Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2024. - Tonight ` hundreds of thousands owed, 30 customers left in the lurch. - I thought I'd lost everything. - Plus, frock shock ` ordered online, it was not what she expected. - I was just so confused and just really disappointed. - And should living offline mean being left off the mailing list? - There are a lot of people out there that have not adjusted to an online world. - Tena koutou katoa. Welcome to the show. Now, it's a blow when a company goes into liquidation, leaving customers and employees out of pocket. - And it's a double blow when you find out it's not the first time a director's run a business into the ground. - Well, that's what happened to the people in our next story, and they want to make sure it doesn't happen to you. Here's Gill. - Here's a self-made businessman. He's not easily taken for a ride, but he does like to trust. - I see that as one of my qualities. - Which, when he needed another trailer for his roofing firm, didn't pay off ` he forked out $6500 upfront. What have you got to show for that? - At the moment, nothing. - And not a trailer in sight in this yard here. Phil owns an event hire company. - Castles, we've got chairs. - He set it up from scratch with his twin brother. Now, with light installations too, business has taken off. - It's been great. Yeah, it's been awesome. - And that's why you needed so many trailers? - Yeah, yeah. We were buying about seven or eight. - And how many did you get? - We've got two uncompleted trailers, just metal frame, which is not much use to us. - We could go on. There were at least 30 customers that didn't get their trailers from a company called JT Feeders Ltd. It company was based here, but, as you can see, there's nothing left, and now it's in liquidation. First things first ` how much did customers check out the company and its founding director? - I made the mistake of not being of the younger generation and just Googling everything; I actually took a drive out there, and I met him. - Yeah, checked the company, rather than him. - It's not like I saw him parked off on the side of the road. - No, true. He was selling trailers and livestock feeders, and, really, who does a background check on someone for a purchase like that? But if they did Google his name, his full name, they would have seen a fair few red flags. His name's Tony Clifford King, apparently a funny guy, but his CV's no joke ` most recently, Company Director of JT Feeders Ltd, now in liquidation, owing over $800,000; before that, in 2015, Company Director of Titan Concrete, also liquidated, owing over $250,000. And further back, in 2011, he worked at a petrol station. Then, after stealing its takings and setting the gas station on fire to destroy the evidence, he switched from serving customers to serving time. In 2015, a condition of parole was getting budgeting advice. yet that first company he set up after jail, Titan Concrete, quickly failed. Not only that ` he actually broke the rules setting it up. Anyone with a dishonesty conviction is barred from being a director for five years. Turns out the Registrar of Companies isn't always told about those bans. I don't know about you, but it doesn't make sense to me, so I asked MBIE to explain. It said the registrar wasn't alerted to the ban because the data on specific convictions belongs to the courts and cannot be shared with MBIE. We put that to this expert in company law. - It's not good enough. - Then, in 2021, he set up JT Feeders, offering big discounts for payments upfront. - That's when you get those situations where you've got, you know, customers sometimes paying in full for particular items that are never going to be delivered. - Charl was annoyed he agreed to it. - But I gave him the benefit of the doubt. - Thing is, he needed another trailer, but he kept getting fobbed off. - Everything from waiting for the galvanisers ` sorry, my business partner hasn't paid, um, the guys doing the galvanising. - Workers were shocked at some excuses. - He sent a random photo of a person on life support and sent that, saying, 'Oh, my wife's on life support, and, you know, 'that's why things are a bit behind.' It was just a crock of shit. To say that to clients, where they've put their trust in him, it's just wrong. - The delays were playing havoc for Phil's business too ` they upped their orders based on having the trailers, then had to rely on vehicles alone. - Some of the crew are working till midnight, just to wait for other vehicles. - Ironically, Event Hire were asked by Tony King to invest in the company. - He was looking for about 150,000 to invest into his business. - Mm. I bet he was. - But we just sort of thought our business is going really well at the moment and that ` needs the money. - That was a lucky escape? - Close call, yeah. Yeah, it was pretty convincing ` like, he did pitch a really good pitch. - Same impressive pitch to this guy, and this time, it worked, with Jason investing his $100,000 inheritance. He was given figures showing debt and forward work. He got them checked out, and it looked like a sound investment, but once involved, the reality hit. - The debt wasn't $60,000, it was more around the $200,000 level. By about week three, we had no funds to pay the staff. - Desperate for the business to succeed, Jason asked his stepdad to loan another $200,000. Then more bad news, when he found unread letters from the IRD. - I then found out we were 50 grand more in debt. - To understand this failing business, we tried to find Tony King. He wasn't in Canterbury, and there were no leads on his new location. - No one knows where Tony is, yeah. - (BOTH CHUCKLE) - Yeah, I would love to know that ` there's a lot of people that would love to know that. - Weeks later, he