Tonight ` Residents have had enough. beauty goes bad. It is honestly chaotic. It's like mayhem. Living next door to a tourist hot spot can be a real trap for neighbours. It is like a prison and nightmare. Plus ` You there! Who, me? Postal Frustrations. Whatever it is, you can. No, I can't. You won't let me. And... what a waste! Retail experts reckon we spend five seconds ` just five seconds ` deciding what to put in our trolley. Are you buying food? 40-50% is missing. Packaging? I really like the shape. Or air? Oh my god. It is three-quarters empty! Kia ora. Welcome to the show. If you haven't heard, New Zealand was recently ranked the world's fifth-best country to visit by lonely planet. Our spectacular scenery has made us a hit with tourists, but popularity comes at a price. Tourism is causing major problems for those living near some of our scenic hot spots. Here's Matt. (WONDROUS MUSIC) It takes a little effort, but come join us and enjoy what's been called the third wonder of New Zealand ` the Waitakere's Mokoroa Falls. Just 45 minutes from downtown Auckland, they're a thing of absolute beauty. Once a hidden gem, they're now a magnet for both Kiwis... Stunning. Really, really good, eh. Kids loved it. It was awesome. and tourists alike. It's absolutely incredible. It's the first time I've ever been here, and I could stay there forever. Really, it's just absolutely incredible. While the bush walks and waterfalls might be golden, attracting hundreds of visitors a day over balmy summer weekends, this hot spot's burgeoning popularity has residents seeing red. Instead of this being a haven in the weekends for me, it's like a prison and a nightmare. Linda Shearer's lived alongside the very small Mokoroa Falls or Goldie Bush car park for 18 years. When I first came, it was idyllically quiet. Nobody knew about this place here. What's it like now? It's honestly chaotic. It's like mayhem. Are you looking forward to another summer season on Horsman Road? (LAUGHS) You must be joking. No, no. I'm really dreading it. And this is why. Here's an example of what the 60-odd Horsman Rd residents have to contend with come summer. Dozens of vehicles lining either side of their very narrow no-exit gravel road, making motoring terribly inconvenient and downright dangerous. The fact that it is a very windy road with at least three blind corners, the fact that outside here the road is not wide enough for a standard road. For me, the road is a fearful place now. Locals say there's been at least six accidents on Horsman in the last two years. Linda and her old dog Cybil narrowly avoided being hit by a couple of cars trying to avoid each other while walking this stretch late last year. I'm holding on to Cybil and I'm jumping, and I have nowhere to brace my fall, and my feet just went from underneath me and I just fell right on my back. Fracturing her hip in a number of places. I'm still in a lot of pain. Dodging death is one thing, but Horsman Road residents reckon just getting in and out of their homes some summer weekends can also be a killer. There's just not enough parks, so the cars will park in the no parking area. They will park over my drive. They park down in my drive. How many times have you been unable to get in and out of your home? Maybe about 8-10, but, I mean, that doesn't happen now, because I try to make a point of actually not going out in the weekends. And remember, in the height of summer, Horsman turns in to a one-way road with drivers often having to back up hundreds of metres. How good are you at driving your car in reverse? (LAUGHS) I'm good enough, but I don't enjoy it. At times, the road becomes impassable. I have a kidney transplant. I have had the ambulance down here several times when I have complications. That would be a huge worry wouldn't it? It is a huge worry, yeah. Even regular visitors to DOC's stunning reserve have noticed its affect on the locals. So what does this area need? It needs a bigger car park. The current car park, which also services four driveways and about a dozen families, can only accommodate six or seven vehicles. At times, residents have counted up to 65 parked on their road. That car park is also bloody confusing. This is the only car park I've been in that has no parking signs. Correct. Figure that. (LAUGHS) Horsman residents say they've been trying to find a solution to their parking and roading problems with DOC and local authorities for about three years. Nothing, nothing, nothing. The council tell us that it's DOC. DOC tells us its the council, and they both say we haven't got any money. She's right. Auckland Transport said in an email to residents in September last year ` And in March last year DOC wrote to residents saying ` What has DOC done since March 2016? They've spent a lot of money on the track. In fairness, DOC did come up with an 'overflow parking area', nearly half a kilometre from the start of the track, which residents say isn't the solution they think it is. We're a 10-minute walk from the entrance to the track. Everyone's going to drive to the end first to see if there is any car spaces down there, then have to come all this way back. Little kids, people with picnics ` not ideal. They're not going to come back, are they? Also blind corner right there. Now, after our involvement, DOC say parking is Auckland Transport's responsibility. Auckland Transport has, over the last year or so, erected some 'No Stopping' signs on Horsman, mainly on one side of the road. Residents say they've been largely ineffective. Visitors often ignore them. It has changed nothing, and it's just