Tonight ` So, he always makes it seem like Trunk Property is somehow this massive, you know, company. these 'generation renters' get their own back. Felt so good. Felt so good. Post office, Bill. NZ's waiting. Hundreds of thousands of us don't know if we're winners. And you've never checked them? I don't` I have no memory of checking them. In 31 years? Yeah. And can Hannah McQueen help Ritchie and Rachel? If they follow our process, our success rating is in excess of 90%. Welcome to Fair Go, and a special welcome if you are part of generation rent, the young people locked out of the housing market, stuck paying high rents for dodgy digs. Well, great news ` we've found something to make your life even worse. That landlord you signed up with, is he actually the landlord, or is he a guy playing a nasty game with you and the real landlord? Ponsonby Rd ` bars and beers ` craft, of course ` and beards. It's Auckland's party strip, and Ponsonby is flatting central, the place to be. These boys, Adam, Matt, Storm, hoped to score the dream Ponsonby flat. Cheers, fellas. Thank you very much. Yeah, cheers. Thank you. ALL: Cheers. Everything's there. Uh, you've got your bars there. You're close to the city. Um, just so handy. They found that perfect flat on Trade Me. This is choice. This is the place we're gonna live for the next 12 months and have a good time. The landlord was, apparently, a company called Trunk Property run by Sam O'Connor. Here's an old Facebook profile pic of him. Strangely, Sam didn't use his actual name. In all his emails, it was just` he was referring to himself, pretty much, as Trunk Property, or as a` a person at Trunk Property, but he never gave his name. So he always makes it seem like Trunk Property is somehow this massive, you know, company, but it's just him, himself, and... Three weeks after moving in, some very bad news came from Trunk Property. Opened the email saying, 'You're out in 42 days.' It was like, 'Whoa,... (CHUCKLES) stop the truck.' It just was a real kick in the teeth. Terrible start to the year. Worse was to come. The day after the eviction email, the landlord turned up. It wasn't Sam. As far as she knew, Sam O'Connor was living at her property. So she` she called you Sam? Yeah. She said, 'Oh, hi. Are you Sam?' and I said, 'No. I'm Adam. I rent the place through Sam's, uh` through Sam's company.' Sam had sublet the place without her consent. She had no idea. < And it all just sank in for both of us. I think both her and I were equally as shocked as each other at... (CHUCKLES) just the situation and, um, what we'd both got ourselves into and who` who we're dealing with. He was taking $845 per week from the boys; he was paying $720 per week to the real landlords ` so a tidy margin of $125 a week. Luckily, they, sort of, agreed through principle that` that we could stay on the property until we found a new place. He also took a letting fee of $845 and about $3400 in bond, which wasn't lodged with the bond centre as the law requires. It was kind of a` a double blow, really, a) being told you have to move out, b) you're dealing with someone who's had a bad history of subletting places. Yes, that's right ` a history of subletting. This is Sam O'Connor inside the Tenancy Tribunal earlier this year. The Tribunal has given us permission to use these images. Four times, the Tribunal has heard cases about Sam O'Connor subletting places without consent and/or in breach of the tenancy agreement. In September 2014, his tenancy at another Ponsonby house was ended by the Tribunal. He'd lead the subtenants to believe he was the landlord. Just a big mess, really. The agreement on this place was very clear, written and verbal ` no subletting. A little bit betrayed, a bit shocked, because, you know, three or four times we had the discussion, and, um, I was just quite surprised that he thought he could get away with it. Also that month, his tenancy here was terminated. During that hearing, he described himself as a lawyer, said the Tribunal. He's not. He took bonds and failed to lodge them. The Tribunal referee said he didn't find Sam credible, and his evidence was 'somewhat disingenuous'. How many other flats or how many other people is he doing this to? A fifth Tribunal case about this place is underway. It was a year before the tenants discovered what was going on. So, he was making how much each week from you guys? > 150. What do you feel about that? > It sucks, cos I'm a student, and, like, it would be nice to have all that money