A Kentucky-based company that supplies glasses to veterans has come under some criticism for pressuring employees to sell at higher prices.
PDS Consultants signed a contract in October to supply glasses to veterans through PDS Optical on behalf of Superior.
Officials told Fox News Digital that employees were given monthly quotas and pressured to upsell frames not covered by VA to veterans. That means the veterans would have had to pay more money out of pocket if the charges were true. .
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs building in Washington, D.C. The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Friday that it will provide abortions to veterans in certain cases. (Alastair Pike/AFP via Getty Images)
The company cut pay for opticians, who were told they could make up for lost commissions by selling veterans at higher prices, one person said.
“For us to earn a decent salary, we have to upsell everything to veterans in order to earn a percentage of the sales,” the official said.
The source recalled one incident in which a veteran was undercharged for glasses and the company forced the optician to call the veteran back and request an additional amount.
“You’d be reluctant to call back and say, ‘Can you give me your credit card number over the phone? I overcharged you. I still owe you $60,'” the person said. .
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“Personally, I felt uncomfortable doing some things,” another source told Fox News Digital. [PDS] I was doing it. “
“The upper management was terrible. They basically called us liars and set sales targets from there. In the previous contract with Superior, there were no sales quotas to meet,” the person said.
The official told Fox News Digital that the agency receives negative complaints from veterans “on a daily basis.”
“We went from having a very wide selection of frames for veterans to choose from, very good frames, to a very small number of frames,” the source said.
The official acknowledged that sales quotas are not a bad thing in and of themselves, but felt that sales shouldn’t be the goal if they were “brought here to serve veterans.” .
“The fact that I’m contracting with a company that does something like that for veterans, maybe I feel like it’s wrong, but other people might not.” the source said. “But I feel that opticians should be offered something to sell, especially a service. I don’t think that’s right.”
WASHINGTON DC – MAY 28: The headquarters of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is seen on Wednesday, May 28, 2014 in Washington, DC. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Internal emails reviewed by Fox News Digital appear to support this portrayal, showing managers encouraging employees to exceed the previous month’s sales goals.
“As we prepare for December, I’m excited to take on the challenge of not only meeting, but exceeding our sales goals,” one email read. “Build on your great performance in November and aim for a sales goal of $30,000 in December.”
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Don Overton, president of the American Blind Veterans Association, said the organization has received concerns from people close to the process and are unhappy with the PDS quota system.
“We started to see that the problem wasn’t just how the contracts were executed, it was the opticians’ sales demands,” Overton told FOX News Digital.
Mr. Overton described the process in which veterans are trying to buy glasses that are supposed to be part of their comprehensive medical benefits, but are tempted to buy more expensive glasses.
”[The veterans] When you go to an optical store, all you see is a selection of extremely outdated and extremely cheap glasses. And this is what they get,” Overton said. Better glasses that are more comfortable and probably more durable. ”
“That’s how they close the gap with their veteran backs,” Overton said. “And these should be earned profits.”
A VA employee who spoke to FOX News Digital said, “We know that a lot of veterans are struggling financially, and they’re saying, ‘Look, there’s nothing I can do. It hurts my heart to see something like this, because I know people are saying, ‘I can’t do this.’ You have no choice but to pay. ”
File: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) seal on the facade of its headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Haller/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
When asked for comment by FOX News Digital, PDS pushed back against these criticisms, pointing out that the majority of its owners are U.S. military veterans, both of whom had served in Iraq, and that the company’s commercial defended the practice.
“PDS protects the quality of our eyewear products and services and creates significant value for veterans and taxpayers every day,” Rob Yopps, vice president of PDS Optical, told FOX News Digital.
Yopps said veterans will be provided with “free items” agreed to in the VA contract. If the veteran wants to upgrade or buy his second pair, he will do so at his own expense as it will be added to the veteran’s benefits. No veteran will be forced to upgrade or purchase additional glasses, Yopps said.
Yopps said claims that employees’ salaries were compensated on a commission basis were “speculative (and false) when brought to the General Accounting Office (GAO), which administers the U.S. government’s anti-bid program. It has been repeatedly rejected as such.”
Yopps added that contrary to the allegations, VA’s prices are “significantly lower” compared to previous vendors, benefiting U.S. taxpayers.
“PDS is proud of the VA and the services we provide to our nation’s veterans, providing value to those who have served like us,” Yopps said.
The Department of Veterans Affairs told Fox News Digital it has found no evidence that prices went up after PDS won the contract and has not received any direct complaints from veterans about the vendor.
“Veterans who are eligible to receive prescription eyeglasses from the Department of Veterans Affairs do not have to pay high out-of-pocket costs because the prescription glasses are provided free of charge,” said Department of Veterans Affairs spokesman Terrence Hayes. Ta.
Hayes said the deal was concluded after a multi-step analysis and based on a fair and reasonable price.
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Federal procurement regulations require that all offers containing individually priced items be analyzed to determine if the prices are disproportionate. If the price analysis determines that the prices are disproportionate, that is, one or more items are significantly overvalued or undervalued, the contracting officer may proceed with a bilateral analysis and determine whether the price is unreasonably high. consider the risk of paying and the risk of unsuccessful performance.
