East of England Co-op Funeral Services

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!! Do not use this company!! You will regret it, believe me. It amazes me that these people are allowed to remain in business. Complete nightmare from start to finish - causing untold additional stress at what was already a difficult time. - Didnt bother collecting my dads body for 10-12 days after the post mortem, and never once replied when we tried to find out where he was. Just left him there at the hospital and did nothing and didnt reply to us once. - Never once replied to emails, calls or answered the phone after initial call. Nothing at all for about 3 or 4 weeks (we eventually switched providers, still never once had a response) - When I finally did manage to speak with someone (from Colchester branch) they lied to her and said they had collected him a week before and he was with them, then a few days later admitted they hadnt collected him after all and he was still at the hospital. There was quite some time where they didnt seem to know where he was at all! - This prevented the family from being able to view him, as they left it too long to collect him, it was too late for viewings. - Due to their busy work load, on the first (and only call) we had with them, she told us that the coroners had a 4 week backlog and wed have to book the service for 6-8 weeks time. I later found out this wasnt the case at all (confirmed by other local funeral directors as well as the corner) they often do this when theyre just too busy themselves to hold it sooner - they lie and delay the entire process unnecessarily for weeks so that they could accept your money - As well as shockingly bad service - their prices are far higher than the other local independent providers (who we ended up switching to) WORST OF ALL: - When we switched providers, they immediately called the crematorium and CANCELLED our slot. Despite being fully aware we wanted to keep the date, just switch providers. They were also aware we had close family flying over from Australia for this date. Tried cancelling it solely out of spite. Luckily I called the crematorium myself to let them know we were using another company for the service and to liaise with them, and no one else had yet booked our slot, so we were luckily able to keep it. Its appalling how callous and unprofessional they are, and caused so much additional upset and trauma on top of an already difficult time. Not to mention, how because they never bothered to collect my dad for 10-12 days after his post mortem, it meant we were robbed of being able to view him and having a private goodbye. Appalling. These people should be ashamed of themselves. It was so bad that we are looking into reporting this further, because they cannot be allowed to keep treating grieving families so appallingly. (Many many bad reviews saying exactly the same things on TP which we wish wed seen beforehand!) AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!!!
Mar 17th, 2023

Traumatic experience of wrong deceased laid out to visit in chapel of rest. Complete disrespect for myself and the family of the gentleman shown in error, and for the dishevelled state my deceased close family member was presented, after hurriedly correcting the error. Still no apology, and still no reply to me, after my letter of complaint to head office, 2020. Also took the wrong, planned route, on both parents funerals.
Mar 18th, 2022

Feb 22nd, 2018