A Metro Vancouver woman won’t be getting a refund for a series of laser hair removal treatments, B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal has ruled.
Tribunal member Sherelle Goodwin’s Aug. 29 decision said the woman purchased a package of seven laser hair removal treatments from All Beauty Laser Ltd. (ABL) on Jan. 19, 2021.
According to the ruling, the woman was not satisfied with the services and cancelled her prepaid package after the second treatment. She said ABL refused to provide her any refund.
She claimed ABL owed her $2,244, which she says is the value of the five unused treatments.
ABL, however, denied it owed the customer any refund for the prepaid services she purchased because she chose not to continue with the treatments. The company said the woman agreed to its no-refund cancellation policy when she signed a waiver and consent form.
The woman claimed the waiver and consent form was a contract between the parties, an assertion Goodwin did not accept as it did not describe treatments ABL agreed to provide or the cost the woman agreed to pay.
Rather, said Goodwin, the parties’ agreement was a combination of the signed waiver and consent form, and their verbal agreement that the woman would pay the dollar amount for the seven treatments.
In a March 8, 2021 text, the woman cancelled her remaining sessions and requested a refund. The next day, company partner Ali Nilforoush verbally offered the woman the option of treatment using another machine.
Goodwin said that, contrary to the woman's arguments, that offer conversation was not a “revival” of the original contract, as the parties agreed to slightly different terms. “Rather, I find the parties verbally amended their Jan. 19, 2021 contract during the March 9, 2021 telephone conversation,” Goodwin said.
Since the woman agreed to the amended terms and booked another appointment, Goodwin said, that implied she retracted the March 8 cancellation notice in order to amend the original agreement and continue with her laser hair removal treatments.
The woman said the contract was not revived as the parties intended because, when she arrived at the company’s Surrey location for a May 4, 2021 appointment, the specific machine was not available.
“I find [the woman] has not proven that ABL agreed to provide Triton laser treatments to her at the Surrey clinic location, as she argues,” Goodwin said. “Mr. Nilforoush says he explained to [the woman] on March 9, 2021 that the Triton machine was only available at ABL’s West Vancouver location, which [the woman] denies.”
