Privacy Policy

These are the terms and conditions on which Elkin & Bell Funerals Ltd (“we”, “us”, or “our”) supply professional services and/or funeral related goods to you.

We are an independent funeral director, and we provide a range of professional funeral services and related goods. 

We are registered in England and Wales under company number 11888343 

Our registered office is 186 Nobes Avenue, Bridgemary, Gosport Hampshire PO13 0HY

You can contact us by telephoning 01329600050 or by writing to us at enquiries@elkinandbellfunerals.co.uk or at the registered address above. 

If we need to contact you, we will do so by telephone, or in writing to you at the postal, or email address you provided to us during the funeral arrangements. 

When we use the words “writing” or “written” in these terms, this includes emails.

Please read these terms carefully before you agree to employ us. 

These terms tell you who we are, how we will provide services, or related goods to you; how you and we may change or end the contract, what to do if there is a problem, and other important information. 

If you think that there is a mistake in these terms, please contact us to discus

1.1 For funerals, our acceptance of your order will take place when we tell you that we are able to provide you with our services, which we will also confirm in writing to you, at which point a contract will come into existence between you and us.
You accept that we may incur costs in providing services to you before the contract commences, and you further agree that if you subsequently decide not to proceed we may charge you our reasonable costs for those services.

1.2 For all other services and goods we provide to you, our acceptance of your order will take place when we write to you to accept it, at which point a contract will come into existence between you and us.

1.3 If we are unable to accept part or all your order, we will inform you of this in writing and will not charge you for the goods or services.
This might be because the goods are out of stock, because of unexpected limits on our resources which we could not reasonably plan for, because we have identified an error in the price or description of the goods or services, or because we are unable to meet a delivery deadline you have specified

2.1 We will provide the goods and/or services to you set out in your order.

The goods we provide to you will:

2.2 correspond to the description and any specification you agree with us (see clause 11 below); and

2.2.1 be of satisfactory quality and fit for any purpose which we inform you of or that you make known to us.

2.3 We will deliver the services to you with reasonable care and skill.

3.1 If you wish to make a change to the goods or services you have ordered please contact us. We will let you know if the change is possible. If it is possible we will let you know about any changes to the price of the goods and/or services, the timing of supply or anything else which would be necessary as a result of your requested change and ask you to confirm whether you wish to go ahead with the change. If we cannot make the change or the consequences of making the change are unacceptable to you, you may want to end the contract (see clause 7.2).

4.1 We may make minor changes to the goods or services to reflect changes in relevant laws and regulatory requirements for example at certain times viewings of the deceased may not be possible due to contamination risks or churchyard regulations may not permit certain types of headstone.

4.2 If we have to make any other changes to these terms or the goods or services, we will notify you and you may then contact us to end the contract before the changes take effect and receive a refund for any goods or services paid for but not received.

5.1 If there is any cost of delivery of any goods we will inform you of the cost both verbally, and in writing.

5.2 During the order process we will agree with you the estimated delivery date for the delivery of any goods and the provision of any services.

5.3 You will own the goods, and the goods will be your responsibility, from the time we deliver the goods to the address you gave us for delivery.

5.4 We may need certain information from you so that we can supply the goods and/or services to you, for example, your address and access to the property, grave number and in the case of a memorial, permission from the church or cemetery authority. If so, this will have been explained to you and we will contact you to ask for this information. If you do not give us this information within a reasonable time of us asking for it, or if you give us incomplete or incorrect information, we may make an additional charge of a reasonable sum to compensate us for any extra work that is required as a result. We will not be responsible for supplying the goods or services late or not supplying any part of them if this is caused by you not giving us the information we need within a reasonable time of us asking for it.

6.1 The price of the goods or services will be the price as told to you at the time you place an order with us. We use our best efforts to ensure that the price of the goods or services advised to you are correct. However please see clause 6.3 for what happens if we discover an error in the price of the goods or services you order.

6.2 By signing the arrangement form you are accepting our estimated list of charges, and agree that you are responsible for paying us the full price of the goods or services when such payment falls due, before, and irrespective of the receipt of any sums due from any third party, including but not limited to any Government contribution.

6.3 It is always possible that, despite our best efforts, some of the goods or services we sell may be incorrectly priced. We will normally check prices before accepting your order so that, where the correct price of the goods and/or services at your order date is less than our stated price at your order date, we will charge the lower amount. If the correct price of the goods and/or services at your order date is higher than the price stated to you, we will contact you for your instructions before we accept your order.

6.4.1  FOR OUR SIMPLE OR BESPOKE CORE PACKAGES A minimum deposit of £1,000, or, all third-party fees (whichever is greater) is required prior to the day of the funeral.
Final payment is required within fourteen (14) days of the date of the funeral. 

6.4.2   

FOR OUR UNATTENDED PACKAGE Full and final payment is required within three (3) working days of your instruction for us to proceed.

