Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023 - Tonight ` wet wood, failure to deliver, a firewood business igniting frustration. - Each time he would call, it would be a different excuse. - It's just been three months of stress ` over wood! - And who is the elusive man behind the business? - This definitely the guy who delivered your wood. - Plus, when his hearing aids were trashed... - There wasn't a big issue making a claim. No, it was very easy. - So why did Jerry feel so duped by his insurance company? - You can't give a competitor sole power to decide the issue, you know... you just can't - Tena koutou katoa. Welcome to the show. Now, if you call yourself Primo Firewood, customers will think they're getting first-class product. - And if you call yourself John, there is surely an expectation that your name will actually be John. - Mm. So when firewood customers came to Fair Go crying foul, Alistar took a look behind the smoke screen. - You never quite know where a Fair Go story will take you. This one starts in Te Matau-a-Maui Hawke's Bay with some unhappy customers... - How did I get into this situation? - ...and involves a firewood merchant who goes by John and... - # I'm running hard... - ...a Kiwi rapper who's worked with hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg, the issue ` wood. Let's warm things up first. - I really enjoy a cosy, warm fire in the evening. - We're at Janice and Marty Gair's home in Hauretaunga Hastings. - I'm not a heat pump person. You know, you can't beat a cosy, warm fire. - But finding firewood in stock locally this winter's been hard due to Cyclone Gabrielle. - I just looked online, and we made a few phone calls just to find out who had wood available. - They landed on Primo Firewood Hawke's Bay. - The guy sounded quite professional. - And how much did he quote you guys? - 650 for the full cube. - Donna Johnson in Ahuriri Napier was quoted $600 for about 4m3. - He texted his bank account, and I paid immediately. - And no red flags at all at this stage? - No, it seemed legit. And there are a lot of people now, you know, where it's like pay 50% before a service. - Janice and Marty paid up front too. - I always have red flags when you have to pay for something upfront, but we have had a couple of merchants who expected the same thing. - I would be looking out for a company that you can pay for the product when it's delivered. - Carlos Ter Huurne, owner of Ignition Firewood, says don't pay up front. - If you've already paid for it, you're in a bad situation; you've basically got to take the product and have an argument if you want your money back. You definitely wanna see it and possibly check it before you pay for it. - Donna and the Gairs' orders were promised two weeks from the purchase date. Donna was supposed to get hers by early June. It never came. - So I texted him and I said, 'I understand you're busy, but our wood hasn't arrived. 'Could I please have an update on when it would be expected?' - Then, after a month of no responses... - He said, 'Oh, I'm sorry, our truck's off the road at the moment getting a COF.' Which kind of sounded legit. So I said, 'So, will we have our wood by the end of this week?' And he goes, 'We're doing our best.' - The Gairs were waiting too. They paid for theirs in April. - Four weeks passed, and then we sent him a text to ask him where... where the firewood was. He called, and he was apologetic. He did say that his computer had crashed, and that he would make us a priority and get the wood to us as soon as possible, but each time he would call, there would be different excuses. - After months of waiting, Donna and the Gairs asked Primo for a refund, and in the meantime, Donna did some digging of her own. - At that point, there were a lot of comments on Primo's Facebook page. - But Donna and the girls had no idea who from Primo Firewood they were communicating with. - The guy never actually said his name. - Donna heard through other customers that Primo and another Hawke's Bay business, Speedy Firewood, were owned by the same person. - Speculation's not proof, anyway. - Donna wanted solid proof. A search on the New Zealand Companies Register shows the owner of Speedy Firewood is a man called Thomas Douglas Francis MacDonald. - Well, please welcome Tom Francis. - This is rapper Thomas MacDonald, aka Tom Francis, on The Project in 2021. - You know, I went back to` back to Hawke's Bay, and then I went and, like, cut and split, like, three or four cords of firewood or something. - Whoa! - Yeah, and then I delivered it. - But I