A Soweto man has set his lawyer on owners of a funeral parlour after they refused to reimburse him an amount of R9,400 they "overcharged" him for his mother's burial.
Simon Mogale, 64, from Phiri believes that Rebafeti Funeral Services in Orlando West robbed him when they demanded that he “top up” his funeral cover policy with R9,400 when he submitted a claim to bury his mother in July 2021.
He had been a Rebafeti client since 2006 and was paying between R120 and R165 in premiums for two dependents.
Sowetan Consumer has seen receipts which show that Mogale has never missed a payment.
“In 2008, I was asked to come and choose my mom’s coffin. She always stressed that she didn’t want a flashy coffin and she was happy with the one I chose. It was a basic coffin which cost around R4,000 at the time,” said Mogale.
“When my mother died last year, I went to submit a claim with Rebafeti and they told me they didn’t have my mother’s coffin as it has been out of the market. I told them to replace it with mine which I had chosen some years ago.
"Mine cost around R8,000. They said I’d have to top up with R9,400 in order for them to give the coffin to my mom. I was shocked because I had been paying my premiums religiously and it’s not my fault that they didn’t have stock of my mom’s coffin. I paid the money because the day of the funeral was close,” said Mogale.
He was told that of R9,400, R550 would pay for the engraving of the tombstone and R850 for the digging of the grave.
Sowetan Consumer also read Mogale’s policy and one of the conditions was that the main member was obliged to continue to pay for the deceased’s premium six months after the burial.
Failure to do so would result in the main member reimbursing the parlour for the funeral costs.
Mogale said after his mother’s funeral he went to the parlour to get clarity about the money he had paid and he was promised a portion of the refund but this never materialised.
“The conversation then changed and they started threatening me whenever I went to enquire,” said Mogale.
In his efforts to get his money back, Mogale hired a lawyer, Bonolo Mokgothu, who then drafted a letter of demand to Rebarefi’s manager, Seabotseng Phetoe, in August last year.
“On or about 23 July 2021, he was informed by your good self that he has to pay an extra amount of R9,400 to top up for the coffin. However, he did not understand why he had to pay the said amount as he has been paying the subscription fee. According to his knowledge and understanding the package that he chose was going to be covered by the subscription fee that he paid on a monthly basis since 2006.”
“It is further our instruction that he did not require anything extra further than what was offered to him on the agreed package and you had a discussion with him wherein he explained to you that his mother told him that she did not want a fancy coffin.
"You tried to persuade him to take the casket and he refused and you further informed him that you are out of stock regarding the coffin that he wanted for his mother and opted to swap with his, which you showed him when he at your office.
"Due to constraints and because he had made arrangements to bury his mother on July 24 2021, he paid the R9,400 that you requested under protest as he did not understand why he had to pay this extra amount.”
They are demanding a full refund.
Mokgothu told Sowetan that he had not received a response from the funeral parlour.
“I’m now preparing a summons to force them to respond to our demands,” said Mokgothu.
Johan Rousseau from Funeral Industry Reformed Association, which has been trying to get the industry regulated for more than 10 years, said the industry is riddled with unscrupulous parlours.
“Unfortunately bodies that are supposed to regulate this industry don’t really understand the funeral industry. It can take up to six months for them to investigate an issue but, in reality, clients do not have that time because they want to bury their loved one urgently.
"The industry is not regulated and parlours do as they please at the cost of their customers. Coffins that are priced at R1,000 by manufacturers are hiked by R9,000 by parlours. You pay more for body storage at a funeral parlour than you pay at the Holiday Inn,” Rousseau said.
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