6.5 If you do not make any payment to us by the due date we may charge interest to you on the overdue amount at the rate of 2% a year above the base lending rate of the Bank of England from time to time. This interest shall accrue on a daily basis from the due date until the date of actual payment of the overdue amount, whether before or after judgement. You must pay us interest together with any overdue amount.

6.6 If you think any invoice is wrong please contact us promptly to let us know. You will not have to pay any interest until any dispute is resolved. Once a dispute is resolved we will charge you interest on correctly invoiced sums from the original due date.

6.7 We reserve the right to charge you for any reasonable costs and expenses incurred by us as a result of your failure to pay amounts as they fall due.

6.8   If you are having financial difficulties in paying the funeral invoice, please discuss

this with us and we may be willing to consider a repayment option. We would

ask that any repayment option set up with the company is settled within six

months of the funeral being completed.

If required, we will forward a copy of the funeral account to a solicitor, bank or the

Department for Work and Pensions in respect of seeking payment if payment is

not forthcoming from either of the above organisations, we will look to the

client for payment.

7.1 Exercising your right to change your mind (Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013). For most goods or services bought over the telephone, by exchange of emails or away from our premises, you have a legal right to change your mind within the relevant cancellation period and receive a refund as follows:

7.1.1 Cancelling an order for goods. For goods you have bought from us you have the right to change your mind and cancel within 14 days after the day you (or someone you nominate) receives the goods. You do not have the right to cancel if you change your mind in respect of goods that are made to your specification and/or clearly personalised to the deceased, including but not limited to, coffins, obituaries, floral tributes and engraved memorials. This is because we would be unable to re-use these goods for another client if you cancelled and therefore unfortunately, we cannot accept cancellations of such goods.

7.1.2 Cancelling an order for services.  

FOR OUR SIMPLE OR BESPOKE CORE PACKAGES The client has the right to cancel this contract if they so wish within the cooling-off period of seven (7) days from instruction.
FOR OUR UNATTENDED PACKAGE The client has the right to cancel this contract if they so wish within the cooling-off period of three (3) days from instruction. . 

You acknowledge that if the services are fully performed within the cancellation period, you will lose the right to change your mind and cancel the services under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. If you cancel after we have started the services but before the services are completed then you must pay us for the services provided up until the time you tell us that you have changed your mind.

7.2 To exercise your right to cancel, you must inform us of your decision to cancel by a clear statement (e.g. a letter sent by post or email). 

7.3 If you are exercising your right to change your mind in respect of goods which were delivered and the goods are suitable for posting you must pay for the cost of return.

7.4 Ending the contract because of something we have done or are going to do. 

If you are ending a contract for a reason set out at 7.4.1 to 7.4.4 below the contract will end immediately and we will refund you in full for any goods and/or services which have not been provided and you may also be entitled to compensation. The reasons are:

7.4.1 we have told you about an upcoming change to the goods or services or these terms which you do not agree to (see clause 4.2);

7.4.2 we have told you about an error in the price or description of the goods or services you have ordered and you do not wish to proceed;

7.4.3 there is a risk that supply of the goods or services may be significantly delayed because of events outside our control;

7.4.4 you have a legal right to end the contract because of something we have done wrong.

8.1 We may end the contract for goods or services at any time by writing to you if:

8.1.1 you do not make any payment to us when it is due and you still do not make payment within 28 days of us reminding you that payment is due; or

8.1.2 we find out that your belongings have been taken away from you to pay off your debts, or a receiving order has been made against you.

 9.1 Our liability for any loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking this contract or our failing to use reasonable care and skill is limited to the total contract price due by you to us. We are not responsible for any loss or damage that is not foreseeable. 

Loss or damage is foreseeable if either it is obvious that it will happen or if, at the time the contract was made, both we and you knew it might happen, for example, if you discussed it with us during the order process.

9.2 We shall not be liable for any loss or damage to your property or that of any other person unless caused by our negligent action or breach of the contract by us.

9.3 Nothing in these terms shall operate so as to exclude, limit or restrict our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation or for any other liability the exclusion or limitation of which is not permitted by English law.

10.1 We will not be liable or responsible for any failure to perform or delay in the delivery of any goods or services in the event of any strike, lock out, trade dispute, accident, fire, flood, inclement weather, or any natural disaster or act of God or any contingency whatsoever beyond our reasonable control (a “Delaying Event”) affecting the delivery of the goods or services ordered by you. Such suspension or cancellation shall not constitute a breach of contract between us, nor will you be entitled to claim for any loss or damage howsoever arising as a result of a Delaying Event.

11.1 The images of the goods in our brochures are for illustrative purposes only. 

Although we have made every effort to display the colours accurately, we cannot guarantee that a picture in our brochure accurately reflects the colour of the goods. 

