Tonight ` Here is the 1100 there. Thanks very much. Cool. ...a convicted fraudster paves his way on to Fair Go ` again! They had to issue a public warning that you were thoroughly dishonest, which you are. When it comes to excuses, this guy has got some real doozies. The dog was lying on it and he couldn't get the dog to move. Bang! Is Thunder really to blame? And... ...this eventer has been tripped up by an unexpected hurdle. He's just ripping off people who are paying their money in good faith. We are on the trail of a rogue horse float builder. So the horse's foot has gone through this. Plus ` Go! Right. I'm not in a hurry, but I do really wanna win. ...is 'self-service' another way of saying 'no service'? Oh, bananas. That's gonna be an issue. I need assistance. Copyright Able 2017 Welcome to the show. Deception, deceit, dishonesty ` they're not really the characteristics you want in a tradie. But that's what you get when you deal with Guy Silcock. He's a convicted fraudster with a penchant for leading customers down the garden path. Here's Garth. We're going up the garden path, but it's not us leading you there. Just around the corner is a man who has blighted landscapes and been in jail for fraud. What is about to happen next is more serious than it seems. There is the 1100. Thanks very much. Cool. That's him ` Guy Silcock. Hey, sorry if I, uh, upset you yesterday. I know... He's apologising to Kat. She was filming him secretly because she was wary. He used to just come and knock on the door at my house to ask for money, and it was just` Yeah, I was getting frustrated because it had taken so long. I honestly felt like they were taking advantage of my parents. Kat has been handling a mess for her 70-year-old dad. Guy Silcock was supposed to lift and relay these pavers. The job needed a lot of extra gear. Kat's never seen it used or had any receipts for its hireage. All up, it's cost... About $7500 from an initial quote of 2100. That got out of hand fast. Yes. When it happened, Kat wasn't aware that guy has been out on parole, under strict conditions ` no handling money for work whatsoever ` a condition he appears to be caught on her camera flouting. I filmed him because I was worried with the amount of money that they kept on asking for. It seemed like every week that this job was going on ` and it dragged on and on ` they kept asking for more and more money. Quote low, work slow, charge more and then gap it. It's a pattern Guy Silcock repeats ad nauseam. Where's all the money, Guy? Tonight marks his fourth appearance on the programme in four years ` Why are you running away, Guy? ...something even the justice system couldn't help but acknowledge when sentencing him for 23 fraud-related charges. Not even being named and shamed on national television by the Fair Go programme deterred you. They had to issue a public warning that you were thoroughly dishonest, which you are. Things went quiet for a year or so while he was inside. But now he's out, back in business, this time with a new front... Hey, good morning, Guy. ...but just as hard to reach as ever. Uh, sorry, who's this speaking? It's Garth Bray, Guy, from Fair Go. Uh... (SQUEAK! CELL PHONE BEEPS) He's just hung up. Something wasn't right about that card either ` and I don't just mean that trowel. Is that Guy? Looks more like... Ah! Jean-Claude Van Damme from the poster for this movie. Wrong Bet. 'Wrong Man for the Job' is more like it. 'I will start and I will complete,' blah-blah-blah. Nothing has happened. All Gopal got was this ` a few kerbstones delivered and laid in a line. He'd expected much more for 4 grand. He promised me two week's time he will complete the job. Guy didn't finish the job. Gopal exchanged dozens of texts messages with his father, Bryce, who'd come initially to price the job. He's an older man. He's maybe about 65, 70. That was the last time I saw him. Bryce Silcock handles Guy's calls and quotes because Guy's parole forbids him from doing that as well. Gopal won a full refund of his $4100 deposit at the Disputes Tribunal but so far hasn't been able to enforce the debt against Bryce Silcock's company. As you'll see, Bryce is hard to reach. We've called three numbers ` nothing. Hello? All roads lead here. We're hoping Bryce Silcock is home. This is where he supposedly runs his business from, according to the Companies Register. It's a business that owes people thousands of dollars for work that Guy Silcock, his son, hasn't done. No one home. Later we speak with new tenants. They moved here in November. They get a lot of mail for Bryce and Guy, asking where and how to find them. Some would have come from this man. Andre also won judgement. $2200 Bryce's company owes him. He's never seen it despite the delays that he's had to endure. It sat for the whole of winter unusable. Dog walking mud in and out of the property like crazy. My wife pulling her hair out and pulling my hair out. (BOTH CHUCKLE) If you print out the text messages Andre swapped with Bryce Silcock's number, it covers 13 pages. But the two never met. If you're a dad, you're gonna try and look after your son, aren't you? Yeah. If you were trying to help your son move on from a chequered past, you wouldn't leave them alone on a job that was clearly going badly for this period of time. The people who eventually finished it did it in a day and a half. We were three months trying to get Guy to get this job completed. Yep ` three months for a weekend job. The excuse that topped them all for Andre... The dog was lying on it and he couldn't get the dog