This seems to be a good example of why mail or Internet orders should be paid for with a credit card. That adds another layer of protection for the consumer should something go awry.

John,
I'm kinda of curious how you were able to get in contact with Ken, but all the people he owes money to cannot. Something is a little fishy. I smell a legal battle brewing by the lack of any answer as to what is going on. He had to have told you something. I suspect his lawyers told him to clam up. Until any more light is shed on the issue, it is what it is. Don't expect to come on here, say you have talked to him, but give no information. Customers are not stupid!!!!!! They want answers and I see none coming. They have every right to voice their opinion because of the lack of response to the buyer. You can defend him all you want by your statement, "kick a man when he's down," but until questions are answered the blogs will keep coming. By the way, you might want to use spellcheck.

I will never use spellchecq,you justa have to learn to speek John like everyone else.

Man I would never call anyone stupid,for the most part, I have always lived by the idea even a total fool can teach me something if I just pay attention. Like You! I am deffentley paying attention to your every word,searching thru the levals for that little gem stone I can take with me. J.

I just heard from Ken. I anticipate that he will be contacting everyone else soon. As I kind of figured, he has been going through pure hell and probably hasn't slept much. Feels horible about what is going on (and has probably been in denile/avoidance mode). He has been totally screwed over by the supplier he'd been working with, so there probably won't be any Woodzotic coming. He intends to refund everyones money.....so I say we cut him some slack (my credit card company will give me the refund anyway).

I built a rather large deck around my house last year, used the rad system then woodzotic on part of it before winter set in. I plan on finishing next week. I bought 5 gallons last fall and was unable to use due to cold weather. i do have enough RAD to clean and I hope 5 gallons will be enough. I love kens products and hope he gets his stuff straightened out.I will buy from him again if he survives. I used to own my own business and know some of the struggles. gim him a chance to sort things out, he does have good products. Bob

Bil and Xte, I could not have said it better my very own self. J.

Ken,
I can't wait to receive the RAD cleaner. I still have faith!

The faith is nearly exhausted. If Mr. Ken learns one thing from this, honesty and COMMUNICATION is absolutely necessary in running a business and building trust. Businesses run into set backs and situations all the time. The customers don't need to know the gritty details, but they deserve a simple explanation. Even better, they deserve the option of receiving refund or an offer for an alternative solution.

People can't just sit around in the dark. Zero communication is the worst treatment of customers. If given some response, most customers would be willing to be patient if their circumstances permit. I have no previous experience with Pressure Pros. Once my RAD arrives (I hope soon) I will post. If not, in one more week, I'm moving on to plan B, as this is beginning to cause some marital distress...Last thing I need over some freakin' deck cleaner! AHHHH

multitasker,

Now you're going to get the wrath of JH because of your comments. Exactly how I feel. It's all about money and communication

Ken did post a statement on this site but it was taken off,probley they thought it was too close to a biz thing,Anyway he outlined his problems with a resin chem guy refusing to proform in a contracted nature so hes on his own. Also included was his goal to refund all cost of product not receved that will be done in a timley nature.

This is really none of my business anyway, I just see how easy/quick it is to become the enemy after being the good guy, in peoples mind. There is no profit going into what that Co did far as bucking the big finish outfits,coming up with a very good couple of products, keeping his family thing going,things like that.

If you all want to keep on kicking his ass,thats what you got to do.Dont wait for anything just file with all the green meanies and sit back feeling good that you landed a blow for justice.Thats the same way Cindy Sommers got convicted.

Its a good thought that when,not if, it happens to You it wont be as bad as some of you want to do to him far as the present and the furture goes. J.

jh
You just don't get it. You make it sound like everyone is out to lynch the guy. I believe most of them just wanted a answer to what is going on. Is that too much to ask. Quit accusing the customer of being some sort of sob with no feelings. You have no idea what the intentions of these customers are, now or in the future, so stop making those type of accusations.

