Gann Memorials Custom Plush Toys

From the donkey's own mouth...after 2 years of trying to get even NEAR a prototype that wasn't a deformed creature from a horror movie...but we're still out 10K and he's still a scamming salesman.

"While I deserve to be shamed for my failure on this project and as a businessman in general, I respectfully ask that you please leave my wife out of the conversation. I met my wife the same year that Gann Memorials filed its first bankruptcy, as it had been in business for many years prior to my meeting her. By that time, the company was already dealing with debt. Simply put, when she married me she had no idea what she was getting into. However, she really tried her best to help pull Gann Memorials away from the financial edge, including investing some of her own savings. Yes, she also lost money in the bankruptcy.

Just this year, due to the sudden federal court decision to close Gann Memorials, her company (Joyus Toyus) was formed as a subsidiary to her 2020 pandemic mask company. Joyus Toyus and Gann Memorials have not existed at the same time, with the exception of the time it has taken to wind down Gann Memorials operations the past few months. She and I did not maintain two separate plush companies, although she considered it at one point, but never took on any clients.

Additionally, my wife never had any ownership stake in Gann Memorials. She was only an employee, who managed my USA factory. I also have zero ownership in Joyus Toyus. I encourage you to check public records, which will validate these statements. Your assumption about us switching companies, only to run them into the ground and file bankruptcy, is unfounded and defamatory. You can say what you want about me, but again please leave my wife and her new company out of the discussion. We share five children between us, so she is simply surviving during this pandemic by doing what she knows best, manufacturing custom plush toys. Thankfully, she hired me to assist with sales, even though I realize I am undeserving of the position. Throughout the past several months, I've been humbled beyond comprehension and am sincerely sorry again for my monumental failures.

My name is ***, a customer of Gann Memorials, LLC. I found out about *** Gann and his company while researching shipping companies on-line. It was during this time I was about to create a Kickstarter for my new book, "***." The inspiration for this book was my best friend and uncle, ***, who was born with Down Syndrome. As you can guess from the book's title, he was the inspiration for the main character of the book - an adventurous little boy with Down syndrome named ***. The book is currently being used to teach children about the topics of inclusion and kindness towards those who are different. A prominent character in the book is ***, a talking koala. The *** plushes I ordered from *** were meant to be used as a visual aide to help children relate to the topic of Down syndrome. After promising the best deal and delivery timeframes, I decided to order my "koala" shipment through Gann Memorials, LLC. I placed an order with *** on 12/3/18. I paid Gann Memorials, LLC the full invoiced amount up front with confirmation it would be shipped directly to my door. The Asian company did an amazing job bringing the *** plush to life.

I rented out a storage unit to hold the large order since *** confirmed they would be arriving at my location any moment. On 6/23/2019, I received an email from the contact at the factory in China informing me that my order had been ready since April, but they had been waiting on *** for payment before they could release the items. I was confused by this statement since I had paid Gann Memorials, LCC in full. *** was upset the company had broken protocol by contacting me directly - thus making me aware of the real situation. After receiving a slap on the hand by our contact at the China factory, they placed *** on a payment plan which allowed 75 of my 1000 koalas to be shipped to me. In the interim this helped cover some, but not all, of the Kickstarter pledgers.

I received another message from *** on 12/18/19 explaining that, yet again, another series of unfortunate events had taken place and he'd been "taken advantage of." This left him no choice but to walk away from my order, therefore breaking his end of the agreement with me. This left me with not only the full up front out-of-pocket expense but also with whatever amount *** appeared to owe on the back end as well.

As of 1/27/2020 Still no product and *** owes the frieght company $3,400

Our company had Gann make a few prototypes and we were very pleased with the quality of the products.

Choosing Gann Memorials was a huge mistake for our company.

Our company gave very clear deadlines and pre-paid in full to assure they would be met. Gann missed every deadline. Even worse, we were promised that we would receive our product in time, but over and over, we were strung along until the last minute, only to be disappointed. At this point, our product is more than four months overdue.

We began working with Gann in early June of last year. Our executives and marketing team had many detailed calls outlining project details, timeline, and budget. We provided very detailed images, descriptions, mockups and even physical samples (directly to the owner) prior to engaging in a purchase.