to move. Here's that dog. Heel. Thunder is well-trained and friendly. Guy Silcock, on the other hand, is still subject to parole conditions. But is anyone going to enforce them? The Community Corrections Service supervise Guy Silcock's parole. It's supposed to know where he lives right now and how he earns that living. I told Corrections about that video, the one that shows him apparently breaching his parole by accepting cash. And their response... As far as we know, Guy Silcock is still working, maybe in your backyard or your neighbour's. So get a good look at that face and don't let him take any more money. All right, consider yourselves warned. If you have had any dealings with Guy Silcock, we'd be very keen to hear from you too. OK, After the break, the search for more horsepower trips up a top eventer, leaving her hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket. It takes strength and perseverance to master this sport ` This was not gonna be a happy ending. ...qualities you'll need when dealing with this horse float builder. I think that Andrew's a compulsive liar. He's just ripping off people. And... polishing the floorboards reveals an insurance loophole. I was a bit gobsmacked when I heard about it. Are you really insured? I just don't think most people that have insurance realise that. Welcome back. In the competitive world of eventing, you need some serious horsepower encased in steel to get your ponies from A to B. Are you saying if you've got horses, you need a horse truck? Yes. (LAUGHS) Right. Good. Cos Classic Horse Coaches are in the business of designing and building custom-made horse trucks. Yes. But according to some customers, their promises of comfort, security and safety read like a Tui ad. 'Yeah, right!' Here's Anna. (RISING HARP MUSIC) Man versus beast. It's all about control, strength and beauty. To be able to go and dance in the arena with them is a really special thing. I feel very privileged to be able to do that. But Lee Muir-Clarke's had her world turned upside down in a deal with a horse-truck builder that's turned very very ugly. I think that Andrew's a compulsive liar and is, um... is just ripping off people who are paying their money in good faith for a product that he is just not capable of delivering. Some strong words, but Lee's been through the wringer, and it's cost her close to half a million bucks. I wish, obviously, that I hadn't gone into contract with Classic Horse Coaches and Andrew Wright. And don't be fooled by the accent. AUSTRALIAN ACCENT: He likes to play in the hose. Lee's a Kiwi who's spent just a little too much time on the Gold Coast. When she decided in 2015 that she wanted a fancy new horse truck to travel to competitions, Lee gave the job to a New Zealand coach builder Andrew Wright, owner of Classic Horse Coaches. She signed on the dotted line ` $300,000 for a top-of-the-line truck, horse box and living quarters. There were still wires hanging out of the wall over there. And that's when the problems and the excuses started. He would tell me that he had cancer. Um, there were people dying. There were quite a lot of people that died during the course of the build of my truck because there always seemed to be someone who'd just died. At the same time Lee was trying to get her truck built by Classic, so too were Jon and Wendy Williamson. I'd seen them at shows and I thought that they looked all right, um, yeah, but I'd be the first to admit my process was not thorough enough. Jon ordered this $200,000 horse box, but it wasn't long before alarm bells were ringing. Things got progressively worse, and it was probably, um, six or seven months into the build when he was actually late ` you know, it was past the due date ` that I realised that this was not gonna be a happy ending. Concerned about the build, Jon asked for progress photos. He got pictures of someone else's truck ` three years old. Nothing was happening on our truck. It was parked up; it was collecting dust in his shed. Their order was 10 months late. And when Jon finally did get possession of the truck, things went rapidly downhill. So the horse's foot has gone through this. Yeah. The horse's foot punctured it. The hole, one of more than 30 defects with the truck. The guy won't let you have access to your truck, won't let you take it away, you know, won't let you stop the contract, so, um, yeah, it's just a terrible place to be in. We rang Andrew Wright to see if he'd talk to us about his customers' complaints. He wasn't keen. Now, hold on just a moment, because we've met Andrew before in 1991. Will you talk to us for a moment? Back then he'd been contracted to build a horse truck under the company name United Horse Coaches. Only, the job was hit by delays. The customer refused to pay his extra charges, and Andrew Wright sold the truck. He shut up shop and disappeared ` until now. This is the Classic Horse Coaches yard, this is where Andrew Wright builds his horse trucks. We're filming from the roadside, because Andrew's made it quite clear he's got no interest in talking to Fair Go. In fact, he's already trespassed us. Seems everyone has to wait for Andrew Wright. I never would have entertained the idea of going to this person, this company, if how we were treated was known beforehand. Neither would Lee Muir-Clarke. Her journey to pick up this champagne chariot took a lot longer than most. Here's everything that went wrong ` the short version. First, the delays ` two and a half years to finish it. During that time, the wrong truck chassis was bought, so a second one was