Was it Illegal? - definitely not
Was it unethical? - no
Could they have been more transparent? Yes, and hopefully they know about this incident and can fix the issues with their customer service process to make sure this type of thing doesn’t happen again.
Did they miss an opportunity to create a very loyal customer? - Absolutely! By giving the customer the new model at the price of the old model, something that is really above and beyond what they have to do, they would have created a very memorable positive experience for the customer.
Was it unethical? - no
Could they have been more transparent? Yes, and hopefully they know about this incident and can fix the issues with their customer service process to make sure this type of thing doesn’t happen again.
Did they miss an opportunity to create a very loyal customer? - Absolutely! By giving the customer the new model at the price of the old model, something that is really above and beyond what they have to do, they would have created a very memorable positive experience for the customer.