Try ordering ANYTHING that is out of stock and backordered with the manufacturer. You will be waiting several weeks. RAD did not guarantee immediate shipment of the products we ordered.

However, It would be appropriate to get a little update, stating that the product is backordered, out of stock, discontinued, or whatever, and an estimated lead time. That is standard from any vendor.

You can go to Home Depot any day of the week and get a generic product. But if your goal is a high quality finished product, you know that patience is essential.

The Pressure Pro website clearly states that the product RAD IS IN STOCK. I didn't buy woodzotic.
http://www.restore-a-deck.com/catalog/item/1825728/1257836.htm
When the order page states "in stock," one might expect 10-12 working days, not 30 + with no reply to inquiries.
Hey peeps, I don't have a greivance with "the Man" just wanted to give a fair heads up for other potential customers who are rightly accustomed to prompt or at least responsive service. So enough finger pointing and defensive yak...this is not personal.

To put this all to rest, as of 5/9/08, Ken at Pressure Pro has posted a very SATISFACTORY explanation on his deck forum page:
http://www.restore-a-deck.com/board/board_topic/3053331/351594.htm

An excerpt reads:
All WoodZotic orders I am refunding. We have a new manufacturer that wll making it and hopefully things will be rolling in 3-5 weeks. I realize that many of you have already waited and cannot due to time, temps and obligations wait any longer.

I already have a Step-1 and Step-2 alternate supplier that will be in production next week. If you can hold off on receiving Restore-A-Deck until next week (if I get my order from the current manufacturer which is supposed to be in route) or the following week of May 19th then we will get your order out. If you have plans or do not wish to wait, please send an email to refunds@restore-a-deck.com and I will give you a refund.

So there we are...hopefully a happy ending for all.

Ken if you are reading this, I recommend you email the same message to all customers with pending orders.

Multitasker - thanks for the heads -up! Let's not shoot the messenger! Before reordering the RAD, I checked this forum just to make sure there were no current problems- I count on the good people at GW for honest feedback. While Ken's cleaning products produced spectacular results for me last year, there were packaging problems - I spoke to him directly & he was experiencing whse & shipping problems then. He clearly was having "growing pains" in the distribution side of his business. As a small business owner, I think he suffers from inexperience, maybe a lack of cash flow to stock adequate products, and an inability to forecast required inventory to fill his orders immediately. His company is not HD or Lowes or Walmart! This in no way excuses him from not communicating to his customers. Providing he promptly refunds these orders that do not ship, I for one, hopes he can seek the professional business help he needs to get his company going again successfully. His product s great, and he provided alot of answers.

Note to Ken: Do not process a credit card until the order physically ships - there are ways to get an approval w/out charging the customer for goods not shipped. Contact your CC processor for details.

I would like to know when RAD starts shipping again, maybe someone will post at that time. I believe the majority of the people here are frustrated customers seeking information about Ken's products. The personal fighting adds no value to this discussion.

Well, I was looking forward to getting my woodzotic and have been waitng anxiously to see how this panned out. I just read Ken's explanation on his DIY forum and I am satisfied. (Of course I agree that he could have handled communication better) That being said, from what I have read over the last year or so on this and his forum, I think he deserves some slack. He has always seemed helpful and honest. I hope he is able to overcome this snafu and comes out better for it. Ken, if you're reading this, good luck and I am keeping my order open for my woodzotic. Hopefully it won't be that long and I'll make the time to get the job done. I love the pictures I've seen over the last year and loook forward to getting that beauty out of my deck. (Mom's deck really. I haven't had the money or time to invest in mine yet...too many other pressing jobs at my own house. Oh well, Mom's was a good way to test the water and try out some new products. I know that I will definintely be using Ipe when I do mine.)