purchased from this Isuzu franchise on the Gold Coast. That company, James Frizelle's automotive group, shipped the truck straight to Andrew and invoiced him. Only, he never paid for it. Problem number three ` when the truck arrived back in Australia, the car yard came knocking. They said, 'Oh, it hasn't been paid for, and now you'll need to pay for it 'before you can take possession of it.' And we said, 'Well, that can't be possible; it's nothing to do with us,' and they said, 'Well, by default you are going to be liable for it.' Lee had to pay another $100,000 to stop the truck being sold. To add insult to injury, Lee then had to fork out another $60,000 on a never-ending list of items left unfinished. Very stressful. Very stressful ` when you think that you've paid your money and that you're never going to get what it is that you've paid for. Lee and Jon Williamson bought their trucks off Andrew under the company Classic Horse Coaches. In 2014 the company was fined $23,000 by the Gasfitters, Plumbers and Drainlaying Board for illegal gas work on trucks. Since 2015, Andrew Wright's been working under Classic and a new company name ` Pinnacle Coaches. He wrote to us to say there's nothing suspicious about this. He also denied every other allegation made by the Williamsons and the Clarkes about the delays to their builds and the quality of his workmanship. Andrew lays most of the blame on them but told us he'd never give us an interview. - So, Andrew... - (TONE PULSES) Lee and Jon know they won't get any money back for their troubles with Classic Horse Coaches; they just want to make sure Andrew Wright doesn't make another appearance on Fair Go. It's not really about the money; it's about putting this guy out of business, because, you know, what I went through, I wouldn't want anyone else to go through that. Like, there are a lot of shows you wanna be on once or twice. The lotto draw, I'd love to be on many times. But Fair Go, we don't really like repeat customers. No. And we've had a few tonight. The Gasfitters Board is keen to hear from anyone who's bought a horse coach or float from Andrew Wright. Especially those who've got concerns about their gas installations. You see, he's still considered to be a 'person of interest' to them. Right, moving on to a Fair Go favourite ` insurance. Now, we thought it was time to shed some light on the finer points of policies that result in your claim being denied, denied, or in some cases, denied. (WHOOSH! WHOOSH!) (GROOVY MUSIC) I was, um, a bit gobsmacked when I heard about it, because I'd never heard about it before, and I just don't think most people that have insurance realise that. Check these out. Nice, huh? Stephen's recently sanded and polished wooden floors. We're very happy with them. They look great. Mm! He did a good job. He did. But before Stephen got the floor sanders in, he made a bit of a discovery. You see, Stephen had arranged to get his floors... The floor sander told him it'd be best for him to vacate the house for those three days ` fumes and so forth. You know. Stephen and his wife were off to babysit the grandkids, so they booked the floor sander to do the work while they were away. Stephen's switched on. He gave his insurance provider a quick call before he vacated his house, and... 'What do we have to do to ensure that our contents are covered?' He said, 'One of you has to be physically present the whole time 'that the tradespeople are in the house.' Now, it's not that Stephen and wife Jan didn't trust the floor sander, but they wanted to be safe. So they changed their plans so that one of them was home the entire time the work was being done. And that was the best thing to do, says Stephen's insurance provider, Tower. The company says he's safeguarded himself by being there, but he wouldn't have been covered if someone who was legally on his property had nicked something. Our insurance watchdog, Karen Stevens, has heard her share of stories from confused consumers and has more detail which might surprise Stephen ` and you. And all consumers need to know this under their contents policies ` is that if they have tradesmen into their house, if they have an open home, if they invite people into their property, if that person who's been invited is lawfully there ` and they steal something ` that's when the contents won't cover. That's right. To be clear, if you invite someone, anyone, into your home, if they steal or intentionally damage something, you are most likely not insured, even if you're there. As for Stephen, he's just happy he played it safe this time. I guess as you get older, you get more cautious. (LAUGHS) D'you know what I'm taking from that? I'm gonna go home and dig out my insurance policy and have a bit of a look. Yeah, that is well worth doing. And the other thing ` be really mindful about who you invite into your home. So do your due diligence on your new tradespeople. Here's another one ` teenage parties. Yes. Teenagers invite a group of people around, something gets stolen and you won't be covered. So make sure your teenage kids have no friends (!) Right, coming up after the break ` shadow work. It's the unpaid, unseen jobs that've got you working for free every day. Go! Which is faster ` the automated checkout... My wife says I shouldn't do competitions. She says I'm too competitive. ...or the checkout assistant? I am a great supermarket shopper. I'm there all the time. Do they really save time? I like the automation cos I'm a control freak. Or are we all being turned into unpaid labour? Oh, bananas. That's