Need to get a kayak down to San Diego.

Talked with OEX again.

Offered the same options, full refund and I pay shipping back or a $200 discount on another "blem".

Told them I wanted to talk to Malibu, was told that his boss says there is no re-course, and he isn't Malibu.

Started to get a bit loud with me, and promptly told him this is why I wanted to talk to Malibu. You aren't Malibu. Malibu should be fixing this.

Supposedly his boss will call me.

I basically want them to pay the shipping back and I'll even package it up for them in the same material it was shipped in. Then, I want my refund.

For what it's worth ... I owned a "Blem" Malibu that I bought off another member and the "blem" was fairly drastic.  My "blem" was the decal started on the outside of the hull & protruded thru to the inside of the hull just above waterline thus making a path (hole) from the outside of the hull to the inside.  I took a thin blade one day & was able to easily slide it along the surface of the deck (from the outside) all the way thru to the inside.  Might explain why it leaked so bad    Moral of the story was, maybe their "blems" are a bit on the 'extreme-blem' side?

My Hobie was bought as a "blem" and the blem is VERY minor and doesn't affect the use of the kayak at all.  Guess one companies idea of "blem" is different than anothers.

I, sadly, suspect that you may be stuck with it.  Sell it on Craigslist & move on as a costly lesson learned as I did with my Malibu.  Luckily I got out of it almost as much as I put in it.

If you paid via credit card, get your credit card company involved.

After our last conversation, I got a call back from OEX.

They'll be sending me a shipping label and packing material.

I'll get a full refund once they receive it.

Wow!  Glad it worked out, so far.

Glad to hear they are going to try to make it right! I've always been leery of those Malibu blems because they seem to produce waaay too many blemished yaks for a legitimate company. There's enough to hold bi-annual Blem sales--which seems odd (maybe it's a marketing strategy). But they sure are tempting for a "value shopper" like myself haha! Especially the sale last fall when they had X-Caliburs for $279. http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=58250.0