1 Tonight ` Celia Christie of Wellington, you and your family have won a tropical island holiday. I went, 'Oh, yay!' Unfortunately, there was a big... 'But...' and I went, 'Oh, yeah, what's the but?' And she says, 'But you have to pay for your airfares.' Hannah holds our own to account. What definition of trip was TVNZ using here? Plus ` We always wanted to get a house. The real estate market is on fire, and good people are getting burned by bad advice. How can he sleep at night? How do you feed your family with someone else's money? They entrusted a financial adviser. Good morning. Is Mr Atkins here? And in a Fair Go first, Gordon gets evicted by email. He asks that we leave the office immediately, uh, so we shall do so. And ` COKE FIZZES Forget the spoonful of sugar. I know it's bad, but it's just not gonna stop me. Could the spoon itself cure our addiction? I would never drink that, never. (LAUGHS) Copyright Able 2016 Welcome to Fair Go. Now, we often get asked, 'Is there anyone you wouldn't take to task and do a story on?' Now, the answer is no. But this story was a wee bit awkward for us. It's about TVNZ. Hannah takes us on a trip to nowhere. ENERGETIC DRUMMING HANNAH: When we talk about taking a trip, we expect that trip will include getting from A to B ` trip means travel, right? Like, say, a trip to Rarotonga. Our last holiday was about four years ago, and before that, it was about 11 years ago, so... You were really needing a holiday, were you? Long overdue. We have one more prize to give away. When TVNZ's Good Morning show ran a 'Win a trip to Rarotonga' competition in December last year,... Celia Christie of Wellington. Yee-hoo! ...Celia Christie and her partner, Tim, were dead chuffed to win. Looks stunning. Looks good, doesn't it? Good Morning had rung with the good news. She says, 'I'm gonna make your day today,' and I went, 'Oh, yay!' cos I need somebody to make my day. And she says, 'You've won a trip for six to Rarotonga.' 'But... There was a but? '...you have to pay for the airfares yourself.' When they told you that the trip didn't actually involve travel, how did you feel about that? I was actually upset, cos I thought, 'Oh, what kind of prize is it if you have to pay for your own, um, airfares?' That would make the prize next to useless for you, would it? We wouldn't have gone cos we wouldn't be able to afford it. Couldn't afford the airfare to take them to the white-sand beaches, the glorious cocktails, the azure waters ` did I mention the glorious cocktails? So Celia suggested that, since this was a trip for six people, and since she and Tim needed just one room, not two, could the Good Morning prize include airfares? And the sponsor was gonna contact me, and I was gonna arrange the deal with` with the sponsor. And then what happened? And then I was just waiting and waiting and waiting, and, yeah. Celia emailed the Good Morning show, chasing up her suggestion. But the show had gone off air for good in December ` no one was answering those emails. Over in Rarotonga, where even the fish are on holiday, the manager of The Rarotongan, Liz Raizis, was also waiting. We've got the beautiful sunshine, got the white, sandy Aroa Beach. She'd been emailing Celia, but somehow, the emails were going to the wrong address. < Just nothing was happening? Nothing. And with one day to go before the prize totally expired, Celia contacted Fair Go. But she didn't hold out much hope. Good Morning being TV One and Fair Go being TV One, it's like, might be a bit embarrassing if you're sort of taking each other to task or, you know. And you were surprised when you did hear from us? Very surprised. (LAUGHS) You know, we're always saying to companies when they've done something wrong, 'Front up and fess up, apologise and put it right,' and it makes no difference if that company is TVNZ. So armed with just this tatty old dictionary and my native cunning, I had some curly questions for head of television Jeff Latch. Lots of definitions of trips. What definition of trip was TVNZ using here? Well, I don't know which definition we use, but all I would say that most reasonable people would think if you won a trip, it would include travel to and from the destination that you had won. This was a pretty ridiculous interpretation of trip, really. Well, I certainly` I don't think they got it right. What happened here? Do you think Celia fell through the cracks? Well, there looks like there was some confusion in terms of email addresses, and so there was a belief that someone had done something and someone else had done something else. The bottom line, though, is it didn't work properly. I've got no doubt that it didn't help the fact that Good Morning was finishing its run on air ` fantastic show, professional group of people, but they're incredibly busy, and I suspect that this did fall through the cracks. But it's not a good thing for one of TVNZ's own shows to end up on Fair Go. It's not really where we would want to be. Celia, she's got all excited, and then she's feeling pretty disappointed now. What would you like to say to her? Look, on behalf of TVNZ, Celia, I'd like to apologise for any stress or inconvenience that we've caused you in what should have been a really good experience in collecting your prize. Shouldn't have happened ` apologise for that ` and we're putting it right. Which brings us here, where Celia thinks that the House of Travel's Paul Rennie is letting us do some extra