Tonight ` Are you excited? It is what every girl dreams about ` it's looking beautiful, feeling like a princess. It's supposed to be a bride's happiest day. To me it doesn't even matter if it rains. I don't really care. The worst has happened to me. The flutter of anxiety can turn to stomach-churning stress with the realisation someone's made a massive mistake. So the bridesmaid 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. Plus ` living in the lap of luxury. I'm putting the dad bod on the line for this one. But this is no backyard paradise. I hate the pool. The only time I'll swim in the pool is when I've mowed the lawns. And ` (SCREAMS) we go all Top Gear in the interest of fuel economy. I'm ditching the gloves and the thing. It's so hot in here. Nothing unseemly, just testing an urban myth. I'm gonna be in my undies by the end of this at this rate. Welcome to the show. First up tonight, the bridal-gown horror story. Getting married is supposed to be the happiest day of your life ` it can also be one of the most stressful. Brodie's been catching up with two brides whose plans to get hitched nearly got stitched up by a dressmaking disaster. LIGHT JAZZ MUSIC # L is for the way you look at me.... # This is the story of two beautiful brides ` Bryley... I'm really excited. It's a bit surreal. ...and Abbey. I had been planning it since I was about 16. Two stunning weddings,... That magical moment becoming man and wife. Loved it, was a great day. ...two magical days that were very nearly ruined by wedding-dress nightmares. # L is for the way you look at me.... # You just feel like you're just defeated. It's the last thing that a girl needs. I just wouldn't want anyone to go through what I went through. So Bryley and Abbey came to Fair Go to share, well, a less-than-ideal experience they had with a bridal company called Christobelle's. Let's start with Bryley. For people out like myself that aren't married yet, the dress is the main thing, isn't it? It's what every girl dreams about ` their dress, looking beautiful, feeling like a princess. This is the dress Bryley wore on her wedding day, but it wasn't her first pick. The first gown she fell in love with was at a bridal show run by Christobelle's. At the start, it was amazing. They helped me try on multitude, a range of dresses. they gave me some bubbles, very relaxed, and it was ` it was good. She began a payment plan to pay off the dress she'd picked. But after her second-to-last payment, she noticed Christobelle's had not processed it. I contacted, tried to call them, went straight to answering machine. So I left a message, um, got an email back to say they'd look into it, they were busy at the moment. And, you know, that's OK ` it's just early days. Early days turned into, well, many more days. In fact, Bryley spent close to three months going back and forth, trying to get Christobelle's to track down that payment. Really bad communication. They didn't actually say why it was taking so long to find it. Bryley hadn't made her last payment yet, and by this stage was feeling very uneasy about her dealings with Christobelle's. I started seeing lots of bad feedback on their Facebook page. I just thought, 'No, this doesn't feel right. This feels fishy.' So I canned it. I just emailed them and said, 'Look, I'm not feeling very happy with the services you've provided, and I'd like a refund.' Christobelle's wasn't having a bar of it, referring to the contract, which states... But that same contract says... Adding to that, her dress had not yet been ordered. So it literally is just money sitting in their account. Abbey has a wedding-dress nightmare of her own. She ordered a $2250 wedding package from Christobelle's, including her dress, bridesmaid dresses and accessories. It seems like a pretty good deal. Oh, great deal. Like, I just... What I'd been looking at before that, you know, to get it all in one package for the deal it was was just great. She made all her payments by October last year in anticipation for her March 2016 wedding. It got to December, and I wanted to know where everything was at, so I emailed. And they said, 'Look, were just talking to the designers in Europe at the moment,' so I was OK with that. And then midway through January, I still hadn't heard anything, and I was, like, 'Well, it's two months till my wedding now.' Now, this is where the wheels started to fall off. Like Bryley, Abbey was struggling to get clear answers. I emailed the company, and they said, 'Yip, we're still waiting to hear, um, but your bridesmaid dresses will be arriving mid-March.' And I said, 'But my wedding is in mid-March,' and they said, 'Oh, due to Chinese New Year,' and I thought, 'Well, this happens every year.' A panicked Abbey then discovered those bridesmaid dresses had been made in the wrong colour. She was now having serious doubts about her own dress arriving on time. One person would say one thing and be, like, 'Yip, it's on it's way,' and then the next person would say, 'Oh, no, it hasn't left yet, it's still getting done, but will leave next week.' Abbey decided it was just getting way too risky, so she cancelled her order. I just want my money back so I can go buy another dress and my bridesmaid dresses, veil, shoes ` all of it, um, because I need to do this now. And she said, 'Look, we can't. It's in manufacturing. 