. Tonight ` We were told, 'My services are absolutely free.' But nothing in life is absolutely free. I'm just absolutely gobsmacked and confused. Trying to get ahead and kill the mortgage can come back to haunt you. It's absolutely not fair. It's just not fair. Plus ` Three, two, one, up. Time to hit the surf. Lacking in waves, lacking in warmth, but got plenty of enthusiasm. (LAUGHS) You're still going in? > Yeah, man. (LAUGHS) She's been bitten by the surf bug, but what, or who, mauled her board? I'm gutted. I'm so so gutted. And ` It's a bedside drawer, is it? Yep. OK. You think it'll be fine? Oh yeah, it'll be fine. Yeah? Walk in the park. Yeah? You can have all the confidence in the world. There's a lot of stuff in these you don't always need. But the flat-pack challenge always leads to heartache! Doesn't fit. I've got a faulty one. Copyright Able 2016 Welcome to the show. We all dream of being mortgage free. And there's no denying that financial advisors can help you get there faster. But sometimes they can cost you far more than you expect. Here's Anna. Buying a house is often the biggest purchase you'll ever make in your life. But it's also an expensive one. And if you're already mortgaged up, the last thing you want to be hit with is an unexpected fee from your financial adviser. I would say it's extremely stressful. It is taxing. Um, we had sleepless nights. And, uh, we are still going through it. In 2012, the Aroras decided to climb on the property ladder. They wanted to build a new home in Wellington and used a company called Newbuild to negotiate the finance. Owner Ian Webb brokered a mortgage for them with Sovereign. But the deal never went through. The Aroras found a better interest rate elsewhere and pulled out. Ian Webb hit them with a cancellation fee of 500 bucks. Never heard of something like that before. Uh, I was quite upset, but it was something we agreed and signed on. So we said, 'Well, we agreed to it. We've signed it. We'll have to pay it.' So we ended up paying that $500 to him. In 2015, they decided to move closer to Wellington. They fell in love with this house, and once again used Newbuild to secure a mortgage. Every single time we were told, 'My services are absolutely free. I get paid by the bank, not you.' Now, it's important to note here that Ian Webb denies this, and his paperwork clearly states he is not free. He describes himself as a Registered Financial Adviser, not a broker. That's 'registered', not 'authorised', so he doesn't have to pass any exams to do his job. But in negotiating this deal, he did send the Aroras this disclosure statement. So what is a disclosure statement? Well, it outlines the terms and the conditions of the deal, but as soon as you include any clause about a financial penalty, arguably, that makes it a credit contract, and that needs a signature. This contract had no signature. No signature, no contract. Seems relatively straight forward. Well, the Aroras thought so. The deal with Sovereign was pretty good, but this year they decided to change banks. A better rate was on offer, and even after the mortgage break fees, it was worth it. They were happy to pay a mortgage break fee with Sovereign, but were shocked to get a bill for $3510 from their adviser Ian Webb. I'm just absolutely gobsmacked and confused as to why am I liable to pay this when I never agreed to something like that. Buried in the disclosure statement, it clearly states that if you break your mortgage within two years, Newbuild will charge you a clawback fee. Remember, the Aroras never signed this document, and they never sent it back to Newbuild. It's absolutely not fair. It's just not fair. I don't understand how it can even it be considered to be fair. Naturally, the Aroras complained, but Newbuild's Ian Webb told them it didn't matter. The bill was justified under the old agreement they signed way back in 2012, even though they'd paid a $500 cancellation fee, effectively, in their eyes, terminating the agreement. But they were finished. That was` That was the end of it. We went to him, we got a loan approved, we never availed the loan. He invoiced us. That's the end of it for us. We've gone. We're finished. Since then Ian Webb's withdrawn the first invoice for 0.6% of the loan, issued them with a second for 0.5% of the loan, and then sent them a third for the entire clawback amount he says Sovereign billed him. We are liable to pay someone