A PHONE help-line has been inundated with calls following Friday's Bolton Evening News report of how unscrupulous "funeral plan" sellers are targeting old people's homes in the Bolton area.

The Co-op Funeral Service set up the free advice line after reports that salesmen had been getting old people to sign on the dotted line for pre-paid funeral plans that could land relatives with hefty bills.

CFS manager Mark Holmes - one of the people who manned the advice lines - said they had been told many "horror stories" as a result of the BEN report.

One pensioner had paid out £2,500 for a funeral package. But when the Co-op officials totted up the total for everthing listed, the whole bill should only have come to £1,100.

Others, said Mr Holmes, had taken out plans which nowhere near covered for the expense involved and in those cases, relatives would be left to make up the deficit.

Mr Holmes told on Friday how they decided to set up the advice line after a report that a salesman had sold a frail pensioner a funeral plan - after being let into an old folk's home in Bolton by the cleaner.

After the BEN story, however, another pensioner, who did not wanted to be named, contacted the News Desk to explain: "I know the case that is being talked about. The cleaner let the man in thinking he was a relative on a visit, but as soon as she realised he was trying to sell one of the residents a funeral plan she sent him packing.

"But he actually sneaked back and did the same thing the same afternoon when the cleaner had gone off duty."

A spokesman for old-established Avalon Trustee Company, which has been providing funeral cover in Bolton for many years, said they were also dismayed at the tactics being used by some unscrupulous salesmen.

Director Mike Cooper stressed that anyone intending to take out a funeral plan should make doubly sure that it guarantees that family and loved ones will not be left with large additional bills.

He said reputable companies like his actually guarantee that there will be nothing more to pay.

Mr Holmes warned on Friday how some schemes did not event cover such essential items as burial or crematorium fees, which could leave families with large and unexpected bills.

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