Tonight ` Absolutely flooding in. <BLEEP> hell, that is just horrendous. they've been walled in by a neighbour... It's cold and damp and basically just horrible. ...and stonewalled by the Council. It has been like hell for us. Plus ` So what do you make of your garage? Uh, we're grateful to have it but we're concerned about how much it cost. They're concerned, and you should be too. Indirectly, you've paid for their garage ` their $85,000 garage. Thanks for that. And surfing cyberspace. She's addicted to the jolly thing. But the addiction ended when Apple locked her out. I thought it was really weird. Are you confident Apple will come to the rescue if you get hacked? I can't believe that they wouldn't help us. Copyright Able 2016 Welcome to the show. Fencing and boundary disputes. We've seen a few over the years, but there is something decidedly un-neighbourly about this one. It's left an Auckland family feeling walled in and claustrophobic. Here's Hannah. WOMAN: There we go; you can just see it. MAN: Jesus Christ! > It is flooding. Absolutely flooding in. <BLEEP> hell. That is just horrendous. Horrendous flooding in this garage, and the O'Rourkes say that flooding is caused... by this, the great retaining wall of Auckland. This is what we have to look at day in and day out. It's just awful. We don't get any sun on this side of the house at all. Hell. It has been like hell for us. It's cold and damp and it's basically just horrible. And through winter, they say a lack of drainage from the wall has created regular floods. The flooding has just been a disaster. We don't have any drainage on this piece of land here that's between our boundary and the wall. So yeah, we've had numerous times where we've gone down into our garage and it's just been covered in water. Last weekend was pretty substantial. It took us a good couple of hours just to clean out the garage. And that's every time it rains. It's not good enough. The wall was built six months ago by their neighbour, built... somehow without the proper consents. DRAMATIC TONE There's no resource consent. (CHUCKLES) There's no resource consent for it. Every time I look at it, I get so angry. The O'Rourkes' own boundary fence, a safety precaution for their little boy, is towered over by their neighbour's retaining wall. For five months they've been asking Auckland Council 'how can this happen and who's going to fix it? The Council don't want to put their hand up and say, 'Look, OK, we've made a mistake. 'We're sorry. We'll try and fix it.' As to what the Council says about the flooding, which the couple say comes down from the retaining wall under their house and into their garage... We've lived in this house for six years plus. All of a sudden we get flooding and we're just supposed to accept it. Ah, ah, ah! (LAUGHS) When Layton and Jemma bought this house six years ago, the neighbouring property was more gently terraced with a small retaining wall and a leafy backyard. This photo shows the neighbour's property as it was. The line of posts are for the O'Rourkes' decking. We used to have trees there; it was green; the birds were singing. It was beautiful. Then the neighbour, who's a builder himself, brought them some plans for a new wall. He came down and said to us, 'Guys, my house is slipping every year. 'We need to put a new retaining wall in that's going to obviously hold everything 'and hold the land so my house doesn't come falling down on to your property.' The wall was going to be, say, this high. The main question to us was, 'Is it going to affect our light?' And his answer? 'Minimal'. They say they didn't sign off on any final drawings. And in April, Layton and Jemma went to the UK to visit family. When they got back... Basically the whole structure was pretty much up by the time we got back. It was like, 'Wow.' I was distraught. I was so angry and just upset. I was like, 'What the hell is this?' Their immediate thoughts were, 'Well, it's a necessary evil.' 'OK, well, his house is going to fall onto us. If this is going to obviously stop that from happening, 'I assume that everything about this is legal.' Then a builder friend asked if they'd seen or signed any Council consents. 'No, we haven't seen anything, we haven't signed anything.' We just trusted our neighbour. So they brought in town planner Brian Putt, who was pretty shocked. I've been in this business for just over 40 years. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite as bad as this in a residential area environment affecting the amenity of an adjoining neighbour. Brian says when the neighbour applied for building consent, Council should've seen that resource consent was also needed because of... Height, the length of the wall in relation to the boundary are the two critical matters, and the earthworks that were involved as well. He says the work needed the approval of any affected parties. Did that include the O'Rourkes? I don't think you can stand here and say that they're not affected. As an affected party, the O'Rourkes could've either signed off on the neighbour's plans or maybe negotiated a deal with the neighbour, or objected and even gone all the way to a town planning hearing. Those rules are part of the protection we're supposed to get from our councils. Brian says someone at Council failed to see the wall needed a resource consent. That's a pretty big failure. > Well, it is. It's incredibly unusual, in my experience. These mistakes are quite rare, but this is a