1 (FUNKY MUSIC) Tonight ` legalised scalping. Yeah, I'm pretty angry. Real tickets for real fans... ...at really inflated prices. I've been ripped off, and I feel stupid, you know? Is it time for the government to pull the plug on Viagogo? Oh, look, I think it's appalling that people are deceived by a website. Plus ` I'm Jack. I'm 21. I'm Sean. I'm 21. Hey, I'm Ben. I'm 21. I'm Coultin. I'm 20. I'm Andrew. I'm 21. Five lads stranded on a tropical island... What could go wrong with that? I wasn't very happy at all. Devastating when you, sort of, don't know how you're going to get home. And ` We're gonna have a wee game of 'Have You Ever?' Sure. It's confessions from a fast food worker. Have you ever seen someone drop some food on the floor, and then put it back in their meal? No. What really goes on behind the counter? Have you ever seen someone spit in someone else's meal? Copyright Able 2017 Welcome to the show. We lead tonight with a scandal that is costing Kiwi music fans a fortune. Every time a superstar comes to town, whether it's Taylor Swift, Adele, Justin Bieber or Cat Stevens ` see how I catered for every demographic there ` we are inundated with complaints about online ticket resellers. The fear of missing out can make people reach deep into their pockets. But how and why is it OK for tickets to be resold at up to 20 times their face value? Here's Anna. (LAID-BACK MUSIC) ANNA: Welcome to the city of discontent, a place where concertgoers are getting more and more frustrated with online ticket resellers. Yeah, pretty angry. Char Tata is a candidate for Mother Of The Year. How's this? A couple of months back, she decided to do something special, and buy her daughter tickets to next year's Bruno Mars concert. # I'm too hot. # Hot damn. # Call the police and the fireman. # I was pretty excited to get these tickets for her. She kept harping on about them for the last, you know, four months that we knew Bruno Mars was coming, so I thought, 'Ooh, that's going to be a good gift for her,' you know? Cos she graduated from nursing. Yeah, so, just shout the whole family. But the tickets, plus booking fees, bought from the Viagogo website came at a price. When the sale went through, I thought, 'Oh my God. Is he really that much? 'Is Bruno Mars worth that much?' 350 bucks a ticket, then another 300 in booking fees. All charged in Aussie dollars. All up, Char paid 1500 bucks, when she could have gone to Ticketmaster, and got seats for as little as $99 each. It looks really legit. Honestly, it does. I was angry, cos it made me feel like, 'OK, I've been ripped off, and I feel stupid,' you know? That's never happened to me before. Char Tata might be a first-time victim, but she's just one of hundreds of people up and down the country being taken for a ride by the agency. We get a steady stream of complaints about Viagogo, so we decided to go straight to the top ` the Minister for Consumer Affairs. But she's never actually used Viagogo. I have not, no. So you've never bought tickets from it? No. I've never bought tickets online, actually. She did have something to say about ticket scalping, though, because we're not the first to question the online reseller's tactics and misleading business practices. In 2011, a British documentary crew went undercover. They caught Viagogo staff buying up hundreds of tickets using a wallet full of credit cards, then reselling them for thousands of dollars more than face value. The undercover sting also revealed the company did back-room deals with promoters, getting batches of tickets direct and selling them at inflated prices to desperate punters keen to see sold-out events. Oh, look, I think it's appalling that people are deceived by a website, and if it's costing them a lot of money, then that's really concerning to me. (FUNKY MUSIC) This is Viagogo. Looks like any other ticketing website. It even says it's 'official'. You just choose your event, and up comes a list of available seats. But almost immediately, the pressure is on. Other people are looking for the same seats you are. There's only a few tickets left. You're waiting in a queue. Once you're through, tickets start selling all around you. Then there's another queue, warnings and a clock counting down until you time-out. Eventually, you see the final price. Here it is. Only, it's not. It's only after you've signed up, added a delivery address and your credit card details that you see the true cost of these tickets. And, in some cases, it's nearly doubled. I was like, 'Whoa!' You know? I thought, 'No, that's not right. That's almost $400 a ticket.' Yeah. So, I thought, 'Oh, I might try and go and cancel it,' if I could, and then it said you couldn't cancel. Char still doesn't know the face value of the tickets she's bought. She won't get them until just before the concert next year. My daughter said to me, 'Look, those tickets are only going for, like, between $99 and $160, Mum. 