(UPBEAT MUSIC) Tonight ` a warning for homeowners. It's not really good if you're converting stuff that you're not supposed to and selling them to the general public. A mix-up leaves a family concerned about the safety of their hot water system. It could be a ticking time bomb. And ` they were seeking an adrenalin hit... It looks great, you know? The doughnuts and the circles. ...but ended up getting taken for the wrong kind of ride. Get that feeling that things aren't gonna turn out well. Plus ` trees. (GRUNTS) She's a biggie, all right. Living under the canopy of a giant isn't always tremendous. Absolutely terrifies us. When good trees go bad. It's a beautiful tree ` and a pain in the arse. Copyright Able 2017 Kia ora. Welcome to the show. Tonight we lead with a story that concerns all homeowners. In Australia, safety issues have been raised about an LPG hot water cylinder. What worries us is that very same product is being sold in New Zealand to unsuspecting Kiwis. Here's Anna. Mark Love is a man true to his name. Loves cooking on the barbecue. Awesome. Loves a good fry-up. Loves cooking with gas. But he and partner Melissa, well, they want more than just bottled gas. They're keen to hook the whole house up to a cheaper, faster fuel system - gas hot water. Oh man, this is good. Everybody wants to save money, and getting this system meant that we could save money on our... on our water bills and our heating. But those savings have cost the Loves far more than they bargained for and left the family cold and confused about mixed messages over safety. It's not really good if you're converting stuff that you're not supposed to and selling them to the general public. The Loves bought their house in March this year, but the much-needed renos have come to a halt since they tried installing a gas hot water system. So, this is the cylinder I was talking about. It's this cylinder that's got Mark all fired up. Very frustrating. It's been rather taxing on our` on the family. We're still paying quite large power bills. We can't finish off some of our renovations at the moment. Back in July, the couple decided to swap from the old 1972 electric hot water cylinder to a gas system. Mark found this one ` a Rheem Stellar hot water storage system, perfect for the Loves and their four kids. I read all the reviews, and it said, yeah, it'd service a large family. And the girls take very, very long showers. And I didn't want to have a cold shower in the morning. The Loves' property can't get mains gas from the street. They'd have to use LPG, or bottled gas. 'No problem,' Mark thought. He'd order the LPG version from this company, Hot Water Cylinders NZ. And that's what Mark thought he ordered. Only when it came to installation, the gas fitter called all work to a stop. When he opened up the front panel and he told me, 'It's a natural gas system,' I was very surprised at the time. I was like, 'Nah, nah. It can't be right. 'It has to be LPG cos I can't use natural gas.' Mark contacted Hot Water Cylinders NZ to complain. I thought they just sent the wrong product. I thought it would just be an easy fix, you know? 'Hey, could you just send me an LPG one?' No, that's not what happened. They said to me that I ordered wrong, um,... and because I've already installed my hot water cylinder, there is no way that they can` well, it's deemed as 'used'. Have you used the cylinder? No, we haven't used it. Mark's adamant he didn't order the wrong product and Hot Water Cylinders NZ can't explain what happened. There was clearly a miscommunication. Obviously there is no way, we imagine, that they would intentionally order the wrong product. No one would do that... any more so than we would intentionally supply the wrong product. So, the company told Mark it could provide a conversion kit for the Rheem ` it would just need to be ordered from the supplier. Slightly confused, Mark rang Rheem to find out what this kit was, only to be told... 'No, they're not available anymore. 'They stopped converting those models over a year ago.' And did they tell you why? It is more of a safety precaution more than anything. But, yeah, they weren't prepared to offer me a conversion kit at all. Mark says he was told it just wasn't safe. No, they won't service or have anything to do with it if it is converted over. machine hasn't been sold by Rheem since 2015 after reports from Western Australia that some of them were accumulating gas and igniting an 'aggressive' flame. Rheem also decided around the same time to stop recommending the use of conversion kits that could turn one of these units from natural gas into LPG. Mark was understandably concerned about what he was told. Mixing gas and fire can go oh, so wrong. A quick search of the web found these overseas examples. (THUD!) (WHOOSH!) So we rang Rheem and asked ` did they tell the company Mark could have a conversion kit? If he's says Rheem is offering to make an exemption? Rheem says the 2015 'stop sale' notice was issued to all authorised sellers but Hot Water Cylinders NZ isn't authorised. Hot Water Cylinders NZ is an online retailer. It gets its stock from Mico, and Rheem says that means it was Mico's duty to pass on the 'stop sale' notice. Mico Plumbing told us it never passed on the 'stop sale' notice to its customers, including Hot Water Cylinders NZ, because it wasn't an actual product recall, and it didn't think it was necessary. We have not seen a