Tonight ` Blacked out, blacked out. is EQC secrecy out of control? Everything was blacked out. In a city filled with people who need help, Anna and Brian want to know why their repairs cost so much. 42,000? Commercial sensitivity or a cover-up? I'm horrified. Plus ` Hey, Cayden. it's superheroes to the rescue after a birthday bash goes bad. You ready to have some fun today? Ruining a kids' party is no laughing matter. I thought, 'She's not gonna show up.' We go in search of the party pooper. And ` time to test some celebrity DIY. I actually have no idea what's going on. Oh no! Copyright Able 2016. Welcome to Fair Go. We start tonight with a question ` is EQC secrecy out of control? In the five years since the Christchurch earthquakes, the EQC's managed 67,000 repair jobs, costing more than $2.5b. So, in the scheme of things, $40,000 doesn't sound like much, but it is a concerning sum to Brian and Anna Skeet. Here's Hannah with a story that raises serious questions about the way EQC has been spending your taxpayer dollars. Life is pretty good for Brian and Anna Skeet in Alexandra, Central Otago. TUI SINGS Hear that? Actual birdsong ` tui ` happy as, I would think, Sharing this garden with a couple of curious Kiwis who are taking on the EQC on behalf of everyone who, Like them, has paid an EQC earthquake-repair bill. There'd be hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that would probably feel the same as we do, That somebody's ripping off somebody else. I'm horrified, absolutely horrified. Anna and Brian owned this house in Linwood, Christchurch. At the time of the quakes, it was tenanted and not badly damaged. It was just sort of hairline cracks, which just needed plastering over, And then of course the whole thing painted. Plastering and painting, and that was it ` They wouldn't have had to lift a hammer. Anna's assessment is borne out by these job sheets ` The words 'paint' and 'plaster' and 'cosmetic damage' appear again and again. How much do you think the job should've cost? $10,000 to $15,000 ` in there somewhere, I would have thought, yeah. The work on the house was mostly paid for by EQC. Anna and Brian weren't unhappy with the work itself; It was when they got a bill for their portion ` the EQC excess payment. It was just $420, but they discovered the total bill was... $42,000. $42,000? (LAUGHS) No, no. So Anna and Brian asked EQC, just how has that money had been spent? And finally, after an Official Information Request... Doesn't mean a jolly thing, does it? No. ...they got these invoices. The total sum was revealed, but important details, Like what was materials and what was labour, how many hours, the hourly rate ` all blacked out. That absolutely astounded me, because it was our property. We are living in a democracy. When you have a job done on your property, you have every right To know exactly what materials were used, what labour was used and what work was done. When you then get an account which is astronomical, you start asking yourself. Something is wrong. The blackouts were done, the eqc said, for privacy and commercial reasons. It's secrecy, and why have secrecy? Why hide what's going on? If somebody's hiding something, they're hiding it for a reason, and it can't be a good reason, surely. Oh, it's always a problem, the GST. If you're wondering what gives this couple the chutzpah to even question the bill, Anna's been a bookkeeper and financial controller. Quotes and costings and figures ` that's her bread and butter. And Brian's a ham radio operator. Uh, Zulu Lima Four Papa November calling CQ and standing by. Just kidding ` this is his hobby. He's actually a recently retired builder. Calling CQ and standing by. To say that this is a couple who know a thing or two about building is a bit of an understatement. Brian designed and built this entire house,... CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS ...including these nifty doors. You know a lot of stuff between the two of you. If I quoted you to do the job for $42,000, what would you tell me? I'd tell you to go away and redo your quote. (LAUGHS) Would I get the job? Absolutely not. No, no, no. No way, Jose. Definitely not. And what about the building company's estimate that the job would take 25 days? What do you think of 25 days? That's five weeks. It's absolutely ridiculous, yeah. How long do you think the job should have taken? It should start and finish