An online order for a bed from an Ontario-based furniture shop ended up in a BC tribunal hearing.
A decision posted online shares some details of the case, including the cost of the bed and how the furniture shop attempted to settle the issue.
The BC Civil Resolution Tribunal decision states that the customer sought a refund of $1,813.56, which was the purchase price of the bed. The bed arrived in such a state of damage that it prevented assembly. The Modern Shop (TMS), the furniture shop in question, agreed to provide a replacement, but it never did. It also told the tribunal that it could still offer the customer a replacement or credit.
Here’s how the case unfolded.
According to the tribunal decision, the customer purchased a bed frame from TMS on November 24, 2021. Upon receiving the order, the customer noticed one piece was damaged, preventing assembly. The customer contacted TMS about a replacement part.
It wasn’t until an email on July 19, 2022, that TMS agreed to replace the damaged part by sending a whole new bed, adding that it would do so by mid-August.
The customer received a package from TMS in early September of the same year. However, the entire bed was just one cardboard box marked 3/3, which didn’t contain the damaged piece the customer required to fix the bed.
The customer again contacted TMS to notify them she only received one of three package pieces. TMS assured the customer that the other pieces would arrive within a week or so. However, it didn’t respond to the customer’s request for a tracking number.
The piece she was missing never arrived.
“For its part, TMS says in the Dispute Response that it shipped all the necessary pieces,” the tribunal decision states.
The tribunal sided with the customer and said that TMS “failed to meet its obligations.”
In its final decision, the tribunal said that the customer was entitled to damages of $1,813.56, which was the total refund for the unusable bed frame. The tribunal ordered TMS to pay the customer $2,159.74, including the refund and tribunal fees.