safety bulletin that you refer to. We have not been informed of any safety issues. Hot Water Cylinders NZ has been advertising these units on its website for two years since the bulletin was issued. Why do you have something on your website that you don't actually sell? Because people know it was available up until a couple of years ago. I mean, we can see, in this instance, it's caused a problem. Little comfort to Mark, who's worried about the safety of other Hot Water Cylinders NZ customers. I mean, if you have used these guys, I'd definitely suggest giving them a call and ask them what they have done with your cylinder or having a look what you've bought and maybe making a few inquiries. Mark was concerned about the unit because when he rang Rheem, the company sent him this. They call it a 'stop sale' notice, or a bulletin. But to us, it reads more like a warning. So is this a warning? Rheem says, 'No, it's not.' The company says it made a mistake telling Mark a conversion kit shouldn't be used. However, Rheem's advice remains the same ` the conversion kits are not recommended for installation on new units and are only supposed to be used as spare parts. Hot Water Cylinders NZ is still selling a converted version of the Stellar. I've gotta say, we need to consider what we're doing with that now, given all of this has transpired. So where does this all leave Mark? I want them to take their product back. I know what I wanted, and I haven't got it. Now, we do have some good news for Mark and Melissa. Yes. Hot Water Cylinders NZ says it will refund the couple for the gas unit they received. Rheem has offered Mark and Melissa several other options to heat their water. This is going well. And Rheem and Mico both say they're very sorry for what the couple had to go through. Mm-hm. So great stuff all round. All right. Coming up after the break ` when big trees go bad. It's a beautiful tree ` and a pain in the arse. What do you do when a protected tree becomes a health and safety issue? Absolutely terrifies us. And ` fancy some mushrooms on bread? Tasty (!) Washing your hands with soap is a really, really, really good idea. Get a good look at what those grubby little milts can do. Finally, the kitchen. Something light. Like... Okarito? Okarito goes well with my favourite ` Opononi. (SPLASHING, YELLING) Ooh, yeah, splash of Opononi, maybe. Oh, look, Alexandra. Whoa, pink. Or... Hot Water Beach. Blue ` very relaxing. Or Alexandra. Hot Water Beach. Mm. Or Alexandra? It's like pinky, bluey. It's not very kitcheny. No, but it is pretty... nursery. Mm. Nursery? Or` Or we could go Rangitikei River. (GASPS) Oh! (LAUGHS) You little beauty! (BOTH CHUCKLE) So the nursery. The colours of New Zealand ` only from Dulux. Welcome back. It's estimated the world is home to more than 3 trillion trees. It is not. Have you counted them? (CHUCKLES) Not me. Is it? Is it really 3 trillion? It is. They give us oxygen, shelter, stabilise the soil and provide a home for our feathered friends. They're also the biggest plants on the planet, and that can sometimes be problematic for homeowners. 'Tim Bowman's problem is, ah...' Well... '...way up.' ...we used to love it. 'Anyone can see it.' It is pretty high. 'So have a look yourself. It's just above the front fence. 'Oh, and it's actually a bit higher than the house. It's a tree which seemingly never ends.' It's a beautiful tree ` and a pain in the arse. By the eye, it's well over twice as high as his house. We're guessing it's around about the five-storeys-high mark. 'It's too big to hug.' She's a biggie, all right. 'It's a 10-ton English oak, which, from the sky, completely envelops Tim's house. 'The bad news ` it's 150 years old. 'An arborist told us its health would've started declining 50 years ago.' Absolutely terrifies us. Tim says in season, acorns pummel his roof, keeping him up, but he's actually more worried about the bigger things that fall. The big bits of wood, branches clink clunk right through the night. His wife's not happy. She's petrified of the 'big' branch. Tim says branches fall in the wind. Well, imagine that, Haydn, falling on somebody ` especially my grandkids. That could certainly do severe damage. No, you're all right. Then he invited me on to his roof to show me what hadn't fallen yet. There's one, two... There's three major limbs here. If they let go, well, it's gonna cause one hell of a lot of damage. An arborist told us each branch system could weigh up to a ton. Do you feel in physical danger? Absolutely. Tim would love to cut down the branches of his tree that hangs over his house. But he can't. Let me try to explain. Tim's situation is simple and complicated. The simple bit is ` Tim owns the tree. The complicated bit is ` Tim can't really prune the tree that much. He certainly can't fell the tree, unless he gets a resource consent, which includes lawyers, a hearing, planners, arborist report and includes thousands of dollars. His only real option is to prove to the council that the tree is a threat to his health and safety. And, like all things, we never really know when the tree's gonna fall over or what could possibly make it fall over, like earthquakes or adverse weather. So it's complicated ` and simple. Tim's tree is protected by the Christchurch City Council. He can prune branches less than 5cm in diameter, but anything bigger, he'll need that resource consent, which comes with a $1000 application