Harvard law professor goes to war over $4 overcharge on Chinese food

Thanks for the reply and for explaining what went wrong. We enjoyed the food, but we don’t need to trouble you for an updated menu.

Under Massachusetts law it turns out to be a serious violation to advertise one price and charge a different price. I urge you to cease this practice immediately.

In the interim, I suggest that Sichuan Garden refund me three times the amount of the overcharge. The tripling reflects the approach provided under the Massachusetts consumer protection statute, MGL 93a, wherein consumers broadly receive triple damages for certain intentional violations.

Please refund the $12 to my credit card. Or you could mail a check for $12 to my home.

It strikes me that merely providing a refund to a single customer would be an extremely light sanction for the violation that has occurred, To wit, your restaurant overcharged all customers who viewed the website and placed a telephone order – the standard and typical way to order takeout. You did so knowingly, knowing that your website was out of date.

You don’t seem to recognize that this is a legal matter and calls for a more thoughtful and far-reaching resolution. Nor do you recognize the principle, well established in applicable laws, that when a business intentionally overcharges a customer, the business should suffer a penalty larger than the amount of the overcharge – a principle exactly intended to punish and deter violations.

I have already referred this matter to applicable 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 even to assure that an appropriate sanction is applied as provided by law.

Are you represented by an attorney in connection with this matter W? If so, as an attorney, I am bound by Massachusetts attorney ethics rules to communicate only with that attorney and not with you.

Like I said, I apologize for the confusion, you seem like a smart man, but is this really worth your time?

You’re right that I have better things to do. If you had responded appropriately to my initial message – providing the refund I requested with a genuine and forthright apology – that could have been the end of it. I would have counted on your honesty to correct the web site and to notify other affected customers. Instead, you’re making up excuses such as the remarkable but plainly false suggestion that I was on the wrong web site. The more you try to claim your restaurant was not at fault, the more determined I am to see a greater sanction against you.