X-thousands of dollars, uh, for actually no reason. I just don't like the whole scenario happening, and hence, as I said, stressful, extremely stressful. I have to say that I find it really bizarre that a contract from years ago, from a separate event, can still be in play now. Did have a bit of head scratching going on in the Fair Go office. Mm-hm. Now, Shaival and Rae, they've complained to Sovereign and the insurance and financial services Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is looking into the case. In the meantime, we believe there are important lessons for consumers. Interest rates are at record lows, and sales of property are through the roof ` literally. So it pays to be careful when reading any financial agreement, especially when there are fees and penalties involved. The Aroras didn't sign the disclosure agreement with their financial adviser and weren't happy when he tried to claim a clawback fee. So we approached Ian Webb from Newbuild, and he sent us this statement. Ian Webb says he also accepts that means the couple are not liable to pay the clawback. Great news for the Aroras, but if you're wondering what a clawback fee even is ` well, it's the money a bank pays to the advisor or broker for bringing the customer to them. Well put it like this ` advisors have to get paid somehow. Now, a lot of advisors get paid by commission. And this is a really live issue at the moment in NZ. Should commission be paid for arranging loans or insurance, or should advisors be paid by their clients? Ian Webb says the Aroras always indicated they were happy with his service, and he offers lending arrangements that cannot be matched by any other bank. The Ombudsman says read everything and make sure you understand what you're reading. You have to understand what is in that contract, because they are all legal documents, and it doesn't matter if they're written in plain English or whatever. It's not even the fine-print terms; it's all of the terms. And if you're not happy or you don't understand, talk to your adviser, before you sign on the dotted line. So good news for Ray and Shaival, but actually really important lesson for the rest of us too. Right, now, picture this ` you are driving along and suddenly you spot a photo of, maybe, you, your family or a loved one, and that photo is being used in a giant ad. Too ridiculous to be true? Well, check this out. It happened to this Canadian family. They were horrified to find a family snap of their daughter had been uplifted off the net and used to promote a genetic test for down syndrome by Genoa. And it also happened to this American family. They were shocked to discover a Christmas card photo, taken in 2008, was being used without their permission by advertisers in Eastern Europe. So is it cool or creepy? How's this for pretty? Sandspit ` gateway to Kawau Island and one of the place's we're pondering this question ` a photo taken of you in a public place is being used to promote an event or a product without your permission. Is that cool or creepy? Let's go. It's getting... getting a bit troubling. So-so. Oh, that'd be troubling too. Definitely creepy. That's creepy. (LAUGHS) So-so, yeah. I'd find it troubling. Depending on how the photo was. If it was a really cool photo, I'd be OK with that. (LAUGHS) Without consent, it's creepy. Everyone should be entitled to their privacy. That's creepy. This one goes straight over to the red for me. If I saw my photo being used to promote something I hadn't agreed to, I would be very uncomfortable with that. As would the Advertising Standards Authority. Using a photo this way, it says, would go against its code of ethics, which says unless someone's given their permission, an ad shouldn't portray them in a way that suggests they're giving an endorsement. Now, far be it for me to agree with you, but I'm with you. This is creepy, and a small note ` a lady who fixes my pants in New Plymouth ` she lost a bit of weight years and years ago ` she's turned up in weight-loss ads all throughout Eastern Europe. It is not uncommon. It happened to poor Tony Street recently as well. They used her image to advertise diet pills. It's really really creepy. All right, coming up ` the gentle hands of airline baggage handlers destroy the ultimate surf break. Two, one, up. Surf's up. Lacking in waves, lacking in warmth, but got plenty of enthusiasm. (LAUGHS) She's been bitten by the surf