The piece we hired Gann to produce required explicit custom branding, tagging, and quality expectations. Our standards and needs were consistently made very clear (even from our initial interactions). *** Gann remained confident they would be able to fulfill our order beyond satisfaction. We ordered a total of 3,000 custom plush units. After months of prototyping and adjustments, we had paid in full by early January.

We were ensured we would have a minimum of 1,500 plush toys needed for a major industry event in May and the remaining 1,500 by June for another. We received only 50 (improperly tagged and without branding) for the event in May. We did not receive any more in time for our event in June. Just AFTER our event in June, we received another 450 plush toys. To date, we are still waiting for another 2,500 toys.

Throughout the last 12 months, there have been many days, even weeks, where Gann has not responded via phone, email, text, or Basecamp messaging. On numerous occasions he has failed to provide promised status updates about our order.

Even after claiming to have shipped our products, he was unwilling to provide tracking information until the day before it arrived. When pressed as to why our timelines have been missed month after month, excuses were made about production and manufacturing issues, failures, and delays - none of which were proactively or willingly revealed to us as the purchaser. We have now missed all of our major industry events, and have been left with no confidence when or if we can expect the remaining order.

We paid in full and have been strung along with incomplete shipments and unfulfilled promises.

Not having these toys in time for our events has had a substantial impact on our business. We fear we will never even receive these other toys and even if we do, it will be too late for us.

I HAVE HAD NOTHING BUT COURTESY AND COMPETENCE FROM THE GANN MEMORIALS STAFF, AND MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, A PERFECT PRODUCT IN TERMS OF THE 250 PLUSH TOY DOGS NAMED ABBI WHICH I RECEIVED AND GAVE OUT TO CHILDREN AND HUMANE SOCIETIES'
THEY WERE SUCH A HIT WITH KIDS THAT I HAVE ORDERED 500 MORE ABBI DOGS TO DONATE TO CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS AND OTHER WORTHY ORGANIZATIONS - PLUS OF COURSE, INDIVIDUAL CHILDREN.
I WOULD RECOMMEND GANN MEMORIALS HIGHY TO ANYONE WANTING A BEAUTIFUL PLUSH TOY.

An all-around terrible experience. We paid upfront and only received a small portion of the product we ordered. By the looks of these reviews and the way we've been strung along by Chris Gann, I fear we'll never received what we paid for.

Gann had us pay upfront and delivered only a fraction of our order and it was still late. We are waiting for another 2,500 plush toys that are months overdue. We fear we've been scammed and will never receive the product we paid for. Avoid working with this company.

Wish I could give NO STAR!

August 2019.

A continued and update of my previous posts of my experience of business with the Gann Company.

Having shared previously that this very company, stole funds from and has neither replenished our funds or produced any product- 2 1/2 years later!
As I have shared with many of you in regards to your experience with this company it has become very evident that they have their scam down to a science! They reel you in with promises and soon as they receive your investment they do their disassearing act.

Not only did we lose our heavily funded investment, we also lost a lot of money with business startup websites, medias, promotions and branding. We have also learned that the Gann Company has massive out- standing debts with the overseas factories and that they will not work with him or his associates in the future.

We currently have 12,500 plush dolls sitting in a factory, that we paid Gann to produce and import- and he did not pay factory!
The factory will not release the product as they have not been paid.

Th factory lost financially- we here in South Carolina have no product and handed over our funds! But Mr. Gann collected large checks and did not send to factory! He made out like a true bandit from this and plenty more fraudulent transactions and deals!
Lesson I have learned, do your due diligence and work with an honest company whom do not prey on small business owners to steal their money! Even when you do work with companies insist on using an Escrow account and funds only get released to them with product is delivered. Don't make same mistake Imade and steer very clear of Gann Memorial Company.

If you have and doubt regarding my statement-read legal N.C. documents!

Brian, South Carolina.

Responding to very inaccurate response by Gann to my legitimate complaint- I am 100% transparent regarding my statement.
He claims that I am not being honest about my refund!1
Question on forum to the company -
1- have you refunded me my investment paid to you in full more than two years ago?
2- Did you deliver any product to me that I paid you for?

Answer to both of these questions is no! ( interested to see his response) it is a one word answer- simple yes or no--- save the long winded nonsense and answer the question
Chris Gann shall reply here with a long list of lies - which I know many of you reading this will appreciate because I know now that he has told so many people the same lies - as these people have reached out to me since my initial post sharing a similar instance. Gann will promise you the product service and involvement and the moment he receives your hard earned revenue he does a disappearing act!.

