IONIA, Mich. (AP) — A company has removed Chinese-made office furniture it delivered to a Michigan courthouse following a six-month legal battle with officials who wanted American-made products.
The (Greenville) Daily News reports that Custom Office Systems removed the unwanted desks, many of them faulty, on December 10 from the Ionia County Courthouse. The Ionia-based company earlier this year delivered the desks in boxes clearly marked “Made in China,” along with some American-made furniture.
County commissioners in April chose Custom’s $41,862 bid over a rival’s $33,739 offer based on the promise that the furniture would be made in the U.S. Commissioners demanded the Chinese-made furniture be replaced with American-made products, and in June they voted to end Custom’s contract and accepted the rival’s bid.
Custom apologized and blamed the mistake on an oversight with its U.S.-based supplier.
