FTC Funeral Rule Phone Price Disclosure: What to Say on a Price Call

A stranger calls and asks what a direct cremation costs. What your firm says next is governed by federal law. The FTC Funeral Rule requires funeral providers to answer price questions by telephone, and the agency has placed undercover calls to see who does. This guide covers the rule text, the FTC’s findings, and written instructions for whoever answers your phone.

Do funeral homes have to give prices over the phone?

Yes. The Funeral Rule requires accurate answers to telephone questions about offerings and prices. The table shows what the FTC’s guide, Complying with the Funeral Rule, says. For the price lists themselves, see FTC Funeral Rule basics.

What does the rule text say?

The telephone requirement is one sentence, at 16 CFR 453.2(b)(1). Funeral providers must tell persons who ask by telephone about their offerings or prices any accurate information from the price lists, and "any other readily available information that reasonably answers the question." The lists are the Casket Price List, the Outer Burial Container Price List and the General Price List. In plain language:

• Who is covered. Persons who ask by telephone. The sentence is not limited to bereaved families, or to callers who give a name.
• What they may ask. Offerings or prices: what you offer, and what it costs.
• What the answer must be. Accurate, and from the lists. A figure from memory is not a figure from the list.

Paragraph (a) of the same section treats failing to furnish accurate price information to people who inquire as an unfair or deceptive practice. The telephone sentence sets no deadline and does not mention business hours or answering services. Those points come from the FTC’s guide.

What counts as readily available information?

The sentence does not define the phrase, and the telephone section of the FTC’s guide lists no examples. The guide does describe an employee who answers the easier questions from the printed price lists and passes the harder ones to the funeral director, who returns the call.

The wording sets two tests. Is the information readily available to the person answering? Does it reasonably answer the question? A cautious way to apply them follows. It is our reading, not an FTC statement.

• Give it now if the answer is printed on a price list or another document at hand.
• Take it and return it if the answer needs a director’s judgment, such as what one family’s arrangements would total.
• Do not guess. A guess is neither accurate nor from the list.

When prices change, replace every copy on the same day. See general price list management.

Do you have to give prices after hours?

Not always. The FTC’s guide says you do not have to give price information after business hours if that is not your normal practice. You may tell the caller it will be given during business hours, or have a machine or service take a name and number for a return call.

Plan for one exception. If someone calls after hours about an at-need situation, and your firm normally makes arrangements at those hours, the guide says you should give the information requested. The FTC also says any price given after hours must be accurate. Write your practice down. See after-hours answering and building an on-call schedule.

What did the FTC’s phone sweep find, and what is the fix?

It found callers given no price, a rough price, or a different price on each call. In January 2024 the FTC announced warning letters to 39 funeral homes after undercover calls to more than 250. In November 2024 its staff reported on calls to 278 randomly selected providers, placed from February to December 2023.

The first sweep ended in warning letters. The Rule also carries civil penalties. The FTC’s guide puts the maximum at $53,088 per violation, a figure set by the FTC’s January 2025 inflation adjustment.

What should an answering service or AI assistant say about prices?

Either the exact figure from your current list, or that a director will call with it. The duty sits with the funeral provider, whoever picks up the phone, so put the instruction in writing and date it. Give this sheet to your answering service, or set it for an AI receptionist.

1. If you hold our current price list: read the itemized price as printed. Never round, estimate or give a range.
2. If you do not quote prices for us: say "A funeral director will call you with the exact figure. May I take a name and number?"
3. If the caller gives no name or number: do not press. Give our number and the hours a director can answer.
4. Never say that we do not give prices by phone, or that the caller must come in. Never state what the law requires.
5. If a death has occurred: reach the on-call director now, even if the first question was about price.
6. Record: the time, the question in the caller’s words, the name and number if given, and what you told the caller.
7. Callback times: at-need questions at once, all others by [time] the next business day.

The FTC’s guide sets no callback deadline in hours, so the times are your own standard.

How do you keep a price call log?

Write one line for every price question, whoever took it. The Rule’s retention section, 16 CFR 453.6, does not ask for a call log. It covers price lists and statements of goods and services selected, each kept at least one year. A log is your own record, and it protects the firm in three ways.

• It shows what was asked, what was answered, and when.
• It exposes callbacks that were never made, while there is still time.
• It lets you compare prices quoted with the list in force that day.

Review the log monthly against your current list. Recording calls has its own consent rules. See call recording and AI disclosure.

What should staff say on a price call?

Say yes, then read the figure from the list.

1. "Yes, I can give you that. May I ask who is calling?" If they decline, carry on.
2. Read the itemized price from the current General Price List, and say what it includes.
3. Offer to send the price list as well. Do not make it a condition.

For the rest of the conversation, see responding to price shoppers. For death calls, use the first call script.

How FuneralHQ handles this

FuneralHQ keeps the General Price List once and builds the Statement of Funeral Goods and Services from the same line items, so a price read from the list matches the statement. AI phone answering is optional and stays off until you switch it on, for each location and phone number. The assistant never states a price, and house instructions cannot make it state one. It files the call as a price call and records the question for a director to return. Every call is recorded, transcribed and summarized, and the office is emailed after every call. Returning the call remains your responsibility.

Questions to ask your answering service or AI vendor

1. What is the operator or assistant told to say when asked for a price?
2. If it quotes prices, how is the figure updated when my list changes?
3. Can it be set never to quote, and to take the question instead?
4. Does it ask for a name and number without requiring them?
5. How does it tell an at-need call from a general price question?
6. How quickly does a price question reach a director?
7. Can I read or hear each price call afterward?

A live service that reads from your price list can answer a price caller on the spot. An assistant that never quotes cannot. If that matters most, a live service may be the better choice. See answering services compared.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Ask your attorney or your state association how the Rule and your state’s requirements apply to your firm.

Common questions about phone price disclosure

Can I tell a caller to come in for prices?

No. The FTC’s guide says you cannot require consumers to come to the funeral home in person to get price information. You may invite a caller in, but the question still has to be answered by phone, on that call or one you return.

Can I ask for a caller’s name before I answer?

You may ask. You may not require it. The FTC’s guide says you must still answer if the caller declines to give a name, address or phone number. "May I ask who is calling?" is fine. "I need your name first" is not.

Do I have to mail or email a price list to someone who calls?

No. The FTC’s guide says the Rule does not require you to send callers a General Price List. You may send one, and the FTC’s compliance post treats that as a supplement to the phone answer, not a replacement. Check whether your state asks for more.

Can I quote a package price over the phone?

Yes, but not alone. The FTC’s compliance post tells providers not to highlight only package prices. In the 2023 sweep, at least 33 percent of providers gave package pricing for at least one service without itemized prices. Give the itemized price first.

Can my answering service refuse to discuss prices?

It may decline to quote and take the question for you to return. The FTC’s guide allows an answering service to take calls, provided you then respond to each caller individually. It should never say that your firm does not give prices by phone.

Do I have to give prices to a competitor who calls?

The rule text covers persons who ask by telephone and does not sort them by reason for calling. Because a name cannot be a condition of answering, you will often not know who is asking. Give every caller the same accurate answer from the same list.

Do we have to post prices on our website?

Not under the current Rule. The FTC opened a review covering online price disclosure in October 2022 and held a workshop on September 7, 2023. No changed rule has been issued. A price page on your website does not replace an answer by phone.

What is the penalty for breaking the Funeral Rule?

The FTC’s guide states a maximum civil penalty of $53,088 per violation. The figure is adjusted for inflation, so check the guide for the current amount. The first phone sweep led to warning letters to 39 funeral homes. Ask your attorney how penalties apply.