The British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal has thrown out a $778 small-claims suit filed by a Vernon mechanical contractor against a customer who refused to pay for an unapproved propane fridge estimate. The company got nothing. Tribunal adjudicators ruled that Vernon-based Aslan Electrical, Plumbing, Gasfitting, Refrigeration and Sheetmetal Services failed to prove a binding contract existed when it dispatched a technician to Melanie Moore’s summer cabin.
Moore sought an estimate from the contractor to install a propane refrigerator at her seasonal property. A technician arrived, surveyed the site for less than an hour, and phoned her later with a price that exceeded her budget. She passed on the project. Weeks later, Aslan mailed her an invoice for $778, billing five and a half hours of technician labour alongside a $71 travel surcharge for driving 75 kilometres. Moore offered to pay for one hour of labour in good faith to resolve the dispute quietly—an offer the company flatly rejected before hauling her to the province's online small claims tribunal.
Yet the contractor's own evidence undermined its case. Aslan submitted two audio recordings of phone conversations between Moore and its dispatcher, alleging she had agreed to the installation before cancelling. Instead, the tapes revealed Moore repeatedly pressed for pricing, while the dispatcher admitted they had no idea what the job would cost because invoicing was outside their purview. The technician’s internal work notes corroborated Moore's stance, explicitly describing the visit’s purpose as preparing a rough estimate. The tribunal concluded Moore reasonably expected a free estimate and retained every right to walk away.
The case marks a familiar pattern for the Vernon outfit. Tribunal filings show Aslan had engaged in 45 civil resolution tribunal disputes and more than 60 cases in the British Columbia Provincial Small Claims Court over the previous five years. In the opening weeks of 2025 alone, the company dragged six different customers to small claims.NEWPABut the tribunal drew a sharp line between unsigned estimates and formal authorizations on the very same day. In a separate 20 February 2025 ruling, the tribunal ordered another customer, Judy Knott, to pay Aslan $752 for two unpaid bills, statutory interest, and filing fees. Knott had contested a $294 bill for diagnostic work on an exterior leaking water pipe, claiming she assumed the inspection was free. Unlike Moore's dispute, Aslan produced a signed work order explicitly warning Knott of diagnostic charges before technicians began probing the leak.
The contrasting decisions establish a rigid precedent for British Columbia trades: contractors cannot recover travel time or drafting fees on preliminary quotes without explicit upfront notice, but documented, signed work orders remain enforceable in provincial tribunals.