Copyright Able 2017 Tonight ` is this jug a dud? Maybe they shouldn't be selling their product in our country. We put this water purifier under the hammer. Looks like just a standard carbon system. It doesn't look like anything technical in here. Our findings haven't gone down well with its inventor. And falling for a frog ` I liked the little green frog, so I went for it. She was hoping the frog would lead her to a tax windfall. But what the taxman giveth, the tax refund agent can take away. I was flabbergasted. Plus, the dos and don'ts of parking in the capital. You can't park one of these things across two spaces. You can use two car spaces if one of them's for a trailer, even if it's got a horse inside. Confused? Wait until you hear the motorbike rules. So, getting fined for paying for parking, that was new one for you. For sure. Welcome to the show. It's colourless, odourless, tasteless, transparent and a valuable commodity. We're not talking about my cooking; we're talking about water, and did you know you and I and you at home are actually giant sacks of water walking on dry land? This is true. 70% of the human body is H2O. It is essential to our survival, and sadly, that can leave us vulnerable to those selling over priced and substandard water-purifying devices. Here's Anna. ANNA BURNS-FRANCIS: It's the source of life, but for some, it's a source of concern, especially when it comes to your health. I've always been pretty conscious about what I eat and what I drink. Celia and husband Tim lead an active life... Go get your toy. ...and spend plenty of time outdoors with dog Lucky,... Roll over. Yay! Good boy! ...but things have slowed down recently. Earlier this year, Celia was diagnosed with lymphoma, a type of cancer. I mean, it's been a pretty emotional, exhausting (CHUCKLES) whirlwind of a time. She did all the conventional treatment and then started looking around at what else she could try. Well, I heard also someone speak about, you know, things in the environment too, so I just went a little bit further, and I mentioned to Tim, well, maybe it's not so good that I'm having fluoride and chlorine and things in my water. Husband Tim found what looked like a simple solution ` the Fill2Pure jug. For just 99 bucks, it promises to filter all the chlorine, fluoride and other nasties out of your drinking water. Tim and Celia started drinking the water and noticed it didn't taste any different. So Tim sent water samples off to a lab,... Maybe I'm a bit pedantic as an engineer. I just wanted to know that what I was buying was going to do what they said. ...but the results weren't what Tim was expecting. There was virtually no difference between tap water as it comes and the filtered tap water in terms of... fluoride. That's right; the samples showed the jug wasn't filtering fluoride at all. Here's the lab report. Water straight from the tap ` a fluoride reading of 0.66. Through the filter ` 0.67. Scientifically ` no difference. Well, it was really disappointing. Yeah, it was. It was very disappointing, and then we started to think, oh, well, maybe, you know, we got the samples muddled up. The couple contacted Fill2Pure. They thought they'd just got a dud jug. Instead, the company said it was the lab that got it wrong. (MELLOW HIP-HOP MUSIC) (MELLOW, PERCUSSIVE MUSIC) There was only one way to find out if Tim's lab results were right. We've decided to test the Fill2Pure jug ourselves. We've gone and bought one off the internet. We're testing the fluoride levels of straight tap water before and after it's been through the jug, and the third sample is gonna be from this spring water. Now, this is the sciency bit of the story, so we thought we better get an expert in to explain how this jug might work. OK, so that looks just like carbon. Just a quick look, and Dr Michelle Dickinson's pretty sure this jug is not filtering fluoride. It's gonna take out some of the bigger ions and the bigger things, so it might take out chlorine, for example. I don't think it's gonna take out any of the fluoride. It's just flowing through too quickly. It looks like just a standard carbon system. It doesn't look like anything technical in here. Our samples were tested by an internationally accredited lab, so what did they find? 10 days later, here are our results. Our Fill2Pure jug doesn't appear to have removed any of the fluoride at all, so we asked Fill2Pure what was going on. They put is on to this guy, Californian Carl Palmer. He's the inventor of the jug. (SOLEMN HIP-HOP MUSIC) He wasn't happy about the Hopes' complaint or our test results. Carl sent us a dossier of evidence, but it makes for interesting reading. Carl sent us lab reports from Asia and the US, but we've got a few concerns about them. Some of them are really old ` done 20 years ago, and others didn't include a full set of results. We also couldn't find any done by a lab that's internationally accredited for a 'fluoride in drinking water' test. Carl, who also claims to have invented the spot-free car wash, says his products have never been successfully challenged. (SOLEMN HIP-HOP MUSIC CONTINUES) Fill2Pure's Kiwi owners, Matt and Natasha Hall, clearly advertise the jug as removing fluoride. But our results and the Hopes' clearly show this jug doesn't filter fluoride as claimed. The jug's inventor has promised the Hopes a refund if they want it and says he'll get more tests done, this