So this is a long "Buyer beware" complaint - but so has been the 7 or so weeks I have tried to seek some resolution. I have at no point lost my temper or made any insulting remarks. This remains the case still.

So as some of you may know, I was the lucky winner of a Radtek 92" Clear carbon cat. A prize valued at around $2800 with free shipping. It was a sticker contest hosted in one of the (Facebook) Elite RC Boat groups and Mark Ashbaugh did an exemplary job hosting it and ordering the boat that Radek Lech (Owner of Radtek) had offered Mark as the prize. The pictures Radek provided Mark of the prize boat showed a very enviable boat and the needed tickets sold out pretty quick. I think I sunk around $400 in trying to win this one.

So winner winner chicken dinner. Very excited to be getting this boat. I have another white Radtek cat but this was to be my first clear carbon hull and I was expecting something very special.

So the end of July my crate arrives. A large OSB crate. I knew immediately that there was going to be a disappointment as I heard the painful sound of hull on wood that you don't expect to hear when buying a premium boat directly from a company touting themselves as one of the best. Opening the crate I find 1 small square of foam taped to the hatch and one square taped to the rudder block. That was it. No other tape used to secure the 5 small pieces of foam floating freely in the bottom of the crate - no bubble or shrink wrap. Nothing!. WHO DOES THAT??? What person charged with boxing one of the most expensive RC boat hulls available does that and more importantly - what kind of manufacturer allows this to happen???

So I lift her out and check for damage. Fortunately the scratches and gouges were not as bad as possible - both sides have deep marks and the bottom of the hull is chipped and scratched - though considering Radtek had not touched it the problems are harder to see. Certainly not what you want in a clear finished $2800 prize!!

What was worse than the damages were the blemishes. The carbon work is not great - wrinkles and poor alignment - more a DIY effort than "the highest standards in the industry". It certainly was not the boat that Radek had offered and photographed as the prize - this was easily evidenced by the seam and the scoops not being attached (as was shown in other pics).

So I reached out to Mark who shared my surprise and disappointment and advised him I was going to contact Radek directly to find out what went wrong. Radek expressed disappointed at how the boat was packed though advised me all their boats come with blemishes (this was "not a blem hull" - are they all blem hulls?). Radek insisted on talking by phone (harder to document a phone conversation) and over the phone he assured me that he would "make it right"(Radtek are after all 100% comitted to customer satisfaction). Radek asked what I wanted and I said I wanted the boat that was listed as the prize. Radek said he would send me pictures of the other hull (saying they only made 2 with this carbon pattern and 2 could be seen in some of the pics used in the contest). Radek wanted me to see the blemishes in the other hull before he went to the trouble of replacing this one - just to make sure I was happy.

So a month goes by with ZERO response to voice, text, and FB messages. I finally get two very low resolution images via text that really showed me nothing about the boat being offered (who uses text to share images for decision making when all our other communication was via FB Message). I asked for more images via email, messenger - anything, and explained the issues I have with what he shipped me. He went on with an insult before advising me he never sold me anything - only Mark.

At this point I am confident that Radtek and Radek Lech are in no way interested in helping in any way resolve this issue and I am sure he would put even less care into packing any replacement boat should I push matters further. I have never asked for a refund - just the boat that was offered as the prize. I get the feeling Radek saw it as a chance to offload a blem but still no idea what thinking went into that packing effort - there's no excuse for that - ever.

Radek did say he knew someone wanting to buy a hull if I wanted to sell this one - I said it was his boat to sell and I would pack it for his customer (sure beats shipping this thing back and forth across the country). I wanted my hull.

Radek also suggested I paint it - which is not really the reason I wanted a $2800 clear carbon hull as a prize.

Additional items of note

* Radtek no longer vacuum bag though website thinks they do (too much hassle according to Radek). Their use of carbon in this hull is the worst I have seen from a manufacturer. Even my other Radtek looks a little better.

* According to Radek - All hulls are shipped with blemishes (though they claim to be the "Highest standards in the industry")

* Radek knowingly misrepresent products on their website that are made by other manufacturers (Namely HPR) as his own. (I owned the HPR Miss Geico thats been on their website for years).

* I have already heard from two other customers who were very disappointed with the quality of the layup and overall finish of their $2500+ Bare hulls. Radek has not followed through in assisting either with their complaints either.

So just keep it in mind if you ever have to deal with Radtek boats - they are not what they claim to be!!

Radek talks a good deal - but he could care less!

Pics of the hull and exchanges - https://imageevent.com/justaddwata/myboats/radtek

Keywords: Radek Lech, Radtek Scam, Radtek Blemishes, Radtek Defects, 92" Radtek, 2.33m Radtek, Huge RC Cat, Carbon RC Cat, Turbine RC Cat. radekapl@yahoo.com, 562 544-6040, RC Catamaran, Carbon catamaran, Twin zenoahs, twin RCMKs, RCMK K600s, Huge electric RC cats,