My company is Healthy Labs Incorporated, incorporated
in Illinois.I contacted Aloe Dynamics to manufacture a new product
I wanted to bring to market in mid July.
Me and an employee, Gustavo Nicosia flew to Dallas to visit the site of
Aloe Dynamics and speak with them about the product Ultralina. Gustavo Nicosia and the owner of Aloe
Dynamics, James Abanaka, became very close right away. They shared the same passion for soccer and
discussed it in great detail for an extended length of time during our visit.
Shortly after our visit to Aloe Dynamics, I had to fire
Gustavo Nicosia for not showing up to work too many days in a row. I contacted Aloe Dynamics regarding this and
to make sure that they would NOT disclose any privileged company information to
my former employee. This was an issue
for Mr. Abanaka. He was speaking to
Gustavo privately and coaching him on how to get back in my good graces. I told Mr. Abanaka that I will NEVER hire
Gustavo back again and that I didn’t appreciate him getting involved with my
business. He stated to me that he wanted
to come to Chicago and see if I would take Gustavo Nicosia back, I was
floored. This was extremely
unprofessional and this is when all the problems began to arise.On 8-14-2009 I received our pricing for Ultralina from
Aloe Dynamics. I thought it was fair and
2 days after that I wired them the $14,750 that they required to begin my
order. Jim Abanaka told me to use his
Label designer because he works well with him.
He told me to make sure that the label designer sent him a copy of the
label before I had them printed. The label creator, Mr. Abanaka’s friend, sent Jim the
label proof and okay’d 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 been
printed because they make to drastic of claims that the FDA won’t like. I was floored since I just paid $1,150 to
have the labels made and Jim received the proof from HIS label designer and
never stopped them before they went to print. I was forced to have them
reprinted. Before I went to print with
the new labels, I asked Jim if we could add more fiber to the product and he
said yes. He sent me a couple of samples
for a product that had 15 gm of fiber per 1oz serving. Jim told me that the added fiber would have a
slight price increase, but not to worry it wouldn’t be overwhelming. I went to print with the new labels and added
the 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 email
from Donna Tatum, CFO of Aloe Dynamics that the product with the added fiber
would be a 64% price increase. I
couldn’t believe what I was reading. I
complained that this is not what we discussed and that I would not be able to
go to market with such a high price for a new product. Then I received another email telling me that
the price went up again, this time it was going to be a 67% price
increase. At this point they have the
newly printed labels again. I was asked
by Donna Tatum to send them more money to cover the added costs. I have another email from Donna that she needed
the money because they did not have the money to get the ingredients for my
order. I declined and told them I wanted
a refund of my order and I was not moving forward with Aloe Dynamics any
longer. I was denied by them and told
that they had purchased 100% of my bottles and raw materials. I notified them that their continually
increased pricing and mistakes with the labels forces me to halt all
manufacturing of the product.
I began to suspect that I was possible a victim of a
pseudo ponzi scheme by them. I became
suspicious that they may possibly be using new clients money to fill orders
already paid for.
At that point I told them I would have the labels made
a third time to reflect our original price and ingredients and that I wanted my
10,000 units manufactured. I was
notified by Donna Tatum that I would have to send them another $14,750 BEFORE
they manufactured the product. I refused
because our agreement (attached) is that I would pay 50% of the total
manufacturing costs, $14,750, before the product was manufactured and the
remaining 50% balance, $14,750, 30 days from the day of delivery. She stated that they do not extend credit to
anybody and that I would have to pay them the additional $14,750. I sent her the invoice I had from Aloe
Dynamics stating the above mentioned terms.
After many days, she said they’d ONLY manufacture the product if I sent
them a post dated check BEFORE they manufactured my product. I told
Donna that these are all new terms and should have been discussed before I bank
wired them $14,750. I have not hear back from them since, it’s been 2 weeks.
I have sent several emails and tried to call many times
to no avail. They send me an email once
every couple of weeks with no solutions.
They are holding my money indefinitely and won’t show me any proof that
they have 100% of my raw materials on site at the manufacturing plant.
I believe that the ridiculously increased cost for the
manufacturing and the mistakes made to the label were done purposely due to Jim
Abanaka’s liking to my ex employee, Gustavo Nicosia.
I am turning to you because I think there may be more
people out there that have been taken advantage of by this company. I want a refund of my $14,750 that I sent
them, we never went to manufacturing on the product. They will not communicate or resolve this
issue. I feel they are an unethical
business.