'We can refund you the bridesmaid dresses, but not for the wedding dress and the other bits.' Thankfully, both women managed to get beautiful dresses in time for their weddings, and as you've seen, they looked amazing. But both came to us because they were out of pocket through no fault of their own. Christobelle's had offered Bryley and Abbey a cash payment as a sign of goodwill, but it wasn't the full amount they'd paid, so they said no. For a company that, you know, goes around all the wedding shows, like, you would wanna keep your customers happy. They're not taking ownership for their mistakes. Now to bring you up to speed with where the brides are at since we got involved ` Bryley was successful at the Disputes Tribunal two days after her wedding, and Christobelle's has given her a full refund less the 25% cancellation charge. Abbey was offered a full refund for her entire bridal package once we got involved and got in touch with Christobelle's, and they even offered her an extra 750 bucks as compensation. Now, the company's founder, Simone Gale, says Christobelle's has since apologised to both women. She says standard delivery for the dresses, made in Belarus, is 16 to 20 weeks, and that that is made clear. She says the day of consultation is an exciting and busy time and customers can forget or get confused with all the information passed on, so they've made some adjustments to address this. Simone says they've had dozens of happy clients and it's truly regrettable that there are a few who have not been happy with their service. But anyway, Bryley and Abbey had absolutely magical days, but they weren't happy with Christobelle's, and they don't want anyone to have to go through what they went through. The worst thing possibly that could happen. Honestly, the couple of months leading up to my wedding was a nightmare. Oh, that is so disappointing for them. I'm glad they had beautiful days in the end, though. There's so much else going on before a wedding anyway. I reckon. Now, we had a couple of other brides who came to Fair Go this year with similar problems. Thankfully, they got their issues sorted after threatening legal action. If any of you out there are having issues with Christobelle's, please get in touch with us. Now, time to put an urban myth to the test. There is nothing better than going for a drive on a hot summer's day, with the windows down and the wind in your face. Actually, I prefer to ponder the wonders of engineering with the windows up and air conditioning on. And you're not alone, which is why we've gone all Top Gear to put an urban myth to the test. Oh my God! (SHRIEKS, CHUCKLES) NZers love their cars. We also love to save money. Now, remember a few weeks ago, we kicked off our urban myth series? Well today we're back with another one. This time we wanna know is it true you use more petrol with the air con on? Or is that just an urban myth? So we've hatched a plan that should give us a pretty good answer. Mini's kindly lent us these three identical Clubman Cooper S's. We filled each of them to make sure they had the same amount of fuel in the tank, and we've called on a little bit of help from the Fair Go team. That's right ` Gordon, Brodie and Garth are going all Top Gear on us. Gordon's kicking things off in the burgundy Mini. He's got all the windows down, air con off, so a bit of a breezy ride for him, I'm guessing. Brodie's in the silver car, air con on, all the windows up. And finally, Garth's in the black Mini, windows up, air con off. It's gonna be hot. And if you're thinking he's overdressed, you're right. It's way too hot in here, Eh. I'm ditching the gloves and the thing. It's so hot in here. Garth! (LAUGHS) You've got that silly bloody hat on, Garth, haven't ya? I'm gonna be in my undies by the end of this, at this rate. OK. The tyres have been checked, the drivers have been briefed. They're gonna go for an hour and a half each at consistent speeds. And to account for any weird driving styles, they'll do a 30-minute stint in each car. Let the test begin. Tell you what ` I'm glad I've got my puffer jacket on. Are you freezing in there, Bro? No, I'm not freezing, but it's fresh. I'm loving this, cos usually, the kids are telling me, 'Daddy, Daddy, can you put the windows up? 