I have spoke with other victims of this fraud operation as mentioned and the circumstances are all similar. I encourage you to correspond with these people and help expose this con artist for what he truly is - and nothing close to what any business person should be. Please do not give your funds to these people and conduct your due diligence and work with a legit company to meet your objective and move forward. I hope my expensive project will save the next business people the embarrassment of trusting people and learning a financial loss.
I am happy to share correspondence with any person whom thinks I am here to be malicious for no reason. I have all correspondence saved and shall continue to expose this operation to further save more of his victims.
So my question to Gann is where is my investment- or my product?

You can also contact the factory producers and learn what really this individual does!

Check out his legal status online- shall explain much more!

As a start up business in *** SC we opted to work with a local company Gann Memorials Tabor City- to import our product and help design packaging. Worst business decision I have ever made!!!
We met with the Owner of company whom had his pitch recited and expressed his professionalism to us. Mistake number two- believing him. More than two years ago we paid him upfront for our product and packaging, Today we neither have our product or our revenue!! It was a considerable amount of money.
We have listened to every excuse that has ever been written and more, - this company just keep the wheel spinning with lies and false promises. I am sure much of you reading this can appreciate the same answers the owner has given you!
The most damaging part to this whole project is that our product was help fund a local children's cancer society - which the owner at Gann was very aware of. This did not phase him as he cashed our check and refuses to reimburse us two years later. I hope this post will prevent honest people looking to build a vocation or business to take your revenue and ideas to an honest company.

I wanted to take this moment to thank the whole Gann team for their exemplary service! I am so happy with the final production sample. Heidi - you are the best designer ever! My children are in love with the koala. A testimony of your hard work/expertise. Thank you ALL for bringing my idea to fruition.

Chris Gann and his company will tell you whatever lies you need to hear to acquire your funds and revenue and then ,as about 30 'clients ' that are all online scripting their frustrations and with trusting themselves to believe an absolute con- artist and fraud!

The Gann organization led myself and my business partners along a manipulative road of dishonesty , lies and empty promises ( which hindsight they were never going to keep).
They took advantage of a small business start up that was aiming to help local organizations - suicide awareness and cancer kids- with revenue from sale of plush dolls that we had ordered through Gann.
We had been advised that we had to pay upfront for product, as this is required in his industry- ( how all con men operate.) We did front the revenue more than TWO YEARS AGO! and still we have neither product or revenue. Every excuse has been shared with us- Glad to post these correspondence so proof is readily available!
What I have learned direct from Gann at this point is that he has no intention of paying us back- and they have previously entered bankruptcy and he changes business ownership frequently. Now whom does one follow to right this crime of theft! We have paid a significant amount to this company- and not only are we out of revenue but the vocation of helping our needy in our commumity also came to a grinding halt- thanks to this 'Operation'.

I know many of you reading this can understand exactly what I am speaking of as this is his game plan.
How many of you have been asked to pay upfront?
How many of you have experienced his non contact on daily basis?
How many of you have been told that he works opposite hours to what we typically do and he cant be reached?
How many of you have been told that you will absolutely have your product in 30 days ( six - 12 months ago)?
How many of you have been told he cannot even afford to pay himself?
How many of you have been led directly to a scam( attorney involved ) on BASECAMP?
How many of you have been told I can pay you back 'X' amount and that a plan will be put in place?

I know and understand that most of us reading this have made a decision financially that have ended a dream, product, vocation or business. But I know if we can direct future people whom have genuine ideas that we did have, away from this company we can advise them to this gangster's game!
I hope the costly lesson I learned from my mistake will steer next person towards a trustworthy professional whom does not want to steal and pillage and dissolve his business and have the system protect him. He has also lost credibility with producers in China and probably cannot even produce more plush.

I am glad to speak direct with anybody regrading my horrific experience with this fraud of a company.
Check out many online Review Platfroms and see the general consensus about this operation. There is a trend!

