Tonight ` you can't beat a good Kiwi wine. I thought, 'Ooh, there's something wrong with this.' Just doesn't hit the mark. But is your favourite plonk made of Kiwi or Aussie grapes? Hey, what's going on here? That's strange. I think that's extremely misleading. Plus, holidays from hell. What should have been an easy fix has turned into a frustrating problem. What are your rights when bad luck strikes? I was sitting at the kitchen table in absolute floods of tears. And... I decided to get an ice-cream cake. ...we've got the scoop on the ice-cream cake that's bringing cold comfort to partygoers. What would you call it, Glenda? A tub of ice cream. Copyright Able 2017 Welcome to the show. Lovely to be back with you. And it is a big year for us, this one ` our 40th birthday, to be exact. Now, it's the sort of occasion, Pippa, if you are turning 40 ` which you are` have done ` that should be toasted with a fine Kiwi wine. Indeed. But before you rip the cork out, you might want to check the fine print on that label. Now, that's because more and more iconic Kiwi brands are filling their bottles with cheap Aussie plonk. (RELAXED MUSIC) Sharee Wood is the household shopper. And after hunting and gathering the groceries, she often needs some mother's medicine ` a wine, no less. I know what I like. I'm not an expert. So it's lucky a bottle or two sometimes falls into her shopping bag. How you doing? On the odd occasion, friends come over to help with the drinking, and that's how it was a few months ago. They had a bottle of Whitecliff. Sharp. They didn't like it. This is good for my cooking tonight. Just doesn't hit the mark. Took a mouthful of it, and I thought, 'Ooh, there's something wrong with this.' There was confusion. That tastes, actually, like Australian sauvignon blanc, but I bought a New Zealand one. The answer was on the back of the bottle. In tiny little words, 'Wine of Australia.' It's a New Zealand winery selling Australian wine. Well, I was quite shocked, really. Sharee was outraged and curious, so she checked her wine rack. Took a look at the back ` Longridge I've been drinking for years ` and there it was. 'Wine of Australia.' Gutted. Jeff went home too and checked his. Shingle Peak, wasn't it? It was Shingle Peak. So this summer, as you're barbecuing with your buddies, you gotta be careful about your wine selection. Have a look at this. This is a Shingle Peak. It's a riesling. It's a New Zealand wine ` says so on the front. But have a look at its half-brother here. This is a Shingle Peak, also the same vineyard. And have a look on the back. It says, 'Shingle Peak Wines, Jacksons Road, Marlborough, New Zealand. 'Wine of Australia.' So it's a wine of Australia from Marlborough, New Zealand. Figure that one out. Welcome to the lazy Susan of New Zealand wineries putting Australian wine in their bottles and selling it as their own. Shingle Peak, a famous South Island landmark ` the wine inside is made 2000km away. Kim Crawford's First Pick ` his wine's Australian too. Same with Longridge from Auckland. The wine's not from Auckland. Normal wine labelling has where it's from on the front. But check the bottom row of your supermarket. Chances are it's full of Australian wine being sold under New Zealand labels. They do it because Aussie wine is cheap. A couple of clicks and I can buy more wine than you can fit in a bottle for 80c. Most big New Zealand wineries are owned by foreign companies. They don't wanna go on Fair Go to explain what's in their bottles. Treasury Estate Wines owns Shingle Peak. They say their wine is made in Australia and bottled in Marlborough. Pernod Ricard, who own Longridge, say... This is what Pernod Ricard call 'easy-to-understand labelling at a glance'. That's it down there on the back in the small print. The only winery willing to sit down and talk is Whitecliff Wines. These are the white cliffs high above the Tutaekuri River in the Hawke's Bay. It's where David Mason has grown grapes for 30 years. He's the founder of Whitecliff Wines, who now put Australian wine in their bottles. So why would a Whitecliff Wine be made in Australia? Well, because here in New Zealand, the export success has been so great that most of our wine from New Zealand is exported. The prices we can achieve, um, needs to be sustainable and is being achieved overseas. New Zealanders are cheap when it comes to wine. Something like 40% of all the wine sold in New Zealand is sub-$10. David Mason calculates he gets 80c from a $10 bottle of wine. Whitecliff used to be kind of an $18 brand. Competitive nature and the downward price pressure after GFC saw those prices merge down to $10, at which stage it became uneconomic to do it in