I can reproduce this issue myself, as well as, my friends almost 99% of the time. You can seem to take all your items back, however, not the clothing you were wearing when you died.
On some occasions, the "View Contents" dialogue will appear as well, just after re-spawning, allowing one to use this to open their inventory.
It may seem like the old gear is not transferring to your new character, wait a few seconds and it will eventually transfer. This includes: weapons, consumables, clothing (not all) and miscellaneous items.