more frustrating, because people are just parking their anyway. So come the weekend, council slap fines on illegally parked cars? Every weekend council is here ticketing cars. Works perfect for council, doesn't it? And not for us. (CHUCKLES) Residents say, to make matters worse, both Auckland Council and DOC have promoted the area through their websites, yet they're not fixing the problems. Legally, morally, who do you think should be sorting this out? I think DOC because it is their land. Most of the residents believe the best place for that car park is right here ` a paper road that runs right alongside the DOC reserve, we think owned and administered by the council. It's just a minute's walk from the track entrance. Linda, this looks pretty good. How do you see the car park working? Pretty simple, not rocket science. Put spaces in, people drive in, diagonally back out, drive away. Residents also want to get in and out of their properties safely and conveniently. They'd love to have that narrow road widened, maybe even sealed. And the speed limit reduced from 80 down to 50. Auckland Transport will probably say we've crunched the numbers and this road is just fine the way it is. Your take on that? Crunch the numbers again and see different results. We wanted to talk to both DOC and Auckland Transport on camera. They weren't keen. As for Linda Shearer, well, the hard working teacher says if things don't change after living on Horsman Rd for 18 years, she'll be forced to move on. If something doesn't happen, this this place that I've worked so hard to pay a mortgage for ` I will sell it. If this year is the same as the last two years, that would be it. Yeah. So, some of the more astute viewers may have noticed Matt Chisholm in the waterfall in slow-motion with his top off, now, we're gonna sell that $39.95 on VHS` No, no. (CHUCKLES) It will pay for the parking! Don't encourage him. PO Box 3819, Auckland. We reckon this case is just the tip of the iceberg. But the authorities aren't exactly oozing sympathy. Auckland Transport told us... The one bit of good news is they've been doing some preliminary work on additional on-road parking which could add another 11 parks. Doc simply says, 'They support the actions of Auckland Transport.' Those words will, no doubt, bring a lot of comfort to the locals... or maybe not. Coming up after the break ` when marketing and ad campaigns go bad. What do you want to do today? I want to get my mail. NZ Post fails to deliver on its big promises. You can. No, I can't. You won't let me. And... 40-50% is missing. Why do little things always seem to come in such big packages? Oh my God. It is three-quarters empty! Welcome back. Let's talk agoraphobia. Yeah, let's do that, cos I've just figured out what it is. It's the fear of wide open spaces, and seems to be afflicting NZ Post. It is certainly causing a bit of postcode envy for those living on the wrong end of some roads. Here's Hannah. Dave Bevin is on his way to his mailbox. Nope, not that mailbox. Keep walking, Dave. Nice here, isn't it? Oh, serenity. (LAUGHS) It's great. It's just quiet. All the neighbours know each other. It's just, yeah, it's just a great relaxing place to go. And here's Dave, still on his way to his mail box. Dave uses the post a lot. I travel a lot with work, but when I am home, I'm working from home. And so sending mail's really, really handy, yeah. Or it would be handy if the mailbox was a tad closer. It's a nice enough walk, but come on! Finally. Dave's mailbox - one of 20 boxes installed by the developer of this subdivision, and approved by NZ Post for its rural delivery service; a service which doesn't treat all houses equally. I know the street's, I think, roughly 700m long, and they'll deliver to almost the last 130m, so sort of 80% of it, but they won't do the tail end. Here's what Dave's talking about. This part of the street gets mail delivered right to the postbox, but this part of the street ` these houses including Dave's ` they get a very limited service from NZ Post. They basically won't deliver to it. So they'll deliver a courier package to it, and other couriers will deliver to it, obviously, but New Zealand Post won't deliver mail. When Dave first moved in to this subdivision, he didn't realise that he and his neighbours were missing out. Every house in the subdivision has a rural delivery letterbox in the front of it, all have their numbers on them, so we assumed they all got delivered to. Dave duly bought and erected this very mailbox ` the approved rural delivery letterbox ` and put it in to the approved height. Then, I think, probably the next day or maybe the day after, we checked the mailbox and there was a message from the postie saying that he couldn't deliver to the letterbox. That's right. There was a letter in Dave's mailbox saying, 'Letters couldn't be delivered to his mailbox.' Most days, the postie actually drives down this end of the street to turn around, so he actually comes down here anyway. And he delivers courier packages down here, but he won't deliver the mail. Frustrated, and a bit perplexed, Dave contacted NZ Post to ask why no mail deliveries. They said that this, the last area of the street, was actually a different subdivision. They gave it a different name. Because the houses at Dave's end of the street were built later than the others, NZ Post applies different rules to them. If there is a new road built, that they reserve the right to not deliver down it, and to get people to put their letterboxes at the start of it. And I can understand that, but this isn't a new road. This