Harvard professor starts feud with Chinese restaurant over $4 overcharge

An associate professor at Harvard Business School has launched an email war against a local Chinese restaurant owner after being mistakenly charged $4 on a carry-out order.

Last week, Ben Edelman, who teaches a class in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets unit, ordered $53.35 worth of Chinese food from Sichuan Garden, a Boston-area restaurant owned by Ran Duan, reports Boston.com.

After his order arrived, Edelman noticed that $1 had been added to each of the four items he ordered, bringing his total to $57.35.

Instead of letting it go, the associate professor started a virtual attack on Duan's family-operated restaurant, demanding reimbursement and more.

Harvard Business School prof @bgedelman - this is over $4 - is awful. #TeamRanDuan http://t.co/xPt3BNhD4Y http://ift.tt/1x26P6M

- Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) December 9, 2014

'Under Massachusetts law it turns out to be a serious violation to advertise one price and charge a different price,' Edelman wrote. Through a loophole in Massachusetts General Law, Section XV, Chapter 93A, Section 9, Edelman demanded Duan pay him back triple the overcharge-- $12 for damages.

Duan was at first very apologetic and eventually agrees to reimburse the original $4. As the email chain progresses, he explains that his website has not been updated to reflect current menu prices. He also says he will get 'the company that designed the website' to make changes ass soon as possible. But Edelman does not back down.

'@austinjbrunner What happens when a Harvard profesChinese restaurant screwed him out of $4? http://t.co/X1VJOjHjfZ http://ift.tt/1B8EUke '

- Teresa Weakley (@TeresaWeakley4) December 10, 2014

'I have already referred this matter to the appropriate legal authorities in order to attempt to compel your restaurant to identify all consumers affected and to provide refunds to all of them, or in any event to assure that an appropriate sanction is applied as provided by law,' Edelman writes.

The restaurant owner, who immigrated from China with his parents when he was 3-years-old, has run Sichuan Garden since the early 1990's.

'I personally respond to every complaint and try to handle every situation personally,' Duan told Boston.com. 'I have worked so hard to make my family proud and to elevate our business. It [the email exchange with Edelman] just broke my heart.' Though he has been able to open two successful restaurant locations, he admits that keeping his marketing and digital initiatives up to date has been limited given his budget.

Edelman, who also works as a consultant for companies like Microsoft and Universal Music on 'preventing and detecting online fraud (especially advertising fraud),' claims that he has contacted the appropriate legal authorities of Brookline, Massachusetts but no one has yet reached out to Duan directly. The email exchange concludes with Duan telling Edelman that he will refund the professor '50% off his total meal bill if the authorities see fit.'

After such a heated exchange you might expect that Edelman was unsatisfied with his meal. Not quite.

When Boston.com asked the professor/consultant how the food was, he simply replied, 'It was delicious.'

As of Wednesday morning, the website for Sichuan Garden was down.

The e-mail exchange can be read in its entirety on Boston.com.