Thanks for all your feedback so far! Beyond want the opportunity to thank you all for taking part and respond to a user.
"Hi there - Beyond here. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to test our service - we really value and appreciate your feedback, and the insight you have provided has been incredibly helpful.
@EagleVisionSquirrelWork - thanks for your comment.
My name is James Dunn and, hopefully, I can clear up the issues and concerns that you’ve raised. I’m one of the directors you mentioned who are listed on Companies House and one of the ‘chirpy thirty-something’s in the photo on our About Us page.
Beyond began life as Funeralbooker in 2015. At the time, we were solely a funeral price comparison website. Our aim was (and still is) to make ‘after life’ services fairer by helping families find the most affordable service near them.
You can read about some of our work and achievements on this front in the Express, the Mail, and The Times. We also assisted the Competition and Markets Authority during their funeral market investigation, which you can see here.
In 2017, we started to think about new ways we could help families cope with issues around the end of a life: not just funerals, but also the legal side of things. So, we created our probate offering and developed our affordable online will service. Since launch, we have helped tens of thousands of people write a will and enabled many million pounds worth of legacy gifts to charity.
To reflect the wider range of services we were offering, we decided to rebrand as Beyond.
We now operate solely under that name. This rebrand was covered widely, and you can see some examples of this coverage here and here.
The information on the About Us page matches the information within our terms, which matches the information on Companies House. Additionally, you can view our FCA authorisation here, which also confirms these details. I hope this assures you who we are.
One of the other directors listed on Companies House is Ian Strang, who is our CEO. Unfortunately, he’s no longer a thirty-something, but still chirpy. The other two directors listed on Companies House are non-operational directors, representing two of our investors.
I am unsure what the other business is that you refer to (the one named Beyond and based in Manchester). However, I can confirm that it is in no way connected to us.
Now, you are correct in that there is rife abuse of “automatic” executorships in the will-writing industry. At Beyond, we do not automatically add ourselves as executors on any wills.
For us to act as executor, the customer has to actively choose that option when using our will service and as a customer-centric company, we provide clear and fair terms for this service, visible online here.
I really do hope this helps clear up the concerns you had. I would be more than happy to speak further.
Best
James