'Put the windows up, Daddy.' Nah, I'm not gonna put the windows up. At the end of the 90 mins, we'll top up the petrol tanks to see which car used the most fuel and answer our urban myth. To make things a bit more official, we brought BMW Group's driving expert, Mike Eady, along for the ride. He knows his stuff. I think air conditioning on is gonna be more fuel efficient. More fuel efficient? I think so Well, the clock's running down. We'll find out soon if he's right. Whoa! Up on the curbing. Gordon! Gordon! Whoa! (WHISTLES) HORN HONKS (WHOOPS, LAUGHS) Now, I wanna point out we did stick to 100 K's or tried to, at least. Very close, yes. Uh, gotta say, that hot car, that was absolutely miserable, being inside that. Gordon was not happy after his 30 minutes in that car. We all rotated. We each had spin in each. The hot car was horrendous. We'll be back with the results later on, and I can guarantee they will surprise you. We also take the plunge to find out why a family pool has turned into a giant money pit. I'm putting the dad bod on the line for this one. It's backyard paradise, but this pool is awash with problems. I hate the pool. The only time I'll swim in the pool is when I've mowed the lawns. Why has this pool turned into a money pit? It's been a complete nightmare. Plus ` Windows down is good, except it's just loud. Windows down, it's awesome. We put the pedal to the metal to test an urban myth. We're here to find out if we can get a bit of extra mileage out of our car. 9 LAID-BACK MUSIC PLAYS DING! PA: A message for Michael from your wife ` remember, get the screw base. For brightness, get about 1100 lumens, and warm white colour. When switching to energy-efficient bulbs, there are three things to remember ` base, brightness and colour. How you remember is up to you. Visit energywise.govt.nz to find out more. 1 Welcome back. Now, for some people, a pool is a symbol of luxury. But for those who suffer serious ailments, like multiple sclerosis, it can also be very therapeutic. Tonight we meet two couples. One bought a pool for health reasons, the other for family fun ` both have ended up with massive money pits. Here's Garth. SPLASH! Taking a plunge into cool crystal waters. What better way to ease your cares, right? I hate the pool. Ian Spargo is the "proud" owner of this pool. The only time I'll swim in the pool is when I've mowed the lawns. In a suburb not too far away, another unhappy pool owner. It's been a complete nightmare. Victoria has multiple sclerosis. The pool was supposed to be therapy. Under periods of really intense stress is when I have a relapse, and so it's by the grace of God that I haven't had a relapse this time, cos this has been the most stressful thing that we've ever had to do. So here we have two very unhappy pool owners with one thing in common ` they both bought their pools here at The Spa & Pool Factory. A pool is a big investment. There's a lot to think about. The Spa & Pool Factory seemed to tick all the boxes. Decided to go with Spa & Pool Factory cos their price was similar to others, but they were NZ made, and they had a lifetime warranty. And this was Liam and Victoria's first reno. Spa & Pool was very reassuring. 'Here's what you pay us, and here's what you get.' And the man I was speaking to at the time said, 'We'll deal with all the council stuff. You won't need to worry about that.' In one case that included a set of plans like these, signed off by a reputable engineering firm. We'll be coming back to those later. At first glance, the results seem quite inviting. That looks like a pretty nice pool. The problem is, it's supposed to be this high. That bit of difference has thrown everything out of whack. Yep, out of whack and a little hazardous. Oh, I can sort of see that's a problem. Yeah, these windows are now a danger, and there's no sitting on the edge of this pool. The sun just beats down on it, and if you feel it ` it gets really really hot. Ooh, yeah. And there's a big drop over the boundary fence. Liam and Spa & Pool are at odds over who's fault all that is. There was no firm paperwork or plans for how deep that pool is supposed to be in the ground. Here are Spa & Pool Factory's plans for Liam and Victoria's job. This drawing says dig a hole in some flat ground. Trouble is this part of the drawing says, 'Oh, but the ground isn't flat. It slopes down about a metre from here to here.' So that's confusing. And there's more. It says dig a hole 4m wide, but