pretty catastrophic one. Generally, the Council, in my experience, fronts up to mistakes like this that are made. They've got insurance policies that cover these situations. Mm. > So they can resolve it. But the O'Rourkes say that although this monster retaining wall didn't comply when it was built, because of changes in the unitary plan ` the building rules ` it might now comply with some modifications. In other words, get retrospective consent. DRAMATIC TONES As we see it, that should still be under the old laws, not the new laws. Look at that. It is an absolute disgrace. But if, as Brian says, Council's messed up, surely Council should be in, gumboots and all, helping sort out the drainage and the eyesore that is this wall. I just want it to be over. Yeah. We're drained from it. Yeah. We're just` We're done. We're done. < Sorted in time for summer? Yeah, please. (LAUGHS) Well, yeah. That would be nice. That would be nice. Yeah, yeah. You can understand why they are so frustrated. And you're probably wondering at home what the Council have got to say about this. Mm. They are going to allow the neighbours to apply for retrospective consent to parts of the wall and further investigate the drainage issues. Now, it's not really the solution the that O'Rourkes were hoping for. Oh, frustrated, upset, disappointed. And yeah, we're just` we're the little people. Jemma's not happy and not giving up. We're going to fight for our property, you know? We've both worked for this; this is our home. Why should we put up with this? We approached the neighbour for comment six days ago, and just today received a statement from his lawyer saying ` 'The wall was passed by Council inspections. 'Council and drainage contractors have signed off on drainage of the wall. 'He wasn't told by Council he needed resource consent at the time of the building consent 'or during construction. He still doesn't think resource consent is necessary 'and is taking this up with Council.' The neighbour says he discussed the wall with the O'Rourkes and obtained their approval, and he says the O'Rourkes' flooding is caused by work carried out on their garage. This the is depth of the structures. But planning expert Brian Putt believes it is the wall causing the flooding. He says if only the resource consent process had kicked in before the wall was built, then... The rules that were in place previously, uh, wouldn't have allowed such a high structure so close to the boundary or such a long structure so the building would've had to be set back and lowered. The structure would've looked much, much different. It would've been lower, it probably would've terraced, uh, and would've been relatively reasonable to look at. Under these new rules, this means people can build, what, 2m to 3m high, 1m from the boundary. Are we going to see more of this? So you` you can expect few more of these. Retaining walls ` personally I quite like them. But this one has become a real divider for neighbourly relations. Mm. Our concern is primarily with the Council. They should have done more checks and balances, realised a resource consent was required. That could have prevented this whole fiasco from happening. After the break, a lack of transparency has got Christchurch earthquake victims wondering whether EQC spending is out of control. So what do you make of your garage? Uh, we're grateful to have it, but we're concerned about how much it cost. This isn't NZ's most expensive garage, but its price raises questions about EQC spending. Indirectly, you've paid for their garage ` their $85,000 garage. Thanks for that. And how safe is your iPad? I can't believe that they wouldn't help us. Are you confident Apple will come to your rescue if you get hacked? Or will you be stranded in cyberspace with an expensive piece of junk? Welcome back. For the second time this year, we are forced to ask ` is EQC secrecy out of control? In the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes, they've managed 67,000 repair jobs. It's costing cost than $2.5 billion. Now, that is a lot of taxpayer dollars. But has the taxpayer got value for money? Well, If the Vincents' garage is anything to go by, possibly not. PLEASANT MUSIC Before its television debut, it had to be cleared. Their son had been using it; he's got a lot of gear. I'm talking about Linda and Dave Vincent's garage. It's an earthquake rebuild, and they have mixed feelings about it. So, what do you make of your garage? Uh, we're grateful to have it, but we're concerned about how much it cost. Isn't that amazing? (CHUCKLES) Here's their garage in it's full glory. It can fit one car, a work bench, and that's about it. Take a moment to breathe in it's ordinariness. We just can't believe that a garage like this is going to cost $85,000, but that's what we're told from EQC. You heard right ` it's an $85,000 single garage. You should enjoy looking at it. After all, you paid for it. Now, normally in stories like this, the victim would be Dave and Linda here. But in this case, it's a little different cos the victim is you, at home there, cos you see, indirectly, you've paid for their garage ` their $85,0000 garage. Thanks for that. The garage was paid for by the Earthquake Commission. They get their money from you when you pay your insurance bill. Premiums have gone up all over the country because of what's happened here, and it's not fair. The story of this garage started 15 months after the earthquake when EQC showed up and