filming. He's got some Raro shots, and you can look at what you're missing, kind of thing. What can you show us? Would you like to come on around? Yes, sure. But what we're really here for is this. Hello, Celia. Kia orana from our beautiful paradise island of Rarotonga. It's Rarotongan hotel manager Liz Raizis letting Celia know that her holiday is still very much on ` with bonuses. Your prize was for five nights, but we'd like to now offer you seven nights, and you were staying in a garden room, but instead, you and Tim will now be staying in a beautiful beachfront suite. Celia, we can't wait to welcome you and Tim, so come on in ` the water's fine. I'll be there! I'll be there! We're all in on it. You're all in on it! Oh! And Paul was in on it too. Celia, um, on behalf of the House of Travel group, we would like to fly you from Wellington up to Rarotonga, for you and Tim to enjoy your holiday. And we know what you've been through, and I hope you really enjoy it. Oh wow! Oh, thank you very very much! It's a pleasure. Oh my gosh. You're in shock? Yeah. Oh, great. That's fantastic! And Celia and Tim are off on their Rarotongan holiday next month. Better practise a bit of our Cook Islands dancing, eh? (LAUGHS) Oh, that's a good result. Well done, TVNZ ` without fear or favour we report, as they say. Exactly. Now it's time to test your knowledge. Every scout knows it is best to 'be prepared.' And every motorist knows it's a really good idea to carry a spare tyre in the boot of your car. But are you obligated to do so? So, it's our last week ` is anyone going to claim the $20? Yep, the Fair Go true/false quiz is in its final week, and we are going out with a goodie. You must carry a spare tyre in your car ` true or false? Hmm. Oh, yeah, cos isn't it part of your warrant? Well, I would say` Nah, I'll say false. I would say true. We've split the answers on this one! (CHUCKLES) True. (CHUCKLES) You must. Going with true, all right. True. Most people are pretty adamant that this one is true. Are they right? Find out shortly. Hmm. Well, later in the show, we'll find out the answer and the winner ` if there is one ` of our $20 trivia prize. And why the dream of owning a home just got even harder for some. We always wanted to get a house. They put their faith in a financial adviser and lost their savings. Good morning. Is Mr Atkins here? How can he sleep at night? How do you feed your family with someone else's money? He asks that we leave the office immediately, so we shall do so. Plus ` the bittersweet truth. I know it's bad, but it's just not gonna stop me. Could the teaspoon cure our addiction to the sweet stuff? I would never drink that, never. (LAUGHS) Welcome back. The dream of owning your own home is incredibly powerful. But for more and more Kiwis, it's becoming the impossible dream ` saving tens of thousands of dollars for a deposit is unachievable. But imagine this ` one day, the phone rings with the promise of a low deposit ` even no deposit ` path to owning a home. Well, we've investigated that path, and we think it's very slippery indeed. Bargain-buying here. 800,000. Yes, that's right, folks ` she just said 800,000 is a bargain. Going... CLAP! CHEERING What on Earth is the world coming to? Million-dollar houses, dime a dozen. (BANGS GAVEL) Gone to you. $100,000 deposits run-of-the-mill. How can ordinary Kiwis get a foot in the door? We always wanted to get a house. Little hope of that for Kaisa, Noa and their family ` or so they thought ` until two years ago, when the phone rang. It's just come out of the blue. I didn't` you know, I don't know how they found our numbers. 'They' were the Welcome Home Foundation selling an intoxicating dream ` home ownership for low or even no deposit. We thought, 'Wow. This is what we need.' They can help us to buy a house if we wanna join. They told us that they will give us 100% mortgage. It's a pretty good offer. They took it. It sounds so good, so real. Weekly deposits of $100 would begin their journey towards a family home. With the money that we're gonna start saving, that is our deposit. For the last few weeks, we've been on a journey too ` trying to get hard information from the company that called Kaisa. It's now called Home Funding Group. Good morning. Is Mr Atkins here? 'It's run by Luke Atkins.' Hello, Mr Atkins? He's harder to pin down than a cheap house in Auckland ` the house that construction worker Glen Ralph despairs of ever finding for his family. It's something for my kids to look forward to, my grandkids. But can he get a house today? Fat chance. Bank's not gonna look at you unless you've got 100 grand plus. And that is not happening. Oh, it's impossible. It'd be impossible. Until he stumbled on Home Funding Group, the Kiwi dream ` the chance of 95%, even 100% home finance. Could be looking at, you know, getting a break in life. He signed up last September. Initially, they sounded pretty legit. He agreed to pay $50 weekly for three years. So for nearly $8000 all up, he thought he was getting financial coaching. They look at our bills, our outgoings, and they look at, um, how much we're willing to spend on a house. What are you getting for your $50 a week? Nothing. Nothing at all. I work 12, 13-hour days. Hard-earned money basically just flushed down the toilet. Kaisa and Noa feel the same way. I don't know how these people do it. Now, remember, they thought they were saving $100 a week, and we can see why. The fine