The city has filed suit against a funeral home operator with multiple Bronx locations, accusing it of exploiting grieving families and targeting Spanish-speaking customers.
The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) has accused R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home of failing to perform services requested and paid for by its clients, according to the complaint filed with the city’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. The funeral home business operates four locations in the Bronx, as well as three in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn.
The company is accused of multiple violations. According to the complaint, R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home is accused of misrepresenting the length of time to return cremated remains, failing to provide death certificates, failing to provide specific items like prayer cards for funeral services, failing to provide scheduled transportation of remains, failing to properly prepare and embalm remains, and “broadly failing to treat remains with an acceptable level of care and respect.”
“R.G. Ortiz preys on consumers during the most trying times of their lives, convincing distraught people that they, their loved ones, and their wishes will be taken care of, when, in reality, R.G. Ortiz consistently fails to honor the promises made and services paid for,” the complaint states.
Another damning accusation detailed in the DCWP lawsuit is that R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home intentionally “targets” Spanish-speaking communities throughout New York City, regularly using deceptive and opaque business practices intended to keep pricing information and options obscured, in an effort to charge these consumers seemingly-random amounts for its services, often resulting in price swings of thousands of dollars for the same service.”
The Bronx Times reached an R.G. Ortiz employee by phone to request comment on May 1, but the employee said a higher-up would have to return the request. The Bronx Times is awaiting response.
In an announcement about the lawsuit, New York City Mayor Eric Adams touted his administration for working “to hold this business accountable.”
“The alleged violations by R.G. Ortiz Funeral [Home] [are] appalling and unacceptable,” Adams said. “No family in New York City should ever have to endure predatory treatment, especially during their time of grief and mourning.”
According to the suit, DCWP, the Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission received “at least” 48 complaints from R.G. Ortiz customers over the past five years. DCWP investigated the funeral home chain by conducting in-person and phone inspections — some of them undercover — before ultimately determining that R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home “systemically violates the laws and rules of the City of New York.”
The business is accused of breaking New York City Administrative Code, the Consumer Protection Law, and specific laws related to governing funeral service and retail service providers.
The Bronx Times reached out to Kaitlin Kontyko — DCWP’s staff counsel attorney — for an interview request with an R.G. Ortiz Funeral client in the case, but her office said so far none of the complainants have been willing to speak to the media.
But online, customers have given the funeral home negative reviews — which DCWP said in the complaint it used during the investigation.
One customer on Yelp accused R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home of “scam[ming]” her family after their grandmother died — incorrectly requiring a higher priced casket because of their grandmother’s suspected COVID-19-related death, mixing up their grandmother’s file with another deceased person’s, and failing to provide flowers for the viewing service.
Multiple other clients said the funeral home was upwards of an hour late transporting bodies for services, and upwards of three months late getting cremated remains back to families.
One customer said employees didn’t give their family “the proper respect that a grieving family deserves” and that the clothes they picked out for their loved one weren’t on her, that they “would not do her hair” so “she laid in her coffin looking a hot mess.” Another accused the funeral home of not receiving adequate billing information after putting a deposit on pre-funeral arrangements — despite multiple requests over the phone, via email and in person.
“R.G. Ortiz’s conduct has left dozens of bereaved families in limbo waiting for their loved ones’ remains – or worse – and we will not hesitate to hold them accountable for their exploitation of our neighbors,” DCWP Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga said in the lawsuit’s announcement.
DCWP officials encourage anyone who has had a negative experience at R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home to contact the department.
Reach Camille Botello at cbotello@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