within two weeks, I would think. According to our tenants, they were not in there much longer than a week. So I don't know what they were doing for the rest of the days ` having a long smoko? But what does it matter, if the job cost so much and took so long? These two didn't get the big bill. Theirs was just $420, but they're refusing to pay that on principal. It's only 1%, it's not much, and it's not really your money. That $40,000 ` There's a large piece of that is somebody's profit. Somebody's pocketed that. And it's been paid for by who? The government, the taxpayer. Any money that was used was, really, public money. Autumn has come and gone five times since the first Christchurch earthquake. This autumn, the sixth, Has brought with it the threat of debt collectors and legal action, Because these two won't pay their EQC bill. And do you worry about if this money wasn't spent wisely, if it didn't need to be spent, That someone else has missed out? We know people in Christchurch that are still waiting to, um, get their houses fixed. Five, six years, they're still waiting. At a time when there's a disaster like that, I would've thought everybody plays fair. And we feel what we were charged, or what was paid for the job on our place, was so over the limit, It could have helped maybe one or two other person in having their houses fixed too. That really disturbs me. Well, it seems the EQC is not disturbed. They say the cost of repairs on Anna and Brian's house was reasonable and was checked by a quantity surveyor. The quotes are kept confidential to stop contractors hiking up their rates. EQC will be reviewing whether to provide more detailed information to customers in future. And an auditor-general's report said the EQC had effectively managed repair-cost inflation. Well, a quick warning now about a truly fiendish scam that's doing the rounds. Here's the story we heard. Sarah's getting some renovations done. Her builder emailed her with his bank details. That email was from her builder's legit address. Sarah paid $14,000. The builder didn't get the money. The scammers had hacked his email and put their account number in. The money's gone. NZCB-certified builders tell us this is widespread and both builders and homeowners have been scammed. Builders' details are used if they reply, and sometimes homeowners are told a change in bank details is because of an audit. The only way to avoid this scam is to call the person you're paying online and make sure you have the right details. Coming up ` sweet temptations. Could the teaspoon cure our addiction to the sweet stuff? The campaign continues. One, two. We give you the skinny on our sugar-laden diet. And ` Hey, Cayden. Is that Cayden? yes, superheroes come to the rescue... Whoa! ...after a 5-year-old's birthday bash was ruined. I wanted him to have the best party ever. There's no clowning around as Brodie goes in search of the party poopers. UPBEAT MUSIC Did you know that every car has two prices? The one on the windscreen and the price of fuelling it. Fuel costs can vary a lot between similar vehicles over the lifetime of the car. Energywise.govt.nz has a tool to help you compare vehicles that shows you their average yearly fuel costs so you can see which one offers you the best fuel economy. When you're looking to buy a car, the fuel economy rating lets you know the cost of fuelling the car over a year. Look for it displayed in sale listings and in car windows. Here's a tip ` check out the stars. The more stars a car has, the better the fuel economy. Whatever vehicle you need, there's a choice that will save you fuel and money. By choosing the kind of car that you want that's also fuel-efficient, you're on the road to saving money and reducing the cost to our environment. For more information, visit energywise.govt.nz 1 Welcome back. We've been on a bit of a crusade about sugar. Food manufacturers reckon current labelling is perfectly adequate, but the feedback we're getting suggests otherwise. We think the humble teaspoon could be the cure to our sugar addiction. HYPNOTIC MUSIC Everybody loves the sweet stuff, but how easy is it to find out how much sugar is actually in our food? One, two, three... Nothing wrong with a plate of pasta and salad until you add the sauce. There's 2 teaspoons in this serving of pasta sauce, 2 teaspoons in this generous helping of mayo. Wash it down with a smoothie, and you've just