back, but even going through the Tribunal case, it looks like we're not able to get it back or anything. These boys refused to pay the inflated rent, so Sam's company took them to the Tribunal. Our biggest worry was this was gonna become on` well, be on our record so that we can go, 'Hey, we got taken to the Tribunal,' but it was because this guy screwed us over. Cos the last thing as a, like, person who wants to find a flat, you don't want that record being` ...your name on the Tribunal. > Yeah. They didn't need to worry; the tenancy was ended, and Sam paid back the letting fee. So you smoked him? Pretty much, yeah. we called it victory. (CHUCKLES) Technically, they didn't win; an agreement was reached. I think I left there wanting to become a lawyer just so I could have that feeling every day, as long as I won every day. It was, um` It was a great feeling. I wish I was there, eh? I'm so gutted I couldn't have been there. Just to own a guy and completely shut him down, who's done wrong to us, felt so good. Felt so good. Yeah. It was` It was awesome. (LAUGHS) > I have to say, Pippa, that really was the most enjoyable shoot I've done in a long time. Now, we've had a lot of emails from Sa` sorry, from Trunk Property. We'll explain that in a moment. First thing, Trunk Property says it's not subletting any places any more. We do hope that's true, but let us know if you think otherwise. Trunk says no one's owed any money, and it denies subtenants overpaid. Agreements with Trunk were valid, it says, and Trunk is still owed some rent. It didn't set out to breach the relevant law. It got dud legal advice but didn't do anything illegal. The Tribunal has found that Sam O'Connor breached tenancy agreements and/or the Residential Tenancies Act. Now, Trunk says its director ` that's Sam ` didn't claim to be a lawyer. Trunk says that was an error by the Tenancy Tribunal. Trunk Property is remorseful and apologises to owners and subtenants. And it says all communications were from Trunk Property, not its director. Now, we think that is just ridiculous, and we've told Sam O'Connor that. So, ask your would-be landlord ` are they actually the landlord? Will you be subletting? OK, finding a flat can be brutally competitive, but asking might save a lot of grief. Yes. Now, here's a question for you, Gordon ` how long do you reckon bonus bonds have been around for? Well, I actually do know the answer to this one, and it is longer than I've been arou` Well, nearly as long as I've been around, I beg your pardon. 45 years, since 1970. Post office, Bill. NZ's waiting. And you've never checked them? I don't` I have no memory of checking them. In 31 years? Yeah. PEOPLE CHEER With 900,000 of you out there who haven't regularly checked your bonus bonds, We're absolutely certain that there are some winners. Look at all these comments. We take your feedback back to the bosses. Are these guys doing there job properly? And are they ready to commit? You're doing pretty well for your age, but you are capable of doing so much more. Welcome back. Almost a million of you may be sitting on cash prizes and simply not know it. Here's Hannah. Post office, Bill. NZ's waiting. For some of you, this ad may have sparked a little memory ` 'Didn't Nana buy me some of those when I was a kid?' Chances are, yes, Nana, Grandad, Mum or Dad could've done just that. Bonus bonds have been around since 1970. And in actual fact, it's, um, NZ's, oldest, um, product of it` of it` of its type. 45 years old, in fact. 1.3 million of us have money invested, but over half of us ` 900,000 ` don't regularly check our possible winnings. We have hundreds of thousands of others NZers that don't, um, meaning that they've got old addresses within the system; um, we can no, you know, longer contact them in the way that we did, etc, etc. Peter and Kate haven't checked their bonds for decades. Theirs date back to when NZ Post ran the scheme, and then ANZ took over in the '80s. We're going to check their bonds, and I've got these ones I haven't checked for ages. You never know. So you've got about 900,000 people who have their bonus bonds basically lying dormant, so they might have a nice surprise waiting for them. It's just sitting there waiting for them to come and get it. Right, so, first up is Peter. So, you've got how much worth there? $7. OK, $2 and $5. What's the background to them? Doing a bit of cleaning up, school reports, RF leads ` you know, the sorts of things people have lying around their house. What are