Company ordered to refund B.C. Telus customer who accidentally sent it payments

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A B.C. Telus customer who mistakenly sent online banking payments to a company with a similar name will get refunded after a small claims decision handed down Monday.

Georgina Selina Pomeroy accidentally sent a total of $1,615 to a telecommunications company called Telair over the course of several months in 2022 and 2023, according to the B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal.

In 2022, Telair Communications Ltd. amalgamated with and changed its name to Sipstack Inc., a Toronto-based tech company—and tribunal member Kate Campbell refers to the company as such throughout her decision.

It says Sipstack acknowledged a mistaken payment of $295 from Pomeroy in June 2023 and authorised TD Bank to reverse the payment, and the money was returned.

“(The company) says Ms. Pomeroy has proved no other payments to Sipstack, and Sipstack is not liable for anything further,” the decision reads. “However, Ms. Pomeroy says that in addition to the $295 payment that Sipstack reimbursed, Ms. Pomeroy made 20 other payments to Sipstack, from November 2022 to April 2023.”

The decision says Pomeroy provided the tribunal with a spreadsheet showing the payment amounts and dates, and alleged that when TD tried to contact Sipstack about the payments it did not respond, which the company denies.

Campbell ruled that even if TD did not inform Sipstack of the other payments, it still owes Pomeroy the full $1,615—giving weight to the fact that TD sent a series of letters to Pomeroy with the date, amounts and a confirmation code for each payment to Telair, which match the spreadsheet.

“Each letter says that TD investigated the payment and tried to contact ‘the bill company’ several times, but obtained no response. TD instructed Ms. Pomeroy to contact the bill company directly,” the decision reads.

“I particularly note that TD’s letters all show the account number to which all the mistaken payments were deposited, and a confirmation code for each transaction. The same account number is identified for all the transactions, including the $295 payment that Sipstack admits it received and refunded.”

Campbell therefore concluded that TD’s letters proved Sipstack received all of the accidental payments from Pomeroy.

The CRT ordered that Sipstack pay Pomeroy a total of $1,740 within 30 days, reflecting the $1,615 refund and $125 in tribunal fees.