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Two Propel-owned funeral homes pay penalties for alleged misleading local ownership claims
WT Howard Funeral Services and Coventry Funeral Homes, trading as Fitzgerald’s Funerals, have each paid $12,600 in penalties after the ACCC issued each of the businesses with an infringement notice for allegedly making a false and misleading representation about their ownership. This coincides with the release of an ACCC survey seeking further information about the experiences of consumers and businesses with the funeral services sector.
WT Howard promoted on its website that it was “proudly local and independently owned” while Coventry represented that “Fitzgeralds Funerals in Townsville North Queensland is locally owned and operated”, when in fact both WT Howard and Fitzgerald’s Funerals are owned by a publicly listed company, Propel Funeral Partners.
âUnfair advantageâ: ACCC cracks down on funeral industry
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Two regional businesses owned by Australiaâs second largest funeral company have each paid a $12,600 penalty for falsely claiming they were local and independently owned.
The infringement notices issued to Propel Funeral Partners were the first as part of a new enforcement program of the sector by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
ACCCâs deputy chair Delia Rickard said the industry was âon notice that further enforcement action will be considered this yearâ.
The funeral sector has been put on by the ACCC.
Credit:Brook Mitchell