1 Tonight ` We're horribly disappointed. Somewhere in here is their holiday dream. I want this operation stopped. They paid thousands for a campervan, and ended up being taken for a wild ride. Are you a crook, or simply at times inefficient? I would say extremely inefficient. Plus ` She's a battler with an unbeatable spirit. It's just about getting out there and staying healthy. But life has thrown her an unexpected hurdle. It's just really disappointing. And ` I don't normally sit on the loo with the door open. There's controversy in the dunny. Is this me, or is` or is this toilet paper changed? They've got the paperwork... Our toilet rolls are getting smaller? Yeah. ...and are determined to reveal the rip-off. FLUSH! Copyright Able 2016 Welcome to the show. We've all dreamed of owning a bolthole in the country ` somewhere to hide away in the weekends. A cottage on wheels ` or campervan ` is a means of achieving the dream without the mortgage. But it hasn't worked out too well for some VW-loving Kiwis. Here's Matt. Welcome to The Bus Haus HQ. Somewhere in this yard is the VW campervan of Hakan Nedjat's dreams. I want this operation stopped ` uh, you know, everyone's money back and him to not rent vans or sell` try and sell vans to people. Hakan loves VWs ` always has. They're well-built. They don't break down. But The Bus Haus has taken him on one hell of a wild ride. How painful has it been dealing with Michael Simmonds? > Very. Stressful. Trying to get anything from him that I can is almost impossible. Way back in May 2015, Hakan paid $8000 to Michael Simmonds of The Bus Haus for an unwarranted, unregistered campervan which needed some work. And was that scope of work and completion date in writing? > Yeah, all via email. For an extra 3K, Simmonds was supposed to have the rubber on the road by October last year, but a year and a half after handing over the foldeys, there's no van. He's taking advantage of people and their money, and I'm not sure where` what he's doing with the money, but no one ever sees anything from it. In the lead-up to Christmas 2015, Hakan did get something ` a loan vehicle to take his fiancee on a tour of Aotearoa. It's great that he gave us a van, but, uh, it broke down on the first day, so we had to go back up and he gave us another van, um, which again` that broke down after a day as well. It was just awful. You had to shell out more money? Yeah, 1500 for a rental. We had to buy a tent. With the Christmas roadie ruined, Hakan hit him up for a refund. Simmonds agreed, then the communication went cold. He wanted to sell the van first before giving me my money, so I asked him, 'Have you sold the van?' A month or two passed. He` No communication. Getting nowhere, in July, Hakan took Simmonds to the Disputes Tribunal and had a win. He appeared at court and we agreed that he would pay back all the` the full amount that I'd paid toward the van, which was great, and we had 20` he had 28 days to pay. He didn't pay you? No. And it's been three or four months now. This isn't the first time The Bus Haus' boss has been held to account. Are you a crook, or simply at times inefficient? I would say extremely inefficient. The man who brought his baby to the interview a former bankrupt who says he's trying. It's all very well for people to shut businesses down, rename themselves and start up again, but I don't think` Have you done that in the past? No, never. You're not a former bankrupt? Oh, a long time ago, when I was 23 ` 20 years ago. 2003. How old are you now? Uh, 43. 2003 ` 13 years ago ` you were 30. 30? Yeah, OK. 30. Bankruptcy aside, Michael says he stood by Hakan, even though he hasn't had a refund. The main thing with Hakan is he borrowed another vehicle and enjoyed his holidays with those vehicles. The fact is, I try to cater and look after these. Michael, Hakan told me he had the use of two of your rental vehicles. They both broke down within the first day ` both of them. I don't think that's a person enjoying your vehicles. Yeah. It didn't break down within the first day. It's easy for him to say that statement. That's not` So you're saying that he's lying? I'm saying it's very easy to state a fact like that, but it's not a fact. He had the van for a week and came back because he believed the starter motor was faulty, and then used another vehicle. But regardless, that's` that's his story. And this is Miki Szikszai's story. Miki, did no one ever tell you not to touch an old VW? (LAUGHS) No, because I grew up with old Vws, so` uh, so` w-we had VW Beetles, so I was