drunk 11 teaspoons of sugar. Serve this lot to your kid, and they've just consumed a total of 15 teaspoons. Nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. That's more than five times the World Health Organisation's recommended daily intake for a child. Wouldn't it be clearer if the number of teaspoons of sugar was out front, boldly labelled? Hey, yes, before you say it, we know little Eddie was using heaped teaspoons. You try getting a nearly-3-year-old to do level 4g teaspoons. Exactly. And speaking of kids, turning 5 is a pretty big milestone. It's something that should be celebrated, and we all know kids love a good birthday bash. Oh yes. So what happens when your parents organise a party and the entertainment is a no-show? Here's Brodie. 'BATMAN THEME' Hey, Cayden! Is that Cayden? Wassup, buddy? Aw, look at that face. You ever seen real superheroes before, Cayden? How are you, buddy? Good. Nice to meet ya. High five. I'm Spidey. Hey, I'm Spider-Girl. Nothing quite like surprising a 5-year-old boy with his fave superheroes ` Captain America, Spider-Man and Spider-Girl. We're gonna have some fun today, buddy. You ready to have some fun today? # Happy delayed birthday to Cayden! # (LAUGHS) Oh! We thought Cayden deserved some fun, given his actual party was ruined. How bad is that? You see, Cayden turned 5 last month. And his mum organised a sweet party for him. I wanted him to have the best party ever. Jess didn't call on these guys ` something she really regrets now ` she chose a company called Just Jax Kids Parties, who promised to take care of everything. They were meant to be doing all of the entertainment, come as superheroes, do the kids' games, face painting and balloon twisting. So we thought, 'OK, that's cool. We'll book them.' So it's all sorted, and Cayden was supposed to be having fun, much like he is here. But come the Saturday, 20 friends and their parents turned up, well, expecting a bit of an extravaganza. Then it come to 11.30, and I was, like, 'ok, they're not here.' And I just couldn't get hold of them. Then it come to 12 o'clock, they still weren't here, and I thought, 'OK, they're not coming.' (LAUGHS) Instead of arriving fashionably late, 'Just Jax' hadn't arrived at all. It was just really stressful and kind of embarrassing, because, with all the kids and parents here, it looked like we hadn't organised anything for the kids to do. So what did you do? Well, just walked around the house, stressing. I was, like, 'Oh my God, they're not coming. 'What are we gonna do?' And then some of our good family members jumped in and went down to the shop and bought kids' party games and face paint and balloons and all of that good stuff. Oh, thank goodness for that, but we still thought he deserved the full superhero treatment. Argh! So while Cayden's having fun with his heroes, we unfortunately have to share another story. Just down the road from Jess is Stacey and the adorable Kaelin. OK, so I'm putting too much glue on, aren't I? Right. Put it on these. Oh, put it on them. Stacey organised a special party for Kaelin, who was also turning 5. We wanted it to be special for her and a bit of a surprise, so I did my googling, as you do, to find out if there were any face painters, entertainers for kids, and found Just Jax. Like Jess, Stacey paid for Just Jax to be the life of the party. Thankfully, she'd also ordered a bouncy castle for the day, because Just Jax was a no-show. I was stressing right up until 12 o'clock, when she was due. And it got to five past, and I thought, 'She's not gonna show up,' so very disappointing. A quick-thinking Stacey was forced to improvise. We got every single toy out of the bedroom, so the house was an absolute bomb site, um, and just tried to encourage them to use the bouncy castle. She has tried everything to get hold of Just Jax, but the company seems to have fallen of the face of the earth. I left five messages on her mobile. Hi, Jax. Stacey here again. Hi, Jax. It's Stacey here again. Hi, Jax. It's Stacey here again. Nothing, I have heard nothing. So I'd just, yeah, really like to know, where are they? Do you exist? Luckily, Kaelin didn't know what she was missing out on. But... It's not the point. The company name is 'Just Jax Kids Parties'. So in my eyes, she knows who she's letting down ` she's letting down kids. And that's my big gripe. You don't do that to kids. Stacey and Jess want to know what