save our brand from a bad fulfillment company

My name is Nathan, also known as @RoaminBison, owner of Roamin' Bison Workshop and our brand new weighted plush brand, Weighted Wildlife

We launched a overwhelmingly successful Kickstarter last year for Weighted Wildlife and because of that, required the help of a fulfillment company in order to facilitate the sending out of approximately 6,000 orders.

Unfortunately, the fulfillment company, once we signed our contract, immediately changed their shipping rates to 25% more than originally quoted, costing us $45,000 more in shipping fees than were raised. They waved this massive increase as "surcharges" and gave us no recourse to use cheaper shipping methods, such as USPS.

We took this hit on the chin and maxxed out two credit cards to make the fulfillment happen. But they were not done.

A charge of $3,600 appeared in our account as a "negative balance" with no proof of use. When employees were pressed what the money was for, they said "we can't find anything" on our transaction sheet, but essentially told me to pay it anyway so shipments could continue.

We did.

Then they decided to do it again.

They added a sudden charge of $6,300 citing "packaging" costs, but offered no breakdown of these costs. Most of our shipments were sent out in $0.50 polymailers and we were under the belief this packaging had already been paid for, as one employee claimed we were "done with surprises" after the first hard push for fulfillment, but that clearly was not true.

They are now holding our inventory hostage behind the $6,300 fee. We cannot continue to sell our plush and ship them out to customers as they will not move forward unless there is a positive account balance.

I have since filed a breach of contract with this company by mail and email, sent a complaint to my state's attorney general, submitted a complaint to the Better Business Bureau, and have declared that we want our inventory packed up and removed from their facility to a location of our choosing.

Our breach of contract also included their inflated storage costs, which they first quoted to me as $600/month for our amount of pallets (roughly 25), but they have artificially inflated their pallet use to 59 (!) + 40+ storage bins and the cost of storage rose higher the more we sold which makes very little sense.

I have not made a dime off of this project yet. I believe very much in the brand's ability to help those living with anxiety and related conditions as weighted plush are known to be an effective calmer. This company is attempting to sabotage all our success and is now preventing us from selling our plush at all.

We do not know the final damage they will inflict on us in trying to remove our inventory into a warehouse nearer to my home where I can do the fulfillment myself, but we are hoping to raise money for the following

First month's rent for new location - $1,200

FedEx truckload shipping - $5,000

Potential charge for re-palletizing our inventory - $3,800

I am a single person running this entire project and their attempt to financially ruin me has done great strife on both my personal finances and my mental health. I live with CPTSD, autism, and a panic disorder, and their continued taking advantage of our company has deeply affected my life.

I want this brand to be able to help lots of people while also being an eco-friendly example for plush companies. We are changing all our production to recycled faux fur and our in-house fulfillment will be with 100% recycled/recyclable materials.

We hope to use portions of our profit for wildlife conservation as well, but we can do nothing if we cannot get our inventory to a safe warehouse away from this fulfillment company

Every little bit helps and if we raise more than we need, we will be donating the excess to a wildlife conservation of our audience's choosing.

Thank you so much for listening to my story and for any support you can give