surfaced, at least by email. He said he wasn't involved in the collapse of his previous company, Titan Concrete, and with JT Feeders, he blamed the liquidation on taking on the sales yard in Rangiora and employing two extra staff. - I could see the benefit of doing it, but, yes, there was a massive cost. - Tony also blamed Jason Smith, for being absent too often and not ordering materials. Jason admits time off for flu and a few days' stress leave. - I thought I'd lost everything. - But that's it. - I don't think that that was a massive contributing factor. I don't feel that I'm to blame. - So why do you think it did fail? - I think, really, it came down to management ` mismanagement of the whole system. - The liquidator agrees rising debt and mismanagement starting before Jason was on board meant too many unfinished trailers. And what was your total loss? - A loss of just over $45,000 ` we're gonna probably feel the pinch on things for a couple of years. - And it's been just as painful knowing it's not Tony King's first business failure. - It's too easy to just start another company and do it again, and again and again. - These guys called Tony King out this time. - I put a message up on Facebook saying, 'Listen, 'you know, just be aware of JT Feeders, 'please don't pay any deposits to him; 'I can see he's shut shop.' - They just hope they won't have to again. - Once this one has gone into liquidation completely, he can start another business ` I don't think someone like this should be allowed to run a business at all. Yeah. - You know, you would just be gutted, wouldn't you? You'd be gutted. - I tell you what else ` we were sent the photo that Tony used, the one where he said his wife was in a coma ` and it turns out that was stolen from someone else's Givealittle page. That's just appalling. - Who does that? Thankfully, Tony King assures Fair Go he won't be starting another business again. E haere ake nei, coming up ` Gill finds out if there's any plans to get tough on serial offenders. - It's too easy to just start another company and do it again and again and again. - Plus ` could you survive offline? How do people get hold of you? - They can either write or ring me. (JAZZ MUSIC) (JAZZ MUSIC) - Kia ora, nau mai, hoki mai. Welcome back. Now, almost a thousand companies a year go into liquidation, and it's often you, the customers, left out of pocket. - Before the break, we heard from those affected by a trailer company gone bust. - And they want to know if the powers that be have any plans to toughen up. Here's Gill. - They could be selling trailers or tiny homes or building fences ` on Fair Go, we've seen them all. - You've taken their money, and we'd like to know where it is! - Directors who set up a business, only to have it fail again and again. Debts go unpaid, and customers suffer. It's time for action. Turns out MBIE'S working on a bill that would require directors to apply for a unique identifier number. It could allow the public to see an individual's company directorships, past and present and help regulators identify those who keep setting up companies and liquidating them. But what about the IRD? It does a lot of debt chasing, but could it get tougher sooner? - The way things are at the moment, it is a long period of time, usually a year or more. I would like to see Inland Revenue just having, you know, 21 days the tax is outstanding, and then taking some reasonably serious activity at that point. - Like in Europe, where they publish debtor information early. - If you've got a larger debt, if it's over 50,000 euros ` so about NZ$90,000 ` and if it's over three months outstanding, then they will put your name on a database. - Or like Australia, where director penalty notices makes directors personally liable for taxes. - They have 21 days to either pay the debt, appoint a small business restructuring practitioner to help them get their business back online, or to go into insolvency. - 21 days instead of a year or more? Hmm. That could save lots of other customers from getting caught out and send a strong message to business. Here's hoping. - It feels like one of those occasions when we could learn a little something from our mates across the Tasman, eh? - Indeed. The road to finding a wedding dress can be a long and winding one. It's such a special purchase and a pricey one. - So imagine buying the perfect frock online, only to find, when it arrives, that you've said yes to a mess. Kaitlin has the story. - Finding the one ` no, not the one to marry; the one to wear on the big day. (MADONNA'S 'DRESS YOU UP') It could be the first dress or the 100th, but each of these gowns will be someone's perfect pick. - We have to treat all our dresses with respect, cos it's actually someone's wedding dress, no matter when or how they buy it. - Someone like Julie Strong. Except she didn't shop at Astra Bridal in Tamaki Makaurau, Auckland ` her search for the dress of her dreams took her out of the country. One Australian collection caught her eye. - So, all the gowns that I'd been looking at, Stella Yorks were just beautiful. - Then she found the one ` this Stella York princess ballgown. - I liked the horsehair skirt style. - The only problem was Stella York had stopped making the dress, so Julie would be lucky to find it locally. - I didn't want to buy a dress online, but when I saw this dress, I fell in love with it, and I knew I was never gonna get to try it on in New Zealand. - But she did find it in stock at this Queensland boutique, Love & Lace. The discontinued dress was on sale for nearly a thousand New Zealand dollars, down from $2250. This isn't unusual ` several New Zealand stores selling Stella York gowns offer similar discounts. - And I clicked on it, and it brought up a lovely description, and