My company is Healthy Labs Incorporated, incorporatedin Illinois. I contacted Aloe Dynamics to manufacture a new productI wanted to bring to market in mid July. Me and an employee, Gustavo Nicosia flew to Dallas to visit the site ofAloe Dynamics and speak with them about the product Ultralina. Gustavo Nicosia and the owner of AloeDynamics, James Abanaka, became very close right away. They shared the same passion for soccer anddiscussed it in great detail for an extended length of time during our visit.
Shortly after our visit to Aloe Dynamics, I had to fireGustavo Nicosia for not showing up to work too many days in a row. I contacted Aloe Dynamics regarding this andto make sure that they would NOT disclose any privileged company information tomy former employee. This was an issuefor Mr. Abanaka. He was speaking toGustavo privately and coaching him on how to get back in my good graces. I told Mr. Abanaka that I will NEVER hireGustavo back again and that I didnt appreciate him getting involved with mybusiness. He stated to me that he wantedto come to Chicago and see if I would take Gustavo Nicosia back, I wasfloored. This was extremelyunprofessional and this is when all the problems began to arise.
On 8-14 I received our pricing for Ultralina fromAloe Dynamics. I thought it was fair and2 days after that I wired them the $14,750 that they required to begin myorder. Jim Abanaka told me to use hisLabel designer because he works well with him. He told me to make sure that the label designer sent him a copy of thelabel before I had them printed. The label creator, Mr. Abanakas friend, sent Jim thelabel proof and okayd it for print. Once the label arrived at Aloe Dynamics I received a phone call from Mr. Abanaka notifying me that he cannot use the 10,000 labels that have just beenprinted because they make to drastic of claims that the FDA wont like. I was floored since I just paid $1,150 tohave the labels made and Jim received the proof from HIS label designer andnever stopped them before they went to print. I was forced to have themreprinted. Before I went to print withthe new labels, I asked Jim if we could add more fiber to the product and hesaid yes. He sent me a couple of samplesfor a product that had 15 gm of fiber per 1oz serving. Jim told me that the added fiber would have aslight price increase, but not to worry it wouldnt be overwhelming. I went to print with the new labels and addedthe new fiber content on them. Again, another 10,000 label order which cost $1,150. While we were waiting for the labels to be made, I received an emailfrom Donna Tatum, CFO of Aloe Dynamics that the product with the added fiberwould be a 64% price increase. Icouldnt believe what I was reading. Icomplained that this is not what we discussed and that I would not be able togo to market with such a high price for a new product. Then I received another email telling me thatthe price went up again, this time it was going to be a 67% priceincrease. At this point they have thenewly printed labels again. I was askedby Donna Tatum to send them more money to cover the added costs. I have another email from Donna that she neededthe money because they did not have the money to get the ingredients for myorder. I declined and told them I wanteda refund of my order and I was not moving forward with Aloe Dynamics anylonger. I was denied by them and toldthat they had purchased 100% of my bottles and raw materials. I notified them that their continuallyincreased pricing and mistakes with the labels forces me to halt allmanufacturing of the product. I began to suspect that I was possible a victim of apseudo ponzi scheme by them. I becamesuspicious that they may possibly be using new clients money to fill ordersalready paid for. At that point I told them I would have the labels madea third time to reflect our original price and ingredients and that I wanted my10,000 units manufactured. I wasnotified by Donna Tatum that I would have to send them another $14,750 BEFOREthey manufactured the product. I refusedbecause our agreement (attached) is that I would pay 50% of the totalmanufacturing costs, $14,750, before the product was manufactured and theremaining 50% balance, $14,750, 30 days from the day of delivery. She stated that they do not extend credit toanybody and that I would have to pay them the additional $14,750. I sent her the invoice I had from AloeDynamics stating the above mentioned terms. After many days, she said theyd ONLY manufacture the product if I sentthem a post dated check BEFORE they manufactured my product. I toldDonna that these are all new terms and should have been discussed before I bankwired them $14,750. I have not hear back from them since, its been 2 weeks. I have sent several emails and tried to call many timesto no avail. They send me an email onceevery couple of weeks with no solutions. They are holding my money indefinitely and wont show me any proof thatthey have 100% of my raw materials on site at the manufacturing plant. I believe that the ridiculously increased cost for themanufacturing and the mistakes made to the label were done purposely due to JimAbanakas liking to my ex employee, Gustavo Nicosia. I am turning to you because I think there may be morepeople out there that have been taken advantage of by this company. I want a refund of my $14,750 that I sentthem, we never went to manufacturing on the product. They will not communicate or resolve thisissue. I feel they are an unethicalbusiness.
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