I took out a 6-month interest free loan in November 2017 after Gann Memorials said they could do a prototype. I was expecting to have one in hand by 6 months, the following spring. I was wrong. It took a year to get the prototype made. An entire year. From November to November. Gann Memorials does verbal contracts, nothing is in writing, and there are no deadlines and therefore no accountability. Chris chided me that "These things take time" while I was earning interest on a loan I meant to pay off six months earlier. They sure want to get paid up front, however. ASAP. BUt YOUR product? Eh. These things take time.
At the beginning, they put up a to-do list via Basecamp with 14 checkboxes. Over the course of that year, 3 of those 14 boxes would be checked. 3. In a year.
Communication took forever. It would take 5 weeks just for one modification to be made, and a lot of times certain things were just ignored, namely the snout and the eyes of the plush. I'd tell them over and over and over again to make the snout straight and to make the machine embroidery on the brow at an angle. They didn't, and when I finally pinned them down about "What the hell is going on and why has none of this been done over the past few months" they finally told me "Oh, it's because we can't do that. It's not possible."
So, after a year of waiting on my livelihood, I got thoroughly f*d. I'm having professional plush sewer fix the design, and that's really what I should have done in the first place. I advise anyone thinking of Gann Memorials for a Kickstarter or anything else to think twice. You're way better off looking for someone on Etsy or Deviantart who will work with you directly, communicate with punctuality, and is capable of hitting deadlines. I've wasted a year of my life waiting on Gann Memorials. And when I requested a partial refund to, you know, make some of those loan payments pack, I was accused of extortion. So, I mean, Gann Memorials knows how to cover their a***s, but they are happy to let yours hang in the wind. They really, really apologize for that, though.
(Also they declared bankruptcy while they were taking my money: https://www.inforuptcy.com/filings/ncebke_306744-5-17-bk-05264-gann-memorials-ll...⇄

We have worked with Gann Memorials LLC since 2014 and have completed two plush toy projects with them. Although preparing for manufacturing can take a long time, the products we have received from Gann Memorials have been exceptional. Through working with Gann, our plush toy orders have been durable, large, detailed, and our batches have had few errors and quality issues.

Their service is their strongest asset.
Started to work on a plushie project for the first time. They have guided me through the process with patience and alternatives. After 3 rounds of reviews, the prototype was done and I was really amazed by the result. The process for the prototype was a little slow but the result was worth it. I'll Kickstarter the project and if it's successful I'll definitely work with Gann Memorials for massive production. I'll write a new review to address that second stage.

The team at Gann Memorials helped us get our idea off the ground and had great ideas to get us started. They helped us kick off the prototyping process and we loved the organization in ***. The team was available by phone and always collaborated on ideas and suggestions.

We started a children's toy and needed two plush toys designed from our website 3d characters we already had designed. The factory designed great looking prototypes and we only needed to do minor adjustments before production last year. They worked with us on the first production run being a pretty small order. We have received all of the plush dolls now and they all look exactly like the prototypes.

We starting working with *** and his team a year ago. We started our project from scratch, and it took time to get the prototype just right. As part of our agreement our product was packaged with our card in a cellophane bag with a silver tie. When our shipment arrived the product and packing was perfect. The animals (a cat and dog) were the highest quality, and they even added our company logo on the animal's tag. We couldn't have been more pleased. From start to finish *** and team operated with the highest level of customer service, *** was always available by text for any questions or concerns, and responded quickly. Understanding the process takes time to get it just right, now, Gann has our prototype and our next order will be super easy. I would highly recommend Gann Memorials for both quality and integrity. Thank you!!

We are a startup toy company who put our trust and money in Gann Memorial. We have paid more than a six figure amount of money and after working for over a year with Gann Memorials we have not received any product that we contracted for, nor have we received a previously promised refund. My experience is identical to the negative review left by *** on ***.

I've been working with Gann Memorials for over 5 years. I'm on my third order with them for my plush teddy bear product. When *** has given me a quote, it's always followed to the letter. He has ensured that my plush product was exactly what I wanted and of the highest quality. My first order took a while, as we had multiple protos made before getting the correct design followed from the factory in China, but in the end, it all worked out well. My plush product has a rather complicated construction detail and this most recent order was stuffed and finished in their new factory in North Carolina (whereas the prior orders were fully made and finished in China). I actually visited the Gann NC factory last month and did a quality-check on my new order and was extremely pleased with the care that his team gave to the finishing of my product.

Sometimes the responses to my emails on their Basecamp communication system haven't been as fast as I would have liked, but that's the only thing I would change. I look forward to continuing to work with them as my company grows.