decided they could repair it. They started, then stopped. Instead of repairing, they were going to have to, um, demolish. They just forgot to tell their builders. We had the builders come in here and carry on working and didn't even know that the work had been stopped. The garage was finished last September, and like all homeowners, they had to pay a 1% excess on the rebuild. The $800 bill came in May. We were absolutely shocked and dismayed to get an invoice stating that the cost of the garage was over $85,000. I would put a figure of between $30,000 to $40,000 at the most. Dave knows this because he was a builder for 40 years and put up garages quite often. He even rang a building company for a quote on this one. They gave me a price to actually, uh, do the garage but not the foundation and floor, and that was $25,000. Now, I know a little about garages cos last year, I built one. Well, I didn't; the builders did. You know what I mean. But anyway, I got a double garage, internal access, attached to the house for $45,000. That's, like, twice the garage for half the price. For $85,000, they got a floor that was damaged because builders worked on it the day after the concrete was poured. You wouldn't accept this if this garage was built within the house of a new building. Uh, you would come here and just say no. It also got them a door ` just. I had a look at the hinges and there was only one screw left in each hinge. The builders did return and fix things, and Dave got $1500 compensation. But they finished the job by repainting the deck and the fence when it should have been stained. It doesn't look that great in, uh, colour match, does it? Most of all, though, Dave and Linda were perplexed how a single garage could cost $85,000. They asked EQC for a breakdown of the costs. They got this. And that's kind of set a few alarm bells going, really. It's 44 pages with a lot blanked out. Pointless. Waste of everybody's time. I think it'd be really nice for the public to know where their money's going. So we rang and wrote to the EQC wanting to find out one simple question. How did a single garage end up costing that much? But none of the EQC'S 800 staff were available to talk to us. This includes their eight-strong leadership team; the CEO; and the minister Gerry Brownlee. All unavailable. Which is curious, cos we didn't even give them a time or day that we wanted to do an interview. They were just unavailable. Despite not being available for an interview, Trish Keith, their GM of Customer and Claims, found time to write this statement. Here's the highlights. And on the blanking out of the costs, Ms Keith says ` Linda and Dave wonder about the rest of the Christchurch rebuild if this simple garage cost so much. There are a lot of people and businesses creaming it, making pretty good money out of this disaster. They're suspicious about EQC'S reluctance to share information. Someone is taking huge advantage of a situation which is pretty traumatic, pretty stressful, even six years later. And either through, you know, gross incompetency or ` I hate to say it ` dishonesty, someone somewhere is, you know, making money out of this disaster, and that's wrong. So, you guys at home aren't gonna believe this ` you're probably gonna be surprised too ` but guess who rang the Vincents on Friday night? EQC. Finally. Frustrating. Look, 'commercial sensitivity' ` it is not the first time the EQC has used this phrase to justify blacking out documents. They reckon quotes are kept confidential to stop contractors hiking up their rates. But if the job's done and dusted, what's sensitive about knowing who did it, what their hourly rate was, and how much they spent on materials? Mm. And if a homeowner is being asked to contribute to the cost of repairs, we believe they're entitled to know what was spent where. Right, now, while we're on the topic of pet peeves, it's probably time to hit the streets for another round of Cool Or Creepy. WEEZER'S 'ISLAND IN THE SUN' Summer's just around the corner as we continue our road trip through the north of the supercity. Armed with our Creep-o-meter, we've got another question for our friendly bunch of northerners. You're buying tickets online and you get asked for you age ` cool or creepy? Oh, that's cool. I would say it's OK. If it's age restricted, then guess they have to, don't they? So I'd probably be like OK. (SIGHS) Creepy, probably. It's` That's cool. It's cool, isn't it? Well, it's OK for you cos you're young, but I find it, like, creepy now. Yeah. LAUGHTER That's OK. We'll go cool, man. If he's going to give me cheap tickets cos I'm a senior,... That's what I mean, yeah. All the` Yeah, seniors. ...I'm OK with that. Definitely. Cool. No, that's` that's OK. Like a ticket to a show or`? > Oh, that's` that's fine. Ummm, yeah, no, it's cool. It's cool. You know what? I don't have a problem with this one. I'm going to say cool. You know what? I'm surprised you're OK with that... No, it's fine. ...at your age. (GASPS) Hoo-hoo-hoo! You'll keep. After the break, imagine a world without the internet ` no Facebook, no Instagram, no Snapchat. Kind of scary. The more you use it, the harder it is to live without. She's addicted to the jolly thing. But how safe is your iPad? And will Apple come to the rescue if it gets hacked? Or will you be stranded in cyberspace with an expensive piece of junk? Welcome back. Now, stay with me on this, but imagine a world without the internet. Oh, good in