actually` I was completely hooked religiously on them. Miki's another VW-loving Kiwi who regrets the day he decided to do business with Simmonds. When you start to look at his business dealings, you can't help but think that the guy's a bit of a rogue. Miki bought a VW van from Simmonds in October last year. The dealer was supposed to convert it into a camper. The agreed price ` $25,000. That was $17,000 up front, the remainder as the work was done. But it wasn't. We're horribly disappointed. Um, I mean, we acted in so much good faith, and to have this all fall apart like this is` is just terrible. The conversion was meant to be completed just after Christmas Day. It wasn't. Miki was also given a loaner van for the Christmas break, and a lot of excuses when it came to the whereabouts of his one. At that stage, we said 'Look,'` it` it was becoming increasingly obvious to us that he just wasn't gonna deliver, so we` so we took legal action. Just in the last few days, a court judgement demanding Simmonds refund Miki's money, including costs ` remember, that's nearly $25,000. < Do you think you'll ever see your money again? I think` I think the probability is pretty low. But Michael Simmonds says Miki will get his money. He can be probably completely paid out by the end of January. That's good news for Miki, but what about Hakan, who could really do with the dough? I've got a wedding next year to pay for, actually, and I was hoping to use the van for a couple of years, and, you know, sell it at the end so I could pay for the wedding. Can you pay Hakan Nedjat $11,000 today? Not today, no, but probably by the end of November, beginning of, uh, December. So another promise of payment, but why has this taken so long to sort out? If you only get paid three months a year and someone asks you outside of those three months to give them 11 grand, you can't budget for that. Do you think your system's flawed? I think it's very difficult to budget things on, um, shall I say a very limited` BABY CRIES Hannah's welcome to try and hold, if she wants. At this point, my colleague Hannah has to step in and take the baby away so the interview can continue. Let's go through this. From what I can see, there's a common theme here. People pay up front. For whatever reason, it doesn't work. Then people don't get their money back. You're using these people as a bank. If you're using them for a` as a bank, you wouldn't have their vehicles sitting on the yard. It's hard to say it's a bank if the vehicles are still sitting there in their entirety and in their incomplete form. So you've over-promised and under-delivered. Yeah. I'm not disputing that. How does that sit with you? Well, it's sad, but all I can do is keep continuing to try and earn the money some other way to be able to refund it. In the meantime, while the waiting game goes on, these two VW-loving Kiwis are urging caution. He really doesn't take personal responsibility for what he's committed to. And they're determined they will eventually win. I'm gonna fight till the end and try` and try and get my money, and I want the end goal to be for him to stop doing what he's doing and be shut down. As well as holding the baby, Fair Go is pretty determined to hold Michael to account to make sure he pays up when he said he was gonna pay. Well, that's good to hear. Coming up, a victim of cystic fibrosis faces an unexpected hurdle. She has cystic fibrosis and an unbeatable spirit. It's just about getting out there and staying healthy. But she's also been taken for a ride. It's just really disappointing. Heartache turns to tears of joy. I'm really happy. What are you gonna go and do? I almost wanna cry. Plus ` I don't normally sit on the loo with the door open. We're here to talk about shrinkflation. Our toilet rolls are getting smaller? Yeah, and we're having to buy more of them. Welcome back. Life's hurdles can be many and varied for those with cystic fibrosis. It's an incurable and debilitating genetic disorder, but it hasn't stopped Emily Morgan from chasing her dreams. Emily is determined to make a name for herself in the show jumping arena. She loves horses, loves a challenge, but she's been taken for an expensive ride. PEACEFUL MUSIC In a dusty paddock on the outskirts of Rotorua rides a girl and her horse. When Emily Morgan takes to the saddle, she is free to go as far and as wide as she likes. I feel like you form quite a strong bond with them, especially when you've had them for a long time. She has three horses and loves them like family. I don't think I have a