Evans Funeral Services - Mangapapa

A fantastic provider of services for the recently deceased. Arranging a funeral from 4,000 or so kms away was made a breeze by the professional and courteous nature of Nick and the staff of Evans funeral services. Evans were able to provide my grandmother the funeral her and I had planned a month earlier. Right from the start through until the end.

I am appalled at the predictable failures of in-service video and sound at today’s funeral of Len Cudd. The company failed to provide any back-up despite knowing there had been problems with Spotify for two days. People travelled from overseas and all round NZ for this funeral - or like me watched, horrified, as this chaotic service unfolded. Not good enough. A public apology and full refund to the Cudd family is essential.

From the minute we walked into Evans's premises we were treated with such a lack or empathy and kindness that it bordered on total distain. Whilst my Father's funeral service was conducted by another company, (brilliant) Evans Funeral Services were responsible for his cremation. My Mother, my Sister and I were treated to such a negative experience I felt it necessary to phone the owner David and discuss our experience with him. So far, 1 week after collecting my Fathers ashes and 3 days since my call to the owners we have still not yet received an apology for the manner in which we were treated by a staff member there. Our experience went like this: Upon arriving at Evan's, we were greeted by a middle aged woman who gruffly asked if she could help us. My Mother introduced herself and articulated that she was there to collect her Husband's ashes. We were 'directed' to a waiting lounge and told "'I will go get him". The woman returned with my Father's ashes (in a box) which had been placed upside down and lodged into a paper bag. The woman then unceremoniously dumped the paper bag on the couch (instead of presenting him to my Mother) then literally shoved a clipboard into my Mother's hands advising here to "sign here"". Mum was reading what she was to sign when the woman rudely snapped at her asking if there was "'something wrong"'? Mum (visibly upset by this stage) told the woman that she was merely reading what she had been asked to sign. The woman then turned to my Sister and I and asked US if there was something wrong. I told her that I wasn't particularly happy that she had just plonked my Fathers remains onto a couch. She then shrugged her shoulders like she could care less and exited the room. Basically not once did we hear a "sorry for your loss" let alone an offer of condolences. No kindness, no empathy and most certainly a HUGE LACK OF PROFESSIONALISM. This was the day that my dear Mother had to collect the remains of a man that she had been happily married to for 56 years and it was already a traumatic experience for us all, however to then have to deal with an obnoxious, uncaring staff member whose actions and words were nothing short of disgusting ensured that it was a hideous experience for us all. The owner could not even bother to call us back once our experience had been bought to his attention. If I could give our experience with Evans (albeit a limited one) a zero out of ten review I would. Disgraceful conduct.

If I could give zero stars, I would. Gavin(?) Was the guy at Evans who dealt with us. Due to the current lockdown situation my mother needed to get an exemption to leave Auckland when my father died. They were married for 30 years. My mother had been in Auckland dealing with the death and aftermath of my grandmother when lockdown happened, and my father died suddenly and unexpectedly. My mother asked Evans to hold the body until she could get out of Auckland to view his body. The decision to cremate had been made, but she was told they would keep his body intact until she could say her final goodbye. We arrived on late Saturday night and went to see the body on Sunday morning. We were directed to a sitting room, which we thought odd given we were there to view the body. Gavin came back with a small box of cremated remains, presumably of my father. Needless to say, my mother became extremely emotional, asking why why why? Gavin didn't even sit down, he stood in the doorway. When I looked up he was rolling his eyes like he couldn't be bothered dealing with my mum's devastation, and even had a smirk on his face like he took some kind of pleasure in upsetting people. Turns out Evans cremated my dad the day they picked him up from the hospital and lied to us about holding the body. This was the most disgusting customer service that I would never have expected from funeral directors. They had no compassion, no sympathy, and neglected our spiritual and cultural traditions. I strongly advise mourners to avoid this funeral service.