"Harvard professor" threatens to sue restaurant over $4


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Did you ever think that other people were overcharged? How long has this been going on?

Or someone simply typoed when keying in the order. Not everything is a conspiracy to defraud.

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Or someone simply typoed when keying in the order. Not everything is a conspiracy to defraud.

It wasn't keyed wrong, the prices on the website were out of date. If they've been out of date for a while, it could've affected a lot of people. Nothing to do with any conspiracy.

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The way i see it, the restaurant had outdated prices on their website; God knows how many people where overcharged because of that mistake and for how long that happened. Also he might be entitled for not only a refund but a compensation as well; that depends on the local law (according to him he is).

 

The restaurant admitted that they were wrong, they tried to honour the overcharge (the article doesn't mention if they tried to pay the compensation he claims he's entitled) but that doesn't clear them up for honouring the rest of the costumers that were overcharged during the "mistake" period. And that lies the problem.

 

So, having said that, i don't know why the emails where blown to the internet and i feel that this whole situation was overblown and exaggerated to begin with.

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When I worked retail I dealt with pricks like this, and I swear they are a nightmare. I had a similar situation, I think I rang up something wrong with the price, it was a small difference like this case, but non the less even after admitting to the customer the fault and refunded the difference he went over and questioned my manager as to how long I had working at the store. Mistakes happen, yes this restaurant messed up with the false advertising, but to request a refund 3 times the amount and threatening to sue is a bit much. I bet this guy realized after those first few emails, that they didn't speak good English and would be an easy target to take advantage of. 

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The way i see it, the restaurant had outdated prices on their website; God knows how many people where overcharged because of that mistake and for how long that happened. Also he might be entitled for not only a refund but a compensation as well; that depends on the local law (according to him he is).

 

The restaurant admitted that they were wrong, they tried to honour the overcharge (the article doesn't mention if they tried to pay the compensation he claims he's entitled) but that doesn't clear them up for honouring the rest of the costumers that were overcharged during the "mistake" period. And that lies the problem.

 

So, having said that, i don't know why the emails where blown to the internet and i feel that this whole situation was overblown and exaggerated to begin with.

 

 

Caveat Emptor. If they didn't recognize the overcharge, then they obviously  were not substantively harmed by it. Not to mention the fact that this is a small restaurant that probably just overlooked a small thing. What you have is just another prime example of our over-litigious society trying to ring out every last drop from hard working people over trivial matters.

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Caveat Emptor. If they didn't recognize the overcharge, then they obviously  were not substantively harmed by it. Not to mention the fact that this is a small restaurant that probably just overlooked a small thing. What you have is just another prime example of our over-litigious society trying to ring out every last drop from hard working people over trivial matters.

 

While true, Caveat Emptor is moving to Consumer Rights; in this case there is no proof that they didn't know the overcharge, but there is also no proof that they did know. In that case the law gives the reason to the consumer since it was the business that was wrong (did had the prices wrong and did nothing until a costumer caught them), not the consumer (US laws can be different, i'm citing PT laws in this kind of cases). Also while the 4$ is a small amount that was overcharged for this costumer, but no one knows exactly how much was overcharged in total (total clients and total overcharged), so it could be a big sum or a small one (just this case).

 

Still i think it was overblown by the consumer, media and by the Interwebs.

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Sure, but they did update their prices and 4 dollars? My goodness the cost for the government or other parties involved if he actually did sue.

I side with him... You can't do this...

 

His basic point is right. It happened to him and countless others. $4 across a lot of people can add up pretty handily. Which is why you can't advertise one price and charge another.

 

For instance, in Philadelphia it is not only illegal for a grocery store to overcharge you for an item, but if they do they have to give you the item for free (up to $10) or at a discount ($10 off) when spotted. The point of this is to ensure a stiff punishment for businesses doing this sort of stuff. $10 may seem too small, but without punishments in place it is a ripe way of boosting margins in a very thin margin business.

 

So, maybe he wasn't friendly, but he is right.

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I side with him... You can't do this...

 

His basic point is right. It happened to him and countless others. $4 across a lot of people can add up pretty handily. Which is why you can't advertise one price and charge another.

 

For instance, in Philadelphia it is not only illegal for a grocery store to overcharge you for an item, but if they do they have to give you the item for free (up to $10) or at a discount ($10 off) when spotted. The point of this is to ensure a stiff punishment for businesses doing this sort of stuff. $10 may seem too small, but without punishments in place it is a ripe way of boosting margins in a very thin margin business.

 

So, maybe he wasn't friendly, but he is right.

Definitely not nice, nor forgiving. The restaurant paid him... end of discussion.

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Do you live in a third-world country?

The USA -- where I can get a lot more food for 50-some bucks.

 

 

You can't be serious.  One day you will.  Do you like Sushi?  Or Steak?  Wine, etc.

No on sushi. Not a big steak fan -- and I know how to cook my own.

 

I like mostly simple foods.

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The USA -- where I can get a lot more food for 50-some bucks.

 

well, you can of course. You can also get 50 1$ burgers and that will give you plenty of food for several days but are those gonna top a 50$ dinner in a good restaurant?

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I went to skylon tower where it cna easily be 120/meal/person. I also ate at a very very very fancy place in baltimore that was extremely hard to get a res for and it easily got 160/meal/person (mine was 190USD). Also ate at lots of 50/meal/person places.

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