REIMBURSEMENT FROM OFFICE DEPOT ……. GET IN LINE !

[Anonymous]

http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2009-03-26/article/32575?headline=Reimbursement-From-Office-Depot-Get-in-Line-
Reimbursement From Office Depot …….Get in Line !
Berkeley
City Manager Phil Kamlarz said Tuesday night that his office has asked
for the return of more than a quarter of a million dollars Berkeley
claims it is owed by office supply giant Office Depot. But to get the
money, Kamlarz and the city are going to have to stand in a long line
of government officials from around the country.

Local and state
governments from California to Florida, site of Office Depot’s
corporate headquarters, are claiming similar charges against the
company.Last week, the Daily Planet reported a charge by Berkeley City
Finance Director Robert Hicks that Office Depot company had overcharged
the city by as much as $250,000 during the course of a three-year,
$550,000-a-year contract to provide miscellaneous office supplies and
recycled copy paper to the city. Hicks began an investigation of the
overcharge after the Berkeley City Council was approached by Radston’s
Office Plus President Diane Griffin, who said her analysis of city
records showed that Office Depot was giving Berkeley less than the 55
percent discount on certain items promised in its contract.

Griffin,
a member of the board of directors of the National Office Products
Alliance (NOPA), estimated that the Office Depot overcharges were
accumulating at a rate of $8,000 a month, and in a March 21 San
Francisco Business Times article, Hicks estimated the overcharges at
$262,000.

NOPA has been conducting what amounts to a national
campaign against alleged overcharges in some of Office Depot’s
government office supply contracts. In a statement released to Reuters
earlier this year, the association’s chairperson, Bob Chilton, said,
“NOPA continues to advocate for more, not less, competition that
includes independent small businesses in our industry, with consistent
multiple contract awards to ensure there is ongoing, daily competition
for government business.”

Office Depot neither admits nor denies
Berkeley’s allegations. In an e-mail response to the Daily Planet’s
query, Jason Shockley, senior manager of public relations for Office
Depot, said that “We are aware of these allegations and Office Depot
intends to fully cooperate with any audit conducted by the City of
Berkeley, as we do with all government and regulatory agencies. Office
Depot is committed to pricing integrity, and we consistently work with
our customers to ensure we are providing the best service and the
greatest value possible.”

An Internet search shows that Office
Depot has had a long string of government audits and charges to
cooperate with in recent years. Among them:

• Following a state
audit last year, Office Depot agreed to reimburse the state of
California $2.5 million for overcharges incurred during a two-year
period of $57 million in state office supply purchases.

• A 2008
North Carolina state audit concluded that Office Depot had overcharged
North Carolina state agencies by more than $294,000 over a six-month
period. Among the charges in the state audit was that the company
inflated base retail prices on the bid so that it would look like it
was offering a higher discount than it actually was, included
unauthorized items in shipments during the course of the contract, and
switched brands so that the value of the products shipped to North
Carolina was less than what was contracted and paid for. In a prepared
news release, North Carolina State Auditor Leslie Merritt said that
“There are numerous reports that Office Depot has engaged in a pattern
of overcharging and violating state contracts in Georgia, California,
Nebraska, Florida, and now North Carolina.”

• Last year,
Nebraska State Auditor Mike Foley found that Office Depot overcharged
the state as much as 400 percent ($1.06 for staples that were supposed
to be bought for 21 cents, for example) on purchased items included in
the state’s $3 million per year, three-year contract with the company.

•
Also in 2008, the state of Georgia terminated its $40 million per year
office supply contract with Office Depot over charges by state
officials that the company “repeatedly overcharged and mispriced items
for state employees,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

•
Earlier this year, the Missouri attorney general’s office began an
investigation into allegations that Office Depot had overcharged
government agencies, nonprofit agencies and charitable groups in that
state by using “bait-and-switch” tactics.

[Author]

April 17, 2009 at 12:13 PM