is a road that they deliver to 80% of. We asked New Zealand Post's top brass ` what's going on? Look, we do understand on the surface that it does look a little bit odd. It looks very odd. The context here, though, is it costs a lot to deliver a letter to rural New Zealand, and even more so given that the number of letters is declining at more than 10% per annum. So, you know, realistically, if we keep extending all our runs, it does actually place at jeopardy the entire rural service. If we were to do this in similar situations round the country, it could add up to 100,000 additional kilometres travelled every year. NZ Post believes these boxes do the job. Dave says they don't even meet NZ Post's own guidelines. It's got to have a depth of 400mm, it's got to be 270 wide by 270 high. And it should have a flag on the side, which can be pushed up to let the postie know there's mail inside needing to be picked up. If Dave needs to send mail, he can't use these. No flag, so no pickup. He has to drive the 4 K's to post his mail in town. Yeah, so no they don't meet our guidelines. But ultimately New Zealanders buy their own letterboxes throughout the country, and we can't control that. We have no legal standing to enforce letterbox guidelines. The only thing we can do is not deliver mail there, which we think's an overly harsh penalty for a slightly substandard letterbox. Dave reckons NZ Post isn't helping itself by limiting its rural deliveries. But that sort of seems crazy if you're trying to build your business, and you try and build it by limiting your services. How does that work? We don't believe that extending the service will lead to more New Zealanders sending letters. In fact, Mark believes this service is quite convenient for Dave and his neighbours. And given that this is a minute or so from Dave's driveway, and on his way to town, we don't think that's an unfair situation for all parties concerned. And just to add a bit of a sting to this tail, Dave's been watching this... When something works, it should feel easy. for New Zealand Post's parcel service. The post? They work round you. Game over. You've got all these twerking dancers, and they're telling me I can have it my way, but I can't, and none of us can down here. You expect me to, what, come to you? It's not going to happen. Can you see how ironic that is? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And we do offer a parcel service that costs additional. And for that service, we do go to-the-door for a lot of rural New Zealanders, and that would include Dave. To get the same to-the-door service for the mail, Dave and his neighbours would have to pay extra. If Dave was to value the service really highly and wanted to pay additional for that, no one's ever actually asked us that, so we would be prepared to talk to him about that. But as I said, the current economic situation is that we deliver it to where we deliver it. Dave's suggestion is, 'Spend a bit less on those fancy ads.' Maybe Dave could help ? You there. Who, me? What do you want? I want to get my mail. What do you want to do today? I want to get my mail at my house. Because whatever it is, you can. No, I can't. You can. No, I can't. You won't let me. How many people are there in this same situation as Dave? It's in the thousands, but not tens of thousands. Thousands who may feel as frustrated as Dave's neighbours do. Half of the ones I've spoken to have all gone to New Zealand Post, and have all tried. They just said, 'Yeah you're wasting your time. They just won't listen.' So, if you're thinking of moving to a rural subdivision, it'd pay to check out the mail situation first or you might just find that like Dave and his neighbours, you end up living at the wrong end of the street. Now, for our considerable urban audience, have a quick look at this. In the old letter box in the country, the flag goes up, and they come and pick up your mail! It's like a pickup/drop-off. Oh, it's brilliant, isn't it? Well, speaking of that, we have some good news for Dave and his neighbours. After our chat with them, NZ Post have erected a proper post box. There it is, with a flag and everything. And that means they can now send mail from their street. Well done NZ Post for fronting They're always very good at fronting, and, in this case, they've done less twerking, and more working. Coming up after the break ` want to save some money? Learn to complain! Hello. B-Rad is back with a new dilemma. It's not yellow, but it is a lemon. He's luckless, a little bit clueless, but he's so keen to help you brush up on your consumer rights. Tell me about it. What can I do? And the waste industry. 40-50% is missing. Are you paying too much for packaging? Oh my God. It's three-quarters empty! Welcome back. Now you'll be pleased to know 2017 is on track to be a cracker when it comes to wheeling and dealing. She's right, that lady beside me. So far this year more than 800,000 cars have been registered, bought and sold. But what do you do if the car you've bought turns out to be more head hurting than head turning? Hi again, Brad! Hello. Today you've got a complaint about your car? It's not yellow, but it's a lemon. It sure is. Brad bought the car a few months ago, but the accelerator keeps playing up. It's happened three times, and once at an intersection. Yikes! That's bad, Brad. Tell me about it. What can I do? Well, first up, you need to go back to the dealer. Done that. Good on you, brad. Any luck? He tried to fix it, but just the other day the same thing happened. So what happens now? Well, if you're not getting anywhere with