'That's not even VIP that you've just bought.' I was just angry as. Really furious, yeah. She felt really stink too. Remember, Char's forked out three times what these tickets are actually selling for. She was charged a $300 booking fee. If there is a fee charged as part of the transaction, well, that's gotta be upfront. And if there's going to be a card transaction fee, then that's got to be a cost recovery, not just a little bit extra on the top for the website. This is Viagogo's founder, Eric Baker, explaining how his website works. The person who is buying the ticket will get the ticket they ordered, will get it on time. He says booking fees are... 15% to the buyer, 10% to the seller. But we've done the sums, and it's much, much higher if you're buying. You can only see this 'booking fee' once you're at the final hurdle. We think that's drip pricing. It could be misleading and a breach of the law. Absolutely appalled, because, just as you have discovered with me, I'm not somebody who buys tickets online. Well, there are many New Zealanders who don't buy things online, and we need to be sure that they are really well-protected. So, is Viagogo misleading customers? There are a number of potential issues around this website that I think bear looking at closely, and I'm talking about the Fair Trading Act here. An investigation can't come soon enough for customers like Char. Pretty gutted, you know. I just have an average job, eh. Yeah, I don't have a lot of money. So, basically, our savings ` well, my savings ` have gone on it to pay for it, really. Mm. That's what's happened, so I'm kinda really gutted there. Viagogo tickets come from authorised outlets, like Ticketmaster, but with someone else's name on it. The company doesn't say it's a reseller anywhere obvious on its website. We think that's misleading advertising. So what's a gal to do? Well, Char's tried talking to Viagogo. They refused to refund her. We tried talking to them too. They never replied. So, what's our advice? Viagogo? How about Via-no-go. My old mate, Carl Avery from down the road, he got stung. Nitro Circus tickets. Paid way too much. He was angry. (SIGHS) Very disappointing. So we sympathise with everyone out there. Absolutely. Viagogo hasn't responded to any of our enquiries, but they might find it a bit harder avoiding the authorities. Yes. Now, the minister isn't the only one concerned about the growing number of complaints. The Commerce Commission has an investigation underway into Viagogo. They told us ` 'As this is an active investigation, we are unable to comment further at this time. 'We also understand that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the ACCC, 'has an open investigation regarding ticket reselling issues.' And we will keep you updated, but in the meantime, we suggest you say no to Viagogo. Coming up after the break ` stranded on a tropical island... What could possibly be wrong with that? JACK: I didn't really want to have a party back here in town, so I thought, 'Oh, I might as well get the boys, and go to Bali and do something different.' Oh yeah, we got up to a bit of mischief. It was a dream holiday, until they tried to go home. I wasn't very happy at all. I was keen to get out of there. And ` We're gonna have a wee game of 'Have You Ever?' Sure. There's some curly questions in this week's Fair Go confessional. Have you ever seen someone spit in someone else's meal? No. 1 Welcome back. Stranded in paradise... What could possibly be wrong with that? Absolutely nothing. We're talking no phones, no alarm clocks, no shaving, no need to worry about a bad hair day ` it's ticking all of the boxes. Yes, but the Robinson Crusoe lifestyle isn't for everyone. An unexpected extension to a holiday can create all sorts of problems. Here's Hannah. HANNAH: This is the story of five lads' big adventure in Bali. I'm Jack. I'm 21. I'm Sean. I'm 21. Hey, I'm Ben. I'm 21. I'm Coultin. I'm 20. I'm Andrew. I'm 21. A bunch of guys from Whanganui,... I enjoy hunting and fishing. ...mad on the outdoors, soaking up new experiences. It was Jack's 21st birthday and his idea. I didn't really want to have a party back here in town, so I thought, 'Oh, I