NZ. The inconvenient truth, he says, is it's impossible to produce a $10 bottle of New Zealand wine. So he puts Australian plonk in a New Zealand bottle. Most winemakers can live off the acclaim of the adoring public, but to be paid for it at the same time is quite useful. So, the law is really clear on labelling. The Fair Trading Act says it's illegal to mislead customers. And I quote... Furthermore, the Commerce Commission says just by putting 'Wine of Australia' in small print on the bottom, it doesn't necessarily cover you legally. You see, it's all about the overall impression. So when you look at this, what's your overall impression? Wine of Australia? Wine of New Zealand? What do you think? I wouldn't have a clue. Uh... Oh, New Zealand, but I'd... I'll take New Zealand. Something down south, maybe. Well, Shingle Peak ` I thought that was a New Zealand wine. You think it'd be from Marlborough. Maybe Marlborough. The wine industry says it's not being sneaky. (CHUCKLES) Uh, product of Australia. Hey, what's goin' on here? That's strange. Um, wine of Australia? They're cheeky beggars. Huh. I didn't think that Australia could produce our wines. The old pav, pavlova. Those dirty Australians. Yeah. Crowded House. Yeah. Well, at least we won in the cricket, that's for sure. Nor do they say they're being misleading. As far as advertising goes, I think that's extremely misleading. Just because a wine says it` it's,... say, a brand name ` uh, Bob's Mountain or something ` um, that brand name doesn't immediately imply a particular origin. Meet New Zealand Wine's Philip Gregan. He doesn't think Aussie wine sold under New Zealand labels will harm our reputation. I don't think so, so long as it's clear on the label where the wine's from. Consumers just have to look, and it will be there. Sharee Wood doesn't agree. She lives in Queenstown and wonders what the tourists will think. They think, 'Oh, New Zealand's got great wine, 'so I'm gonna go off to the supermarket and` and buy a bottle of New Zealand wine.' And they drink it and go, 'Ew, that's horrible,' but it's actually Australian wine that they're drinking. Sharee says she doesn't study fine print when she buys wine. She trusts the labels. Well, rather, she did trust the labels. I think the whole thing's quite sneaky. She did write to a winery for a 'please explain'. They offered her some unusual compensation. They offered me some Australian wine, and I was kind of like, 'Um, I think you're missing the point here.' So when you pour a drop, do your homework. You might be surprised where your wine has come from. I am stunned. I had no idea that you could buy what appears to be a New Zealand bottle of wine and be buying Australian wine. I know. It's food for thought next time you're getting the drinks in for book club,... if you know what I mean. Thank you. Check the label. Right, we all love saving money, and knowing your consumer rights can save you a bundle. So tonight, we hit the Bay of Plenty for the return of our true/false challenge. (FUN DANCE MUSIC) We're at the Mount. Summer's arrived. It's definitely ice cream weather. But despite this heat, we want to know if you guys are schooled up on your consumer knowledge. So I've got six questions and $20 for anyone who can get them all right. Is there a consumer mastermind out there? First up,... Ooh, that's a tough one. Uh, that's false. So, it's on sale, but it's faulty. Yep, OK. That doesn't matter. They wouldn't replace it. Oh, that's fully false. Yeah, that's false. That's false. We're pretty confident on that one. You were very confident on that one. Retailer doesn't. Yeah. False. False. Our first question certainly got you pondering. So what are your rights when goods are on sale? We'll let you know shortly. I'm definitely gonna say false. I've been on Fair Go five minutes, and I'm the expert now. But you don't actually know the answer. You're not giving it away. No, just` I'm saying it's false. You're going with false. All right, coming up after the break ` how well do you know your flight rights? Damaged bags,... They were smashed to pieces. ...sudden cancellations. I was sitting at the kitchen table in absolute floods of tears. Do you know your flight rights? If the flight's delayed for some reason, how long do you think you would wait before the airline might want to offer you a meal? I don't know. (CHUCKLES) And... I said no strippers, no strippers. ...it's the birthday treat that's brought cold comfort to partygoers. I was shocked, cos I was expecting a cake. 1 Welcome back. When it comes to travel and holidays, we like to focus on the positive, you know, the good times. Absolutely. But earthquakes, lost luggage, missed