Major accolade for funeral directors (From Swindon Advertiser)

Major accolade for funeral directors

6:07pm Sunday 19th June 2011 in News By Emma Dunn

HELPING the bereaved has led to a prestigious award for Hillier Funeral Service.

The funeral directors, in Victoria Road, which organises nearly 700 funerals a year, gained a funeral service customer care award at the National Funeral Exhibition last week.

The awards are based on responses to a national survey of clients who bought a funeral prepayment plan.

Managing director, Mark Hillier, said they were delighted to win the trophy.

“We are very pleased. Although you get customers thanking you for your services it is very rare for funeral directors to get any other form of recognition,” he said.

“This award is not just for myself but also for all the staff because they are the ones contributing to getting the award.”

The survey results showed that 78 per cent of Hillier’s clients were “very satisfied” with the service provided and the remaining 22 per cent were “satisfied.”

Of all the people surveyed, nobody was dissatisfied and 80 per cent of those who responded said they would recommend the plan to someone else.

And in the space for additional comments, one of Hillier’s clients said the staff were “very informative.”

“We pride ourselves on being a family business and I think that helps us considerably because the families get a personal service and we are now three generations in one family,” Mark said.

“There are still several members of the family involved in the business and we are very proud of the business.

“We often get letters of thanks from families and phone calls after funerals thanking us and mentions in the Adver.

“To get something tangible for it is very nice.

“The staff are very pleased because it is a pat on the back for them as well.”

A total of 377 funeral directors took part in the customer satisfaction survey and 45 awards were handed out.

Graham Williams, of Funeral Planning Services, who presented the award in Coventry on June 10, said: “Funeral directors provide a very personal service but don’t always get the recognition they deserve.

“We have worked with Hillier Funeral Service since 1998 and we are delighted that they won this award.”