time in New Zealand, but he's standing by his claims Kiwi labs aren't up to the task. As for Tim and Celia, well, they know they're not drinking anything that's bad for them, but they're not happy about being sold plain old water. Well, I'm really disappointed. They've sent me 16 pages of sales promotion, but if they don't believe our labs, then maybe they shouldn't be selling their product in our country. They can only hope that more testing of these filters will give them a clearer result. Now, Fill2Pure have been back in touch, disputing our test results. In a statement they told us... Now, there's a link to the full statement on our Facebook page, but for the record, our test was also carried out in an internationally accredited lab, and they stand by their results. Coming up after the break ` when good frogs go bad. # Someday we'll find it, # the rainbow connection. Frogs ` they can be alluring creatures. I liked the little green frog, so went for it. But this little fella has got her hopping mad. They'd taken their cut. I was flabbergasted. Plus, wedding etiquette ` are cash bars OK? Actually, no. Can you really bill a guest for a no-show? Oh, no, that's just rude. (LAUGHS) No, don't agree with that! Welcome back. Fancy a slice of $183 million? Wow. That's how much there is sitting in the unclaimed tax fund. It's enough to buy 95 brand-new Porsche 911s or maybe 115,822 return flights to London... or is it perhaps 9,959,795 Crunchie Bars? Whew! Don't mind a Crunchie Bar. Not that many. It is definitely a windfall worth having, but entrusting an agent to make a claim on your behalf can cost you. Here's Hannah... and a frog. # Someday we'll find it, # the rainbow connection. HANNAH WALLIS: Green and glorious ` there's no denying the magnetism of this little fella. # All of us under its spell... I liked the little green frog, so went for it. It wasn't Kermie but another little green frog Lacey Hollins fell for on this Tax Refunds web site. She'd signed up with them about five years ago, because she was afraid of the IRD,... I'd always known that if you went through the IRD and you owed money, you had to pay it, and I think that's what was worrying me, because these agents would say, 'If you sign up with us and you owed money, you don't have to pay it.' ...but this year, a friend convinced Lacey to try doing her tax returns on the IRD's website, and... And it was simple, and then you just follow through the instructions, do your PTS; tells you how much you are entitled to, send it off; it's done. Lacey also convinced her sister Kendra to do her returns direct with the IRD. I got a nice refund of around $900. For new mum Kendra, that refund would come in handy. She rang Lacey... ...and said, 'Hey, I've just logged on, and we've been paid our refund,' and I was like, 'Score!' So I thought I'd log into my account as well, and it said, 'Congratulations, your refund's been paid into your bank account 03 dot dot dot.' I was like, 'I don't have an 03 account.' No, that was Tax Refunds' bank account, but Lacey hadn't used them, so she rang them. I said, 'Look, this has happened. I've done it all myself. 'I didn't ask you guys to do it for me this year,' and she goes, 'Oh, I see what's happened; the IRD'S paid it into our bank account.' I was like, 'Oh, that's OK. Can you reverse it for me?' Getting her money back, though, was no pushover. Go faster. Oh, OK! Tax Refunds said, 'We're still your agent; we're entitled to a fee. 'It's in the Terms and Conditions on our website.' An 18% fee on a $500 refund ` that's almost 100 bucks. They'd taken their cut. I was flabbergasted. Cos you did the work. I did the work. I was the one that logged on, did it all, filled out all the forms, all the details. So you didn't realise that year on year it was gonna roll over, and they would continue to be your agent. They are my tax agent, so it's my fault; I didn't read the fine print. Well, we did read the fine print, and it wasn't easy to find out what Lacey needed to know. It wasn't on the home page or under How it Works. It was buried in the Frequently Asked Questions. 'I appoint Tax Refunds as my tax agent until I terminate' and so on. They're pretty much there for life, so... they will automatically do your PTS for you even if you go and do it yourself or even if you don't ask them to do it. What's extra galling for Lacey is that sister Kendra had also been processed by Tax Refunds. They'd taken a $200 bite out of her $900 refund, but... I was lucky enough to talk to a lady, and she said, 'We'll reimburse you.' Feeling shortchanged, Lacey came to Fair Go, wanting viewers to find out what she'd learnt the hard way. It's so easy to do it yourself. It really is really easy to do it yourself. Don't pay these other places a fee when it doesn't cost you a cent to log on, create an account and fill in all the forms yourself, yup. Now, there's been good news for Lacey. She's been refunded the $100 fee she paid to Tax Refunds. They said it was human error, and they've apologised. There's a heap of tax refund companies out there offering to help you get a wedge of cash back. They process nearly half of all the tax refunds, but do you really need them? You'd be amazed how easy it is to avoid fees by doing it yourself. The IRD website is not a terrifying place. OK, well, let's have a crack at it. Sure. K. OK, so My Details is a very easy way in. The first