went wrong, and they'd like their money back. I'd love the money back. I would've rather give the money to charity than it just disappear. And we say fair enough. We were just pleased to be able to give Cayden an afternoon he wouldn't forget. # happy birthday to... # CHEERING And as we said goodbye to the superheroes, we just had one more thing to do ` eat cake. What bit do you want? A bit of his eyeball. And this bit. OK. How big? Yeah, it's the eye. (LAUGHS) Mmm. My 5-year-old son would have been beside himself if those guys had turned up to his party. So would I. (LAUGHS) So, as you can imagine, we were pretty keen to speak to Jacqueline Watt. Yes. She runs Just Jax Kids Parties, part of her company, Tribal Fire Entertainment. We couldn't get hold of her on email and phone, so Brodie hit the road in search of answers. First stop is an address in Auckland where Jacqueline Watt's company, Tribal Fire Entertainment, is registered. Do you know Jacqueline Watt? Um, she doesn't live here. Hmm. OK. So that's the address that Jacqueline Watt has for her business, Just Jax Kids Parties, but the woman I just spoke to knows Jacqueline, she's related to her, but says that she hasn't lived here for some time and that she hasn't seen her for ages. Apparently, she's in Hamilton, so I guess the mystery continues. Next we travel to the Waikato to check out another address for Tribal Fire. Hi there. Is Jacqueline here? No, sorry. No? Jacqueline Watt? You don't know her? Nope. Do you know anything to do with Tribal Fire Entertainment? Nope. No. Not much luck there. And finally, a tip-off led us to this house in Hamilton. Hi there. I'm looking for Jax Watt. Jax? Um, I'll see if she's here. OK. Apparently, she wasn't there, but a man who certainly knew a lot about her came to speak to me. I'm Brodie from Fair Go. I'm just looking for Jacqueline Watt. Yeah, just wanting to speak to her. I've been trying to get hold of her for a few days now. Yeah, now, she hasn't been around for a while. Oh, OK. We're protecting his identity, but the man also knew a lot about Jacqueline's business. As far as I know, that business was closed down a while ago. Oh, well, these people have organised parties in April and May this year so... and have had sort of communication with her. Very unusual. I gave him a letter to pass on to her. How much money's involved? It's irrelevant, isn't it? Is it? Yeah, cos it's their money. And then they've paid for a service that she's provided. Her Facebook page is still active, and then there's 20 kids waiting for a service they think they're getting and there's a no-show, and there's been no explanation. He agreed to try and get the letter to Jacqueline. I'll make an extra effort to try and find her, and hopefully, maybe, I'll find her in a few days or something. OK. And be able to get back to you on that. So around 30 minutes after Brodie left that property, she got a voice message from Jacqueline Watt. She says she's very sorry for what happened, she's going through a tough time, a friend locked her out of her business and that she will organise refunds for both women. We'll be checking she does. Well, after the break ` familiar faces test their DIY skills for our flat-pack challenge. I actually have no idea what's going on. Matilda won the heart of NZ's favourite bachelor. But the flat-pack is proving no bed of roses. What is going on here? Plus ` the right to privacy. How do you feel when a shop assistant starts asking you for personal details? Is that cool or is it creepy? Welcome back. Time to test consumer opinion. Yes, every week, we get complaints that leave us thinking, 'Hmm.' And tonight she's in Wellington, with another cool or creepy question to gauge public opinion on a moral dilemma. The scenario ` you're in a shop buying something, and the sales assistant starts asking you for your name, address, other personal details. So, what do you reckon, Wellington? Is that cool or is it creepy? Cool. Cool with it. Yeah. We work in retail. Yeah. BOTH LAUGH You know, I don't really find it creepy; I just find it annoying. Unless they explain what it was for, yeah, that is a bit weird. Depending on what shop it is. If it's a pharmacy, yes, if not, it doesn't matter. Used to that. Well, I wouldn't say it's creepy. It's not cool, though. I wouldn't even give them my details anyway. Don't have a problem with that, no. < You're OK with that? OK with that, yes. I