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Regular readers of this blog will know that I’ve been going on for some time about the importance of verified reviews for funeral directors.
The reason being that the public trust verified reviews in order to make purchasing decisions and, increasingly, ChatGPT and Google AI rely on verified reviews to recommend funeral directors to the bereaved.
Which is why it is truly mind-boggling to read this morning on the BBC and across all the major national newspapers that Dignity Funerals have been accused by the government’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of faking customer reviews.
The accusation by the CMA is that staff at Dignity were asked to write fake reviews about the company’s level of service.
The government’s press release reads as follows:
“The CMA has opened an investigation into Dignity’s compliance with consumer protection law."
"The CMA is investigating whether Dignity asked staff to write positive reviews about the company’s crematoria services – giving people a potentially inaccurate picture of genuine customers’ feedback.”
Of course Dignity may be innocent of all charges, with the CMA going on to say that:
"[They] will engage with Dignity and gather evidence to consider whether the CMA thinks Dignity has infringed consumer protection law".
The press release states that the next update on the matter will be in September 2026.
It really is shocking stuff and there is a possibility that Dignity may never recover from this as a public brand.
They will now always be associated with fake reviews, not just by the public, but also by the AI assistants at Google and ChatGPT, which are increasingly the first port of call for the bereaved.
Who would choose a funeral director if they are found guilty of faking customer reviews? No-one. And the AI knows this, so it won't recommend Dignity to the public. That's why this is an existential threat to their business.
What a monumental own goal. I mean, what were the owners of Dignity thinking? Reputation is everything in this profession.
It can take generations of local goodwill to be a respected funeral director and Dignity have potentially thrown it all away in a moment of madness.
Let this be a lesson to all funeral directors - please be very careful who you associate with in terms of suppliers and their own reputations.
You will be tarred with the same brush if they let the public down. And the Internet never forgets, especially in the age of AI which makes recommendations based almost solely on reputation.
I did warn about this in a previous blog post entitled Funeral directors must choose their website partners carefully in the age of AI search, which you should read now if you haven't already.
In particular you should be concerned about who you partner with not just for reviews, but also for online donations as the latter is the next national scandal waiting to happen in the funeral profession in my opinion.
Back to the topic at hand, we must not forget who the real victims are in this fake review scandal: the bereaved.
If the accusations are true then they have been hoodwinked into choosing a funeral director at one of the most vulnerable moments of their life.
As I say, it really does beggar belief and is very sad.
The funeral profession as a whole will suffer from this scandal too. A lot of people will read the news story and think badly of not just Dignity, but funeral directors as a collective.
That’s not fair I know, but it is human nature. Pure Cremation and other online competitors of funeral directors must be licking their lips at the news. Expect their own press releases on the matter.
Today is an all-round shocking turn of events and a dark day for the funeral profession. That is simply undeniable.
But let's not forget that one bad apple does not spoil the whole bunch.
Funeral Guide works with thousands of funeral directors all over the country and their legitmate, verified reviews are testatment to their excellence in looking after the bereaved.
It's important to remember that.