think he forgot the delivering part. - To her anyway. Thomas MacDonald's business Speedy Firewood also has a reputation. - We come across newspaper articles where he's done this previously. - We know that Tom Francis the rapper is the same as Thomas MacDonald, who owns Speedy Firewood, but connecting Speedy with Primo Firewood, that was gonna require more work. Donna kept chasing her refund. She called Primo and recorded the conversations. - MAN ON PHONE: You wanna come and have a look at it? - DONNA ON PHONE: I would love to. Can you tell me the address where the wood is? - Come have a look next week. - What's the address where the wood is? - Come have a look next week. - I would love to. What's the address? - Next week, I'll text you it. I'm not texting it to you now. - She never got the address. - It's just been three months of stress ` over wood! - Same with the Gairs. - We had to find another firewood merchant to be able to deliver firewood to us, so it was really stressful. - Then out of the blue, Donna got a call. - And he said, 'Oh, we're on the way.' 'Oh, OK, who am I talking to?' Then he said John. - John the firewood merchant. - Yeah, he arrived, asked where I wanted it. - Then, surprise ` the guy who turned up was Thomas MacDonald himself. And the person that delivered your firewood was definitely Thomas MacDonald? - Yeah, if it's not Thomas MacDonald... he's got a twin. - Fair Go put this and other concerns to Primo. It did not confirm nor deny whether Thomas is the owner. Fair Go's asked for any contact details or names that could identify who works for Primo, but as yet, it hasn't responded. And as for the issues raised by the two couples, Primo Firewood told Fair Go Cyclone Gabrielle had impacted business. - 'This caused widespread disruption 'where we store wood, machinery issues 'and complications in staffing support. 'Our customer database was lost, 'and we had to manually find each customer. 'We managed to track down and fulfil 300 orders. 'We have taken steps to implement improved communication and contingency plans.' - Plus, the product that was delivered to Donna... - Covered in mud, absolutely covered in mud. And I picked up a couple of pieces and said, like, 'It feels quite wet.' He says, 'It's rain wet. It was always gonna be rain wet. I've told you that.' - But Donna says when she first ordered, Primo said it had dry wood, and when it arrived... - It tested between 30% and 50%. - Anything above 25% is not gonna put out optimal heat, so a lot of the warmth from the fire is just gonna be put into actually drying the wood out. If you get wet wood in winter... and you wanna dry it out, you've gotta have a lot of time. - Primo Firewood says it encourages customers to buy their firewood early. - 'We made it extremely clear to everyone buying wood 'that the wood during the winter months was rain wet, 'bearing in mind that we had weeks and weeks of non-stop rain. 'We heavily encourage people to buy firewood in the summertime, 'but it seems to be ignored by most people until the last minute 'when it's the middle of winter.' - As for Donna and the Gairs' refunds, while we were filming with Janice... (PHONE RINGS) Are you ready? ...Primo called. - Janice speaking. - It was John. He apologised to Janice for the wait, explained he wanted to give her a refund, but said he couldn't find her payment. - I can prove from my bank that it's gone through. - And after a few minutes... - Thank you, John. Thank you for the refund. - ...Marty and Janice had their $650 refund. But it was the account it came from that gave us the confirmation we needed. It came from a business called Black Market Enterprise Limited. Take a guess who owns it. Thomas MacDonald. It's his record label. - You know, obviously, it's because Fair Go's come into the picture that he's doing this now. I mean, I'm glad I've got it back. - On that same day, Donna got a partial refund of $100 from Black Market Enterprise Limited too. So while Donna and the Gairs got their resolutions, when buying firewood, Carlos says to be vigilant and prepare early. - Getting your wood a year early is definitely the way to go. You can get it a lot cheaper. You don't have to worry about it being dry. You can get it as wet as you like and dry it out yourself, and that way you're guaranteeing yourself dry wood for the following year. - So the firewood provider was a rap star who knew Snoop Dogg. - (LAUGHS) - This is a lot to unpack for my little brain. - Sometimes you start investigating these stories, and they lead you into some interesting places ` but good