Spa & Pool already knows they sold a pool that's more than 4.5m wide. The hole needs to be bigger than the pool. That's pretty basic stuff. This plan doesn't add up. They dug the hole, put the pool in it. We, I guess being rather naive, assumed that, 'Well, I've had the conversation with two of their staff, it'll be at the right height,' we just believed that's where it would be, and it's not. Spa & Pool Factory says the installer put the pool where Liam instructed, and they question why he went ahead with the decking if the height was incorrect. Liam says at the time, they left him no choice, and that if the guy who'd sold him the pool had been there on the day, trouble could have been avoided. Spa & Pool didn't wanna talk to us on camera. but they did put it in writing. They told us that... And that pool height was not a requirement imposed by council when the job was done, and that depth was to be specified by the customer. However, the council told me,... Including the height, but they did accept the consent at the time. It's a similar story at Ian's place. Well, you kick your foot on it as you come in, and it's a trip hazard. Ian's pool and deck are also too high and unfinished. The decking's at the wrong height, and they've just added bits on to it to raise it up. And then there are these cracks and mysterious blotches on the bottom. They're not exactly what you'd call a new-car finish. No. No. Spa & Pool Factory did take a look. And they drained it, and the pool popped out of the ground and damaged, destroyed the bottom lining of the pool, and it all filled up with muddy water. So, yep, all this is actually a replacement, pool number two, and still not cutting it. If you bought a brand-new car and the paint job was lousy, what would you do? Well, I'd take it back to the dealer and say to him, 'The paint's fading on it.' The owner of Spa & Pool ought to appreciate that comparison ` he's Tony Radisich and has a long history in the used-car trade, and on Fair Go since the '80s. How are you? I'm sensational. And yourself? Tonight will be the seventh time he's featured. I don't actually have much to do with it. Can you put it in writing, please? We had quite a few questions for Tony Radisich, among them, what's the story with these drawings for Ian's pool? Old drawings, stamped by engineering firm Babbage Consulting and used without that firm's consent or knowledge. Spa & Pool told us it was a mistake made in good faith after Tony Radisich took over and that it didn't affect the integrity of the pool. Auckland Council is not so sure. They've opened an investigation after we made enquiries. Council says it's looking at swimming-pool consents involving certain pool companies and potentially fraudulent documentation and that our two cases are part of that ongoing investigation. After two years, these are no longer just swimming pools to Ian or Liam ` they're money pits. At the moment it's sitting at $60,000. Around $100,000. Since we got involved, Spa & Pool Factory has offered each of the families a replacement pool. Don't get too excited, Holly and Lucy ` this is the third time they've made your dad that offer, and he's still waiting. Liam and Victoria are still at odds with the Spa & Pool Factory about who should pay the extra $28,000 to re-install the pool deeper and then rebuild the deck. They've made a complete hash of this installation. We're the ones who have to live with it forever ` them writing a cheque for partial costs, it's not fair. This is the work that Spa & Pool expect you to put up with. Anyone getting a pool, this is what you're gonna end up with. It's just not OK. Oh, that would be so disappointing. It is a huge amount of money to spend. She does not need that stress. Now, Spa & Pool Factory has upped the pressure on Victoria and Liam, offering to meet their requests if Fair Go dropped the story. The same offer was made to Ian. He turned it down and urged the Spa & Pool Factory to honour their lifetime warranty and sort the problem out ASAP. Spa & Pool owner Tony Radisich told us his company is committed to dealing with issues arising from the business, he's not aware of any issues that mean it won't do so. Well, coming up ` we put the pedal to the metal to try and save Kiwi motorists a buck. # Work, work, work, work, work. # CAR HORN HONKS It's a beautiful day here at Pukekohe Racetrack for some good old-fashioned Fair Go ribbing. So nice. So nice. It's getting pretty steamy in here. Can I put my windows down? No. Please? No. (CHUCKLES) Yeah, I know. We're here to find out if we can get a bit of extra mileage out of our cars. That's right ` we want to know, do you use more fuel with the air con on or the