Just my 2 cents here...I ordered RAD and Woodzotic from Ken on April 6. Got the RAD within a week or so, but like everyone else, no Woodzotic. I'm a patient guy and don't have a real problem waiting for the product. What I do have a problem with is someone who refuses to communicate with his customers. All anyone is asking for here is a quick update. I read his post on the RAD site forum...so now I know he was screwed by his supplier. I sympathize with that, but what he's doing to me and everyone else is basically the same thing. He's taken our money and isn't providing the product.

I've sent him 2 emails and heard nothing back. I understand I'm probably one of dozens of customers in the same boat, but let's be honest here. What does it take to write a simple form-type email and respond to your customers. Do I think that Ken is trying to intentionally screw his customers?...no...but keeping in mind that we are CUSTOMERS who have ALREADY BEEN CHARGED for a product that looks like it will never ship, and when we ask to see what's going on we're being ignored, intent doesn't really matter much anymore.

Running a business is not just about good products...it's about showing some concern for your customers...without them, the best product in the world is just going to sit on a shelf.

Wouldn't it be nice if Ken would show his face on this forum and explain what's going on. Man up please. Guaranteed I wouldn't buy this product. Yes Hyatt, you can stick up for him all you want but renhoek69 said it like I said earlier, COMMUNICATION IS WHAT THE CUSTOMER WANTS.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has had there issues resolved concerning there orders of RAD or Woodzotic.

I wanted to order the Rad. I have read the complaints of no replies and money lost.I have chose not to deal with this person.He is active (every day)on at least one other message board that I know of. Just wrong in collecting money from people how believed his products were in stock and available.Thats really f'ed up.

I recently became more active on the boards here after not having been up here much since lat summer, and was shocked to see there were issues with Ken and his service.

Just want to say, my experience with Ken when ordering and working with his products last summer was so *positive*, that despite all of the issues lately, I will probably give him the benefit of the doubt once he is back up and going (I noticed Ken recently acknowledged all the issues and recognizes he has a lot of business reconstruction to do).

I am not excusing the communications issues by any means at all, just saying I am surprised. I know last summer, after ordering rad and zotic, I had probably 6-7 questions for him (and some of them were out there and really above and beyond his scope as a supplier), and he wrote extremely detailed, well written responses to them (not just one liners).

And I had ordered a pump up sprayer from him as well, and when he said it was back-ordered and would be a delay in shipping, I asked for a refund as I had to get a move on the project, and he had my $$$ charged back to me the same day I sent him the note, no problems at all.

Again - not trying to excuse him at all, I know this has probably been extremely frustrating for folks trying to get their projects done, and there is few excuses for a lack of communication. I don't know the man at all - but my guess is he was not trying to scam anyone, and I am sure that everyone will ultimately either get a refund or a shippement of product. Just wanted to post, more for the benefit of people whom had never ordered from him prior to this debacle, that this was atypical from previous experiences I have had dealing with him.

Hope it all works out for everyone involved...

I have read with interest all the postings regarding the issues with Ken and his remarkable products,RAD and Woodzotic. As a business that receives lots of good press on this site, I keep a low profile and try not to "advertise" as the site rules demand. I try to stay on the outside looking in, helping when, where, and if I can. I have recommended Ken and his products to literally 1000's of people. The reasons I do so are simple. He has "the superior product" on the market and while his communication timing skills need polishing, he is a man of integrity. He has always followed through on his committments and I fully expect the same with this recent supply problem. I stand behind him and wish him "Godspeed" as this problem gets rectified. Please give him the benefit of the doubt. ..George@East Teak

dbogart,
I'm not trying to bash the guy, although somebody who can't spell (not you) thinks I am. Just curious about a response from Ken. Where did he post an explanation about the issues? Did I miss something?

Hi decker173, I understand your position and definitely didn't mean to come across as posting a rebuttal at all, nor imply that I was responding to a "bash". I would want a response too if I was waiting on an order...

The post I was referring to was over on the forums on his site (see link URL).