print says Welcome Home Foundation will 'hold it on trust' and pay the deposit balance to them when they buy a house, less fees. In fact, they weren't saving a cent. Hold it on trust? Yeah, right. They were actually paying towards a big fat fee ` $8775. And when they cancelled last year, they lost everything they'd paid ` $7400. I was pissed. I was really` I was really angry. I was more than angry. I was` I felt, like, betrayed. We showed the agreement to Sue Brown, a lawyer and former senior manager at the Financial Markets Authority. My first impression was that this is a mess. It was not a savings scheme, and if it were, it'd be a complete dog. At $100 a week, it's going to take them more than 80 years to save their savings goal. The goal is 450,000 at 100 per week, no interest. That will take 86 years, 28 weeks, to be precise. They are missing out quite considerably. And so are Glen and his family ` he's literally paying for nothing. All the words coming into my head? I don't think I'm allowed to say them on TV. Home Funding Group cancelled his contract but not his payments. That's a separate contract with a separate company. Home Funding won't tell that company to cancel. We're left with the arse end of the stick and still having to fork out. How do you feed your family with someone else's money? If you're just taking that fee, where does it go? We've got plenty of questions too. We have no answers so far. Hello, my name's Gordon Harcourt. I'm with TVNZ Fair Go. The lady that Noa, Kaisa and Glen dealt with was in the office. We're not identifying her, but it's important to hear from her. < Do you know of people who ended up in homes through your efforts? Yes. The website has a gallery of clients and happy homeowners, and the office is full of shots like these. They look like the sort of thing you get from the internet. I asked to speak to happy customers, and he hasn't come through with that. 'We really do want to hear their stories.' Would you be able to give him a call now and tell him that we're here? Hi, Luke. Um, can you give me a call when you get my message, please? I've just got, um, Fair Go here. We'll go and wait at reception. Is that all right? Yep, that's fine. OK, thank you. We waited; he didn't turn up. Three weeks ago, I sent him specific facts, claims, questions. Before my visit, he sent a press release, which, we say, answered none of those specifics. Well, this is a bit of a weird one. We've been here best part of an hour now, waiting for the owner. Usually, I've been kicked out long before this. Finally, I was, via another email. He says he's responded by way of a press release. It's highly impolite of me to walk into the office. And, uh, he asks that we leave the office immediately, so we shall do so. Thank you very much for your time. 'Mr Atkins says Fair Go shouldn't be involved ` we should leave it to the formal disputes resolution process.' Now, Luke Atkins and Home Funding Group are on the Register of Financial Service Providers. They are working in a heavily regulated area. We think that means they should be answerable, but unfortunately, Mr Atkins does not wanna respond to my questions. That's a shame. Glen, Kaisa and Noa all have the same message for others. Stay away from these guys. Don't even go there. Um, think again. I want them to stop, and I want our money back. Well, they haven't got their money back so far. Better news for Glen ` the company collecting his payments has basically put the contract on hold. As I mentioned, Luke Atkins sent a press release about 10 days ago. It says we are too hasty ` we haven't obtained the full and correct information. We say that information is not in the statement. It mentions wonderful opportunities and services. It uses a gym membership analogy ` 'You must do your part. If you quit training, would you go to Fair Go to complain?' They go to 'great efforts' to ensure customers make informed decisions. We note that Kaisa signed where it says he understands the fees. The people in our story have 'broken their commitments' and decided to damage Home Funding Group's reputation. That's 'unethical', and they won't be blackmailed or 'unfairly slandered'. The statement's on the Home Funding website if you want to read it in full. And if you're a happy client of Home Funding Group, please do contact us. Coming up ` a simple solution to make it a whole lot easier to eat and drink healthy. COKE FIZZES It's time for the sweet truth. It is a health hazard. It's criminal. Most kids are blissfully unaware how much sugar they're consuming. So what happens when you make it really obvious? That's way more than an adult's daily intake, let alone a kid. And ` You must carry a spare tyre in your car ` true or false? Who's right and who's wrong? Oh, yeah, because isn't it part of your warrant? I would say false. I would say true. Oh, we've split the answers on this one. (LAUGHS) Welcome back. We received a huge response to last week's show on sugar. It sweetens the products and the profits of food manufacturers. They, of course, argue sugar content is clearly detailed on packaging. But is it clear to kids? Because ` let's be honest ` they are one of the biggest target markets. So we sent Mark back to school to see if kids get the skinny on sugar. MARK: We at Fair Go like to shake things up. So to those of you who sell sugary drinks, brace yourself, cos we're fixing to bust. COKE FIZZES It is a health hazard. It's criminal. We