windows down, so we've got three identical cars driving around the track, one of them with the windows down and air con off, one with the windows up and the air con on and one ` we're calling it the hot box ` no air con and windows up. So do you use more fuel with the air con on? All will be revealed later. Welcome back. It time for the moment of truth ` is comfort good or bad for fuel efficiency? Do you burn through more gas when you run the air con in your car? ELECTRONIC MUSIC I'm in my happy place at the moment because it feels just the right amount of Arctic. Windows down is good, except it's just loud. Windows down, it's awesome. This is not nice. We're on the final lap of our urban-myth air-con experiment, trying to see if it's true that using your air con uses more fuel. Either I'm going too slow or you're going too quick, mate. You're gaining on me. I'm trying to stick to 100. Are you going over? Garth's going 50. Garth, Brodie and Gordon have driven an hour and a half around Pukekohe Race Track, 30 minutes in each car. We're about to take them to the petrol station to see how much petrol each car's used. That's the end of our experiment. Let's go find out our results. The burgundy Mini with all windows down and air con off, so the breezy ride, took 8.91 litres to fill, at a cost of $16.30. Next up, the silver one had air con on full, all the windows right up, 9.26 litres, which cost us $16.94. And finally, the black mini, which had no air con on at all and all the windows right up came in at a surprising 9.85 litres to fill and cost $18.02. So what does our driving expert make of this? So the least efficient... Yes. ...of these three... Yes. ...was the black car. The black car with the windows up and no air con? Interesting. Yes. And so out of the other two, which were very close, I mean, there was 64c in it... Yes. ...over an hour and a half,... Yep. This'll be interesting. ...the most efficient was with the windows down. Windows down? Well, there you go. What do I know, eh? (CHUCKLES) So in our test, the urban myth gets proven, kind of. Having the air con on did use more fuel than having the windows down, but there's more to it, says Mike. The average speed those drivers achieved round the track would've been probably less than 80km/h, so the aerodynamic effect or the drag wouldn't really have come into effect, so the car with the air con on, we still had power generating the compressor, so I kinda understand that. Now, if our test had been 100km/h or possibly a little bit faster, um, I think you'd find it might have been reversed. And as for our hot car, the one that in theory should have been the most efficient but was the least... Is it possible that people, when they are uncomfortable, don't drive as well as they should? That's a really good point. I mean, they came out really hot, sweaty, slightly flustered ` their driving might have been slightly more erratic. They weren't concentrating enough over that whole one and a half hour period, and that's a really nice point ` you know, to keep cool and hydrated makes your driving better, more fuel efficient and, obviously, safer. That was such a fun day. That was awesome. But we were a bit surprised with those results. I couldn't believe that that car that was really uncomfortable for you guys to drive was inefficient. Look, the only thing that made sense to me was it was so awful to be in that hot car that our driving was terrible. (CHUCKLES) Uh, special thanks, by the way, to the guys at Pukekohe Racetrack. They're running a fuel-efficiency day in October. Details on our website. Yes, and that is the show, but we will be on Facebook for the next half hour. And as always, we do love to hear from you. We're on Facebook, email us ` fairgo@tvnz.co.nz Write to us ` Private Bag 92038, Auckland 1142. And coming up next week ` We all know the ad. CELL PHONE PINGS Hey, the others wanna hang out. Um... But safety recently took on a whole new meaning for this young actress. TRUCK HORN HONKS It was terrifying. We were really lucky. Like, it could have been a lot worse. Ian, this is quite a scene of devastation. Yeah. It was Anna's first car. It had a WOF. It had a brand-new WOF. She'd owned it just five hours when ` no brakes. So I pushed on the brake. Like, nothing was happening. It wasn't even budging. We couldn't understand. It won't go down. Why? Just pump it. But it won't move at all. The seller was a registered motor-vehicle trader, a dealer. He should have known better. It all just seemed a little bit dodgy. It could have been a lot worse. I mean, the house got smashed and the car was written off, but it could have been Anna, and that's terrifying. That's next week. Goodnight.