Hope it all works out for everyone. Like I said in my earlier post, my experience with him was first rate. Hopefully he works out his supply issues, and in the future maintains some better communications in these situations. I am sure that will be the case, and will give him the benefit of the doubt once he is back up and running because of the exceptional service I got from him last year. --Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Post by ken on his site

Okay. The RAD product just arrived, 5 weeks from placing the order. THANK YOU, Ken. I hated to cause such a stir, but after the rave reviews on this website, which I love and value, then no follow up on my order, I became concerned. As one who reads and researches, I concluded that others needed a heads up before ordering RAD. This ended up being a 5+ week delivery, for a product that was advertised as "in stock." Timing might be an issue for some. All I can say is that my husband was reluctantly patient with me as I assured him that this stuff is supposed to be really good. I guess I will find out this weekend.

Hoping Ken has gotten his feet under him, but please Ken, please, keep your customers informed. It's simply good business.

Thanks!

I'm sorry to say I've had a similar experience. I ordered my RAD about 2 weeks ago, and even though my Paypal act was charged the same day, I have no product. I've sent several emails, and they have all gone unanswered.

I'm not surprised. Doesn't look like he wants to show up on this Web site. Just how much benefit of the doubt do you give the guy. This has been going on for awhile. kurt0811 seems to be another casualty of no customer support response. HELLO, COMMUNICATION. There has been quite a fallout of this issue on this web site alone. I hate to think how many others are involved that have not voiced here.

My RAD package arrived today 3 weeks and 6 days after I ordered. Thank You Ken for coming through. All the negative information on this forum has people needlessly worried.

You people bashing Ken repeatedly on this thread don't seem to have any wisdom to offer other than lots of negative feedback. The point of this forum is for people to share their experiences. No experience- no feedback please.

aidan,
You need to learn the difference between bashing and wanting upfront honesty. I'm glad you received you product. How many times do I need to say it. COMMUNICATION. People want answers. I guess you were one of the lucky few at this point until others respond. Don't you ever check feedbacks online, wither it be products, movies, etc. Wouldn't you be a little suspicious of inordinate amount of negative feedbacks. If you don't, it's your own fault. People need to know what is happening. Let them make their own decision. As you say, "the point of this forum is for people to share their experiences." I case you haven't noticed, that is exactly what people are doing. SHARING THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH KEN AND HIS PRODUCT. Wither it is good or bad they are sharing.

I am glad people "bashed" ken. I was thinking of ordering his products and an extra 3 weeks would have been a big damper on my schedule. Due to folks speaking up here, i was able to order a great product from sunbright supply that shipped the next day.

So Decker, please elaborate on YOUR experience... you seem to have so much feedback.

aidan,
This is your statement in a previous post. "I just ordered it. I would have ordered another product if I knew of this issue."
This proves that you were concerned and following the blogs. I have no experience in this product, or desire to purchase it, as stated in earlier blogs. When only one supplier carries a product I am reluctant to use it and get into situations like this. If you are using it for yourself and are willing to wait, that is up to you. As a deck builder, I don't want to get into explaining to my customers to use a certain product then trying to explain why I can't use it or it is not available. I don't need to use something to be an informed consumer. I have never stated that the product is bad/defective. I never met or spoken with Ken.

Of course I was concerned. "CAUTION ordering rad cleaner" literally appeared the day after I ordered the product.
This really surprised me because Ken had been such a staple on this forum. He took great time to answer questions and give help to people through this forum. I wish he would come back. This forum is only as good as the experience of the people sharing information. Without Ken's input, we are a little bit less informed.

Decker, you could have stayed out of this thread because you say "I have no experience in this product, or desire to purchase it, as stated in earlier blogs." You really seem to be leading the lynch mob to bash one of the people who has helped make this forum such a valuable pool of knowledge. So please could your next post be some constructive feedback about actual deck building? Let this thread die!

aidan,
Quit reading between the lines. I NEVER bashed the guy. You are reading only what you want to read. Open your eyes. I have better things to do than defend my reputation on your one sided view of my blog. I hope the others continue to speak for themselves and express their freedom of speech, wither it be positive or negative about a product or service READ the blogs

Decker you are so full of Shi ttttt your eyes are brown, get off it. Ken will take care of his own business one way or the other. Take your freedom of speech and stick it where the sun dont sine. J.

