Best Buy ordered to pay more than $2,000 after package left in plain view, stolen

A Best Buy store is seen in this undated image. (Shutterstock)

A B.C. tribunal ordered Best Buy to pay more than $2,000 to a Vancouver company after a package wasn't left in a secure location and was stolen.

A decision posted by the Civil Resolution Tribunal Tuesday ruled Best Buy didn't meet its obligation to reasonably ensure a package was delivered to the business.

The decision said Ensemble Systems Inc., a private software company, alleged Best Buy delivered the package of electronics negligently on a weekend last July "by having its courier toss the package over a fence in plain view." Ensemble said the package, which was valued at $1,988, was stolen just hours after it was delivered.

"We were pretty unhappy about that," Ensemble CEO Brian Bacinschi told CTV News Vancouver. "Forget about the safety issue, but there are sensitive electronics."

Bacinschi confirmed the team saw both the delivery and the theft on surveillance video. It reported the theft to the Vancouver Police Department, but the package wasn't recovered.

According to the CRT decision, Best Buy argued that its third-party delivery service left the package "inside a secure gated area."

Tribunal member Shelley Lopez wrote in her decision the business is in a street-level townhouse. While it does have a gated fence, Lopez said the gate isn't "solid," so the courtyard inside "is clearly visible from the street."

"Ensemble says the delivered package was stolen, which Best Buy says is unproven," Lopez wrote.

"I find it was stolen, based on Ensemble’s correspondence with police in evidence, the still photos from the building’s video, and the video itself, that shows the package and someone taking it."

Lopez said the decision ultimately came down to a "standard of care," and concluded leaving the package unattended and visible from the street fell below that standard.

Lopez also argued there were "more inconspicuous places the packages could have been left by or near the door, that would have been hidden from the street."

Bacinschi said he was most disappointed in the response from Best Buy, saying they were offered about $700 in compensation when they reached out to the company.

"There was something about this that just didn't sit right with us, because it wasn't the right thing to do," he said. "We wanted to have the right thing done and unfortunately it took going to the CRT."

In the end, Best Buy was ordered to pay Ensemble the value of the package, interest and CRT fees, which totalled $2,119.60.

"I find common sense here dictates what a reasonable professional delivery service would do given the delivery area," Lopez said.

"Based on the video and still photos, and the delivery receipt, I find it should have been obvious to T-Force that the package could be stolen if it was left unattended. This is because the package was clearly visible to passersby on a busy downtown Vancouver street."

CTV News Vancouver has reached out to Best Buy for comment on the CRT's decision.

For his part, Bacinschi was happy with the outcome.

"I just appealed to common sense, you know, that really dictates that lobbing a package over a fence in downtown on a Saturday and just kind of leaving it in plain sight isn't a good delivery," he said. "I was really, really pleased to see the tribunal member agreed with our assessment."