flights, illness or even Donald Trump can scuttle the best holiday plans. So what are your rights when bad stuff happens? Here's Garth. (RELAXED MUSIC) More and more of us are flying than ever before. And there are more and more flights to choose from. So time we checked on our flight rights. And your responsibilities ` it cuts both ways. If the flight's cancelled, what do you think you should expect from them? Ooh. I would hope that they'd put you in the next available flight. It's a priority. But what happens if your flight never leaves the ground and you still really need to get there? Sue Ward was stoked when Jetstar came to the provinces. I was one of the first to sign up to the 'Support JetStar to come to Napier' Facebook site. It would be absolutely fantastic to have more choice available. Now she's upset about the lack of choices when it all went wrong with a booking. I was sitting at the kitchen table in absolute floods of tears at the fact that I wasn't gonna see Pippa for the first time. Not our Pippa, her Pippa. This is Sue's first grandchild, Pippa Rachel. Sue booked with Jetstar months earlier ` one ticket each way, Napier-Dunedin via Auckland ` but woke on the day to a text message telling her the Auckland flight that morning was cancelled. They seemed to think that everybody, all day, from Napier should accept that there's no crew to staff any planes from Napier. Surely there should've been another plane going. Sue was determined to get there, tried to reason with the call centre for nearly an hour, wound up booking with Air New Zealand, paid $279 to get to Auckland. And her connection? Jetstar gave her $55 for the cancelled flight, but they wouldn't cover the extra cost. Jetstar will generally move customers to the next available flight, though that's very rarely a flight with a competitor, they say. Air New Zealand will also only shift you to 'a carrier with which we have an agreement with' ` again, probably not the local competition. That highlights the need to think about travel insurance, even if it's for a cheap fare. Those cheap fares seldom come with an in-flight meal. But what if you're stuck on the ground? If the flight's delayed for some reason, how long do you think you would wait before the airline might want to offer you a meal? Don't know. (CHUCKLES) I'm probably not too worried about that, to tell you the truth. Yeah, what if you're travelling with kids, though? Um, maybe... 30 minutes. (AIRPORT ANNOUNCEMENT TONE) WOMAN: If a flight is delayed, Air New Zealand will offer a refreshment voucher after two hours, JetStar after three hours, provided the issue is within the airline's control. (RELAXED MUSIC) But what happens if you discover you can't fly? What happens to the tickets you bought and the money you paid for them? Todd works with his hands, making conveyor belts in Taranaki. Family-owned business, uh, third generation. The boys are busy and a bit camera-shy. Todd planned a holiday for them in Rarotonga. Last holiday with the kids before they, uh, set their own path in the` in the world. It wasn't to be. Months later, between paying and flying, Todd's wife, Viv, suffered a major medical event. More than a year on, she's still grounded. I've got an email from Air New Zealand saying, 'Your money is in credit.' That $3200 credit would normally last a year. Air New Zealand agreed to give him longer. (KEYPAD BEEPS) But Todd says when he tried to book travel,... Uh, customer services, please. ...he couldn't use the credit. I'd like to discuss, uh, our tickets that have been on hold. Talked to them June, July, August, September. Uh, various emails, not getting anywhere. Possible to talk to your supervisor, please? Todd thought this had been a compassionate offer to a loyal customer of many years. What should have been an easy, uh... easy fix has turned into a frustrating problem. It's worth pointing out a couple of things. The Spicers could have been insured from the time they booked the flights ` expect the unexpected. Non-refundable tickets can be eligible for a credit, but most airlines do set an expiry on that. You can ask for a full refund of any fuel and insurance levies and airport taxes that make up the ticket price. Here are a few more tips from travellers. Uh, be early. (CHUCKLES) There's always something that's gonna hold you up. You get what you pay for. (RELAXED MUSIC) Now, baggage is a completely different matter. What happens if your bag arrives late or is lost or, uh, turns up damaged in some way? Murray needed windows for his caravan. Two windows? Exactly the same as these two windows here. OK, the side ones. So these two side ones. What's so special about them? The windows were in