Did a Halifax spa deliver on its promise to make a “visible difference” to a man’s love handles through its body contouring services?
Not so, according to a Nova Scotia Small Claims Court decision, which awarded the man $3,622.50.
“It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” wrote adjudicator, Augustus M. Richardson, in the Jan. 13 decision.
“Unfortunately, the saying is not one that fits easily within the confines of contract law.”
According to the decision, the claimant, Martin Marin, purchased a package of six Emsculpt Neo Body treatments from Bodyworks Med Spa & Wellness in November 2023.
The contouring service came with a “Results Promise” that stated if a client follows the recommendations when doing their treatment plan but there is no visible difference three months following its completion, the spa will re-treat the client for free.
The decision noted that Emsculpt Neo is “a machine that transmits Radio Frequency (RF) and high intensity-focused electromagnetic (HIFEM) energies via applicators (sometimes referred to by the parties as ‘paddles’) to parts of the body.” The energy delivered, according to the spa, was intended to break down fat cells and stimulate muscle contraction.
The decision said Marin is a physically fit person who had suffered a serious stroke and was left with some balance issues.
Get breaking National news
“He testified that he had always been physically fit and active, but that no matter how much he exercised, he had been unable to reduce the love handles on the side of his abdomen,” the decision read.
- ‘Canada Not For Sale’ hats: Ontario business struggles to keep up with demand
- Poilievre pledges to reverse Liberals’ capital gains tax changes if elected
- Trump ‘picking the wrong target’ by attacking Canada, Quebec premier says
- Mark Carney wants to be Liberal leader. Can he be PM without being an MP?
-
Trudeau says ‘everything is on the table’ in response to Trump’s tariff threat -
1st carbon rebates of 2025 set to roll out. What Canadians can expect -
Canada deploying Black Hawk helicopters at Canada-U.S. border: McGuinty -
B.C. premier supports retaliatory tariffs, export and bans in response to Trump threat
Marin began his treatment in January 2024, and he told the court he discussed his concerns about his love handles with the technician.
Love handles is a term for the area of fat deposits that extend outward from the hips.
“He told her that in all his years he had never been able to get rid of them. He asked her if the Emsculpt Neo treatment would help with them, and she said that it would,” Richardson wrote.
“She recommended six treatments rather than four. He was not shown the machine or the applicators. The meeting to his recollection lasted about ten minutes.”
However, after the first treatment, Marin expressed concern his love handles had not been properly targeted, so a decision was made to switch things up.
While he had used a vest for the first treatment, which targeted his abdomen, the remaining sessions used a paddle that was “clamped to the side love handles.”
This is where it got tricky.
“There was no evidence that (Kaylee Langor, the aesthetician) had told Mr. Marin that the switch from the vest to the edge applicator would negate or limit the Promise in any way,” the decision noted.
When all was said and done — Marin was dissatisfied with the results three months after treatment.
However, he was told via email that “there is a visible difference from his treatments.”
The defendant’s position was that Marin wasn’t eligible for the Results Promise because he had changed his recommended treatment after the first visit.
In his decision, Richardson noted that after reviewing the before and after photos, he was “unable to see any visible difference.”
“Ms. Langor and (fellow aesthetician Leah Decker) both suggested that there was a visible difference because of a slight fading in a wrinkle line above the left, and a bit more so above the right, love handle,” he wrote.
“But a wrinkle above a love handle is not a visible difference in the love handle itself. The love handles, not any wrinkle above them, was what the defendant had agreed to treat.”
Furthermore, Richardson said he didn’t believe switching from the vest applicator to the edge clamps for the remaining five sessions constituted a “change in treatment sufficient to negate or void” the Results Promise.
“His weight had not fluctuated; he had kept active; he had hydrated. He had, in other words, fulfilled the requirements of the Promise, and was entitled to a re-treatment for free,” Richardson wrote.
“The defendant’s refusal to re-treat Mr. Marin constituted a breach of the Promise.”
Ultimately, the spa was ordered to pay Marin the original purchase price of $3,622.50.