fee. And if the council says no, a hearing will cost him in the region of $10,000. He could apply for a tree removal certificate, which will cost nothing, but he'll need an arborist report stating the tree is dead, dying or dangerous. For this sort of tree, it'll cost between $1500 and $2000. Why would you buy a house under a tree? Correct. What's the answer to that? Um, well, we bought it with the romance of that tree, believe it or not. That was 10 years ago. They've since been seven years fighting Council. The owners before him fought too. At one stage this year, Council said it was a civil matter. READS: 'Being on private property, Council does not get involved.' They put it down to a civil issue. Oh, it makes zero sense to us. Tim says they're happy to pay to trim the tree. We would gladly cut those limbs, as I've shown you earlier, at our cost. But we're not allowed to. Simple as that. So, the phone calls and the emails go on. We're just going around in circles. Tim's neighbours also fought the council over the same tree but gave up and sold their house for $100,000 below valuation. Have you considered moving because of the tree? Uh, we have, yes. Yes. They're not the only ones. There are 1255 protected trees on private property in Christchurch. The Christchurch City Council is full of busy people. The mayor was much too busy to come and talk to us about the tree. The council's arborist was also too busy to come out and look at the tree. And the man in charge of the department who's in charge of trees was not only too busy but too inexperienced and only been on the job a couple of weeks. The council did email us. They told us the tree was planted around 1860 and reconsidered for protection during the recent district plan process where an independent panel considered the tree most appropriate and decided to retain it. The council, though, have offered to send out an arborist to give the tree an initial inspection, particularly from a safety perspective, which, you've gotta say, is a really good first step. Well done, Christchurch City Council. Yeah, we're exhausted by it all. But in the meantime, there's not much to do but look up and wonder when it'll all come down. We're stuck. We're stuck. You've really gotta wonder about the logic of the person who built two houses under a tree 30 years ago and also the person at the council that decided it was a good idea. That's right. All right, let's move on, because 'disgusting' is the word that best sums up your reaction to last week's hand-washing story. Yes. The thought of a school pulling the soap and towels out of the kids' toilet got some of you really fired up. Here's Garth. As far as you guys are concerned, kids and bugs, and soap and water should always go hand in hand. Harsh words for a school that ditched soap and hand towels in kids' toilets. I wouldn't in a million years not have soap. It's basic human rights to be able to wash your hands before you eat. There were cheers for those mums who'd spoken up. How disgusting? Well, put it this way. Fancy mushrooms on toast? We had three white slices, one handled by kids who were everyday messy. They washed with soap and water, properly dried their little hands, then they handled another slice. Just to compare, we bagged up a third slice without touching it. Oh, it's hard not to touch the bread. After two weeks in the Fair Go office, you can see handwashing and good drying won't kill everything, but compare that with not washing your hands at all. Disgusting! (LAUGHTER) Tasty (!) Some say all kids need to learn these lessons at home first. Others put it back on the school. Yes, you do, because it's not a pretty picture, even with handwashing. But get a good look at what those grubby little mitts can do. And remember ` teach them to wash their hands and dry it properly. So that's Garth obviously with one of his special sandwiches. Say no. Just don't. Say no to the sandwich. The principal from the school in our story says the whole school now has soap and paper towels in all the toilets. And a public health nurse is coming to run lessons in hand washing. Now, thanks to all the parents who messaged us about other schools, we're chasing it up with each principal concerned. So far, so good. Coming up after the break ` a wild ride goes nowhere. It looks great, you know? The doughnuts and the circles. They wanted an adrenaline hit... I was more looking forward to doing it in open ocean. ...but ended up getting taken for a ride. You get that feeling that things aren't gonna turn out well. And... Bow, bow! ...a new generation embraces the beats of the '70s. # Oh, oh, mamma mia # Here I go again. # Welcome back. Action, adventure and adrenalin ` they're the three things that have made New Zealand an A1 destination for thrill-seekers. Mm-hm. But if hurling yourself off a bridge with a giant rubber band wrapped around your ankles isn't your thing ` certainly not my thing ` ...then a spin around Auckland Harbour in a jet boat is a happy alternative. Unfortunately, promises of a wild ride have got some thrill-seekers in a real spin. Here's Hannah. Things that 13-year-old Riley didn't want to do for his birthday ` tidy his room; do the vacuuming; study for Japanese exam in just two days' time; or wash the dishes. Here you go, Riley. Here's a few more dishes for you. Keep going. No, no ` Mum and Dad weren't that mean. We wanted to give him a treat ` him and 10 other friends, so we thought we'd go Auckland Jet Boating, cos it would be something exciting, cos he's an adventurous boy. (UPBEAT MUSIC) You see it out on the water all the time. It looks great, you know? The doughnuts and the circles and... I was more looking forward to doing it on the open ocean. Riley invited all his mates. Truman, Hunter, Sophie, Danielle, Cody, Regan, Lucas... Jess and Zara. ...Jessica, Zara and me. Oh, I did do it. Yeah. Good one. (LAUGHTER) The timing was the week before Christmas ` pretty busy for Auckland Jet Boat Tours. 