Growth was also limited by capital constraints endemic to their industry. On one hand strict operating protocols required that all sales were funded to an independent funeral plan trust, while a higher-than-expected volume of refund requests limited the free funds available to invest in growth. Due in large part to the significant up-front cost, some customers who committed and paid then reconsidered, apparently deciding to defer this expense until later in life.
A further occasional challenge involved some customers, perhaps embarrassed to request a refund after agreeing to purchase, instead charged back their transaction, claiming to their bank or partner that they didn’t recognise the purchase or had been mis-sold. An impact of receiving such high value chargebacks, even in very low numbers, was that the acquirer’s risk team was in a state of high alert.