you gonna do if you do win something? Uh, go to the pie shop. Oh, big` big spender, obviously. It's just a question of how many pies. (LAUGHS) And now to Kate. You don't actually have your bonds physically with you. I don't. They're in Gisborne, pinned on a notice board. And you've never checked them? I don't` I have no memory of checking them. In 31 years? Yeah. It's very unlikely anyone out there will be sitting on bonus bonds worth a million bucks. It's more likely to be the smaller prizes. They'd have tracked you down if you'd won big. But if you had won some of the lesser prizes and didn't know, what happens is your winnings get turned into extra bonds and are added to the ones you already hold. We were curious, though, about the odds of winning. A the moment, the` the odds of winning a prize is one in 17,000, so that's` that, in essence, says that something like $17,000 invested in bonus bonds would give` give you a good chance of winning a prize most months. So, what's happened? Nothing. Oh, OK. But I'm gonna` I'm gonna hang on to them, because next week there's another draw. That's ri` Oh, that's good thinking. That's the way to go, isn't it? And you'll be in it, yes, with your $7. Yeah. Back to Kate, then. They've found her $20 worth of bonds in the system using just her ID and bond numbers. Didn't win anything? Didn't win anything, but they're still there, so thank goodness. Oh, that's good. So what are you planning to do? You keep the million? ...keep the million. I'm even thinking about getting some more. So, yeah. Why not? Be in to win. BOTH CHUCKLE We were wondering if anyone who's got just a small amount of bonds could win. There was a woman, um, uh, not too long ago that had invested in bonus bonds. She invested $100 back in` in 1980. Uh, she had won, uh, a further $100 worth of prizes over that period, and then not long ago, um, that when on` one of those bonds went on to wi` to win a million. With Glenn's million-dollar story ringing in my ears, I try my $15. Oh, I'm not a winner. (LAUGHS) Well, actually, I think I would've felt bad if I'd one and the other two hadn't one anything, so... But the thing is with 900,000 out there who haven't regularly checked your bonus bonds, we're absolutely certain that there are some winner, and, look, if you are one, we'd love to hear from you. How cool would that be? Imagine discovering you were owed hundreds or thousands of dollars. It'd be fantastic. Now, we really would love to hear from you if you suddenly become a big winner. Actually, I came across some we had just the other day from the '80s, I think. I will be checking those out. You can too. Do it online these days at this address. And we'll know what's happened if you don't turn up for work next week. I'll` I'll be in my super-yacht. BOTH CHUCKLE Now, we saw $2, $5 bonus bonds in the story; there's now a minimum purchase of 20 bucks. If you think you've got bonus bonds but can't find them, take your photo id into any ANZ branch as Kate in our story did. Now, hundreds, and I really mean hundreds, of you were fired up by our story on couriers delivering stuff and signing for it themselves. Our story was about CourierPost. They are not alone. Here's Brodie with more ` way more. So, the other week we met Kelly and Corinne. They let me measure out their driveways, but I was really there to hear about their CourierPost experiences. You see, Corinne had a courier parcel delivered, and it was supposed to be 'signature required', but the courier didn't even bother to get out the car to drop the parcel off. Hey, so, Corinne, he just went like this, did he? Oh, perfect. Just like that? Perfect. What was worse was the courier signed for it, not Corinne. And Kelly had a courier package delivered, and it was also signed for by the courier. It made her angry that the service she was paying for was not what she was getting. I would be totally happy for a re-delivery at a later stage, or I'd even be happy going and picking it up from their depot. Neither of those options worry me, but I'm having my options taken away in this case. Well, little did we know what was to come. So, after the show, you guys made it pretty clear Corinne and Kelly was no isolated incident. Look at all these comments. So it was pretty clear to us that many Kiwis have had a bad experience with a courier, so we've got some more questions. We went back to CourierPost boss Paul Trotman Are these guys doing their jobs properly? In our industry, you get it wrong once, and that's