Funeral hot line to aid round-the-clock

• Source: Global Times
• [08:10 August 05 2010]
• Comments

By Tang Zhao

The first-ever 24-hour hot line offering help with funeral services launched in the city Wednesday, in a bid to prevent unlicensed service providers from conducting such business.

Wang Hongjie, president of Shanghai Funeral and Burial Industry Association, said that the new funeral service hot line 962840 provides callers with free information on policies, services and will also file complaints about dissatisfactory funeral services encountered by local residents to the Shanghai Funeral and Burial Service Center.

"Residents planning to arrange a funeral in Shanghai can call this number and staff will provide callers with advice on services," he told the Global Times Wednesday.

He added that the hot line has teamed up with several well-known local funeral parlors such as Longhua, Baoxing and Yishan to provide callers with one-stop service.

Wang said the local funeral and burial market has been problematic for several years with many unsolicited advertisements from unlicensed businesses plaguing neighbor-hoods.

"Most residents are at a loss when it comes to finding information about funeral services, so it's easy for a lot of unlicensed agencies to take advantage of residents when they are in a fragile state of mind, easily ripping them off," he added.

Wang said that the hot line is also collaborating with State-owned funeral parlors to provide funeral packages for as low as 1,000 yuan ($147.65).

According to the Shanghai Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau, there are some 60 licensed business offering funeral and burial services in the city, while many unlicensed agents continue to seek business from residents in various communities and neighborhoods, particularly in suburban areas.

Zheng Yunying contributed to this story