England. Murray worked out it would cost more to import them than to fly there himself and bring them back. Nice wee holiday as well. Nice wee holiday. I was only there for three days, so... (CHUCKLES) long enough to do what I needed to do. I travelled on Malaysian Airlines, and with the staff at Malaysian Airlines at Heathrow Airport, we actually packaged them. And when they arrived back in Auckland, they were smashed to pieces. Malaysia Airlines baggage agents signed a piece of paper then and there ` 'Yep, they're broken, but, no, not our problem.' And no further discussion about why. They have never said that these windows were covered by any of those exclusions. They've just said` They've just said, 'Not liable.' 'See ya later.' Yeah, 'See ya later.' And if` if they came up with a reasonable explanation, I'd accept that. Murray's also a private investigator ` serving papers, catching up with people on the run. Malaysia Airlines is proving his toughest collar yet. I have tried to ring them. I've tried to email them. I've written to them, and I've heard nothing. One staffer who picked up the phone couldn't help much. She told Murray the office was more or less empty. That's this building. Sign outside still says Malaysia. Well, here we are at the New Zealand head office of Malaysia Airlines. Not a lot of people there in the background. I have just spoken to a guy who stepped out from behind the desk. He says there's only three people working here. He's accepted Murray's complaint, and he's gonna try and pass it on. Let's see if we can get some action. Murray was insured, but his insurer needed him to deal with the airline first, which is why anyone would hope for a better response than Murray has had. Your flight rights depend on who's flying you, where they're taking you and where that airline is based, so it's one more reason to consider using a local travel agent to reduce the risk of those costly mishaps. It's also another thing to think about if you see those cheaper online deals. So think before you click, and bon voyage. Well, I have learnt a lot, and we do get a lot of complaints about airlines, so hopefully Garth's story has cleared up some of the confusion for you. Oh, and I've got some breaking news, some good news. Todd from Taranaki has received a call from Air New Zealand. They're gonna give him a full refund. That's $3200. Great. Once Viv gets well, he's off on holiday. That's great news. Now, coming up after the break, we've got the scoop on a birthday treat bringing cold comfort to partygoers. Because the first thing I saw on the box was cake, ice-cream cake. I thought, 'Awesome.' But there was nothing awesome about this birthday treat. I was shocked, cos I was expecting a cake. And we head back to the Mount... Is there a consumer mastermind out there? ...in search of the truth. Oh, that's a tough one. Yeah, that's false. That's false. We're pretty confident on that one. You were very confident on that one. 1 Welcome back, and brace yourself, New Zealand ` I've got an amazing fact. Here we go. New Zealand consumes more ice cream per capita than any other country in the world. World leaders. That is surprising. We're the champs. It's true. Mm-hm. Now, America is second, Aussie is third, Finland fourth and Sweden, well, you're fifth. I have to say, yeah, my household ` we do eat our fair share. But that sweet frozen stuff has brought cold comfort to one Kiwi fan. Here's Matt. (RELAXED MUSIC) Censored R18 ` here we go. We're going in. Are we going in? I think we're goin' in. Right. (LAUGHS) Glenda McSkimming's always been keen on birthdays. I said, 'No strippers, no strippers.' Your very own sailor. And he was lovely too. (LAUGHS) There was a big bash at 40, another at 50. He did say I was a good sport, and I said, 'Well, you should see me out of public.' (BOTH CHUCKLE) And when the Tuakau caregiver hit the big 6-0, on her rounds that day, it was her shout. (RELAXED HIP-HOP MUSIC) I decided to get an ice-cream cake and give everybody, on my day, slices of ice-cream cake. At 60, are you still keen on having birthdays? I enjoyed my 30th, 40th and 50th, but I thought, 'No, not` not marking the 6-0.' CHUCKLES: That was enough. Either way, it was ice-cream cake all round. A real oldie but a goodie. But Glenda, her clients and cousin Tania... Happy birthday. Oh, thank you. ...all thought the Much Moore cookies & cream cake was a bit of a rip-off. This is it. I was shocked to start with, cos I was expecting a cake. Would you call it a cake? Nooo. What would you call it, Glenda? A tub of ice-cream! (CHUCKLES) Glenda paid $22.60 for the 3-litre tub` sorry, ice-cream cake... Did you have steam coming out your ears? Absolutely, and