how people remember you; you get it right 999 times, and you're just doing a good job, and, look, these guys, they work really hard, and they do do it really really well. On occasions, this thing` this kind of thing happens, and, you know, we do take it seriously, we do care, and we do follow up and ensure that our couriers understand what expectations on them are. Paul says they are not going to ignore the issues. Look, we're gonna take the feedback from this, uh` from this` this situation, and we're gonna follow each one up, and we're gonna understand where our` where our issues are and` and follow them up. Now, it's not just CourierPost who've got on your nerves. There were similar stories about NZ Couriers, Post Haste and Fastway. Fastway chief executive Scott Jenyns says... Freightways owns NZ Couriers and Post Haste, and says they... And they all urge you to get in touch, whether it's via their websites or by picking up the phone. And good on all those courier companies for responding to your feedback, and we've already had some of you telling us that CourierPost's Paul Trotman is on the case and sorting them out. Last week we brought you the story of Rachel and Ritchie, a young Otago couple who have decided to take control of their finances with the help of Hannah McQueen, financial personal trainer. Tonight... Can we afford to get married? Can they afford not too? We make all our bill payments but just probably feel like, yeah, we're struggling to` to get ahead financially. You are capable of doing so much more. So just how much better can they do for themselves? If they follow our process, our success rating is in excess of 90%. Welcome back. Last week we met Ritchie and Rachel. Tonight we find out what financial personal trainer Hannah McQueen makes of their spending. Now, we copped a bit of flak for suggesting they are near the average wage. Sorry. We didn't mean to do that. No. Look, together, they earn $118,000. The average income for a kiwi couple with no kids is about 96,000. We got as close as we could with a couple willing to open up their finances on television, and we are very grateful to them. Yes, but can they cut their financial frittering? Here's Mark. Richie Olsen and Rachel Sloan want to be mortgage-free. They're about to meet, via Skype from Dunedin to Auckland, with Hannah McQueen, a financial personal trainer. Everyone has inefficiencies. Everyone wants to get ahead. The` The key to whether we work with them or how hard it's gonna be is whether they are, in fact, ready to do something, and a lot of people say they're ready, but, I mean, I've joined a gym and not gone, so know that I've wanted to be ready, but I'm not really ready to do something; it's the same with your finances. Rachel and Ritchie reckon they're ready. Just whatever it takes, really. We're` We're sort of in this for the` for the long haul. Quick financial recap ` Richie's a school teacher, annual salary 53 grand ` slightly below the average wage. His fiance, Rachel, is an occupational therapist, $65,000 a year ` 10 grand above the average. Yeah, I feel like we` we make all our bill payments and, you know, payments for various things, but just probably feel like, yeah, we're struggling to` to get ahead financially. The mortgage on their two-bedroomed house in rural Waikouaiti is 150 grand over 30 years. They also owe more than 50,000 in student loans. Money's tight. They're not big spenders, but despite that, they've shelled out around $3000 to Hannah McQueen to help turn their finances around. If they follow our process, our success rating is in excess of 90%, but they've gotta stick to that process, cos if we remove all the emotional stuff, it's a certainty. Today they find out how much they're frittering. Hi. Gidday. Hello. How's it going? First, the good news. I think it's great that you own your own home, for your age and stage in life, so that` that's awesome, and if I was going to compare you to other people, you're doing pretty well for your age, but you are capable of doing so much more. Then the not so good. I think you are frittering around $22,000 a year. So that's money that's coming in but going straight back out somehow. It feels like we're pretty` pretty tight with our spending, um, but, yeah, to` to hear that sum of 22 grand was` I think that was a bit of a shock. A little bit extra here and there on groceries and their sporting activities ` it all adds up. It's kinda disappearing. It's made up of a whole lot of different things. So