favourite. They're all very different, and they all annoy me in their own way. LAUGHTER Emily's an old hand at equestrian ` she's been taking to the back of a horse since she was 8. She's competed at a high level, but at just 25, her days of cross-country riding are over. Emily's always been looking forward and improving herself and pushing herself. She evented up to two-star level, which ` considering her medical condition ` was outstanding. I mean, really outstanding. That's Emily's coach Debbie. She's a tough trainer, but she's got a soft spot for Em, and it's not because of that medical condition. You see, Emily has cystic fibrosis. It makes breathing difficult, and it limits her ability to compete, but it's never stopped Emily. It's not really about the` the placings. It's just about getting out there and staying healthy. But when Emily decided to focus on show jumping last year, she realised she'd need her own jumps, so she did a quick Google search and found a NZ company offering just what she wanted. Kiwiana Jumps popped up and they seemed legit ` good family-owned business ` and I went ahead with it. It was the` the most reasonable-priced jumps out there. Kiwiana Jumps is run by fellow equestrian competitor Georgia Lawrie. The jumps looked good, so Emily ordered what she'd need for her training. We didn't hear anything after the payment went in, and I thought, 'That's OK ` it's Christmas time,' and then it came to New Year's and still nothing, and I thought, 'Well, New Year's time ` out partying.' So I contacted her again ` nothing again. So then I started putting the pressure on her, and she would contact me back and say, 'Oh, I'm really sorry. Jumps will be with you at the end of the week.' And then end of the week came and still nothing, so then I'd contact her again, asking where the jumps were and what was happening, and then just nothing. DEBBIE: So at the moment, just carry on and warm up, Em. In fact, it's now been 11 months since Emily paid the $2000 to Kiwiana Jumps. She's still got nothing. It looks as if she's not the only one ` the company's Facebook page has other complaints from customers about the lack of contact, and Emily's fed up. What I think is ` you can't really say it on TV. (CHUCKLES) Um, frustrating, then? > Yeah, very frustrating. Just want some contact. The fact that she's just given me no contact is not really acceptable. It's just really disappointing. Not that` I mean, it's disappointing enough that she hasn't got the jumps, but it's more disappointing that there's just been no communication, and we've tried every avenue just to make that connection ` talk to Georgia and kind of find a resolution. Without jumps of her own, it means Emily's got to go the extra mile ` literally ` to train with her horses. At the moment I just have to travel everywhere to` to use everyone else's jumps, and it just would save a lot of time just having the jumps at home, and being able to probably do more training than what I can at the moment. PHONE RINGS So we thought we'd try our luck with Georgia. VOICEMAIL: At the tone, record your message. Hello, Georgia. My name is Anna. And it didn't take long to get a reply from her dad Stuart, who said his daughter had had a car crash earlier this year and then got kicked by her horse. STUART: Yeah, so basically I'm` I'm just going to step in and deal with it. It's just that this has been going on sort of since December last year. Yeah, yeah, I understand that. So I don't know what the` the problem prior to this` OK. ...to those incidents were. Yep. You know, I know in the past she has been a little bit sometimes slow on getting some orders out. Stuart Lawrie promised us a refund and within 24 hours we had the cheque, so we went back to visit Emily. She had no idea that we'd got her money back, and she thought we were coming down to refilm some footage that we lost. We actually came back because we have been in touch with the family ` the Lawrie family ` and Stuart has` Georgia's dad has written you a refund cheque. Serious? Yep. Oh my God. So I'm sorry for lying, but it was for a good cause. (LAUGHS) Wow. That's so cool. Thank you. You're welcome. (LAUGHS) Kiwiana Jumps said in a statement it's sorry to Emily for the lack of communication. So we don't actually know why, or where your jumps are. Yeah. But the Lawries say the company is no longer trading. Happy? Yeah, really happy. Great. What are you gonna go and do? Almost wanna cry. BOTH LAUGH That's nice. Ooh, that's close enough. (CHUCKLES) She may have faced a few hurdles trying