might as well get the boys, and go to Bali and do something different.' COULTIN: Thousands of people, and it's just all go, all night, really. BEN: Outrageous scooter riding. In Monkey Village, they come up, eat a banana out of your hand and then just sit on your head. Going out to the markets and just buying heaps of fake-branded clothing. All the Aussies, cheap, hotels... Lots of girls. (BOYS CHUCKLE) Oh yeah, we got up to a bit of mischief. After a few days and nights of top-notch cultural experiences, the lads were ready to go home. We were all pretty worn out from just, pretty much, not sleeping all night and drinking, and kinda just wanted to fall asleep on the plane and get home. But when they arrived to check-in with Jetstar at the airport ` flight cancelled. (SIGHS) I wasn't very happy at all. I was keen to get out of there. It's pretty devastating when you, sort of, don't know how you're going to get home. They'd paid just over $1000 for their tickets. Now Jetstar was saying, 'It'll be three days or more till we can get you home.' I was pretty angry when they told us, and there was no solution straight away for it. They just made us go and sit down. There was a little waiting area there, and we probably waited there for, I don't know, two to three hours and nothing happened. We all had to be at work on the Monday. Now, you may have picked up from the whole hunting, fishing, outdoorsy thing, these are not 'sit there and take it' type lads. These are resourceful, 'sort it out' type lads. And sort it out, they did. I said to everyone, 'Oh well, we'll just find our own way home, 'cos everyone needs to be back at work. We're kinda screwed if we're not.' We ended up scouring the airport and found a flight to Darwin, one way. Within the hour, they were booked Bali to Darwin. From there, they picked up a Darwin to Auckland flight via Sydney, then to Palmerston North and an hour's drive home to Whanganui. All except Jack, the birthday boy ` the last to buy his ticket. When I went up to pay, she told me that they'd filled up the flight. Yeah, so he missed out on the last flight home. Jack flew to Sydney with the boys, then he flew solo to Wellington where his parents picked him up. I was pretty tired by the time I got back, but I was just relieved to be home. They were refunded about $400 for the cancelled Jetstar flights, but those last-minute tickets through Darwin and Sydney were expensive ` $1100 ` which left quite a shortfall. 750. Travel insurance should cover that. And we'll just claim it on the travel insurance to get our money back to cover our costs. They were kind of, like, last resort to get the money back, since Jetstar didn't. But their insurance company, Allianz, said there was no cover if a flight was cancelled for mechanical breakdown. Well, I was pretty disgusted, really, that they had found a loophole to get out of it. Oh, it just wasn't really fair. That's kinda why you get insurance, kind of thing. Again, the lads didn't just roll over; they appealed the Allianz decision, saying it was engineering requirements which caused the cancellation, not specifically mechanical breakdown. But Allianz said, 'Sorry, it's the same thing.' They fought it, as hard as they could, not to pay out. It kinda took the vibe out of all the boys, eh. We had such a high trip, and then there was a big low to it, eh. They found the policy only paid out for cancellations caused by ` but airlines cancelling for, say, mechanical or engineering problems ` nothing. So, as far as this insurance policy's concerned... What's the point? Yeah, you would hope some other insurance company would cover you for something that isn't your fault. The New Zealand Insurance Council says there are travel policies that would've covered the cost of the group flying back with another airline, so that they could get to work on time. It's a matter of shopping around, and, we'd say, looking very carefully at the exclusions. This experience has left a bitter taste. It was shocking. It was my first time leaving the country, ever, and I probably had the worst experience I ever could've had. (CHUCKLES) The lads, though, are planning a trip to Phuket next year. This time, with a different airline and a different insurance policy. So, they're $700-down, yes, but they're most certainly not out. Oh! Great holiday. They would've had so much fun. Terrible finish. Until the end, yes. And it just didn't sit right with us. So we got in touch with Jetstar, and asked exactly what was the cause of the engineering fault. Oh, yes, and guess what? It