bug, but who ` or what ` mauled her board? I was really excited to take this and use it, but it's never going to happen. Plus ` Do you tick or not tick the box? The internet is awash with pre-ticked boxes. I wouldn't have seen that. And they're making some consumers really cross. WIND HOWLS, MEN SHOUT North Islander, huh? Yeah. How can ya tell? No reason. CROWD CHEERS, WHISTLE BLOWS UPBEAT MUSIC . Welcome back. Now, any good surfer ` not me ` will tell you that risk and opportunity go hand-in-hand in the ocean. Hm, it's true. When you get in the water, there's risk. When you paddle for a wave, there's risk. When you catch a wave, there's risk. And when you entrust your prized board to airline baggage handlers, there's risk. It really gets ratcheted up. Here's Matt Chisholm. On another rough Wellington spring day... Faye Hudson's the only punter brave or silly enough to take the plunge. Lacking in waves, lacking in warmth, but got plenty of enthusiasm. (LAUGHS) You're still going in? Yeah, man. (LAUGHS) Two, one up. A mad keen learner surfer having to use a hire board, because this is her brand new one. The tail's completely snapped off here, straight through the spine. There's been a big gauge through here. The whole board's been bent somehow, and then on the other side, the fibreglass is all cracked as well, so... and bent over here. Faye, it looks like it's been driven over by a jumbo jet! Yeah, seems like that. Didn't feel any bumps on the way, but... (LAUGHS) The damage done when Faye's 'yet to be used' board ` not even 24 hours old at the time ` literally in the hands of Virgin Australia. I'm gutted. I'm so so gutted. Yeah, I was really really excited to take this and use it, but it's never going to happen. Faye's story at least started well. Her and boyfriend AJ ` both about to qualify as doctors ` spent winter volunteering in the developing world. You get to get hands on, real busy doing stuff. Before enjoying a surf break in Bali on the way home. You'd see that progress every time and see the smile come back, and you're like, 'Yeah, we're getting somewhere.' Wanting more, AJ shelled out 1000 kiwi dollars and surprised Faye with this nine-foot Balinese beauty. I was overwhelmed. (LAUGHS) I came out of this shop, and AJ's standing there grinning with this board, and I was like` (GASPS) I just couldn't believe it. You must be in this relationship for the long haul? I'd say so. (LAUGHS) I'm good at cooking. (LAUGHS) > With the board purchased the same day they flew home, the couple were keen for it to stick around for a while too, so followed Virgin's online advice before flying from Bali to Auckland via Sydney. So the key question here is how well packaged was the board? Well, um, as you can see over here, we've got, um, a padded board case. Um, the fins were removed, and we'd, sort of, wrapped all this extra padding on the inside of the board and taped it around with duct tape as well. So would you say you met Virgin's online recommendations? Yeah, so Virgin Australia says it needs to be in a protective case with the fins removed is all that they say on their recommendations, and I'd say it's above and beyond those recommendations, yeah. The board was put through oversized luggage, complete with fragile stickers The Virgin employee you dealt with was happy? Yeah, he was really happy. But after the two flights... First thing I noticed was a small rip in the board bag. So opened it up, and the bottom piece of the board just come straight off, um, and that's when the heart kind of sunk and you're like, 'Oh, bugger.' The board was written off. The couple wrote to Virgin asking for full compensation, which was denied because according to the airline, it... Well, yeah, those are the words they've said to us half a dozen times now, and in my mind no way normal rigors of transport by air could result in a board just getting absolutely demolished the way it has. The airline also suggested... And it was after I'd already emailed back and said, 'Well, actually, look, we did fit your recommendations,' and then they said, 'Oh, no, we recommend a hard case,' which seemed to come completely out of the blue. After 6 weeks of back and forth, Virgin Australia hadn't accepted the couple's claim. Though they have offered $100 ` the amount the couple paid to fly the broken board home... Not gonna cover much. Maybe just this little piece here. ...as a gesture of good will as full and final