B.C. woman wins legal battle after scales differ during weight loss challenge

A B.C. woman who enrolled in a program that promised her $1,900 if she lost a certain amount of weight in one year, has had to fight to get her money after she weighed in just one pound over the target weight.

However, Rajela Singh had been to her doctor on the same day who had weighed her at half a pound under the target weight.

Because a person can weigh a different amount at different times of the day, the company was forced to accept that Singh had met her weight loss goal and cough up the cash.

The details of the case are laid out in a March 28 B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal decision after Singh took the company to the online small claims court to get her money back.

The decision says that Singh's sister bought her the $2,400 weight loss program as a gift in 2017.

The program was run by the now-defunct Weight Loss Grant Organization which offered clients 80 per cent of their money back if they met certain conditions and achieved their target weight goal within a year.

When the year was up Singh headed to the Weight Loss Grant Organization sponsoring clinic, Dalewood Health in Burnaby, and was weighed.

The clinic weighed her in at one pound over her target weight.

Luckily, Singh had been to her physician that day who weighed her in at 0.5 lbs under the target weight.

What Singh weighed is not given in the decision as Tribunal says it has omitted her actual weight for her privacy.

Singh submitted the paperwork to the Weight Loss Grant Organization to get her $1,920 back.

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The company then contacted Singh's physician asking for a "solemn declaration" that they had reported Singh's true weight. The doctor signed and stamped the paperwork again saying she was half a pound under the target and sent it back.

Six months after Singh had achieved her weight loss goal the company sent a short rejection email.

The company said she'd weighed in on Oct. 16, 2018, and the deadline was Oct. 20, 2018, and therefore she had not met the criteria saying she had to reach her weight goal by the last day of the target.

However, the Tribunal rejected the company's argument.

"I find the grant criteria did not require that Ms. Singh reach her weight on the last day of the program but by the last day of the program," the Tribunal ruled.

The company then argued that Singh hadn't met the goal because her weight was one pound over the target. The company also accused Singh's doctor of not following the College of Physicians and Surgeons’ medical protocols which was why their recorded weight was different than the clinic's.

The Tribunal had none of it.

"I find the fact that Ms. Singh’s weight was slightly different at each clinic does not mean that either weight was inaccurately recorded or false. I find it is common knowledge that a person’s weight can vary at different times of the day and on different scales. Since Dalewood and Ms. Singh’s physician weighed her on different scales and at different times of the day, I find these variables may account for the weight difference," the Tribunal ruled.

"I accept the physician’s independent evidence that Ms. Singh’s weight was 0.5 pounds less than the target by the October 20, 2018 deadline," the decision says.

The Tribunal then ordered the Weight Loss Grant Organization to pay Singh $2,052 including interest and fees.

However, there is some discrepancy as to who owned the Weight Loss Grant Organization.

Singh named Inventive Media Solutions, Oral Aesthetic Advocacy Group Inc. and Revverie Inc. as respondents in the case.

However, the Tribunal ruled Inventive Media Solutions was operating the Weight Loss Grant Organization in 2017 and 2018 before they closed down and ordered Inventive Media Solutions to cough up the cash.

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