements for a family member and one of the family…read moresuggested this location. We made an appointment to go over numbers. The State requires each funeral home list their prices publicly, but it's always nice to see the facility and meet the people.
The person we met with was very pleasant and professional. We were not given an opportunity to see caskets to 'pick' one, but a quote was worked up using a price range. The facility offers a package for services such as prayer cards, memorial book and such for an additional fee. We were also told if the funeral service is at the funeral home, there is a one hour viewing available before the service at no additional fee, vs. just the viewing, which has it's own fee structure. It's all broken down: preparation, casket, viewing, transport, graveside and so on. There's a lot to know about funerals and I do recommend you pre-plan so you know what to expect.
In the end we did not choose Carrier for a couple of reasons. The first is it felt as if we had to pull information out of the person assisting us. For example, we now know the State of NH requires some kind of grave liner. During our discussions it sounded as if a liner was a 'negotiable' item that could be eliminated to save money. It is not. The second is they don't use a 'trust' to hold the money you pre-pay, they sell you an insurance policy for the amount you put down and then each time you add money they add an insurance rider to that policy. Some of the staff here are also insurance brokers. We weren't comfortable with this business practice.
Funeral arrangements are much better made with a clear mind instead of during the chaos of grief and loss. I cannot recommend enough that everyone at the very least know what the expenses are and make an effort to have a plan in place to ease that most difficult of life experiences for their loved ones.