think it's time for the food and beverage industry to tell the whole sweet truth about the sugar content on their front labels. How can we expect children to understand how much sugar is hidden in these products? So we got our clever graphics bods to knock up some labels showing how many teaspoons of sugar in total were in these three randomly chosen drinks. We stuck them on the front of these L&P, Primo chocolate milk and Simply Squeezed Super Juice bottles and showed them to health campaigner Dr Gerhard Sundborn. Nice and clear and easy for people to understand and interpret. But to really road-test the teaspoon labels, we took them to a bunch of 12-year-olds from Belmont Intermediate in Auckland. I know it's bad, but it's just not gonna stop me. (LAUGHS) OTHER CHILDREN LAUGH As long as it tastes nice, then I'll have it, I guess. More than 25% of all the sugar kids take in comes from sugary drinks, so these guys know a thing or two. There's a daily intake for women, men and kids, isn't there? I'm not quite sure what that is, but it's, like, something around two to five teaspoons, I think, for kids a day. The World Health Organisation recommends three teaspoons of sugar a day for children. Let's show them our three bottles. First up, the Primo chocolate milk. What do we think? 7, 12. > 14. > CHILDREN: 14! Ooh. That's double. That's double what we thought. I think that's disgraceful, cos, like, considering our health, but, yeah, companies need to make money, so... (CHUCKLES) And what about Lemon and Paeroa, L&P, a kiwi classic? 18. 20. 15. CHILDREN: Ooh, 21! To be expected ` it is a fizzy drink, after all. But what about the healthiest-looking option ` Simply Squeezed Super Juice ` Happy Belly? The results are in. CHILDREN: 22. Now, what do you think about that? Well... That's too much. That's ridiculous. It says three servings on the bottle, but the boys, especially, reckon they'd knock it off in one go. I think that's too much, personally. < That's, like, over 100g. That's way more than an adult's daily intake, let alone a kid's. Yeah. That's disgusting. So does that change your opinion on whether you'd drink it? Yes. I would never drink that, never. (LAUGHS) Belmont Intermediate ` well, 10 of them ` have spoken, and they're shocked. If you have a bowl of sugar and you just get 22 teaspoons of sugar, I don't think anyone would really want that, so they'd probably put it... I think it makes you think twice about buying it. 'So, let's put it to the vote.' If you think it's a good idea to put these labels on the bottles, put your hand up. 'Short and sweet ` teaspoon labels win in a landslide.' It'd be better for everyone. Teaspoons are something everyone uses every day, so it's really relatable. Although, remember ` this will be a battle for hearts as well as minds. Can we have the drinks? CHILDREN LAUGH I reckon that teaspoon idea's a really good one. It is, but the Food and Grocery Council disagree ` they say the overall issue is over-consuming too many calories. Sugar is only one part; there's also fat, particularly saturated fat, and salt. They also say the health star rating is superior ` it tells shoppers how much sugar, salt, fat, fibre, calcium, etc, is in a product. There's only so much room on labels, and that's why industry government health experts devised that scheme. It is important to point out ` that scheme is voluntary, and I must say there is no way I would drink a bottle of orange juice knowing it contained 22 teaspoons of sugar. 22. We reckon Mark's on a winner there ` which brings us to our final true or false quiz. Will someone pocket the $20 prize? You must carry a spare tyre in your car ` true or false? False. False. And she's right ` by law, you're not required to carry a spare tyre. While it may be inspected for a Warrant of Fitness, it's just to ensure, if you do have one, that it's securely fastened. No spare tyre ` you guys found that hard to believe. You don't have to? You don't have to. Oh, you'd want to, though, eh? I know! And the sad news ` no one won the big money prize. Whoo! Lollies all round for the Fair Go` No, not lollies. (LAUGHS) Oh, no. Too sugary. While we are on the topic of consumer gripes, coming back by popular demand ` that Fair Go hit from 2015, Dumb Charges. That's right. You guys flooded us last year with a raft of dumb charges. Now we're back on the hunt. If you've had to pay a fee or been charged for something that you think is just dumb, let us know. Yes. Well, 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. We do love to hear from you. We're on Facebook. Email us... Write to us... And next week ` It's supposed to be the happiest day of a bride's life. Are you excited? Yep. It's what every girl dreams about ` looking beautiful, feeling like a princess. Nerves are always a problem on the big day. I like to be organised, so I was pretty anal-retentive about getting that all done. But the flutter of anxiety can turn to stomach-churning stress with the realisation that someone has made a huge freakin' mistake. I would not want anyone to go through what I went through. It's the bridal gown horror story. So, the bridesmaids' dresses were never gonna make it in time? No. But they were also the wrong colour? Yeah, I just was, at this point, really upset. It ruined Abbey's big day, and she's not alone. To me, it doesn't even matter if it rains. I don't really care. The worst has happened to me. That's next week. Goodnight.