to get her money back, but nothing gets in Emily Morgan's way ` not even a horse jump. That's one of the great things about working on this show is getting results like that. Well done, Anna. That was awesome. It was lovely to be able to give that cheque to Emily. She was just over the moon. Now coming up after the break, we've got an issue that affects every man, woman and child ` it's shrinkflation. I don't normally sit on the loo with the door open. There's a crisis in the dunny. That's a bit of a bummer. I was relieved. We lift the lid on an unusual rip-off. Our toilet rolls are getting smaller? Yeah, and we're having to buy more of them. Plus ` They save you thousands,... All the flatpacks are the same principle. ...but they're making this guy millions. Looks easy enough. < (CHUCKLES) We'll believe that when we see it. You know that person - the one who seizes the day, shines, full of life, never stops inspiring. (UPBEAT MUSIC) They're a force of nature. At Nature's Own, we search the world for potent ingredients because nature can be a powerful force for your health and we want to help everyone get the strength they need to be a force of nature. Join us and discover their stories at naturesown.co.nz. 1 Welcome back. Now for a recurring occasional segment I like to call, 'Companies that are sneakily down-sizing their product while keeping it in similar packaging 'so you don't notice, and often at the same price.' Catchy title. What do you think? I think it's really gonna take off. Several of you have noticed a product which is a human necessity has been downsized on the quiet. So I had a bit of an idea` a bit of a plan. I wanted to invite some viewers to TVNZ for a meeting, cos we had to get to the ` wait for it ` bottom of this issue. Warning ` this story contains the odd regrettable pun, just like that one. Rod Lyons has come armed with paperwork. He's come to TVNZ. He's not mucking around. He's gone straight through the atrium, across the newsroom, past the studio and directly to the toilet. I don't normally sit on the loo with the door open. He's come here because this is where his issue is. He first noticed it at the supermarket. Our toilet rolls are getting smaller? Yeah, and we're having to buy more of them. If you bought toilet paper in two- or four-pack rolls, they generally had 220 sheets. Just recently, I did a recheck, and virtually all of the manufacturers had 190 sheets per roll. Rod knows his toilet paper. He's even constructed a table. He says most manufacturers are making them smaller and not telling you. Everybody understands that businesses have to increase prices because costs increase, but this is a sort of a` a deceitful way of doing it. They may not know this, but the term is 'shrinkflation', and it's where ordinary products get smaller, but they look the same size, and they cost the same. Gregor Robinson's problem isn't shrinkage. He's brought in a different kind of paperwork to prove it. You know, I told my friends and at first they poo-pooed the idea. When Gregor dropped his drawers, he was confused. I was trying to think, 'Is this me, or is` or is this toilet paper changed?' So what's your issue, Gregor? I found that the original toilet paper I had been using was beautiful and luxuriously soft, and, uh, then suddenly one day, it had turned into the super budget model. He used to buy Kleenex Gentle Clean almost religiously. Something like a` a kitten or a rabbit. Uh, yeah, beautiful and soft ` like a La-Z-Boy recliner. His love of good toilet paper goes back to visiting his friend as a kid. They were quite rich compared to my family, and, um, I was impressed with their brand new Ford Falcon, and, uh` and their twin-ply toilet paper. Gregor says he called Kleenex and they told him his old toilet paper had been put in new packaging, and that it's not available at his local supermarket. I'm going to the new supermarket, um, when I have to get toilet paper shopping. That's a bit of a bummer. Rod says most toilet rolls may look the same, but they're not. FLUSH! Most of the other manufacturers have dropped to 190 sheets. Now, this may seem trivial, but it's effectively a 5% increase in price. Meanwhile, Gregor is just happy his favourite paper is still available. I was relieved... that I could still get it. After all, he's worked hard in life. He has that dream car, and also the softest, most luxurious toilet paper to clean it with. So a final bit of paperwork on this issue ` we've had some very attentive Fair Go viewers who even noted that the toilet paper is getting