For example where goods are made of natural occurring material and/or quarried stone, we are unable to guarantee that such material will match the exact colour or appearance of the image in our brochure as natural variations in tone and texture, including natural blemishes, may occur. Your goods may vary slightly from those images.

11.2 If we are making the goods to measurements and/or providing the services to the specification that you have given us you are responsible for ensuring that these measurements and/or specification are correct. You can obtain information and tips on how to measure or provide the specification by contacting us.

12.1 We make reasonable and proper efforts to care for the body of the person who has died, and only with permission will carry out recognized embalming procedures in order to keep the deceased’s body in a viewable state.

12.2 We reserve the right to refuse any person to allow viewing of the person who has died at our property at any time including, but without limitation, if the deceased suffered from an infectious disease or where you have asked for the coffin to be closed.

12.3 Unless arising from a negligent action or breach of the contract by us, and we shall not be liable for:

12.3.1 loss of any jewellery, clothing or personal effects of the person who has died or such items belonging left with them but belonging to any other person. We do recommend that no valuable items are left on or with the person who has died; and

12.3.2 any damage to the body of the person who has died which is sustained before the deceased is under our full control.

13.1 If the person who has died is to be cremated, we will agree with you which crematoria will perform this service, unless you select the Direct Cremation Package. 

On occasion it may be necessary for us to change the location at which the deceased is cremated, for example due to unforeseen temporary closure of a particular crematorium. 

In this event, we will inform you in advance of the change.

13.2 If requested by you as part of your order, we will collect the cremated remains following cremation and store these for a reasonable period until you are able to collect them. 

We will store the remains without charge for two years from the date we collect them from the crematorium. 

We may store the remains for a longer period with written consent from the applicant for cremation. 

If you have not collected the remains, or instructed us otherwise during this time, we will write to you to advise you that the remains require collection.  We shall write to you three times in total. 

If we do not receive a response from you within 6 months of our final letter we will write to you to advise that will we be scattering the deceased’s remains, notifying you of the time and location for the scattering.

14.1 We will discuss with you, either in person, over the telephone or in writing the layout and wording of an obituary/newspaper announcement which you ask us to place in a publication on your behalf. 

We will provide you with a proof obituary layout (“Obituary Proof”) for you to review. You should check the Obituary Proof carefully and confirm acceptance of it. We shall not be liable for any errors in the spelling or wording of the obituary where the obituary conforms to the accepted Obituary Proof.

14.2 We accept no liability for a third parties failure to publish an obituary or for any misspelling or inaccuracy in any obituary notice where the variation from the Obituary Proof is the fault of a third party.

15.1 We accept no responsibility for and no liability to you or any third party for:

15.1.1 any damage or loss of any memorial, plants, turf or items placed on the grave caused by a third party, severe weather or animal action.

15.1.2 the level of growth, death or shape of any planting supplied as part of the contract. This includes the effect of drought, disease or third party damage.

15.2 We will make every attempt to complete all work according to the scheduled frequency of visits and dates requested but we reserve the right to complete works according to limitations caused by weather, access to the grave, actions of churchyard or cemetery authority and availability of seasonal stock items.

15.3 None of our employees, other than a Director, are authorised to make any statement or warranty or representations as to the overall services supplied.

16.1 You need our consent to transfer your rights to someone else. You may only transfer your rights or your obligations under these terms to another person if we agree to this in writing.

16.2 Where the order is placed by two or more people, each of you will be jointly and severally liable for compliance with the obligations under these terms (this means that we are entitled to enforce our rights against one, some or all of you as we consider appropriate in the circumstances).

16.3 If a court finds part of this contract illegal, the rest will continue in force. Each of the paragraphs of these terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.

16.4 Even if we delay in enforcing this contract, we can still enforce it later. If we do not insist immediately that you do anything you are required to do under these terms, or if we delay in taking steps against you in respect of your breaking this contract, that will not mean that you do not have to do those things and it will not prevent us taking steps against you at a later date. For example, if you miss a payment and we do not chase you but we continue to provide the goods and/or services, we can still require you to make the payment at a later date.

16.5 These terms constitute the entire understanding between us in relation to a contract, so please tell us if anything we have said is not included.

16.6 These terms are governed by English law and you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the goods and/or services in the English courts. If you live in Scotland you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the goods and/or services in either the Scottish or the English courts. If you live in Northern Ireland you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the goods and/or services in either the Northern Irish or the English courts.

17.1 Our staff are entitled to work without fear of abuse, harassment, intimidation or

violence. We will always seek action against anyone who behaves in this way, and 

involve the police if the behaviour is criminal.

17.2 Our staff will choose the route for the funeral vehicles based on experience and

knowledge of the local area, unless otherwise stated by the client and approved by the

company.

17.3 Our staff have the right to refuse to carry any passenger who is thought to be under

the influence of alcohol or drugs and whose behaviour poses a threat to either the

chauffeur, the vehicle, or any other passenger(s)