Extortionate pricing

[Greaves]

I recently e-mailed Hereford Cemetery for help in finding the final resting places of two of my relatives. By return I got an e-mail informing me of the cost

"If your enquiry is regarding a burial search, please be advised of the following charges for this service.
 
Where the applicant provides FULL, accurate information - £21.00
 
Where the applicant provides PARTIAL information - £45.00"

Needless to say I will not be forwarding £90 to them, given that I have only very partial information. If I had FULL information, why would I be contacting them? They want £42 for nothing!

Very disappointing, given that other cemeteries are much more helpful, often not charging or if they do at a much more reasonable rate.
 

[PaulineJ]

I disagree that it is extortionate.
Our local council Calderdale (& neighbouring Bradford) both charge fees, but you can search the registers in person at no charge.

Bradford isn't even indexed. You have to peruse the individual registers in date order.
If you don't know which cemetery, then you search all (8 ?) of 'em. Bowling had 15-20 burials/day

Does hereford provide facilities for an in-person search?

[Greaves]

I have no idea, but it is not relevant as I live on the other side of the country.

Moreover, you are clearly richer than me if you think £90 is reasonable for two searches. I think it is extortionate. 

[mazi]

Since my local garage charges me £90 for each hour of Labour it just reflects the time it takes to do the search.

Mike,    A hereford ratepayer

[guest189040]

A got just that same response from Bradford whilst we were there so we viewed the records ourselves and made a note of the plot numbers.

Then we went to the Cemetery only to find a note on the office window basically saving, if you are researching family history sod off.

Conversely

Over the Pennines in friendly Manchester the staff at both the Crematorium and Southern Cemetery could not have been more helpful.  The staff at Southern looked up the plot numbers for us and physically took us to the graves.

5* to Manchester

0* to Bradford

[chempat]

Cremation searches (from 1956) are free in Hereford - certificate for £12.  So they will do something for nothing.
I would think, as others have said, that the cost involves the time taken and it is probably very quick and easy to look up crematorium entries but requires time and effort to look up burials.
No-one is saying that £90 is not a significant amount of money, but the person doing the work has to be paid for by someone - why should the council support a hobby for free?
It also says that the partial charge is £43, I did wonder if they could offer discount for 2 people, but they could be in 2 totally separate places so probably not.

[Fisherman]

I must have been very lucky because only a few years back I enquired about my grandparents grave at Hereford Cemetery. Within a couple of days they e-mailed me maps and details not only of my grandparents grave but of other family burials as well. All at no charge.

Fisherman 

[carol8353]

Have you tried www.deceasedonline.com 

[Treetotal]

If you have the year of death it might be worth looking in newspapers for an obituary which may give the cemetery where they were interred. That way someone Local may be able to help you out. I do believe the charges for a search are too high. I emailed Hull City Council bereavement services and got a plot and compartment number, also a map of the cemetery the same day, free of charge. I suppose every local councils budget is different.
Carol