was a lightning strike. Which, I'm pretty sure, I mean, call me silly, but I think that's a weather event. Indeed, and, as we know, weather events are covered by the lads' travel insurance, which means Allianz has to pay out. (WHOOPING, LAUGHTER) HANNAH: The lads took the good news, well, you know, pretty quietly. That's Jack's mum with them. She's the one who got fired up enough to come to Fair Go. $700 richer looks like this. Great. Great outcome. (SIGHS) Wish I was there celebrating with ya, but I'm not. So wrap it up, or, at least, you've got work tomorrow, so midnight ` that's your cut-off. That's your cut-off. Now, are you sick of spending too much every time you go shopping? So, here's a couple of tips. Leave friends and kids at home, cos they feed temptation, and they could cost you a bundle. And ` this is a good one ` fill your wallet with notes. You'll be amazed at how much harder they are to hand over than an EFTPOS card. Make no mistake, retailers exist to take your money, and they're really good at it! PIPPA: Love it or hate it, shopping is fast-becoming a national past-time. But with more stores on the streets and online than ever before, how do retailers get our attention? Come and take a stroll with us, as we try our luck at one of our other favourite past times. We're gonna look at different ways you get lured into buying things. I do like going to ones when they've got discounts on. It can save you quite a it of money. New thing, yes. New thing would capture me. I like it when shops, I don't know... They make their products look really nice, and they present them in an exciting way. They sort of entice you into the shop. Shopping's a science, you see. It's all about getting us to take the bait. There's no dyed-in-the-wool rules, but there are ways that we respond in basic human psychology. Marketers begin to hone in on how that works. Sommer Kapitan's the type of shopper who buys things to make herself feel good. She's also an expert in all things marketing. Salesmen know if they say certain words, that might get you to respond. Certain words, or certain numbers? $16.95, $9.95, $14.95... There's something a little bit magic about the number nine. Yes, definitely. Certainly something-99. It's kind of like a mind trick. Like, 'Yeah, it's $400,' and, actually, it's $500. (LAUGHS) It makes me think that they should be putting up to the correct price. $29.99, when it should just be $30. It is sneaky, yes. It might seem like the oldest trick in the book, but we shoppers are drawn to prices with '9' in them, and it's not because we think we're getting a bargain. We've been conditioned to look for the 9s. And there's something appealing ` literally, just appealing ` as we look at that price that makes us think both it must be specific, and anything I've bought with 9s has felt good, and somehow ` which is because we buy a lot of it ` somehow it pulls us toward it. If something's on sale for $49 versus $45, we're more likely to buy it. It does work. And it's not just the number nine that pushes our buttons. Pricing is strategy. So the retailer, the service person, whoever is selling you something, needs to decide the best way to present and frame that. One way to do that is with a technique called price anchoring. Sometimes we find it hard to figure out what something's worth, so we might use another price to give us an idea. This is what I mean ` snapper today, whole snapper, $16.95 a kilo. So, that's not too bad, right? But when you compare it to the porae, at $9.95 a kilo, that seems like a very good deal, and I have it on good authority that this is good eating too. Once they've fixed the anchor in place... Consumers don't want to appear too flashy or too cheap, so for retailers, it's all about finding that pricing sweet spot. I'm going to grab that one. Thank you. So, somewhere in the middle is always a nice sweet spot. So that's definitely why retailers or food marketers will tend to set the price of their goods that they actually want to unload or sell at the more medium price point. So, how do we avoid falling for these tricks of the trade? Well, by knowing that such tactics exist and resisting the urge to be caught hook, line and sinker. That is a very interesting segment, but on to other issues ` your fishing sucks. (CHUCKLES) There was a cameraman in the water. There were no fish coming near me. Oh, excuses. Right, coming up after the break ` the hazards of working behind the counter of McDonalds. We're gonna have a wee game of Have You Ever. Sure. It's confessions from a fast