“Probably the best funeral that they’ve ever been to.”
With industry costs rising year after year, many families are finding that a personal and memorable funeral can be tough to afford. This month’s Beyond Customer Champion have made it their mission to change that – and given their outstanding five-star feedback from clients, we think they’re doing an excellent job.
After all, it’s not every day you see reviews that say: “considerably cheaper than others” alongside “best funeral they’ve ever been to”.
So, without further ado: congratulations, Go Simply Funerals!
Who are Go Simply Funerals?
Founded by Angela Ward and Kevin Jones in 2016, Go Simply Funerals is an independent funeral directors based in Wiltshire. Despite their relatively recent launch, Angela and Kevin have over a decade of combined experience in the industry. They decided to team up after realising that they could offer a fairer, more affordable service to people in need:
“I’ve worked with over 35 funeral directors in the area, and I’ve seen an awful lot of how not to do funerals,” Angela explained when we caught up with her. “I saw so many people who had no money and were paying for things that they really didn’t need to be paying for … we’re really passionate about social justice, and we just felt: ‘We can do this better’”.
“They were giving as much as everybody else for a much, much, much more cost-efficient service”.
Now, over a year later, Go Simply Funerals pride themselves on offering beautiful, personal services with all the professional attention to detail that you would expect – but at an affordable price.
“When we compared [Go Simply Funerals] with everybody else, they were giving as much as everybody else for a much, much, much more cost-efficient service.” Andrew Dixon, a recent Beyond user, said. Go Simply arranged his father’s funeral right at the end of 2017, collecting him on Christmas Day after an urgent call-out.
“From what I’ve been told by lots of people there – and there were a lot of older people there – it was probably the best funeral that they’ve ever been to.”
Meanwhile, a Beyond review from Julianne Colbran described Angela and Kevin as “considerate, kind, highly professional,” adding that they “provided much more than we could ever have hoped for”.
“The question isn’t ‘Why can we be so cheap?’ – the question is ‘Why is everyone else so expensive?’”
So, what is Go Simply Funeral’s secret? According to Angela, that’s not quite the right question.
“The question isn’t ‘Why can we be so cheap?’ – the question is ‘Why is everyone else so expensive?’ We are that cheap because we can be that cheap, because funerals really can be that cheap.”
By keeping their own maintenance costs low and thus making sure that families only pay for services they’re actually using, Angela and Kevin say they can provide a lower-cost service without changing the experience for families. “We know where to save, and how to save, without compromising on any standard,” Angela said.
“It’s at the back-end that we’re saving money, all the wastage that other funeral directors maybe don’t think about. You will get an excellent funeral: nothing is compromised on that, or on the attention to families.”
“I can’t sing their praises high enough.”
According to Andrew Dixon, Angela and Kevin really do go the extra mile to provide a special service. “They came out to the house and spoke to my mother, and they explained what was going to happen, what they were going to be doing, how they would do it … Angela actually sang for us at the funeral, which was very good, and she put a lot into doing a eulogy for [my father]. It was all very well done.
“They were very good. I can’t sing their praises high enough.”
Want to find out more about Go Simply? You can find their Beyond profile, with services, quotes and reviews, here.
We decided to speak with Mr Keith Keshwar in light of the kind words he left regarding his experience using 