'Yes, we can book you in, but you need to give me your credit card number now.' So I sort of hesitated but did, yeah. So I gave them my $495. Cos it's such a busy time of year for them, they needed that to hold the date. Ah right. But then Riley's birthday plans with Jetboat Tours came to an abrupt halt. I received an email from them saying that they had mechanical problems with the boat and could we reschedule. It was real disappointing, cos always a couple of weeks before your plan, you get excited, so... Now, Riley's birthday's actually in early January. He celebrates in December simply because that's when all his mates are around. There was no point in trying to reschedule for after Christmas when they'd all be away on holiday. I explained the situation, that it was a 13th birthday that we had to do that Sunday. 'Can I have please have my money back?' And, yeah, they were really friendly. 'Yes, you can.' Next day, I emailed them my bank account details and... nothing. A week later, I followed it up saying, 'Can I have my money back?' After a certain period of time, it was getting to the stage where you start to get that feeling that things aren't gonna turn out well. And things had certainly not turning out well for Auckland Jet Boats ` one of their boats had actually sunk. Once again, I said, 'Look, I feel sorry for your situation that you're in, 'but we really need that money.' The weeks and then the months panned out. I started to get doubts about his sincerity about paying the money back. The family did a pretty good job of bouncing back to celebrate Riley's birthday. I went to a place in Avondale called Uptown Bounce. And you've got the whole place to yourself, and it's real fun. As to that $500 refund ` the news only got worse. When you googled and went on Facebook, it wasn't just us that as affected by it. It was quite a few people out there. Did your heart sink? Yes. (LAUGHS) It's like, yeah, yeah. I think that money's gone. How long has this been going on? So it's now November, so it's been going on for 11 months. I think we're going to struggle to get our money back. We wanted answers from Jetboat Tours. Owner Julian O'Neill wouldn't go on camera, but told us it's been a... with... ...needing repairs. Julian... He said he'd put it right. Did he? What happened today? (CHUCKLES) Yeah. I got a phone call from Julian O'Neill today which completely took me by surprise. Um, apologetic that it had taken so long to get my money back, but he had actually paid it into my bank account yesterday. We've got our money. Julian O'Neill believes there's only a few customers still needing refunds. He says both boats will be back operating within a couple of weeks, so people could either still take the trip or the refund. (KIDS LAUGH) In spite of the disappointment for young Riley and his mates ` and some pretty shocking customer service ` this family, amazingly enough, want Jetboat Tours to succeed. I don't want him to shut the doors. I want those people to get their money back or their ride. So, in fact, you guys are basically crossing your fingers and hoping that he does do well. Absolutely. Yeah. Fingers crossed. Yeah, absolutely. Oh yeah. Yeah, we do. Yeah. One last sharpish piece of advice for Jetboat Tours. If your business is broken they, need to let people know. Yeah. Just be honest. Hannah is a very good debt collector. Like, I owed her lunch money once, and she gets it back every time. Well done. (LAUGHS) Nice work. Right, time to tip our hat to the creativity of Kiwi kids. The '70s might be 'oh, so last century' for some. But it didn't stop you guys getting your groove on and making it cool again. # Whoa, oh # Mamma mia # Here I go... # ABBA. # My, my. How can I resist you? (LED ZEPPELIN'S 'IMMIGRANT SONG') Led Zep. # Ah, ah, ahhhh, ah! # More ABBA. # My, my, how can I...? # ALL: ABBA is back! How can you resist? Have you ever wanted the best moves on the dance floor? Bow, bow! Ah, yes, the '70s. Well, now you can with Dance Steps of the '70s! Heh-heh! Disco. ALL CHANT: Bring back disco! Bring back disco! Dancing. (THE BEE GEES' 'STAYING ALIVE') Let's not forget the impact hair made... Bringing back the mullet. ...on your head... # Everybody was kung-fu fighting. # ...and your face. You can't tell me what to do. Some pretty 'out there' fashion go hand-in-hand and you embraced it all. Isn't it amazing how dance moves can be passed down a generation from parents to children? Ah, yes. Love a bit of ABBA. Remember, the winners of the Kids' Ad Awards will be announced in a fortnight. That is the show for tonight. We will be on Facebook for the next half hour to answer your questions. Remember, our programme is about your gripes, your problems, your concerns, your issues. Please do contact us. We're on Facebook ` Or you can email us ` Or write to us. Go on. And that's our show. Until next week,... BOTH: ...po marie.