food worker. Have you ever seen someone spit in someone else's meal? No. It's not just the customers getting served. Have you had things thrown at you? Yes ` burgers, drinks, fries. Whoa! A customer came in, walked around the counter and ended up punching me. 1 Welcome back. Ever wondered what really goes on behind the fast food counter? Yes, I have. Frequent customer. Now, we've all heard the horror stories, but do restaurant workers really serve up revenge and spit in your food if you annoy them? In the Fair Go confessional this week is a man who's worked for the world's most popular fast food franchise for many years. He's worked in several McDonalds' and knows how the operation works. Hello? Hi there. I'm gonna call you Ronald, if you don't mind? Yeah, that's fine. You work at McDonald's? I do. Is the food any good? It's reasonably good. What's the worst part of your job? Dealing with customers, definitely. Any type of complaint. Yes, you do get the odd customer that's nice about it, otherwise, generally, a lot of the time, customers can be angry, or what not, and they take everything out on you. 'Ronald will tell us about the customers soon, but first...' We're gonna have a wee game of 'Have You Ever?' Sure. Have you ever seen someone spit in someone else's meal? No. Have you ever seen someone drop some food on the floor, and then put it back in their meal? No. Is there pigs fat in the milkshake? No, there isn't. How long would a burger sit under the heat lamps before you throw it out? Generally, about five minutes. Five minutes? Normally everyone's order is made to order, however, when you get customers that place an order and then start cancelling items, we'll keep a burger there for about five minutes, as long as it's of decent quality. Have you ever given anyone free food? If I'm dealing with an order that hasn't been assembled correctly, as a 'sorry' gift, I occasionally will do. Does everyone get free food if you make a mistake? No. How do you decide? It's how the customer confronts us about the issue. If you're screaming at us, we won't even bother trying to make you feel any better. We'll just give you the food to get rid of you. If you're nice and calm about everything, we'll be more than happy to chuck in an extra fries or something. Ronald has worked all sorts of hours for McDonald's. He says the overnights are when things get crazy. Have you ever been yelled at at work? Many times. What do they say? I've had people swearing at me, threatening me. Have you had things thrown at you? Yes ` burgers, drinks, fries. Whoa. That doesn't sound fun. It's not the best when you come home smelling of Big Mac sauce. Has it been worse? Yeah, there has been worse. I have been assaulted one time. A customer came in, didn't like how we were meant to do things, and then walked around the counter and ended up punching me. Do people lose it in front of their kids? Yes. I've had parents swearing at me, yelling at me, almost trying to make the biggest scene that they can. How clean is McDonald's? Depends which part that you're talking about. The bathrooms, they can be pretty dodgy. I've seen everything from urine, faeces, dirty nappies, syringes on the floors. Jeepers. Otherwise, out the back, where everything happens, we keep that reasonably clean. Making sure all our health and safety policies are adhered to. Wow, so a lot of burgers were purchased in the filming of that story. I didn't eat one. Junk-free June, body's a temple. Mm, not convinced I believe that confession. We were keen to hear from McDonald's too, and this is what they had to say. Yeah, they told us that ` 'We take the safety of our staff extremely seriously, 'and have a range of procedures in place to provide a safe work environment, 'including extra security for late-nights over weekends. 'Any incidents like that described would be investigated, with staff offered support if required.' Which is very good to hear. Now, confessions ` we are keen to hear more. Oh, are you a school bus driver? Ooh, yes. Caterer. Cleaner. Work on an airplane, up and down the aisles? Flight attendants. That's the one. Fantastic. Anyone involved with a wedding, contact us, (CHUCKLES) and tell us your confession. So, that is the show, but we will be on Facebook for the next half hour to answer your questions. Yeah. Our programme is all about your problems, concerns, queries. If you've got a gripe, let us know. We're here to listen. Yes. Join us on Facebook, or you can email us ` Or write to us ` That's our show. Until next week... Goodnight. Copyright Able 2017