Testy, aren't we oaky. I see you haven't learned spellcheck yet.

Pressure pros website lists a product as "instock" takes orders and peoples money. Then in return doesn't respond at all. And doesn't deliver the "instock" products.Leaving people to hang.Sounds ok. No?

I ordered a light cleaning product from Restore-A-Deck a few weeks back and after numerous emails asking for a refund, I continue to receive no response. I will need to find an alternative product and no longer want to do business with Ken. Apparently the " request a refund" link is a black hole.

Continuing to do business in this manner is untrustworthy. He should stop taking people's money until this is resolved.

I ordered RAD cleaner from Pressure Pros as well. Unfortunately for me, it was before I looked at the recent posts about this vendor. After I ordered and waited for a few days, I found out he was not filling orders. I sent an email and he did not reply. I waited a few more days and asked whether he had the product or not. He did not reply. I left a phone voicemail for him. He did not reply. I contacted my bank to dispute the charge. While they were sending me the forms the product finally arrived (it ended up being a few weeks after I ordered) but one of the containers was open and spilled in the box. I did not bother to contact him about it as he had never replied to any of my other emails.
I would highly suggest looking elsewhere for similar products.

Wow...d/t fighting off cancer this year I did nothing with my beautiful Ipe deck except lay on it and recover...sooo...I haven't been here for awhile.
An email today from a GW newby (i assume) sent me back here to check it out. I'm really surprised to hear of so many having trouble with Ken's service.
Speaking for ourselves, we will probably wait awhile and see what the feedback is here before ordering again this fall. I hope things work out because we had great success with both the rad and woodzotic.

Just a note to decker173:
I think, my friend, that you need a little lesson in chatroom etiquette. When you print the word COMMUNICATION in CAPITOLS it is the same as shouting in someone's face..You have done this repeatedly, as well as personally attack some of the other posters on this thread. No matter how much you deny the 'bashing' accusation, that is the tone of your posts. This not only downgrades the quality of the dialogue but also makes for an unpleasant waste of time for some of the rest of us. If you truly have no experience with the product/co. in question maybe you should stop weighing in on this particular conversation or, at least, restrict your comments to those that are constructive.

Ken: nice to come back and see you still here and that your sense of humor is still intact. I don't know how you stay this cool but god bless you for it!

BTW: The email I got was from someone asking about Wood Defender, which we used on our cedar fencing. Just FYI we haven't restained in 3 years and it still looks pretty good...will probably redo in the spring just for good measure..anyone else tried this product?
Nonaberrie (on my deck)

nonaberrie,
I see we have another "read between the lines blogger". Why don't you get on the okey for what he said. Talk about some pathetic grammer. And you say I don't have the proper manners. I suggest you mind your own business and stick to the story at hand. I notice the overwhelming response to product refunds. Has anyone got any?

quote from Hyatt:
Decker you are so full of Shi ttttt your eyes are brown, get off it. Ken will take care of his own business one way or the other. Take your freedom of speech and stick it where the sun dont sine. J.

Nonaberrie -

We used Wood Defender on decks, fences & cedar shakes for a year or so. Fences do hold up well, decks depend on exposure as to their longevity and the cedar shakes still look quite nice from early 2006 (and they were ratty to start with!).

I can also say with certainty that the contents of RAD and Woodzotic will change somewhat as the manufacturer and distributor have parted ways.

I ordered the Rad Maintenance cleaner on June 01 of 2008. To date, I have not received the order.

I used other products from Restore a Deck in the past and was very happy with their service and the product, but i agree with other posts, they should not be taking peoples money if they can deliver the product in a timely manner.

