Echovita Reviews Summary
The company has garnered a mixed reputation, with notable strengths in the ease of ordering and timely delivery of floral arrangements, often praised for their quality and customer service responsiveness. However, significant concerns arise regarding unauthorized obituaries, which many customers find unethical and misleading, leading to confusion among grieving families. Additionally, issues with product quality, including discrepancies between ordered and delivered items, have been reported. Overall, while some customers appreciate the service, the company's practices surrounding obituaries and inconsistent product fulfillment have led to widespread dissatisfaction.
This summary is generated by AI, based on text from customer reviews
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I ordered $200+ worth of flowers from Echovita. They contacted me stating they couldn't deliver and said they would issue a refund with 7 business days. It is past that time and still no refund.
I'm not the only one that Echovita STOLE my mother's obit & used it to make money off of her! I expect her name, Elaine Ann Bohle, to be taken off your site IMMEDIATELY & any money made off her name or a complaint will be placed NOW! Everything you are doing is ILLEGAL!
We have removed the obituary of Elaine Ann Bohle. I checked our system and you never contacted us directly requesting the removal of the obituary. No sales were made via her obituary page. If anyone sent flowers, lit candles, or planted memorial trees, it would be states in the tributes section of the obituary page. When obituaries are posted on the internet, we further share the basic facts only in a death notice format to inform society of who has passed away, which is completely legal. We organize all obituaries and death notices by city, so that people can see who passed away daily in selected cities of their choice with a free subscription. We do this in effort to create as much support as possible for families. People can share their condolences for free with the family via email or social media. Families and funeral directors can post full obituaries on our website for free or submit the full obituary to be shared by us and replace the pre-existing death notice. Families can then claim the obituary with proper proof within 60 days, such as a photo of the death certificate to receive 10% of sales and 50% of candles. If the original obituary suggests donations to a specified charity or organization, we do state that and provide the necessary means of making a donation for visitors. Pictures can be posted to create a memorial page for free by friends and family. Any modifications, corrections, or requests for removal by the family or their representative are completed immediately upon receiving notification. We only have the best intentions and are sorry for your loss.
I'm upset by this site. They've published my mother's details without our families' permission. I realise that the information on the internet is open to everyone, but this is a heartless attempt to make money from our grief and suffering. They don't even have her details correct, they've just made guesses. Have some respect
Hi Piri,
I'm sorry to hear that you are upset that we have further shared public information about your mother. We do this to inform society of who has passed away and get as much support for the family as possible. Since you did not provide your mother's name, there are no actions we can take at this time. Please contact us directly via our website and we'd be happy to make any necessary corrections or remove the obituary if you'd like.
Toni-Marie W." I second your comments.
Echo Vita IS HEARTLESS I WANTED TO GIVE ZERO STARS BUT THERE WAS NO OPTION" plus their are misspellings and miss information.
Please take it down before others in the family see this
Robert Koelliker
Hi Robert,
We have removed the obituary of Carol Linn Koelliker. It's best to contact us directly instead of posting on a review site. I would like to add that if there were misspellings, then the misspellings would have originated within the original obituary because we don't change the spelling of names. You'd be surprised how many errors are found in original obituaries, but we are all human.
Called just two hrs before my cousin's wake to say they couldn't delivery the plant I had purchased.
Hi,
We are sorry to hear your order couldn't be delivered as scheduled. Please understand, that it was not Echovita who called you. When we receive flower orders, they are processed by our very reputable partner, Blooms Today. Blooms Today then sends each order to the closest local florist within the delivery destination area. If, for any reason, the local florist cannot deliver the arrangement as scheduled, they must contact the customer to inform them, which is out of our control. Florists are advised that they must contact the customer as soon as they realize the order cannot be delivered as scheduled. Since you did not provide your name or order number, I am not able to check when you placed your order to find out how long the florist waited to contact you, however, if the florist did wait until the last minute, or 2 hours before the wake, as you stated, they will be contacted and dealt with, as we want all customers to be given enough time, so that they can attempt to order elsewhere.
Echovita, without consent or payment, created an obituary for my brother that was copied directly from the site published by our legitimate funeral services provider. Echovita claims in its FAQ that you can request that their site be removed, but requires name, family relationship, and contact information to do it.