result, Alistar, and great advice. - E haere ake nei, coming up ` hearing aids, they're great, but they're no so great if you're just not being listened to. - The fact that I wasn't allowed to spend that amount of money on someone I chose, you know, that was what the problem was. - And have those dastardly Aussies done it to us again? - Jason's fingers were furious. - Pretty much every day I was sending emails going, 'Come on.' - The response ` - 'We have passed your feedback on,' and that was it. - Kia ora ano, hello again, friends. Well, hearing loss is a big problem ` the hearing industry puts it at one in 10 New Zealanders. - Which means pretty much everyone is affected through someone we know. - That's right. But while some are struggling to hear, are they being listened to by those big businesses involved? Garth has the story. (DOG BARKS) - Jess would be a strong contender for man's best friend; she certainly is Jerry's. - She's got amazing hearing. - But Jerry, not so much. So you and me talking now? - Yeah, it's not too bad. Yeah, normally with the background noise, I can't hear, but I can see your lips moving, and, you know, you're close by, so, yeah. - 'Jerry suffers hearing loss from many years of farm work.' Hearing aids are supposed to take care of all of that. - Oh, what, sorry? - Hearing aids` (BOTH CHUCKLE) - I honestly didn't hear that. I'm constantly pissing my wife off because I can't hear her, and she says, 'Have you got your hearing aids in?' (LAUGHS) - It's been worse this past year since a wrangle with insurance after Jerry lost his hearing completely thanks to Jess and Covid and these things. - You know, we all had to wear masks. As I pulled it off, it was like a catapult, shooting my hearing aid over the car, Jess... and it was gone, and then she got a bloody taste for it. I put my other hearing aid, the one left, up on the high bench there, found it in bits on the floor, So she had got that too. - It's just as well you're adorable. - (LAUGHS) - CAMERAMAN: Don't eat my microphone. - Yeah. - The insurance company actually said that dogs like hearing aids. And they said, 'We'll cover this one, but we won't cover it again, 'because, you know, it's up to you to protect your hearing aids from dogs.' - Jerry had cover with AA Insurance under home contents, but AA Insurance had also taken some cover with a big audiology company. - And they said, 'We have an arrangement with Triton ` you have to go through them' And Triton decided on the value of my hearing aids ` and it was 4500, I think - Jerry thought by shopping around, he could get more for his insurance money. - So the opposition said that they would give me absolutely top-of-the-line hearing aids for that price that were directional noise-cancelling. - But under the policy, it wasn't the price that counted; it was the product, and whatever Triton thought was right. - And Triton said, 'Well, you've got mid-range hearing aids. That's all you can buy.' - Triton's Insurance Response Team working for AA Insurance looked at what Specsavers offers and... - 'A similar pair within their portfolio 'to most closely match the feature set of his original hearing aids was approved.' - The fact that I wasn't allowed to spend that amount of money on someone I chose, you know, that was what the problem was. - Jerry was puzzled ` why couldn't he try to get a better deal for himself? - If I went to Jones Motors... and bought a car and had a crash, I wouldn't have to go back to Jones Motors and buy an equivalent` an equivalent car. They'd say, 'Well, your car was worth 7000. We'll give you 7000, go and buy car wherever you like.' But with the hearing aids, no. - Contents cover is different. His policy says he'll get the nearest equivalent item as a replacement. - 'AA Insurance may cash settle in some instances. 'A cash settlement amount for hearing aids 'would be based on the like-for-like model quote 'from Triton's insurance response team.' - Meaning if someone else did it cheaper, Jerry doesn't get more to spend; the saving is for his insurance company, not him. - 'AA Insurance's customers benefit from the preferred supplier relationship 'because it helps manage the cost of claims, 'which contributes to managing the cost of premiums for all customers.' - You can't give a competitor sole power to decide the issue... you just can't. - At Consumer NZ, they've been listening to plenty of talk about insurers working closely with the hearing aid industry. - It can be really handy in some cases, because it means your insurer can kind of just take over. But in other cases, consumers