my nostrils and my eyeballs, for that matter. I couldn't see for the steam. ...and reckons she could have bought 2 litres for under $5, but then she would've missed out on the do-it-yourself directions... Didn't have time to muck about. ...and the paper and plastic decorations provided to tart up the tub. I didn't need the decorations. They don't pertain to a 60-year-old. Do you feel as though you were misled? Oh, totally, because the first thing I saw on the box was cake. Ice-cream cake. I thought, 'Awesome. That's exactly what i want.' In the court of public opinion, it seems Glenda has a case. What else does it come with? (CHUCKLES) I thought it was just a container of ice cream. Do you feel like you need something else with it? Definitely, for that sort of price. Someone to jump out of the cake? Mate, is there? Come on, then. John Key? So what is an ice-cream cake? We visited pastry chef Brian Campbell at Auckland's Miann to find out. Ice cream is ice cream, you know? You get a scoop of ice-cream in a tub or in a cone or something. An ice-cream cake, you've got to have layers of different gelatos, chocolate sponges or biscuits and stuff like that. I'm no expert, but this is a hell of a lot more tantalising than what Glenda got served up. Probably best I take that away today, isn't it? Um... Take it off your hands? Yeah, if you're willing to share, that's probably the best. (LAUGHS) I'm a sharer. I'm a sharer. Yep. Furious with her deal, the day Glenda bought the ice-cream cake from Countdown Pukekohe, she wrote to them... I... am... shocked. ...and the Much Moore ice cream company who produce the product, saying she expected much, much more. Never mess with a Scorpio when she's pushed to her limits. (CHUCKLES) Countdown responded the following day. They gave me a full refund and a $24 carrot cake. And? They checked in to the product, and they withdrew it. That's right. Countdown withdrew the ice-cream cake nationwide. FreshChoice and SuperValue recently followed suit. Pretty good investigative work. We've got a job going at Fair Go if you're interested. (LAUGHS) You couldn't work with me more than one day, Matt. (BOTH LAUGH) Laughs aside, Glenda's still not happy. I would like to see the product pulled from all retail outlets. In the interest of fairness, we should point out that 'Much Moore' has much to celebrate. We visited the company that's just won an award for New Zealand's best caramel ice-cream. Man,... is it good. Sadly, I doubt Glenda will be dishing out any awards for their ice-cream cake, though, they've written to her, promising they'll improve the product. Mm-mm. We couldn't persuade the ice cream makers to talk to us, but they have fully refunded Glenda, and she's giving the money to charity. And after all her good work, we thought this wee chef-made number... 'It's a chocolate hazelnut praline.' ...would just be the icing on the cake. Glenda. Hi, Matt. This is for you. Ooh, yum. An ice-cream cake. Ooh, it's all ice cream. Ooh, thank you. It's a big cake for one. What are you gonna do with it? We're not far from Ronald McDonald House. It's goin' there for the families, yep. Oh, you're a good sport. Well, it will melt before I get home, and I think they need it more than I do anyway. (BOTH LAUGH) How did these people ever think that was a cake? That is not a cake under even the loosest definition of cake. That is a tub. But, hey, look, good on Countdown for acting quickly on that and for listening to a customer's pretty valid complaint. Yeah, more of that, please. Yes. All right, we've kept you waiting long enough. Time to reveal the answer of our true/false challenge. (FUN DANCE MUSIC) We all love a bargain, but do we get the same consumer protection when we buy something on sale? That's what we wanted to know. Buy something on sale and then find it's faulty. The retailer doesn't have to replace, refund or repair it. That's false. Doesn't have to? Pretty sure under the Guarantees Act, they have to. Yeah, they do have to. And false is correct. If an item's faulty, even if you bought it at discount, the retailer is obligated to fix the problem for you. Wow. You got it right. I know. What do I`? Well done. What do I win? Well, you get five more questions right over the next five weeks and you will win $20 ` double your salary for the week. What about the terms and conditions? Hey, that is the show for tonight, but we will be on Facebook for the next half hour, so if you've got any questions, get online, send us a message, and we'll get back to you. You can also email us as well at... You can write to us old-school ` we love letters ` And that is our show. Until next week, have a great night. Copyright Able 2017