Image Credit: FACEBOOK:2 Burley Men Moving

A B.C. moving company that charged a couple $1,200 for eight hours of travel time even though the couple only moved one kilometre have lost in court.

According to a Feb. 7 B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal decision, Peter and Cheryl Gray booked 2 Burley Men Moving for the move into their new home which was less than one kilometre from their old one.

The couple agreed to a rate of $150 per hour for two movers and paid the $2,924 bill once the move was completed in December 2021.

However, the couple then noticed 2 Burley Men Moving had billed them an extra $1,200 for eight hours of travel time at $150 an hour.

They then took the company to the online small claims court in order to get their money back.

2 Burley Men Moving is no stranger to the Civil Resolution Tribunal and this is its third case this year. Last year, it took 22 customers to court over unpaid bills and was sued by three customers. It also had a handful of cases in the B.C. Provincial Court small claims division. In a recent decision, 2 Burley Men Moving went after a customer over an $800 unpaid bill, only to have the Tribunal rule it was the one in the wrong and ordered it to cough up $1,800.

When reached for comment 2 Burley Men Moving general manager Marc Parent denied the company overcharged the couple. Parent said the company did inform the couple of the extra charges, which is contrary to what the Tribunal found.

READ MORE: Litigious B.C. movers sue customer for $800; ordered to pay $1,800

In the Feb. 7 decision, 2 Burley Men Moving said because it had to hold the Gray's possessions overnight it had to drive two hours to its premises, which were in a different city. The decision didn't say where in B.C. the move was taking place.

"Burley says that meant it drove two hours to the Grays’ old residence and two hours back to its premises the first day, then two hours to the Grays’ new residence to unload and two hours back to its premises again the second day, for a total of eight hours travelling," the decision read.

The Grays argued they never agreed to the charges for travel time and 2 Burley Men Moving advertises itself as a local mover in their city.

"(This) is confirmed by screenshots of Burley’s website in evidence," the Tribunal ruled.

The Grays said that if they had known they would be charged extra travel time, they would not have hired 2 Burley Men Moving, and would have gone with a local mover with no extra travel charges.

2 Burley Men Moving doesn't dispute that it advertised local moves in the Grays' city.

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In its defence, the moving company submitted evidence of "appointment confirmation" paperwork.

However, the Tribunal didn't buy it.

"I find these contained alleged move terms... but nothing about eight hours of travel time or whether there would be charges for travel," the Tribunal ruled. "Regardless, I find there is no confirmation email in evidence. I find nothing before me shows that Burley sent the Grays a confirmation email. Further, Burley’s documents show that the Grays’ email address it had on file used the pattern 'name@othername@gmail.com,' which does not appear to be a valid email address format. Burley does not comment on whether their alleged confirmation email bounced back as undeliverable, or how they know the alleged email was both sent and received."

The Tribunal continued to criticize the evidence 2 Burley Men Moving submitted.

"Next, an unexplained, incomplete second Burley invoice attached to the completed December 1, 2021 invoice," the Tribunal said.

The Tribunal found the Grays likely signed that incomplete second invoice.

However, The Tribunal rules that doesn't mean it was valid.

"I find the Grays likely did not see and agree to the incomplete second invoice, or its travel time term before the move began," the Tribunal said.

The Tribunal ruled the complete invoice doesn't show that the couple agreed to the travel time charges.

"Finally, I find the evidence does not show the Grays knew or should have expected that Burley’s truck and crew would be travelling from a different city, or that they would be responsible for any travel time at Burley’s hourly rate," the Tribunal ruled. "I also find the evidence fails to show that the Grays knew or should have known where Burley’s yard was located, or that there would be any significant travel time to and from that yard for what was admittedly a short-distance local move."

Ultimately, the Tribunal ordered 2 Burley Men Moving to pay the couple the $1,200 it overcharged them, plus interest and $125 in fees.

READ MORE: B.C. woman sues movers who overcharged, broke possessions

However, Parent said the company would likely pursue further legal action against the Grays.

"We have copies of the email that they were informed," the Burley general manager told iNFOnews.ca.

When asked why the email wasn't submitted to the Tribunal Parent replied, "I'm not too sure."

He then described it as a "he said, she said" situation.

When it was pointed out that it wasn't a "he said she said situation" and the paperwork 2 Burley Men Moving submitted to the court was rejected, Parent again said the company would take further action.

"We'll take further action because it's not right, we're due the money we're due," Parent said.

"I'm not sure why you're writing another story about us... there are far worse movers than us."

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