Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can. From your question, it sounds like you want to store the casket yourself. You can do this, just like you would any other merchandise. However, this is not what people typically do.
Every state has laws regarding "prepaid funeral benefits," which is what caskets are when purchased prior to death. Most people take advantage of these laws, which allow purchasers to lock in the price of the casket without having to take possession of it. These funds are trusted according to state law, and we deliver the casket to the funeral home at time of need. We are not allowed to withdraw funds from the trust until we fulfill specific paperwork requirements, such as providing a copy of a death certificate and other signed forms to substantiate delivery completion. Prepaid funeral benefit contracts are regulated and audited by each state to assure companies like ours are complying with the law, thereby protecting consumers in their state.
To give you a quote, we'll need a little information about what you want, like the size, color and shape of granite, what cemetery this will be installed in and where it is located (city and state).
In order to guarantee our price quote for 90 days, we'll also need your name, address and phone number for our records. You can send us an email using any of our forms throughout the website, or you can call customer service at 1-800-825-7625 during normal business hours.
Yes, we offer payment plans. We mail statements two times a month, with due dates on the 5th and 20th of each month. (You can choose which due date works best for you.) We can go as long as 36 months interest-free.
Rather than ship by common carrier, we select your casket from our inventory, carefully inspect it and personally deliver it to any funeral home located in our five-state delivery region. We schedule delivery directly with the funeral home so delivery time is convenient. Generally we can deliver caskets either the same day or next day after delivery is requested, depending on the time of day we receive the call.
If you move out of our five-state delivery region, we will consider the distance to determine the appropriate delivery method. For locations too far out of our delivery area, we may ship by common carrier. In such cases, after inspecting the casket, we would carefully wrap and box it, using protective packaging materials made especially for caskets. We insure our shipments to protect against loss due to damage during shipping.
The Federal Trade Commission changed the "Funeral Rule" law (Rule 16 CFR Part 453) in 1994 to ensure this does not happen. Funeral homes are prohibited from refusing delivery of a casket purchased elsewhere or causing duress to the family. Furthermore, funeral homes cannot vary prices from their published price lists just because you purchased your casket elsewhere.
We can sell caskets to residents in other states only at the time a death has occurred. Our prices all include delivery to the funeral home. You can call us at our home office at 800-825-7625 to discuss available selection and payment options at the time of need.
Because we are not pre-need licensed in your state at this time, we cannot sell you a casket now for future delivery. We can only do that in the states where we are licensed to do so.
We can create almost any emblem that you provide us a picture of. We use your picture to create a new emblem in our monument design program and we will work closely with you to make sure that the emblem is what you want by sending you computerized drawings of your complete monument.
Click here to see how we create custom emblems from images provided to us by our customers!
We are licensed in Texas and Mississippi to sell caskets on a pre-need basis. State regulations require that we trust your money in a state-audited and approved trust fund. We are not allowed to remove your money from the trust until the casket has been delivered and a death certificate has been provided.
Texas residents are further protected by the Texas Prepaid Funeral Guaranty Fund. If the company that sold the pre-need funeral benefits contract goes out of business, the Texas Department of Banking will find a subsequent provider, and if there are any shortages of funds, the Guaranty Fund makes up the difference.
Our caskets are delivered from our location in Canton, TX, directly to the funeral home of your choice. We handle casket calls as quickly as possible, generally getting on the road within hours of the request for delivery, depending on the time of day that you call. (Late afternoon and evening calls are usually handled the following morning.) Our own staff personally inspect and deliver each casket within our five-state delivery region. We only use common carriers, like FedEX or UPS, when necessary because families have moved far away from our delivery region.
In addition to the casket itself, we also include delivery to the funeral home of your choice within our 5 state region of TX, OK, LA, AR and MS. The fact that delivery is included in our pricing is especially important when shopping online, because most other casket sellers generally quote their casket prices without delivery included. Delivery can then add anywhere from $600 to $1000 to the cost, so looking at the price of the casket alone won't be comparable.