think for loyalty, that's cool. I've done that with the shop around the corner, so that'd get that. But if you've got too much spam after that, then it's sort of borderline towards creepy. I know it's a bit lame, but I'm gonna sit on the fence for this one. You can always say no. And NZ Retail says hey, it's a good thing. Your personal details help retailers run loyalty programmes that you can benefit from. Sometimes they might be recorded for warranty purposes, but... Next week ` your privacy and the pizza-delivery guy. OK. If you've ever assembled a flat-pack, you'll be familiar with the confusing words ` fit part 'A' into part 'B', and then connect it to part 'C'. Just read the instructions. Every man does. I mean, I quite enjoy the challenge. Clearly, I don't speak for all. No. Tonight's flat-pack challenger is Matilda, the woman who won the heart of NZ's favourite bachelor. Matilda, this is for you. Oh, thank you so much. I've always wanted a very heavy box. (LAUGHS) So, the same bedside drawer as everybody else. How will Matilda go? So, I'm just gonna read the instructions from front to back so I know what I'm doing here. OK. I'm gonna start with the wooden bit. I actually have no idea what's going on. Oh no! We've got this, and... we'll put that in here. Talk about slow start. Who needs tools, you know, when you've just got hands? WHISPERS: I can just put that in wherever. (LAUGHS) Oh my God, what is going on here? This must just be so frustrating for people to watch. Yip! Oh my God. Bum crack happening. (LAUGHS) Builders crack. Flat-pack crack. I am an official tradie now, so... I'm on a roll here, I reckon. Yeah. I can feel it. Oh jeez. You know, I thought I was bad, Matilda. I actually feel like this particular flat-pack is harder than most. So here's where Art <BLEEP>ed up, isn't it? This is good ` I can learn from someone else's mistakes. Oh <BLEEP>. I forgot the dowel. I feel like this is a crucial mistake. How you going, old mate? (SIGHS) Um, I'll be honest ` I'm not going that great. So, to beat Art, I'd have to finish in two minutes, wouldn't I? That ship has sailed. Just gotta beat you and Sam. Ooh, I sat on the screwdriver. I feel like they're not needed. Not using them. I've hit the flat-pack wall. You know, I've learnt that, um, slow and steady wins no race. Oh, you <BLEEP>. (LAUGHS) Ow. (SIGHS) So close. Oh, we're getting traction. Oh my God, I'm so close to being finished. Why are there so many other bits? That's real worrying, eh? Yeah, it is a bit worrying, Matilda, but hey, let's look at the leader board anyway. Your man Art's leading the way on 48 minutes, ugh, which means I'm now in second place on an hour and two. And weatherman Sam is bringing up the rear on an hour and 11 minutes. Here we go. I finished! (LAUGHS) An hour 16, 35. Ohhh, I came last. Damn it. Yeah, but you... if we thought about it, you were using the wrong screwdriver the whole time. Thank you. And there's actually... there's quite a difference between them. (LAUGHS) Don't you hate it when you get your flatheads and your Phillipses mixed up? And don't even mention the square drive. No idea what that is. Now, from the unfortunate-coincidence file, Car Connexion in Tauranga has been in touch after last week's story on a flood-damaged car. They are nothing to do with the Carconnection we mentioned. That was the Trade Me name of car dealer Mukesh Chand. He hasn't paid a six-month-old order to refund 18,000 for a flood-damaged car. So that's the show, but we will be on Facebook for the next half hour to answer your questions. Our programme, of course, all about your problems, your thoughts ` please do contact us. We're on Facebook, email us ` fair go@tvnz.co.nz Write to us ` Private Bag 92038, Auckland 1142. And coming up next week ` John is a reluctant hero. The actual thinking at the time was, you know, I didn't; I just reacted. On Christmas Eve, while working at North Shore Hospital, the security guard went to the aid of a policeman. And I can see the patient punching the other police officer in the face a few times. He definitely wasn't gonna stop, definitely wasn't gonna stop. The police called his actions selfless and brave. If I saw an incident again, would you think twice? But five months on, this hero is fighting for accident compensation. You do your job, you get injured doing your job, and yeah, they just don't wanna know. That's next week. Goodnight.