settlement. You have insurance. Why not just move on and let your insurance company take the hit? We felt that you just can't let the airline get away with this. It's really unfair. > It's just blatant disregard of people's property. Stuff that we've trusted them to deal with, and if they're damaging stuff, people should know about it. This isn't, of course,... Oh, <BLEEP> that's my board. ...the first time airline baggage handlers have been the focus of surfies' attention. Oh, <BLEEP>! This isn't the sort of publicity any airline likes. And when we went to Virgin, Faye and AJ's rough ride was finally over. In a statement Virgin told us... That's $928, which means these young doctors can finally ditch the hire board... It's a bit pretty, isn't it? ...and go shopping. Full size? But it's a bitter-sweet victory. It's good for us, but it doesn't really say much for them. I think that they have to be backed into such a corner and shown that how bad their behaviour is before they can do anything about it, yeah. Wow, Matt Chisholm ` one from one. Good job, Matt. We're leasing Matt at the moment if you're curious. We'll see how he goes. (LAUGHS) Lovely to have him on board. Right, moving on to a personal bugbear of yours. Yes. It's the tick! And it can be different things to different people. There's: tick ` the sound of a clock; tick ` the blood-sucking parasite and tick ` the mark of approval that lets you know something's correct. Now, definition one doesn't really apply to this story. Definition two, well, not so much either. But definition three does, and it's causing financial pain to the unobservant. The online world is awash with boxes ` hundreds, thousands of boxes. They are everywhere, in all sorts of sneaky places, and your index finger has one decision to make many times over. Do you tick or not tick the box? A tick in the wrong place means you understand the terms and conditions you probably don't. Others sign you up for marketing emails, then there's the box that takes money from your credit card every month. That's the box Dawn Clark didn't see. She's a smart woman who missed a box that already had a tick in it. Just saw it and clicked on it. She purchased a scarf and a box from the Pop Cherry website. A shoe lace could have done just as good. They cost $2, and in her haste to purchase, she missed a grey box that already had a tick in it. I wouldn't have seen that. I wouldn't have gone right through, because I wasn't interested in anything else. She had to scroll down to find the tick that signed her up to a $50 Australian a month VIP membership. You get the $50 credited to your account every month, and the money comes automatically off your credit card. It's all in the fine print you miss it if you fail to scroll past the pre-ticked box to the bottom of the page. There was one transaction for $53 and one transaction for $54. Dawn's cancelled the payments, but is putting the $100 loss down to experience. A woman called me last week and she said that they don't return the money. There is no specific law about whether boxes can be ticked or not ticked. But pre-ticking can get you in trouble. Our airlines recently got a ticking off from the Commerce Commission for pre-ticking boxes that opted you in to insurance and other add-ons. They've stopped doing that now. As for Pop Cherry, we got an email from an unnamed spokesman saying all their conditions are on the website. What they wouldn't tell us is why they pre-tick their boxes when it's really your decision. So be careful. Keep an eye out for boxes with ticks in them. They could make you quite cross. Pun fully intended. You suit that look. (LAUGHS) We should get that box into the studio. Hey, I think it's appalling, actually, that they allow those boxes to be pre-ticked. Yeah, it's not illegal, but it's not on either. No, I don't think so. Right, after the break ` if you hate flat-packs ` just like I do ` well, take heart; you're not alone. It's a bedside drawer, is it? Yep. OK. You think it'll be fine? Oh yeah, it'll be fine. Yeah? Walk in the park. Yeah? Arrogance turns to agony. What's happened there? Your heart almost goes out to him. There's a lot of stuff in these you don't always need. Have we found the worst flat-pack challenger ever? Doesn't fit. I've got a faulty one. . Welcome back. Now, love 'em or hate 'em ` and I'm certainly not that keen ` there's no escaping the ol' flat-packs. Not these days. But