theory. But the more you rely on it, the harder it is to live without it. You see, losing your link to cyberspace can be problematic, especially when it's the big Apple that's locked you out. Here's Anna. It's the recipe book. The library. The television. And the computer. The iPad's replaced a lot of things in life, and Lorna Wootton's was practically joined to her left arm. That is until one morning when it just wouldn't work. She's addicted to the jolly thing. Uh, (CHUCKLES) and` and she'd been using it in the morning, and came through, and, 'I don't know what's wrong with it and I can't get it to start'. The Woottons ` Wayne, Lorna and Kelly ` love their Apple devices. But not any more, because they've got a problem with this one, and they've got a problem proving its theirs. Now Lorna's husband, Wayne, will happily admit he's no technical whiz-kid and had no idea what was wrong with the iPad when it came up with this message. READS: 'This iPad is linked to an Apple ID. 'Enter the Apple ID and password used to set up this iPad.' Um, now, there's` A Chinese email appeared on this tablet, um, instead of Lorna's email address. The iPad had locked and was asking for the password attached to a foreign email address. So the Woottons' daughter, Kelly, rang Apple to try and work out what was going on. I thought it was really weird. It's obvious it's telling you that you need to log in, but when I tried to use Mum's login, it said, um, that that wasn't the email address used to set up the iPad. But it was. Kelly says the Apple technician told her the person using the Chinese email address had accessed the iPad through the Find My iPhone app. But no problem ` all could be solved if the Woottons sent in proof of purchase. Now, this is where the trouble really starts. Proof of purchase would be a till receipt, right? Well, the family bought this iPad three years ago. It's long gone. And they can't get another copy from the shop because they bought it from Dick Smith, also long gone. When the chain went under earlier this year, so too did any option of being able to print off a copy of the old transaction. So instead, the family gave Apple everything they could find to prove the iPad was theirs. Well, we told them, uh, that the product was purchased in NZ; their records would show that iPad was shipped to NZ. We told them we'd bought it from Dick Smith; evidence will show that they sold that product to Dick Smith. Uh, we told them the branch. We told them the day we purchased it and paid for it on VISA, and on the very same day we registered it with them so they have a record also of that. But not even a copy of Wayne's bank account showing the purchase, nor its registration that day with Apple, was enough. It's still there, um, you know, under her Apple account. 'Lorna's iPad' is still there, and that's the only iPad she's got. Right, right. The technician said he needed proof of purchase ` the original receipt. It didn't matter that the family owned a host of Apple devices, had them all linked to iCloud accounts and registered with Apple. Back and forth they went until Wayne issued an ultimatum. One ` throw the iPad in the bin. Two ` Apple unlocks the iPad. Apple's response? ROBOTIC FEMALE VOICE: Hi, Wayne. Unfortunately answer will be one. Which is probably not environmentally the right thing to do. They've told you to throw it out? > Throw it out. Which is a bit of a waste of a $1000 iPad that should still work. So we got in touch with Apple, and within 24 hours, Apple had rung Wayne to get the iPad back up and running. CHUCKLES: OK. Goodnight. WOMAN (ON PHONE): Thanks, Wayne. Apple told us the family did provide plenty of proof, but they take these things seriously. They say they just needed to be sure of the iPad's ownership. So good news for the Wootton family. But what about the rest of us? Dick Smith was an official agent for Apple and sold heaps of their stuff ` computers, laptops, iPhones and iPads. Will Apple come to your rescue if you can't find your till receipt? Or will you be stranded in cyberspace with an expensive piece of junk? Well, Apple told us the tax document shows that you purchased it, and the company says it takes the security and privacy of its customers very seriously. The Woottons' issue was simply a case of providing additional information. But the spokesperson we talked to had no idea Apple's technician had agreed with Wayne that the best course of action would be to throw it in the bin. 'That's a bit of a concern,' she said. And she's right ` it is. But Apple hasn't been able to tell us what it will do for other people in the same situation as Wayne. The best advice we can offer ` always take a picture of your receipts, and avoid being bruised by your so-called smart device. I'm pleased we could get that one sorted out eventually. Yes, a pass for Apple ` just. A C+. Mm, just. (CHUCKLES) That is almost the show. But before we go, remember to keep sending us your picks for the best and worst ads of 2016. We've got a special email address for this. It's ` Yes. The winners and losers will be announced next month in our Ad Awards special. So that's the show, but we're gonna be on Facebook for the next half hour to answer your questions. And send them in, cos our programme is always about your problems, your thoughts, so please do contact us. Yes. We're on Facebook. Email us ` fairgo@tvnz.co.nz. Write to us ` Private Bag 92038, Auckland, 1142. That's our show. Until next week, goodnight.