thing for me is ` am I linked to a tax agent? If you do want to do your own tax return and you've got a tax agent, you'll need to first delink them. Very simple ` go into Secure Email and click that. That will come up,... OK. ...and you will then be able to send an email to Inland Revenue instructing them to delink. It's gotta be in writing. Correct. So it has to be in writing. Send the same email to your tax agent, then wait for the IRD to confirm you're delinked before you submit any tax returns, because you still might be linked to your tax agent's bank account. Then I need to go Need To File? That then takes me through to the Calculator. The Calculator's actually a list of questions. Were you declared bankrupt? For me, no. It's very simple. You just follow it through. This is quick, isn't it? It is. Once I've done this, I request a PTS. The PTS is your Personal Tax Summary. Correct, Personal Tax Summary. We're using the tax details of an anonymous wage earner. Oh, someone's on a good salary there, Patrick, hey? Yeah, imagine that. Not me. (BOTH LAUGH) I wish! 'OK, moving on.' This is where you get to just do that double-check,... OK. ...including your bank account number. Ah. Right. This is where the edit can occur for that. We got through the process pretty quickly. Doing this, as long as you've got all your stuff ready to go and you've got all the answers, what are we talking timewise? Five minutes. Ooh. OK. Five minutes, and it's quick. And at the end, you'll be told if you are entitled to a tax refund or not. If you are not and it shows that you may owe money, you are not obligated nor are you trapped into submitting that. See? So just don't press that Submit button. Just don't press the Submit button. (BOTH CHUCKLE) It's that easy. (LAUGHS) Yay! (LAUGHS) Yay! Quite excited about my potential tax refund. (CHUCKLES) I've already mentally spent it. If you want more info, check out our Facebook page. Right, now, life is full of dos and don'ts. Mm. Do look someone in the eye when you shake their hand. Yes, and don't go for a kiss when you first meet someone. Well, (MUTTERS) depends. (CHUCKLES GENTLY) Oh, no. Navigating the minefield of modern manners can be tricky. Fortunately, we're here to help. We're talking etiquette, and tonight we're delving into the delicate world of weddings. First up ` are cash bars OK? Actually, no. Rude! (BOTH LAUGH) That didn't happen at the one I went to, (CHUCKLES GENTLY) thankfully. (CHUCKLES) Well, I think they should supply one drink. Maybe it depends on the guest. As editor of New Zealand Weddings Magazine, Rachel Ramsay lives and breathes weddings, so what does she think? I'd say if it's a cost-saving thing, try and find other ways of saving money. Is it cool for guests to post wedding photos on social media? Not posting ` I like that one. I think that's reasonable. That's fair enough, yeah. They pay a lotta money to get the professionals in. Well, that makes sense to me. Rachel? I think that's totally fair enough. I mean, each couple to their own. Some people have all sorts of reasons for not wanting photos of their wedding to end up on social media. Here's a trickier one. Should you get your gift back if the engagement's called off? They go back ` most definitely. Yeah. Yeah. I think if you give a present, it's pretty rats to take it back. They keep it. Too bad ` you went to the party. Oh, I think it's only right that you give them back. It's one of those things ` they do need to be returned, and however you go about that is up to you. What about bringing a date? How long is long enough to get a plus-one invite? Oh, depends how long they've been together, I guess. I think you should always invite them, yeah. Who wants to go to a wedding and enjoy someone without their partner? Yeah. If they are coming as part of a group of friends and you've only met their partner two or three times, then I honestly wouldn't worry about not inviting them. And this ` a guest says they're coming to the wedding, then doesn't turn up. Should they be sent a bill? No. (CHUCKLES) No. While that is immensely frustrating, weddings are expensive at the best of times, and if someone's not gonna show up, you'd rather not pay $100 a head for their meal. The best thing to do is just stay gracious, just accept that's a sunk cost. You guys weren't quite so gracious. Oh, no, that's just rude. (CHUCKLES) Just rude. Sending an invoice ` oh my God! (LAUGHS) No, don't agree with that! That's bad form, isn't it? That's the height of... (LAUGHS) ...yeah, rudeness. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Time for some new friends. (LAUGHS) Wow. I had a guy who didn't attend wedding. I'm not gonna name him ` Pete Shield ` (LAUGHS) and I feel like he should, like, at least buy me a beer now. Pete. I won't invoice him, though. Pete, there you go. Coming up after the break ` from our 'too silly to be true' file, fined for paying for a parking space. (MELLOW MUSIC) The dos and don'ts of parking in the capital ` you can't park one of these things across two spaces. You can use two car spaces if one of them's for a trailer, even if it's got a horse inside. Confused? Wait till you hear the motorbike rules. Motorcycles are the problem children of Wellington's parking system. Pay for a park at your peril. So getting fined for paying for parking, that was a new one for you? For sure. Welcome back. If you live in the city, you'll