Section: Questions Category: Halacha | Halacha - Ribis | | Submitted by anonymous Answered by Rav Peretz Moncharsh | | Question: Is it mutar to give a discount for prepaid services. I am a chiropractor and I recommend that patients receive a certain amount of adjustments in a certain amount of time. Can I offer them a discount if they pre pay for those adjustments in advance. Or can I say if your pre pay for this many I will give you one for free? If they request a refund monies refunded are refunded at the regular --not discounted -fee. Thank you
| | Answer:
You may give a discount for prepaying, but you may not quote both prices. Meaning, you may not tell the patient that he needs 12 treatments at 100 shekel each if he pays at each visit or 1000 shekel if he pays up front. However, you may have both prices and only quote the person one of them.
| | posted:2008-06-01 05:53:10 |
Visitor Comments: 2
Rabbi Peretz Moncharsh, 2008-06-04 14:50:28
The patient may not be offered a choice between a lower price if he pays sooner and a higher price if he pays later, it makes no difference if the offer is oral or in writing. The basic rule of the issur RBIs is that one may not pay for use of someone's money, which what you are in effect doing when you give a discount for advance payment. The same would apply to offering a free visit, they may not be offered the choice of paying in advance and getting a free visit or paying later and not getting a free visit.
Anonymous, 2008-06-04 10:55:32
Does this mean that on one sheet of paper there are the fees per visit AND the fee for prepaying for a set of visits? Or I get to choose which fee sheduel they will receive? An what about offering them a free visit if they choose to prepay? Thanks
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