have told us that they feel pressured... to go with the insurer's preferred provider. -That pressure might be part of a bigger problem Consumer is also hearing about. - Many of the clinics are vertically integrated, so they're owned by the big manufacturers. And, you know, there might be some sales incentives, there might be some commissions going on, and it's not really clear when that is or isn't going on. - So going to get hearing aids, is it more like going to see your GP, or is it more like going to a car yard? - While it's not exactly a fair comparison, there are some aspects of the audiology industry that kind of do lend themselves to comparison with car yards. At a car yard, salespeople kind of have a vested interest in the sort of commercial goings-on of the place that they work. So in that sense... going to an audiologist is kind of like that. - As you'd expect, the companies don't see it that way. - 'The New Zealand audiology industry takes great pride in its commitment 'to upholding clinical standards that prioritise patient wellbeing and professional integrity.' - Which Triton Hearing says it did in this case. - 'After reviewing the claim file, we are confident that the insurance response team 'handled this customer's insurance claim to the highest standards 'and in accordance with the agreed-upon process. 'Mr Melser himself stated, "Thanks, you were so helpful," 'near the completion of the call with the team member.' - I was happy that they immediately accepted the loss. I mean, there wasn't a big issue making a claim. No, it was very easy. (LAUGHS) It's just that I felt cheated at the end. - AA Insurance took that seriously and reviewed the situation last year. - 'After speaking to Triton, we do not believe that Mr Melser 'was treated unfairly, and the options made available to him were appropriate. 'We are sorry Mr Melser was unhappy with the experience, 'and we're continuing to work with our preferred suppliers 'to ensure the process is easily understood.' - AA Insurance says a staff member telephoned Jerry with those findings last year. It couldn't tell us whether they spoke or left a message. Jerry says he didn't hear from them, but he'd love to hear more ` full stop. - If a conversation is hard to follow, then you're gonna just live in your own world, and so you seem distant. You seem antisocial, you know. I don't think people understand unless they've got hearing loss. - So true. - Mm, yeah. - Every six years, Jerry gets ACC funding for replacement hearing aids, and he can take that anywhere. If he takes that to Triton Hearing, it's offering him a top-of-the-range pair for less than half price, though that's still going to cost Jerry $3000, so he reckons he'll shop around. - Which is all Jerry really wanted, wasn't it, was the freedom to make his own decisions. E haere ake nei, coming up ` he was in a league of his own. - I had seven players who made 100 points. - But it didn't feel like a win, it felt like a penalty. - At the start, it felt like I was being dragged into the principal's office. - Nau mai hoki mai, welcome back. Mate... - What about it? - ...how about those Warriors. Whoo-hoo! - Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, his hair flying in the wind, moustache bristling, going for the corner ` talk about a man crush. And there's no one a keener on the Warriors than my new friend from New Plymouth, Jason Chandler. - Mm-hm, yep, Jason introduced Haydo here to NRL SuperCoach, an Aussie-based web competition for punters. - And what a competition, but recently, just when it looked like Jason had won, well, you won't believe what happened. (UPBEAT MUSIC) The snacks are crucial. After all, the game's on... - Vatuvai! - ...and Jason Chandler's a Warriors fan... - Put it down, put it down! - ...but he watches with more than saturated fats and fizz. - Oh yeah, it makes it way more interesting. - You see, Jason, hunched over his laptop, is playing too. It's called NRL SuperCoach, an Australian online game where you choose a squad of players from any team... - Your player scores a try, and you celebrate it cos it's extra points that your team's gonna get. - What is up, guys... - And he's not alone. There's... - 157,000. - ...people playing. - Check mate again. - Famous players endorse it... - Hello, KFC SuperCoachs... - ...there's podcasts, it's free to enter, but Jason pays for a premium subscription, complete with fancy stats... - It's $24. - So for eight years... - When I can, I watch a lot. - ...Jason has been carefully curating his team... - Nicoll-Clockestad from the