your dealer, and it's a substantial fault, you could be entitled to your money back. So there's a couple of things you can do from here. If the dealer's a member of the Motor Traders' Association, they offer a free mediation service. Cool. Yeah, or you could go to the MVDT. That's the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal. Sounds full on. Well, you will need to go to a hearing, but you won't need a lawyer. Oh, and it'll cost you $50. But, Brad? Yeah? You can only go to the MVDT if you bought through a dealer. If you bought the car privately, you'll need to go to the disputes tribunal. OK. Got it. And, Brad... Yeah? Next time, before you buy, make sure you get a full mechanical check. And if you do have a problem, write down any issues, the dates and times they happen, and any conversations you have with the seller. Get it? Got it! Good. So that's the end of Brad and his complaining for 2017, but we're thinking, next year, let's bring him back. Oh, there's more to complain about. That's for sure. All right. Recyclable, sustainable, eco-friendly. There are the words big business loves to embrace. So, in a world littered with rubbish, why do little things always seem to arrive in big packages? We make 35,000 decisions everyday ` when to stop, when to turn. And when it comes to groceries, any shopper will tell you spotting the gap is crucial. But inside the supermarket, gap spotting can be harder. I'm in Countdown where there are 20,000 products to choose from. And retail experts estimate we spend around five seconds ` just five seconds ` deciding what we're going to put in our trolley. Which means sometimes when we're shopping, it can be hard to spot the gap... in the packaging. Even in that package ` a big hole. AUT's Dr Marilyn Giroux knows all about the gap... in her tea. Before people pick it up, you don't see it. And don't get her started on chips. Like, I want a full bag of chips, but actually there's only 50% of it is actually chips. She studies and teaches consumer behaviour. One of the current trends that we are seeing is this aspect of over packaging. You can clearly see a hole. The bigger it looks, the more people are willing to buy it. Don't mess with these. Ashley thought she spotted a packaging gap in her favourite biscuit. There used to be no plastic dividers in there, and now they put plastic dividers in there, so they take up, like, a cookie space. She thinks they space the biscuits out so there's fewer in a packet. Which is really emotional for me, cos these were my biscuits when I was a kid. Griffins say Natalie is actually wrong. They've gone back as far as 2009, and can't find any change in the number of biscuits in a pack. Dr Giroux says we don't really look at what we buy. We're really not good at making rational decisions. We're based on emotions a lot of time, based on colours, how big something is. So we got Dr Giroux's students to take a look at some products we thought may have gap. 40-50% is missing, if not more, and that is just such a let down. Michael buys protein powder often. He got a ruler out to measure the gap. 13 cm. Musashi who make the powder, says air is inadvertently added when the container is filled, and as it moves through the supply chain the air moves out, creating an increase in headspace. I really like the shape. I was suspicious of Jarrah's coffee. It's smaller in the middle, but there was minimal gap. That's not disappointing in any way. Jarrah say their container reflects an hourglass figure or waistline, indicative of the lower fat and calorie content. Oh my God. It's three-quarters empty! Marian buys chips for her family weekly. There was... 20cm. ...of gap. Heartland chips say the air in the packet protects the chips and the amount of chips in a packet depends on the size and weight of the potatoes used, which can change due to growing conditions. Violet found 6cm spare in her vitamin c tablets. It's around half. Gaps in packaging is legal, because food is measured by weight, not volume. Dr Giroux says even if you pick it up to inspect, they've got you. When you take a product in your hand, there's a 60% more chances of buying it. But the food companies disagree. They say the gap allows the product to settle. There's a fair bit of air. Bluebird say it's not actually air, it's hydrogen, and without it, the chips would go stale. It's there to protect the chips in transportation. And remember the tea with the hole in the bottom? Well, Dilmah say it is there for a reason. They'll show you. It does actually serve a purpose. These tins are part of our food service range which is sold to cafe, restaurants. They often have limited space on counter, so they are actually meant to stack on top of each other like so. Packaging for pet tablets is perhaps the worst. One tablet. That's it in the whole box. So next time you're shopping, beware those tall handsome packages. They maybe hiding a little gap. Packaging is most important aspect of decision making. So at least one third of our decisions is based only on packaging. (CHUCKLES) So Dr Giroux says that tall packages are much more attractive, so I'm staying up here for the rest of the show. Right, good, no! (LAUGHS) That is the show. Welcome back, but Haydn and I will be on Facebook for the next half hour to answer your questions. Ah, small minds. Our programme is all about your problems, your gripes and grumbles. So please do contact us. We're on Facebook, or you can email us ` fairgo@TVNZ.co.nz Or write to us ` Private Bag 92038, Auckland, 1142. That's our show. Until next week, BOTH: Po marie. Copyright Able 2017