Harvard Professor Threatens Legal Action Against Restaurant Owner...Over $4

Ben Edelman is a Harvard Business School professor who's earned a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard and a law degree from Harvard Law School — and he's battling a Chinese restaurant over $4.

Ben Edelman. (Image via Twitter)

As Boston.com reported, Edelman was apparently pretty miffed when he ordered food from the Sichuan Garden Chinese restaurant on Friday and each of the four items he ordered cost him $1 more than their listed prices on the restaurant's website.

His solution: email the manager and demand a $12 refund.

Ran Duan, who told Boston.com that his parents brought him to the U.S. from China when he was 3 years old and who manages the family-run Sichuan Garden, exchanged emails with Edelman, apologized for outdated prices on the restaurant's website and offering to reimburse Edelman $3.

But Edelman wouldn't hear it.

Ran Duan. (Image via Vimeo)

He began lecturing Duan via email on the importance of pricing accuracy, threatening legal action and he upped his demand to a 50 percent refund of the cost of his meal — roughly $27.

“I have worked so hard to make my family proud and to elevate our business," Duan told Boston.com. "It just broke my heart.”

Edelman told Boston.com that he was still weighing the merits of legal action, and he did offer Sichuan Garden one concession: “[The food] was delicious.”

Read the email exchange between Edelman and Duan at Boston.com.

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Follow Zach Noble (@thezachnoble) on Twitter