Hi,
If you'd like your family member's obituary removed, simply send us an email or click "Report this obituary" on the obituary page. Of course, we ask for your name, family relationship and email address because we need to keep record of who requested the removal of the obituary and to make sure you can do so. I would like to verify some details, since you included some false information in your statement. First, we do not copy obituaries, we simply further share the basic facts of obituaries that are publicly available. The only way we would have a complete original obituary on our website, is if the family or funeral home created one directly on our website, which, in that case, would say "Created by: (name)" on the bottom of the obituary text; or if the family or funeral home gave their permission to post the complete original obituary by clicking, "Authorize the original obituary" on the obituary page, which, in that case, would say "Updated by: (name)" at the bottom of the obituary text.
**2nd Edit**
I found another post from Echovita, this one is on Facebook...and i found this AFTER they said they had removed it. Liars.
End of edit
**Edit**
I received a response from this site's 'support' stating the source was the obituary was publicly posted on the internet and that they would be replying to my review.
Yes it was publicly posted with the site the family authorized. So why did this site feel the need to steal it and re-post it? With outrageous errors? What does this site stand to gain from such a thing? Advertising dollars is my guess. I stand by my original review and it's title.
https://connectingdirectors.com/*******-obit-piracy-wired
End of edit.
I found my mother's obituary on this site with wildly incorrect information. My family did NOT give permission for this site to post the obituary nor did we contact them. They harvested the information somehow but they did not respond to my request that they name the source. That anyone would do such a thing is beyond reprehensible.
A number of us had to request the obit be removed from the site but it is still popping up in search on google.
I recommend NEVER using Echovita, this site should be shut down.
I gave one star only because I had to.
Hi Lesley S., We responded to your email this morning as you sent the email last night at 10:05p.m. We received multiple emails from members of your family and at least 2 of them were responded to and the obituary of Roberta Jean Irvine was removed November 28th at 11:35p.m. We also submitted a request to Google to remove what is now an inactive link from their search engine. We sincerely apologize for any incorrect information on our end. The source in all cases would be the original obituary that was posted publicly on the internet.
This company uses people's grief to make money. It posted my mother's obituary without the family's consent and encouraged people to purchase items, like trees, candles, etc in memory of her. They also use Google ads on their website, to earn money every time someone visits one of the obituaries they run without the family's knowledge. They did remove my mother's obituary when I contacted them, but sent me a form letter instead of an actual apology.
Hi Toni-Marie,
I will respond to you here just as I responded to you on our website, Echovita. As much as you'd like to spread the false allegations to feed the agenda of your employer, NTV, I would like to add some truth. When information of any kind is posted publicly on the internet, the facts that lie within become public information, therefore consent is not needed. We aggregate information from publicly available obituaries, so that society is well-informed and loved ones are not forgotten. However, we understand the importance of consent when it comes to original material, which is why our website enables families to give their consent for us to post the complete original obituary, or request the removal of their loved one's obituary through options presented on each obituary page. Despite what you say, families who have lost loved ones are of the utmost importance to us and we want to help them. We do not encourage people to purchase items, in fact, if the family requested donations to a certain cause or charity, we present that information within the obituary so visitors are well-informed. If the family requests that no flowers be sent, then we notify our users as well, and set up a reminder for them of the families wishes if they wished to proceed with flowers. We also set aside a portion of any commission we receive via sales for the family, if any sales take place, which can be claimed by the family via our solidarity program. If you look at any obituary on any website, there are ads, however, our website only has Google ads on older obituaries with no upcoming services, so we do not "monetize clicks". Of course, with any website with millions of users, we have responses saved pertaining to frequently asked questions or requests. Any questions outside of the norm are answered, not avoided.
Horrible. Definitely did not send the flowers that we ordered. Theysent the most shabby bunch of flowers in a vase I didn't recognize and the card was written in poor handwriting. I looked all over for the flowers we ordered... I looked at every single batch except the last one (because I thought it looked nothing like the flowers we purchased) However, at some point through the night the little card caught my eye and I saw that it was from us. Wow, just wow! How unethical they look like a $3 bouquet that I spent over $100 on. No, just no. Don't go with this fraud company. They take advantage of you when you're going through something they take your money and don't deliver what you've purchased. Disgraceful.
Hi Lisa J., if you are not satisfied with the order that was delivered, please call our partner, Blooms Today directly at 1-800-522-8707. This is also stated on your order confirmation email. They have a 100% satisfactory guarantee or your money back, which is also stated on both our website and the order confirmation email. If you've already tried contacting us, Echovita, directly via email or you've called Blooms Today, then I am sure this has already been resolved. From what I can see in the photos you've added, the difference between the bouquet photo on our website and that of which you received, is that the half of the flowers delivered have not bloomed yet. If you haven't tried contacting either Echovita or Blooms Today directly, then there is no way we can resolve this for you. In the future, please contact the company directly regarding your complaint, so it can be resolved, rather than publicly post a false allegation that we are fraudulent, when we have a satisfactory guarantee policy that is in favour of our customers.