be familiar with parking tickets. In Wellington alone, 180,000 tickets worth $6 million were issued in 2015, 2016. No one likes getting a ticket, and we get plenty of people writing to us and professing their innocence. But this is the first time we've had a complaint from someone who's been ticketed for paying for a park. Here's Garth. GARTH BRAY: When there's no margin for error,... Yeah, gotta be pretty sure what you're doing; that's for sure. ...skill and care are just the ticket. And this is a slow process, so you really have time to think about what you're doing. At his tranquil Wellington studio, Mario Gregor is literally making his mark in the capital, but there is a blot on his record ` not as a tattooist, (STEPPENWOLF'S 'BORN TO BE WILD') ...but as a motorist. After 12 years here in New Zealand, he's on his first and final warning from Wellington Council. His crime ` paying for a car park. # Born to be wiii-i-ild. (RECORD SCRATCHES) We'll spare you the cheesy Easy Rider stereotypes. Mario was born to be mild, but something has offended his sense of what's right and fair. As long as you pay for a car park, doesn't matter what you park. At least it shouldn't, right? What you need to know is that Wellington City provides free parking spaces for around 500 bikes, but around 2500 bikes come and go every day. This pretty much what it's like every day you come to work with the bike? Yeah, absolutely. It's super busy all the time. All the time it's just busy. All the time, yeah. This one time he did what any reasonable person would. He went around the corner, found an empty parking space, paid to park, came back an hour later to find... I had one fine tucked right behind my seat. You found a fine? Yup. How much? $40. ...the ticket says. Did you think when you parked, 'Am I allowed to park here and pay for it? Of course not. We travel around New Zealand quite often and always pay for car parks or bike parks and regular parking spaces and never had any issue. So` So getting fined for paying for parking, that was a new one for you? For sure, absolutely. The council relented this time... (ENGINE STARTS) ...and waived the fine with a stern warning and no reason for the rules. You're fining someone who's paid for parking. How does that work? He wasn't fined; he was let off. Our parking people are tops. I tell you what, they educate; they encourage,... and only if those fail do they enforce. But getting your head around the rules they're enforcing ` not easy. I don't think it's a stretch to describe Wellington City Council's parking rules as just a little bit complicated. For instance, you can't park one of these things across two spaces, even if you pay for both of them. Now, Blick here is, though ` not such a problem. You can use two car spaces if one of them's for a trailer, even if it's got a horse inside. I'm not sure we can let you out, though. Here you go; here's a carrot. Motorcycles, though, are the problem children of Wellington's parking system. Even a classic ride like this with a sidecar can't pull up into any old parking space and pay for the privilege of parking there. City bylaws are inconsistent. For example, one law does allow motorcyclists to pay for a car park so long as the meter is an old-fashioned coin-operated one. Riders can even park two bikes in the same space as long as someone feeds that old meter, and you can certainly fit them in, but we struggled to find any of those old-fashioned meters. The council's replacing them with brand-new paperless electronic ones that, under another bylaw, are banned to bikers. So in most places, there's this unseemly crush ` a parking warden's paradise. Why can't you just park in any parking space ` if you're a motorcycle ` and pay? It can be confrontational. It's also` Confrontational? What does that mean? You're driving along in your great big car; you're looking for a space; you're running late for a meeting, perhaps. You see a space; it looks like it's free. There's a motorbike towards one end. What are you gonna do? Possibly try and edge your car in there and fill up the rest of the space. But aren't you penalising the motorcycles for what the motorists are up to, then? That's them breaking the rules. It is. Yes, of course it is. Why penalise the motorcyclists? Well, I said there are other options. There are other things we can do. Personally, I think we should be introducing a bit of short-term, pay-and-display parking just for motorbikes. Sounds like we may have a breakthrough, though at a price. We could look at taking out one in every 200 or 300 car spaces maybe at the end of a row where there's a little less room and marking them out ` half a dozen pay-and-display spaces for motorbikes, and then maybe the rate should be different ` maybe 50c a hour instead of $4 or $4.50 an hour. That sounds fair, doesn't it? Mario just wants it sorted. Parking shouldn't be getting under your skin while you're trying to ink a lasting impression. As much as I enjoyed seeing Garth on a sidecar, I think he's blown our travel budget for the year. I know. No more stretch Hummers for us. No. So that's the show, but we will be on Facebook for the next half hour to answer your questions. Our programme is all about your gripes, your grumbles, so please do contact us. Join us on Facebook, or email us ` Write to us ` That's our show. Until next week,... ...goodnight. Copyright Able 2017