Dignity, the funeral plan provider and owner of low-cost probate service Farewill, is being investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as part of a crackdown on fake and misleading reviews.
The investigation is one of five announced by the CMA, along with Autotrader, Feefo, JustEast and Pasta Evangelists. While the CMA is investigating the five businesses, it said it has not reached any conclusions about whether consumer law has been broken.
Dignity operates 46 crematoria and provided 70,000 services in 2024, with a reported turnover of £326.3 million. The CMA is investigating whether the company asked its staff to write positive reviews about the company’s crematoria services, giving people a potentially inaccurate picture of genuine customers’ feedback.
Reviews are used by 90% of consumers and contribute to the £217 billion spent in online retail markets in 2023, according to government figures. However, research suggests that up to 50% of online reviews are fake.
“Online reviews play a significant role in people’s decisions, influencing billions of pounds of UK spending every year,” the CMA said. “Research from Which? found that 89% of people use reviews when researching a product or service – making it essential that the information they rely on is genuine and transparent.”
In April 2025, several practices relating to online reviews became ‘banned practices’ under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCC Act), meaning they are automatically deemed unfair and illegal.
This includes obtaining and posting fake reviews and paid-for reviews that are not clearly marked as incentivised. It also covers how reviews are handled; for example, if negative reviews are hidden, or if star ratings present an inaccurate picture.
Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said: “Fake reviews strike at the heart of consumer trust – with many of us worrying about misleading content when looking at reviews online.
“With household budgets under pressure, people need to know they’re getting genuine information – not reviews or star-ratings that have been manipulated to push them towards the wrong choice.
“We’ve given businesses the time to get things right. Now we’re deploying our new powers to tackle some of the most harmful practices head on.”
The CMA said it will continue to engage with the companies under review to get to the bottom of its concerns. If it finds an infringement of the law, it can require businesses to change their practices and impose fines of up to 10% of global turnover.
“How the investigations unfold will depend on the nature of the evidence,” the CMA said. “They could result in a finding of unlawful conduct, the imposition of remedies, or case closures.”