Warriors, he was dead cheap at the start of the season. - ...and going quite well for a competition with 150,000 people in it. - I've had a couple of top-2000 finishes. - Then, a couple of weeks ago, the stars aligned. - And so I had seven players who made over 100 points. - Jason's fantasy team had a fan-tastic run... - Yeah, I was getting quite excited. (LAUGHS) - ...as he started to realise his dream. - The scores were getting really high. - There's $1000 for the person with the highest score in a round of games, $2000 if you're a premium member like Jason. And when he looked at the leaderboard, he was at the top, just in front of... - A guy called Justin ` I'd beat him by seven points. - Excitedly, Jason waited for the announcement, and... - My name wasn't there My team wasn't there. - The winner, apparently, was Justin from Australia... - Oh, I was fuming. - ...who actually finished second. - I was, um, ignored, wasn't even mentioned at all. - Then Jason remembered the fine print ` overseas players are allowed to play, but they can't win prizes. - I was straight on Facebook. - Jason's fingers were furious. - Pretty much every day, I was sending emails. - The response ` - 'We've passed your feedback on,' and that was it. They weren't even interested in it. - The only reason Jason didn't win was because he was not Australian. - If they'd mentioned that I had the overall winning team for that round, I would have left it alone, but because there was no recognition, nothing like that, that's when I was like, 'I'm gonna stand up for myself.' - BILL LAWRY: That's a disappointing finish. - Those Aussies, they'd done it to us again! Even the Warriors weren't happy. - Do you think this is unfair treatment of New Zealanders from Australians? - I do, mate. - I think you deserve the right to win if you're in the SuperCoach. - SuperCoach is run by an Australian company, Vapormedia, on behalf of Aussie media moguls News Corp. Maybe I'll start with Phar Lap... And when dealing with Aussies, it's best to remind them of history. ...ooh, Crowded House... - Crowded House are being inducted into the Australian Hall of music Fame. - And we've been sent here by the New Zealand government to stop this from happening. - Stop it. (LAUGHTER) - ...hmm, then there's pavlova. - Mysteriously, after we'd sent multiple emails, Jason then got a phone call from News Corp. - At the start, I felt like I was being dragged into the principal's office. - Jason explained there were 10,000 Kiwis playing, and this was finally the Warriors' year, and... - It's rightfully fear that you, um, acknowledge that I'd won the round. - They agreed to announce Jason had won, but when it came to prize money... - No, there wasn't. There was no movement. (PHONE RINGS) - Then, a few days later, my phone started ringing. - MAN ON PHONE: So, the good news is we are gonna look after Jason. - That's News Corp telling me that while they aren't calling it a prize, Jason will get his money, and officially they say... - 'SuperCoach welcomes all players but doesn't actively invite 'or encourage players from outside Australia. 'The terms and conditions are clear 'that only Australian resident players 'are eligible to win prize money, 'but as good sports, we are considering how we can acknowledge top scorers from outside Australia.' - Which meant more snacks at Jason's, where he's happy about the money, but still not a hundy on those Aussies and their rules. - Yeah, well, imagine if the Warriors ever win the Premiership, and they say, 'Sorry, you.... 'you can't have the trophy cos you're not an Australian resident.' Up the Wahs. - Up the Wahs. Aussies ` lovely bunch, good at barbeques, but real sneaky when it comes to royalties, yeah. - A bit sneaky, yeah. - Right, that's it from us, but if you only caught part of the show, you can catch all of it, plus past episodes and some handy consumer information on the Fair Go page on TVNZ+ whenever you want, because we're always here to help. - My mum loves that page. That's right, our programme is all about you guys at home, of course, and your consumer aches and pains, big or small, please get in touch with us. We are everywhere, and don't forget to include your phone number. - That's right. We're on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. You can go to our webpage ` tvnz.co.nz, email us ` fairgo@tvnz.co.nz, or write to us ` PO BOX 3819, Auckland 1140. - Thank you so much for watching. Remember, it's Mental Health Awareness Week, so be kind, check in on someone and look after yourself. Until next week... - BOTH: ...po marie.