Harvard professor goes to war with chinese restaurant over $4

[Jesus Malverde]

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.

http://www.boston.com/food-dining/restaurants/2014/12/09/harvard-business-school-professor-goes-war-over-worth-chinese-food/KfMaEhab6uUY1COCnTbrXP/story.html

Cheap elitist gets to eat crow.

[joshcryer]

1. Edelman is an asshole.

I'm glad Duan didn't lawyer up, as it were, and escalate it further. Edelman very likely wanted to make a mountain out of a molehill and play with the justice system. He even tried to get Duan to do that by telling him that if there was a lawyer involved he'd only be able to speak to said lawyer and not Duan. Just trolling of the highest degree.

So say Duan does lawyer up, thinking he's in deep trouble for literally the smallest error, Edelman forces Duan to pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars in lawyer fees, as the lawyer and Edelman spar over a trivial issue which would be resolved later on by a mediator for $4. Edelman gets to laugh about all the trouble he caused.

Yet Duan was persistent, made sure that Edelman understood he wanted to make it right in every response to him (after all, it's $4 fucking dollars, lawyers aren't necessary to get involved here), and overall please a customer.

[Buns_of_Fire]

2. Worse: He's apparently a SERIAL asshole.

On December 9, Boston.com published the exchange of emails between Harvard Business School Professor Ben Edelman and Sichuan Garden, a restaurant in Brookline. The Internet reacted. On Wednesday afternoon, Edelman released a brief statement apologizing for his actions .

Just before that apology was released, Boston.com received a tip from a “former manager” of a “Back Bay sushi restaurant,” who stated that he had read the Edelman email exchange published on this site, and that when “it sounded familiar” he realized he had seen a similar email exchange several years prior...

http://www.boston.com/food-dining/restaurants/2014/12/10/there-more-edelman-did-this-before-and-worse/00mTW39jcyXb3VNHZoXEYN/story.html

[Jesus Malverde]

7. I like how osushi told him to go fuck himself over the groupon.

I suspect this cheap bastard is a serial shakedown artist and he gets some sort of thrill out of his position as a member of Harvard and his connection to lawyers.

What a loser!

[daredtowork]

3. I wonder if Edelman got through school

...by subtly intimidating or threatening teachers into giving him higher grades than he deserved. Those letters make it seem like he is the type who is USED to operating this way, and he has gotten by on BSing all his life. He probably doesn't deserve his place at Harvard: he just surfed on a wave of his own BS there.

This occurs to me because I used to teach sections of undergrads when I was a graduate student. There is one student that gives me the chills to this very day. He always wore a suit to class, and I think he may have been a a sociopath. He constantly hinted about how he expected an A, until I felt inclined to give him an A. Students tended to do well in my class anyway because if their writing was subpar, I would work with them in office hours and let them rewrite their papers until they improved. Well, this guy turned in a half-assed final essay. I marked it a B+, and that was probably generous (subtle psychological pressure from the way he presented himself). I made detailed comments on the paper, and gave him the chance to rewrite it, and I told him that it would bring his grade up. He refused, and he made some sort of vague threat about how that better not affect his grade. I'm not sure why I was intimidated by him, but I gave him an overall "A-" for the class, even though he would not rewrite a paper that he had probably knocked off in an hour. I also remember his class evaluation of me: the only malicious one I've ever gotten. It was filled with bombast about how I was a "vituperative pedant" (lol!).

What was I scared of? What kind of pressure was this guy exerting? Did just the fact he wore a suit to class mean he automatically "pulled in" better grades? His ability to manipulate me as a teacher always bothered me, and it's one of the reasons I didn't seek an academic career.

[TexasTowelie]

4. I take offense at the first paragraph of your comment

because I have a BS degree.

[daredtowork]

5. ROFL!!!

Well I hope you are using your BS powers for good instead of evil.

[TexasTowelie]

6. Actually it's a bit of a mix

depending upon whether I'm on DU or tormenting right-wing nut jobs. However, I do liberally exercise all the rights and privileges associated with that degree.

[Downwinder]

8. Had a Professor explain his degrees.

" Now you all know what BS is.
MS is just more of the same.
PHD is piled higher and deeper."

[JI7]

9. one of the criticisms businesses have of groupon is getting customers like him

[Renew Deal]

10. The professor has a point

If the company has a website open to the public it is meant to be an advertising tool. If the the prices on the website are lower than reality, it is a sign of deception. Restaurants should be responsible for prices on their own websites and honor them. That's not so for third party menu sites.

I've noticed that prices at Toysrus.com are much lower than the store. They usually honor the web price.

[Jesus Malverde]

11. Did you read his dumbass emails.

The guy has way too much time on his hands.

[Renew Deal]

12. Started to

But I didn't have that much time. 😄

[Jesus Malverde]

13. DUZY!...and thread win!

[BKH70041]

14. He should have accepted the $4 overcharge refund and dropped it.

Was he right within the law? Probably. But it was an honest mistake (though one that the business should have addressed already) and he immediately agreed to refund the difference. Sometimes you just go "OK, honest mistake, they're giving me back my difference, and now they're aware of a website issue that needs correcting before it causes additional customer confusion. I did my good deed for the day."

I don't get the part of "We'll refund you back the $3" instead of $4 on one of the early emails. If you're dealing with a customer that's potentially a problem, you want to be precise. It almost sounded like he was being a smartass back to the guy, which is not good. It could have been an honest typo. And if I were the restaurant owner, I would have offered the $4 refund on the initial return email to try and defuse the situation before it had a chance to grow.

[djean111]

15. I don't think Edelman had the slightest intention of letting anyone defuse the situation.

Looks like he revels in this sort of thing, and keeps pushing for more and more recompense. $4 - $12 - 50% off.

[BKH70041]

17. And the next customer might make Edelman look like Mother Teresa.

Open your door to the public and you never know who will walk in.

[edhopper]

16. Who in this day and age

doesn't know that sometimes menus on the web are a little out of date?

I see it all the time.

I mean if i order something that is posted are $9.99 and it is really $10.99 it's no big deal.

If it goes from $9.99 to $19.99, you can complain.

And the guy agreed to the web price, so what is his problem> Besides being an asshole?

[HappyMe]

18. Eesh! He seems like he just

likes to be an asshole.

[RedCappedBandit]

19. Sociopath. Plain and simple.