Just FYI. Last year I had the intentions of ordering RAD. However, I didn't get the chance to restore my deck. This year, I check into the product and BAM, all he ll has broken loose.

I am in awe that he has not responded because his past behavior is utterly amazing. In depth explanations, great answers to questions, quick/individualized responses etc. I really expect he will make things right. But, I have not sent him money and am not waiting on product or my thoughts might be different. I hope he gets back on his feet and in the right mindset to at least post explanations/updates as to what is going on. That seems to be the main issue of the complaints so far.

As of present, he (or someone) has disabled the link to the restore a deck, deck forum (the link at the bottom of the restore a deck website). Maybe he felt it was becoming a "Ken bashing" forum. He could have at least left it as it was but just disabled any further posting. Come back to us Ken. Just let us know what's up and we'll be fine. Hope all is going well with you.

Now for the best news. You can actually get the exact same cleaning/brightening products from www.thesealerstore.com . The cleaner is called EFC-38 and the brightener is called Citralic. I believe these are also available from the www.woodrich-brand.com . Hope these links help.

Ken, when things are up and going, let me know and I'll order from you. Take care and good luck, Greg Thomas

Today I decided to spend a couple hours researching online for products and methods to clean and restore my small cedar deck w/2 staircases. Couple weeks ago I bought a huge bucket of Olympic waterproofing and deck cleaner from Costco then checked ConsumerReports. Not convinced these are the best products.

Stumbled on this gardenweb site and forum, registered, started reading about RAD products, went to that website, saw a few disabled links but still proceeded to order a kit and almost paid. Then I thought.... let me go back to gardenweb and keep reading....make sure I'm buying the right stuff and that's when I saw this string going back a couple months. It's quite disappointing to read of the latest turn of events with this supplier because his products sounded exactly what I'm looking for.

All I can say is.... wow, glad I checked back here. Nothing frustrates me more than ordering something that never arrives and all the time and effort trying to get a response that never comes. It's really too bad.

Now on to www.thesealerstore.com..... thanks for the tip, Greg.

Good luck! I'm ordering the EFC-38, Citralic and some Armstrong Clark stain from the sealer store in about a week. Go to www.thegrimescene.com and ask away as far as what stain is best etc. They have been an excellent group for help. Let us know how it all turns out. Take care, Greg

Some of you people are pathetic.. lol The guy has no excuse for not sitting down and writing emails or putting a message on his website OR posting a 10 second message here.
Hell, he should at least write a 10 second FAKE excuse for the delays and lack of respect shown to paying customers.

Nothing in the world can excuse the b.s. I'm reading.
To those covering poor ken, your the reason BAD service exists. Because you don't 'feel' the need to say anything at all.
The only reason you will get your crap from him or from other people in business IS DUE to the complainers. They are the enforcers.
ken has plenty of time to eat several times a day, take showers, go to the bathroom and numerous other events.
But he had no time to write a message here for 10 seconds.
Total b.s.
The only thing that can save him is a subject in here appologizing for the lack of respect he shown.
Period.

I agree GB. Although I wish Ken the best, it would have been so much easier for him to shut down his message boards with a final "here's what's going on" message.

Hopefully, once he gets things together, he can post an "apology" message and make things right.

Guess we'll have to wait and see what happens. Greg

www.thegrimescene.com

If you have bit*hing and moaning to do, then go to the above link and post. Ken is on that forum daily and perhaps you might get his attention, if you make a big enough stink.

Good luck and I'm glad I only dealt with him last year and found another way to go this year.

As of March 2010, The www.Restore-A-Deck.com site and all RAD products had been sold to The Sealer Store. We have been shipping RAD products and Woodrich Brand Wiping Stain (replacement for Woodzotic) since then and have never ran out of stock or have had delayed orders.

I apologize to anyone that had issues back in 2008. Please take inconsideration that we were not affiliated then.

Thanks, Scott Paul