Harvard Business School professor reacts to $4 restaurant overcharge

[madoka]

Recently Harvard Business School students have decried their professor's actions and claim that he is perpetuating negative stereotypes about them.

Here is the original story:

http://www.boston.com/food-dining/r...hab6uUY1COCnTbrXP/story.html?p1=Must_Reads_hp

Ben Edelman is an associate professor at Harvard Business School, where he teaches in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets unit.

Ran Duan manages The Baldwin Bar, located inside the Woburn location of Sichuan Garden, a Chinese restaurant founded by his parents.

Last week, Edelman ordered what he thought was $53.35 worth of Chinese food from Sichuan Garden’s Brookline Village location.

Edelman soon came to the horrifying realization that he had been overcharged. By a total of $4.

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a Harvard Business School professor thinks a family-run Chinese restaurant screwed him out of $4, you’re about to find out.

(Hint: It involves invocation of the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Statute and multiple threats of legal action.)

The email exchange is at the link.

 

[BoomerD]

Meh...we went out to dinner over Thanksgiving weekend. My wife added a $7.50 tip to the bill. Imagine her surprise when our bank statement showed that the bill had been increased by $75. instead of $7.50!

Fortunately she caught it quickly and got it fixed. (manager claims it was a "typo" when entering the tip amount.) But...that's actually what I believe happened too.

 

[gorcorps]

I'd be willing to bet that when he placed his order, the call ended with "your total comes to XX.XX"

If he OKed the amount at that time, then he has no right to bitch.

 

[DesiPower]

No sympathy for Harvard prof here, he is the one at fault. Normal people who do honest work everyday and make our own money, face small issues like these on daily basis, its called life. Anyone making a big deal out of it is a USDA certified Grade A DB

 

[Scarpozzi]

Where he teaches makes no difference on the fact that he's an idiot.

 

[Fern]

The so-called "overcharge" is simply that the website prices the prof looked at hadn't been corrected yet for recent menu price increases. This was explained to him by the owner.

If I was the restaurant owner I would have adjusted his bill and updated the website pronto. If I was the prof I would've dropped the matter upon hearing the explanation.

Fern

 

[Markbnj]

I'd be willing to bet that when he placed his order, the call ended with "your total comes to XX.XX"

If he OKed the amount at that time, then he has no right to bitch.

They don't tell me that when I order Chinese food unless I ask, but either way the prof. is a tool. He could have just taken the $4.00 and thanked the manager for his help. Now he gets to be an Internet dickhead for his 15 minutes.

 

[slayer202]

Well, if it was $4,000 instead of $4 I think people would feel differently. If you're ordering from the website menu it is misleading if the prices are different (especially without any disclaimer which they added after the fact). Update your damn websites

 

[surfsatwerk]

Let him eat cake!

 

[MrDudeMan]

He offered to refund the money and he updated his site, which rights the wrong in my book. Edelman is obviously a troll.

 

[z1ggy]

It's the consumers responsibility to check the prices of what he's paying for at the time of purchase.

-1 to guy who probably makes 6 figures a year bitching over $4. What a tool.

 

[Uppsala9496]

Edelman also demanded triple damages and wanted $12 back because he is a trolling dick. Restaurant tried to right the wrong and then Dbag states the authorities are involved. At that point the restaurant has no recourse but to get a lawyer and let it play out from that end.
I think someone was looking for their 15 minutes of internet fame (and never being able to order from a restaurant in the town they live in).

 

[K1052]

This part of the world isn't that big. I'm sure the good professor is going to get top notch service from all the food establishments he frequents from now on.

 

[Smoblikat]

What a fucking dickhead.

He probably makes more than the restaurant does a year, and hes bitching about a simple mistake? The owner said he would refund him the discrepancy anyway, so whats the big deal? We are all just human, nobody is perfect.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Ben Edelman is a self entitled ass. The ONLY thing giving him ANY leverage is the English legal system. The restaurant has made every effort to keep him as a customer. At this point, I'd tell him to never come back and use my influence to encourage other restaurants from doing business with him as well. However, that's an American viewpoint and there's probably some English law against that.

 

[Tweak155]

In the end, the customer was correct but took it way too far. If that Chinese place was local, I'd order some this week. Owner seems like a stand up guy.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

The professor should be fired. Or at the least, not be allowed to teach any ethics courses.

 

[raildogg]

Some Doctors, lawyers, professors and others that WE hold up as being higher level people can have this sort of this behavior and attitude. After all, WE look up to these people; WE strive to be them; WE pay top dollar to have their services. No wonder these people can think their something special.

I once had a Doctor call me late because of a issue regarding the service we provided him (or did not in this case). On the voicemail, he said "I'm Doctor X from Y University" and claimed he did not get what he wanted, etc. So some of the people from these professions refer to themselves not as their name but by the professional title that they have. If you think about it, why did he mention that he was Doctor? Was that going to get him better service? Who knows.

We all need to stop holding certain people up; they are not better than anyone else. They have a higher "education' but as people, they're just like everyone else - full of flaws.

No offense to Doctors, lawyers, professors and anyone else. Nothing personal but just some things I've observed. Maybe I'm wrong as well.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Oh and the food? Edelman admitted: “It was delicious.”

Hope he enjoyed it because they will never serve him again.

 

[madoka]

-1 to guy who probably makes 6 figures a year bitching over $4. What a tool.

The guy charged $400 per hour for consultations while he was still just a sophomore in college. Now with a Harvard JD, MBA, and teaching position, I'd sure he's well into seven figures.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Aside from the 3x damages/penalty charge up-front which made me assume perpetuation of a different negative stereotype, I don't see what's wrong with what the professor did. He started off pretty mildly and managed to get them to change their outdated menu.

 

[esquared]

Reminds me of this case.

Dry cleanerss lost the judge's pants and the judge sues for 67 million.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearson_v._Chung

 

[Gooberlx2]

Aside from the 3x damages/penalty charge up-front which made me assume perpetuation of a different negative stereotype, I don't see what's wrong with what the professor did. He started off pretty mildly and managed to get them to change their outdated menu.

Sure, but mission accomplished at that point, right? Going as far as to inform authorities during such a benign exchange seems simply punitive for the sake of being so.

 

[Newell Steamer]

Sounds like an ATOT Hero.

Edit: ... to 3 posters.

 

[Hugo Drax]

Wow a Harvard degree and he can't total an order and verify it matches what he ordered.

If 2+2 = 4 and the guy tells you 5 you should be smart enough to figure out that somehow the math does not add up and he added an extra 1.