you're spending, firstly, a little bit more than what you think all the time. On a good day, they're not going backwards, but there's nothing left over. If we were to find that fritter, I think we could get you mortgage-free in six years. Wow. And that factors in a year off for maternity leave should you decide to get pregnant. BOTH CHUCKLE No pressure. (CHUCKLES) Yes, that's right ` down from 30 years to six years. Can we afford to get married? I think you should've asked me before you bought the engagement ring. (CHUCKLES) Remember, Ritchie sprung a surprise on Rachel, proposing to her on a trip to Melbourne trip, This romantic gesture has just added to the debt. Hannah says they can afford to get married. But... Whatever your goals are, that's what we need to make real for you, but... there are a lot costs attached to a wedding. They've costed it out at 20,000. I've allowed for $7000. Yep. Your share. Is that gonna to cut it? Ye` Well, um, our parents have said they'll go thirds with us,... OK, good. ...so that seven should be fine, I think. This is not a budget; it's a financial plan to find the fritter, line by line, item by item. Your mortgages are structured in quite a clunky way, so indirectly, you're gonna be paying more interest than what you should, so we want to tidy that up. Some things will have to go or be trimmed. There are always things that you're spending money on that doesn't really make you any happier. We just need to find them, and if we find them, you won't even notice it, because it never really made you happier. But Ritchie won't have to give up his golf or Rachel having her hair done. Denial doesn't work. Is that likely to increase the value of your property? The wedding's on, and they can even do the kitchen renos. Yeah, well, I've actually, in a few days, had a couple of kitchen people out. Still waiting to hear back about a builder. Also part of the plan, creating a rainy-day fund. We need to start building in these buffers, because when you're slightly on the back foot, the problem with that is any curveball pushes you slightly further backwards; you lose your momentum really really quickly. Mortgage-free in six years? Time to get cracking. It's not until we fix everything that you'll actually start to move ahead effortlessly and really quickly, and that's how we keep you engaged, If I say that you're frittering 22 grand a year, well, that means that I would expect us to save, in the first three months, around $6000. A six-grand target for the first three months ` half of that will pay off a $3000 credit card debt. Can they do it? We have in the past. When we had a goal of upgrading our car, we saved that money in about` I think it was about three months, so... No, if we've got` Yeah, if we've got a goal there, and there's a carrot there, you know, definitely, I think, we can` we can do it. Not saying it'll be easy, but, no, definitely think we will be able to do it. Yeah. Good luck to them, and that beautiful dog. That Alsatian's amazing. Mm. And to see how it's all going, we will catch up down the track with Ritchie and Rachel and also with our other couple, the Masons, who, of course, we met earlier in the year. Now, you might recall our story about Bike Barn and its half-price sales couple of weeks back. We revealed the Commerce Commission is investigating those half-price claims, so I was struck by Bike Barn's new-look advertising over the weekend. It's now a 'massive clearance birthday sale' ` not one single mention of half price. Yes. We're glad to see that, and we look forward to finding out what the commission decides. That is the show, but we will be on Facebook for the next half hour to answer your questions. Our programme is all about your problems, your thoughts. Please do contact us. Yes, we'd love to hear from you. We're on Facebook, of course. Email us... Write to us... Now, it's pretty chilly up and down the country. Are you using these things wrong? Next week ` heat pumps. We're in the thick of winter ` crisp, clear chilly mornings. If you've got a heat pump at home, chances are you're feeling nice and toasty right now, but don't feel too smug. We found that a lot of people were not using the` the heat pump in the proper way. And have you changed your filter? > No. No. Have you ever cleaned your filter? No, actually. It's a good reminder. (CHUCKLES) PHONE RINGS Hello, FPS Heat Pumps, Greg speaking. Can you come and give us a hand? I'll show you the way. That's next week. Goodnight. Copyright Able 2015