BC man takes legal action after funeral home damages late wife's ring

A ring belonging to a BC man’s late wife underwent quite the journey, starting at a funeral home before the situation made its way to a Civil Resolution Tribunal dispute.

The funeral home damaged the ring, leading to the late wife’s husband attempting to fix it through a diamond dealer.

In a publicly posted decision, Edmond Chow claimed thousands against Brilliant Enterprises, a Richmond diamond dealer.

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The dispute states that Chow provided his late wife’s ring to Ocean View for her to wear during her funeral. The tribunal didn’t receive details on precisely what happened, but the ring was damaged at some point while in Ocean View’s care.

The BC funeral home agreed to compensate Chow and pay for the ring’s remaking. The repair would involve moving the jade centre stone and diamonds from the original ring to a new setting.

Chow sought Brilliant’s services, and it provided Chow with a quote of $4,144.

Chow spoke with Li, an employee of Brilliant Enterprises, and the two text messaged about the ring redesign between March and July 2021. Chow was unhappy with the initial design and asked for some changes. In August, Chow offered to pay for the design and drafting work that had been done thus far and was given a quote of $500.

In another call in September, because Chow wasn’t happy with the design, he and Li discussed a potential refund, but Li said Brilliant Enterprises would not provide one. The tribunal decision states that Chow responded by saying he’d pursue “other legal means.”

Despite that conversation, on September 22, Li told Chow that the ring was ready, but Chow responded that he didn’t authorize the ring to be made.

Brilliant told the tribunal that it made an “executive decision” in remaking the ring.

The tribunal decision states, “As Ms. Li and Mr. Chow had most recently discussed a completely different ring, I find this was not the ring agreed to by Mr. Chow.”

The tribunal was examining the legal implications of a future performance contract. Because Chow had paid before he received the product, the tribunal found that he was entitled to a refund.

“BPCPA section 23(5) states a consumer may cancel a future performance contract by giving notice of cancellation to the supplier not later than one year after the date the consumer receives a copy of the contract if the contract does not contain the required information,” the tribunal said.

In defence, Brilliant said it did extensive work worth about $3,584.40 and asked the tribunal for a set-off. Based on discussions the two parties had about the initial draft and design work, the tribunal awarded it $500 for a set-off.

Thanks to tribunal fees and pre-judgement interest, Brilliant was ordered to pay Chow a total of $4,136.50 within 30 days.

Chow got his late wife’s ring remade by a different jeweller.