You come home with your new baby stroller that you bought for $350. You’ve just opened the box and taken out the stroller when you find a promotional offer in the mail—the exact same stroller is on sale at a competing store for $300.
You call up the manager of the first store and explain what happened. “If I had seen the ad first,” you explain, “I would have bought the stroller from your competitor. I think it would be fair if you gave me a $50 refund.”
The manager replies, “Listen, stores have sales and specials all the time. The price is the price. You’re certainly welcome to return the stroller for a refund, but that’s all I can do for you.”
You hang up the phone and start making a mental calculation. You’ll have to take time to pack up the stroller, drive to the store, spend time on the paperwork getting your refund, go to the other store, and go through the buying process all over again there. You decide that the $50 just isn’t worth it.
The next moment, the phone rings. It’s the manager of the store. “Listen,” he says, “I was thinking about your call, and I decided that you’re right. We appreciate your business, and we want you to feel good about your purchase. Come back in at your convenience, and I’ll be happy to refund $50 from the price.”
Since you’ve already made up your mind that you accept the price you paid and have no intention of returning the stroller, are you entitled to take the refund?6
Grapple with the Gray
List two or three reasons in favor of claiming the refund.
List two or three reasons not to take it.
Is there another option?
Having weighed the options, what would you do?
Gray Matters
Many stores today offer a price guarantee. Some even offer to double the difference if you find a cheaper price, either before or after you buy. It’s also arguable that basic customer service mandates such policies.
Nevertheless, these policies are the prerogative of the shopkeeper, not the right of the customer. If you don’t like the prices or the policies at any store, you are free to take your business elsewhere.
Of course, once the manager made the offer, it is the legal right of the customer to take advantage of it. The question here is not legal but moral. Once the customer made up his mind that he was at peace with the original price, is it ethical for him to claim a refund that was only offered after he expressed his discontent? Unlike the case of Rabbi Safra and the diamond, you never would have paid the higher price for the stroller in the first place if you knew you could buy it for less.
When this question was brought to Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein of Jerusalem, he suggested that the proper course of action would be to simply call up the manager, explain the series of events, and ask whether the manager would consider it proper for him to come in and claim the refund.
The wisdom of Rabbi Zilberstein’s response provides a simple yet profound insight into the very nature of ethics. First, make an effort to understand the other party’s point of view. Second, communicate clearly to avoid having to make assumptions. Those two simple steps will eliminate much of the gray areas that cloud our lives.
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6 Adapted from Y. Zilberstein. 2013. Veha’arev Na (Jerusalem, Israel: Philipp Feldheim).