gonna be an issue. I need assistance. Welcome back. Ever heard of shadow work? You must do some shadow work. Pump your own gas? Oh, yes. Check out your own groceries? Yes. Check yourself in at the airport? Yes. There you go ` shadow work. It's a term used to describe the unseen, unpaid jobs that all of us do every day. Yes, and you're probably blissfully unaware, but you're constantly being recruited by big business to do a host of jobs free of charge. Now, they like to call it 'self-service'. But is it self-service or 'no-service'? (JAUNTY GUITAR MUSIC) Welcome to the job you never knew you had. It's a part-time role, seven days a week. Unpaid, of course. At the petrol station, the airport and at the supermarket. It's shadow work ` the work we do for companies that they used to do for us. I just checked in online. We work at the supermarket. The grocer used to collect what we wanted. Then supermarkets came along and we got our own groceries. Now we get our own food, check ourselves out and bag our own groceries. I like the automation. Do ya? Yeah, cos I'm in control. I'm a control freak. (GUFFAWS) Ask my wife. Wiebe Van Der Veen manages Countdown Mt Eden. He says the machines reflect how we've changed as shoppers. I think it's just evolution, really. Does it make the groceries cheaper by having machines, where you could employ people? It's not about reducing costs or anything like that. It's more about convenience. But is self-checkout quicker? Time for a race. My wife says I shouldn't do competitions, especially social sport. She says I'm too competitive. I am a great supermarket shopper. I'm there all the time. But these checkout things, we're like.. Simon and Garfunkel. It's Garfunkel; I'm Simon. Hadyn, not a shot! We've got two baskets of 11 identical items. It's a time trial. Go! Right. All right, here we go. We'll unload. Just need to get the wallet out, OK. (CASH REGISTER BEEPS REPEATEDLY) Thank you. Brilliant. 49 seconds? You are never going to beat that. I'm never gonna beat that. 49 seconds. I'm a machine. We'll see how I go through the automated checkout soon, but let's get to your second job ` at the airport ` where lining up to check in used to be a way of life. Now we book our own tickets and check ourselves in. The term is actually co-creation. So you're co-creating an experience together between the customer and the employee. Dr Jessica Vredenburg knows the airport. She's working with one of our major airlines, researching how employees and customers work together. Do people realise they're working for the airlines? That's a good question. You know, in the early co-creation research, they referred to it as sort of 'partial employees'. She says we're happy to do the work as long as it's quicker. People's patience for waiting is much lower. The future is probably even less interaction. The future of self-checkout is probably, say, no check out at all. Like the Amazon Go store in Seattle. No lines, no checkouts, no registers. You beep your phone and grab what you want. Then you leave. But shadow work is not without its consequences. Now, if you want a particularly depressing read, I'd recommend this one here. It's a report by Chartered Accountants New Zealand, and it says in the next 10 years, 46% of all jobs are at risk of automation. Like travel agents. There are 500 less agents in New Zealand than there were a decade ago. Which begs the question... In the old days, you couldn't get anywhere without going to a travel agent. Now they're getting us to be the travel agent. So why should we use you? That's a very good question. That's Andrew Olsen, the boss of the Travel Agents Association of New Zealand. You should use us because if you are, for example, trying to do a multiple-point trip, and that includes, um, 15 different hotel nights, 10 car hires, foreign exchange, visas, medical advice, etc, do you really believe that you're going to be able to do that sitting at home in the comfort of your lounge room, on your own computer? Are we any good as travel agents? No, you're not. (CHUCKLES) No, you're not any good at it at all. We are willing shadow workers. Whichever is quicker. Depends on the queue, to be honest. I think it's quicker, um, and I can sort of determine what I do when. I'm not in a hurry, but I do really wanna win. But is the machine quicker? Pippa's time with a human checkout was 49 seconds. Oh, bananas. That's gonna be an issue. You've got to look up bananas. Maybe I should leave the grocery work to the professionals. I need assistance. It took me twice as long to go through automated checkout. 1.45! It's twice as slow! It's just cos you like playing shops. So the machines are coming, and we like working for free. I like paying for my own gas at the pump. Yeah. Saves me going in and being tempted by other crap I don't need. Hi! Um... But there's still room for humans, according to the experts. So we're very much working together. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, whether you like it or not. (LAUGHS) Oh wow. Ooh, Haydo. That was a bit of an embarrassment! I was just doing it for TV. Just for laughs. I'm usually much, much faster. Oh, righto (!) OK, that is the end of the show tonight, but we are on Facebook for the next half hour, and as always, we'd love you to join us. Now, the programme's called Fair Go, so if you're not getting a fair go, please do get in contact with us. Mm-hm. Either on on Facebook; you can email us ` fairgo@tvnz.co.nz. You can write to us... That's our show for this week. Until next week, goodnight. Copyright Able 2017