smaller, so I might get on to that in the new year ` bit of a project. Roll those ones out later. Look, Kleenex have confirmed their Cottonnelle Clean Sensation is the repackaged Gently Clean. OK, moving on. I think we can now say with some confidence that NZ's celebrity DIY DNA is` Well, I'm gonna be honest. It's a bit useless. Look, our flatpack challenge left most contenders red-faced, the 'easy-to-follow' instructions not so easy. So we're gonna save you, cos tonight, for the final challenge, we've called in a professional flatpack assembler. He's gonna show us how it really should be done. Take a look. Here's Brodie. OK, so you are the last person of the Fair Go Flatpack Challenge this year,... Yeah. ...and the reason you're last is cos arguably you should be the best. Should be. Cos you've got a company dedicated to helping useless people like me to build these themselves. Yeah. These are hard, so we take the stress away. Um, how long do think this might take you? I'm thinking probably 25 minutes. 25 minutes? Yeah, but hopefully 10. Hopefully 10?! < (LAUGHS) Well, look, I'm actually not gonna offer you advice like I have some of our other people. (SIGHS) OK. I'm gonna give you this and I'm just gonna say, 'Here you go. No pressure.' Thank you. No worries. Good luck. Perfect. Prepare to be amazed. Biff that away. Yep. > See, now, none of this is daunting to you, is it? It's like, 'Oh, yep.' > Nah, it's just bringing back old memories. You are about to witness a flatpack expert in action. Looks easy enough. (CHUCKLES) < We'll believe that when we see it. There's no hesitation. Jorgen Ellis is just 20 years old but has a great eye for an opportunity. < Don't forget that you've got parts behind you. Actually, no ` I didn't say that. This young entrepreneur has created a million-dollar business assembling problematic kitsets at customers' homes. < So calm. < So what I notice is that you took one look at the instructions. All the flatpacks are the same principle. Most of our guys` a lot of the time, they'll know how it goes together without looking at the instructions. < Hey, um, you're just about approaching the 10-minute mark. Oh no. Meant to be finished by now. < OK, look, I'll stop distracting you. A number of Kiwi celebs took up our flatpack challenge. Joseph Parker recorded the best time. Leigh Hart was a technical knock-out, saving Matilda Rice from coming last. These things can test the strongest relationships. Jorgen knows that ` he's seen flatpack stress make grown men and women cry. Four to go. < And you're sitting at 13 minutes. Let's see if I can knock this drawer out in two minutes, eh? Jorgen doesn't assemble flatpacks these days ` he's too busy running a $2 million company and planning its expansion to Australia and Britain. < Is that you? Nope, there's one more bit. I think you left these off, didn't you? < (LAUGHING) I did leave those off. Did you not know where they went? < Well, I just thought they were pointless. No, they're not pointless. It stops the, um, back of the unit rattling. There's very few flatpacks that actually give you spare parts. That's kind of a myth. Last one. Done. How'd I go? Yep. Oh wait, yep. Yep, good. You've done very well there. Thank you. Give me a high five. 17.42. You are the Fair Go Flatpack Challenge winner. Thank you. What would be your main advice for the consumer out there when they're building a flatpack? Call me. (LAUGHS) Well, I actually think you've done the perfect advertisement, haven't you? Yeah, well, probably, but call us, but if you wanna do it yourself, make sure you do read the instructions. It's really important. Yep. Can I just say on behalf of Kiwi men everywhere ` that is not a normal time. Those things take two to three weeks normally to put up. On behalf of Kiwi women, I'm happy to take two to three weeks, as long as you do it. (LAUGHS) Righty-oh. Good advice. Before we go, don't forget to tune in next week for the 2016 Ad Awards. Yes, the votes have been counted. We reveal the winners and losers. We also reveal some of the sneaky tricks used to make you part with your money. So that's the show, but we'll be on Facebook for the next half-hour to answer your questions. Our programme is all about your problems, your thoughts, so please do contact us. We're on Facebook. Email us ` fairgo@tvnz.co.nz. Write to us ` Private Bag 92038, Auckland 1142. We understand that today's been a tough day for everyone around the country. Please stay safe. Look after each other and we'll see you next week. Goodnight. Copyright Able 2016