is the stress of do-it-yourself really worth it? Well, from what we've seen this year, those 'easy-to-follow' instructions are definitely getting the better of one or two Kiwi celebrities. Here's Brodie. Um, righty-oh, Leigh, so this is the` Do you want a hand with that, do you? Yeah, well, it's yours. Build the bedside drawer. It's a bedside drawer, is it? Yep. OK. I've had a bit of experience, um, with bedside tables especially. Built one before, but that started off as, uh, a computer desk. (CHUCKLES) But you think it'll be fine? Oh yeah, it'll be fine. Yeah? Yeah, walk in the park. Yeah? As every flat-pack champ knows, it is really, really, really important to read the instructions. I like to visualise it first. Ok, that's another technique, but not one we would recommend. (SIGHS) Oh, God. The long sticky thing. A clear workspace is also handy. There's a lot of stuff that you don't always need. Ha, right, we'll pass that on to the manufacturers. And when you said come and build a bedside table, I didn't actually think you meant build a bedside table. I'd normally do it faster than this, but I don't want anyone to miss out any vital steps. They could be doing this themselves at home. Steps like reading the instructions? This is where super glue would be quite handy. (SIGHS) I once built a Honda Accord that came in a flat-pack. Did you? That was a challenge, yeah. How long did it take? Oh, a couple of years. Don't think it's gonna... (SIGHS) Leigh's ripping through this project a bit quicker. 20 minutes ` not bad. This is, sort of, the trickiest part, really, I think, this bit. Oh. (GROWLS) I'm starting to really loose it. Don't let those wheels fall off. Come on, you're all right. What's happened there? (LAUGHS) It's already so... OK, so, this is not the prettiest bedside cabinet I've ever seen. (GROWLS) Getting really frustrating. The key is not to panic with these things. Stay calm, or it'll get the better of you. (LAUGHS) I don't think I can watch any more. What you are watching is a DIY train crash in motion. It's that one I didn't put in. I kinda felt like you were going quite well, and then... all of a sudden the wheels just sort of` Yeah, I lost concentration for a minute there. Luckily, this one will give it structure. People must have nightmares when they go to bed with this beside them. Very much a structural wall, that. That will make a lot of difference, that. < Only at 26 minutes. Really? < Yeah. Right-oh, I'm going for this. OK, let's take a look at the leader board. Right on top we've got Joseph Parker on 36min, and right down the bottom, Matilda Rice on 1 hour, 16. Look, you're not gonna get first,... but you're well in contention for being second. It doesn't fit. I've got a faulty one. (LAUGHS) I don't think so. Time for a woman's touch. (LAUGHS) Whoo! Home straight. (LAUGHS) Oh my God. (LAUGHS) Is that you? Yeah, I think we're pretty much done there. I've got a couple of little pieces that... (LAUGHS) There's an` I don't think they're really structural. There's quite a few pieces. Yeah, but as I say, I think they always chuck a few extra bits in there. Would you like to know what your time was? (LAUGHS) Yeah. So it was 40 minutes and 35 seconds. The time is good. Yep. But when it comes to actually touching that,... Oh, no, that's fine. Look at that. That's not moving. That's not going anywhere. (LAUGHS) I think we'll put this down to a DIY FTD. That's a failure to deliver! Oh, yeah, is that another feature (?) Well, that's what I was thinking about putting a hinge in that, and you can open up and put stuff in there. (LAUGHS) Yep. No, hey, well done. Thank you. Well done. That was, uh` That was` That was` Oh, thanks. Thanks. It was magical. (LAUGHS) That is what my bedside table would look like if I had to put it together, cos I just would not have the patience. Oh, I could watch Leigh do furniture assembly in any house but my own. That is almost the show, but before we go, don't forget to send us your picks for the best and worst ads of 2016. We've got a special email address for this one ` Yes, the winners and losers will be announced in five weeks. And also, entries for the kids' ad awards close this Friday, so don't miss out. So that's the show, but we're gonna be on Facebook for the next half hour to answer your questions. Our programme is always about your problems and 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. Copyright Able 2016