AJ Pro Logistics holding my stuff hostage

[DuchessOwl]

In June of this year, I was going to move to California. I contacted New Era Relocation and got a quote. I paid for the deposit and waited for the movers to come. The movers were delayed a day due to another job going longer than anticipated. They did inform me of that delay. I thought what a good start at least there is communication. When they did arrive they said that I had move stuff than I had stated. while this was true it was not a whole lot more as I was on the phone with New Era and counted the items. They did have another person's stuff on the truck they brought. but there were about 16 ft of space left on the truck. my furniture consisted of 1 papa san chair, 1 rolling cabinet, my daughter's key board, 1 -6 drawer dresser with mirror, and 1 queen size Tempurpedic bed. There were about 18 large totes 8 medium totes, 10 smaller totes, over 40 boxes, and other misc. things. AJ Pro Logistics state that I have 1469 cubic feet of stuff. I used to work for Uhaul and my items could fit with room to spare in a 20ft truck. and if that truck was crammed full that is only 1020cubic ft. On the quote, I signed and received from New Era my storage fee was not supposed to be more than $0.25 to $0.75 per cubic foot. AJ Pro Logistics is charging me $1.25 per cubic foot. They also state that I have paid only $4050 towards the move when I paid almost $8000. Also in October when I was made aware of the $10,000+ that I owed them, they stated that my things were first stored in Oklahoma and now are in Illinois. The reason why my stuff was moved was that storage in Oklahoma got to be too expensive. Hmmm, really? Now, they are acting like I was never told it was storage in Oklahoma and that I have to pay them the same amount as if I was moving to California even though I am staying in Oklahoma. I have kept them apprised of my situation of being unemployed and what savings I have was spent on securing a place to live. I have also kept them informed of trying to get a job and the fact my unemployment benefits had run out. I cannot just let this go because the few pieces of furniture are all I have left of my sister who passed away. They essentially have everything I own. Granted I had to get a few items for my new place as I have nothing. I finally have a job but I don't know how I am going to be able to get my things back. It is breaking my heart and my stress level is so high because of all of this.