A CUSTOMER has expressed his shock after being told he was too old for a funeral plan.

John Floyd, 79, visited Co-op Funeralcare in Southend to arrange a prepaid funeral after deciding to get his affairs in order.

Echo:

Mr Floyd of The Leas, Westcliff, agreed to pay £84 a month for the £2,995 plus interest over three years.

Fit and healthy Mr Floyd was confident of being around long enough to pay the fee in full and with all the papers signed, the company agreed to take his first payment on March 4.

Before that could happen however, an employee at the branch called him to say the deal was off - as he was too old.

Mr Floyd, said: “The Co-op are advertising this deal all over the place. I felt it prudent to make arrangements for my funeral so I thought I would take the offer up.

“I thought everything was arranged and then before the first payment was due to come out they told me I was too old.

“I’d told them my age when I was there making the arrangement and at no point did they say I was too old. There was no mention of my age and I can’t seen any mention of age in their adverts.”

Mr Floyd added: “Under the agreement if you die after a year then the funeral is paid in full but I’m confident I would have paid it all. It seems very unfair.”

A Co-op spokeswoman said: “We’re sorry for the mistake we made when helping Mr Floyd to arrange his funeral plan.

“We’ve contacted Mr Floyd directly to apologise and have arranged to meet with him to arrange a new funeral plan which meets his requirements.”

The Co-op is advertising its pre-paid funeral plans, with payments made over two to 25 years. In the terms and conditions, the company stipulates plans should be paid for by the time a person is 80 but this wasn’t mentioned to Mr Floyd before the agreement was signed.

Mr Floyd has since been offered a new deal with a £1,000 reduction but payments of up to £170 a month to clear the cost by January 31, 2020, when he turns 80. He has declined the offer.