Unfulfilled gift card leads BC customer to sue Home Depot for "mental distress"
When one customer found his $500 gift card hadn’t been refunded after a failed online order at Home Depot, he brought a legal fight to the company for both the amount and the “mental distress” it caused him.
According to documents posted earlier this week, David Peters purchased a tool chest worth $311.36 online on November 25, 2022, at Home Depot but received calls the next day that the order could not be fulfilled. As an alternative, Home Depot representatives redirected Peters to make his purchase at a brick-and-mortar store and said that they would refund him the amount.
The drama started when Peters reached the store and found that the amount had not been refunded.
The BC Civil Resolution Tribunal decision shared that when the employees on location couldn’t determine why the amount was not there, Peters was told that he would be contacted on November 28, 2022, to resolve his refund. Peters went back to the store on the day of the intended refund when he had not heard back from Home Depot but was told they did not have an answer yet.
He left the store without purchasing the tool chest and decided to sue for a total of $4,854.20.
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In his claim, Peters sued for a variety of damages. The total amount included the reimbursement of the $500 gift card plus a further $30 credit that was promised by Home Depot as compensation for the difficulties in the online order.
In addition to the reimbursement, he claimed compensation for $24.20 in travel, $2,000 in damages for “mental distress,” and finally, $2,300 in damages for “being unable to fulfill a business contract, as he says Home Depot prevented him from acquiring the necessary items.”
Peters even went as far as to allege in his submissions that Home Depot committed theft and fraud against him.
Home Depot agreed that Peters was entitled to the reimbursement of his $500 gift card and the $30 further credit but claimed that they had already completed the refund.
The tribunal decision detailed that Home Depot provided evidence for both refunds. They provided email evidence of an electronic gift card sent to Peters on November 27, 2022, along with the number of the new gift card with the $311.36. They also provided evidence of an order summary to Peters of the $30 credit promised.
As for the rest of the damages claimed by Peters, the tribunal decided against the reimbursement. The court reasoned that there was insufficient evidence that Peters lost work opportunities because of the gift card issue and that he failed to provide medical evidence of mental distress.