We noticed my mom's obit today and there is lots of false information, including where she was from and the fact that she is survived by her parents, who have been deceased for decades. Not impressed. This needs to be removed. The facts are enough. No need to make stuff up. And it's against the law.
We sincerely apologize for any errors and can make any necessary corrections. Please contact us directly and provide us with your mother's name and date of death, so we can locate the obituary. If you've already contacted us, then you will receive a response shortly. What we do is not against the law as we only further share basic facts from publicly available obituaries.
I bought flowers for my father-in-law's visitation because Echovita had an ad at the bottom of the obituary on the funeral home's website. There were tons of flowers because my FIL had been the owner of that funeral home until about 10 years ago & was very well known. We searched & searched for our flowers & never found anything remotely similar. My mother-in-law had pictures taken along with the cards so she could make a video remembrance for all her husband's children (this was a 2nd marriage for both of them & she is keeping the cards). Our card was not there. I have tried unsuccessfully to call Echovita to get a refund. I will call AMEX tomorrow to dispute the charge. I am beyond disappointed & hurt that our expression of sympathy was not delivered & our money was taken. How many others has this happened to & they never know.
Hi Phyllis P., if there was an issue regarding your order, we'd be happy to resolve it with you. You stated you tried to call Echovita, however, we don't have a phone number, so I'm not sure who you attempted to call. On your order confirmation email, it says, for any questions or concerns regarding your order, please contact our partner, Blooms Today, directly at 1-800-522-8707. Together, we have a 100% satisfactory guarantee or your money back and we abide by that. We can also be contacted fairly easily via our website's contact us section. I have checked our email support system for any recent emails received from "Phyllis" and I can confirm that you have not attempted to contact us. Please reach out to us directly to get this resolved. Thank you.
I would give this 0 stars if i could. I ordered flowers for my uncle's funeral (i live in Aus and family is in USA) I ordered these 4 days before. I have a confirmation and everything. Asked my family to look for the flowers... nothing. Then i get a refund 3 days after the funeral with no explanation. Stay away from this company... completely uncalled for... you had my email address and everything... no communication. (and nothing in the spam filter either before you ask that as well) will never use again, and will make sure everyone i speak to will never use your company.
You had a bad experience, which is not a result, nor a reflection of our service. I, the user support agent that you communicated with, responded to you kindly and explained the situation to you. You communicated in a way that showed you had no intention of cooperating. I explained to you that if your order was not delivered, it means an issue arose with the local florist responsible for preparing and delivering your order and to call our partner directly as stated on your order confirmation email because they would have access to the information you are requesting. You did not accept that and proceeded to go on a rant completely twisting the words that were sent to you in my initial reply. I replied to you again 1 hour ago and you have yet to reply. For anyone seeing this review, here is our honest explanation. We, Echovita are partnered with Blooms Today, a very reputable flower company. Blooms Today processes all of our flower orders and sends them to the closest local florist of the delivery address who is responsible for preparing and delivering the order, while meeting our standards displayed in the photos and details of each arrangement on our website. If a local florist, for any reason, is unable to fulfill the order, they are supposed to notify the customer in advance, so the customer has the opportunity to either select an alternate arrangement or attempt to order elsewhere. In this case, the local florist did not, which is by our standards and the standards of Blooms Today, unacceptable. If a local florist involved in our program repeats such unacceptable service, then they are removed from the system. We, Echovita, are not notified as to why an order was not delivered. To obtain that information, we would have to contact our partner, have them find out what went wrong with the order, have them get back to us and then get back to the customer. It's for that reason, we state on our order confirmation emails to contact our partner directly at the number provided for any questions or concerns regarding the order, so the customer can get the information they are requesting quicker. Thank you.
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Hi Dennis,
Echovita is not a scam site. We processed both of your refunds on December 18th and I provided you proof via email. I stated that It can take up to 7 business days to receive a refund, so you should have received both refunds by December 27th or 28th. Please note that some banking institutions may take longer to process the refund over the holidays. If you want to claim that we didn't process the refunds, then you can do so with your credit card company and we can prove to them directly that both refunds were processed on our end on December 18th.