Image Credit: FACEBOOK: 2 Burley Men Moving

A B.C. moving company that regularly goes after disgruntled customers in the small claims court has been ordered to pay $5,000 after it broke and lost multiple items during a move from Vancouver to Nelson.

According to an Aug. 22 B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal decision, B.C. resident Anna McLean used Victoria-based moving company, 2 Burley Men Moving, to ship her belongings from Vancouver to Nelson.

However, 2 Burley Men Moving damaged and lost some of her property so McLean headed to the small claims court looking for compensation.

And she's not the first.

So far this year 2 Burley Men Moving has been in small claims court 21 times.

The company often goes after customers who have refused to pay their total bill with clients saying it was much higher than quoted.

In some instances, customers have paid and then sued 2 Burley Men Moving to recoup their money.

In the last four years, the company has been in the small claims court 54 times.

In McLean's case she took the company to the small claims court saying she'd been overcharged and the company had lost some of her belongings.

The decision says McLean got a verbal quote over the phone from 2 Burley Men Moving for $2,500 for her move.

However, when 2 Burley Men Moving arrived in Nelson with her stuff, it presented her with a $5,215 bill.

McLean refused to pay, so the moving company left with her belongings.

Three weeks later the company returned and McLean paid $5,555 for her stuff.

McLean said in the decision that she only paid the bill because she was worried she wouldn't get her belongings back.

The decision says 2 Burley Men Moving did not explain this discrepancy in the two bills it issued.

READ MORE: B.C. woman rejects Air Canada's compensation for delayed luggage, wins in court

Based on her quote, McLean says 2 Burley Men Moving overcharged her $2,840.

However, the Tribunal ruled that the verbal quote given over the phone is only an estimate of what McLean's possessions might weigh and was not a fixed price quote.

The Tribunal found that McLean agreed to pay $950 per 1,000 lbs plus a $75 scale fee.

However, 2 Burley Men Moving admitted someone else's belongings were also in the moving truck and submitted two weigh scale recipes without any justification as to why there were two trucks used for the move.

McLean said she saw one truckload of her stuff in Vancouver.

The Tribunal ruled that 2 Burley Men Moving's lack of explanation for why there were two receipts issued didn't look good.

The Tribunal also said that because 2 Burley Men Moving was a "frequent litigant" it was familiar with the Tribunal's process.

"Burley provided no explanation about why it did not provide statements from any of its movers," the decision reads. "Given the above, I find it likely that Burley overcharged Ms. McLean for her move based on inaccurate weights."

As there was no record of how much McLean's possessions actually weighed the Tribunal decided on 3,500 pounds, meaning the movers had overcharged her  $1,607.

The Tribunal then ordered 2 Burley Men Moving to pay McLean $1,607, but it wasn't the only issue on the table.

McLean had tried to claim more than $6,000 for damaged goods, reduced to the $5,000 limit for small claims.

The moving company admitted it did lose some of her possessions – including an irreplaceable box of photos – but said it paid 60 cents per pound totalling $277 in compensation as per the contract she signed.

However, the Tribunal didn't like the way the contract was drawn up.

"To limit or exclude liability in a contract, a business must do so in clear and unambiguous terms," the Tribunal ruled. "I find that Burley did not clearly indicate its 'coverage' limited its responsibility for any damaged items... therefore, I find Burley is responsible for Ms. McLean’s proved damages."

Total damages were much higher but the Tribunal ordered 2 Burley Men Moving to pay the full amount allowed under small claims — $5,000.

2 Burley Men Moving did not respond to our request for comment.

READ MORE: B.C. woman tried to keep accidental $5,000 e-transfer

To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2022