then a beautiful picture, and I even checked right down the bottom, just to make sure there wasn't anything I was missing. - Before going any further, she messaged Love & Lace, to check the sizing and colour, pointing out she lived in New Zealand, so wouldn't be able to view it in person. And she read up on the store's terms and conditions. - It said on their website, 'No refunds are available for sale gowns,' which is pretty stock standard. I thought if the dress didn't fit or I didn't like it, I could always try to sell it, because it was a new gown at a really good price. - So she went through with it, paying another $160 for shipping and extra lace. - I was by the door, waiting. (LAUGHS) - Finally, her dress made it to her in Matamata. - I was really excited, and I pulled it out of the box, and I was, like, 'Oh, it's gorgeous.' - Until she looked closer. - I turned it round, and I saw the back, and I could just see the button loops were all stretched and broken, and I could see some tears in the illusion lace, marks on it. The lace looked a bit yellowing. - We got a second take from an industry expert. - For me, as a retailer in bridal, I would not be proud to put my name behind that dress. - Julie messaged Love & Lace straight away. - I was just so confused and just really disappointed. - Love & Lace responded as if the reason was obvious ` 'All sale wedding gowns are sample gowns, lovely ` 'hence the massive reduction in pricing.' - I just thought, 'But I didn't buy a sample gown.' So I jumped back online, and I went exactly the way I bought it, and I just couldn't see anything. - This is how she did it. - I went to 'Weddings,' and then I went, 'Stella York'. So I scrolled down, and then found the dress, so 6501 ` princess ballgown. - Mm-hm. So you've got a description here, but... (TUTS) nothing about a sample. - No, nothing about damage ` nothing to alert you to anything of it. - Love & Lace argued it does have a disclaimer, on a page called 'Wedding Sale Aisle'. To find that, Julie would have needed to have first explored the homepage, and scrolled down to find it here. Or, when browsing through the individual dress listings, she would have had to have spotted and clicked on this tag. - Had I gone through the sale aisle, I might have had a clue, but there was just nothing there ` the word, 'sample', 'damage' ` nothing. - Love & Lace offered to send Julie new loops and a hook and eye and refund her the 100 bucks she spent on these extra lace motifs. Julie says that goes no way near covering the cost of repairs and a $350 dry-cleaning bill. She tried Queensland's Office of Fair Trading, which could only mediate, rather than say who's right or wrong. Love & Lace stuck to its no-refunds, no-returns policy on sale items. The boutique's owner, Renee Fisher, went on to say... Did you change your mind? - No, I definitely didn't. I respect her store policy of no refunds on sale items, but I also think you have to be honest and upfront with the condition of the dress, and, yeah, they weren't. - Under Australian consumer law, a business can't create a false or misleading overall impression about a product, be it its price, value or quality. And it doesn't matter if an item was purchased on sale ` the consumer guarantees still apply. So, let's head back to Astra Bridal, a New Zealand-based store run by Lori McPherson for more than 20 years. She's seen photos of Julie's dress. - I thought it was pretty severe. It showed that the dress had been put on someone who was too big for it, probably repeatedly. So it had been stretched, the button loops had blown out. - Astra Bridal has a dedicated outlet store, where brides can buy either brand new gowns or ones off the rack. Its website makes clear which is which. What happens to each of your dresses before they're sold at one of your outlets? - We inspect it and note any faults, repair any small issues, replace buttons, replace button loops. - She says a dress should be able to be worn straight out of the store. If a dress is discounted, does that imply it's a sample and not new? - Not necessarily, because we have our annual flash sale, and all the dresses in that are perfect. - We'd hoped Love & Lace would have a change of heart and refund Julie, but no. Its owner believes they've done nothing wrong. Julie's now looking to fight her case through Queensland's small claims court, but first, she's got a wedding to plan. - We've got the venue. - Celebrant. - You've got the celebrant. - And she's got now an invite from Lori to have a free VIP experience at Astra Bridal, where what she sees is what she'll get. - That's right ` Julie's gonna try her luck at Astra Bridal and other some other stores, so fingers crossed for her! - Mm. It is the one dress you really want to be perfect, isn't it? E haere ake nei, coming up ` it is an increasingly online world, but should we really expect everyone to be connected? - What's your mobile number? - No, no mobile. - Email address? - Doesn't happen. - Not a Google-er? - No. No, one doesn't Google. (JAZZ MUSIC) - Kia ora, nau mai, hoki mai. Welcome back. Can you imagine leaving the house without your mobile, or turning your modem off at the wall? - No. It might be a scary thought, but not everyone feels that way ` some have chosen to live their life offline. - Yeah, Jenny from Otaki is one of those people, and she came to us, because she felt she was being penalised for it. I paid her a visit. On screens, online, everywhere, all the time ` that's many of us, but not all of us. - It's taking away people's brains to think! - Jenny Hare has no time for tech. She's into pen and paper, a voracious reader, always planning a new adventure. - Been to Italy, game safari-ing in Africa, spent a month in the depths of Brazil, went to Egypt and Jordan and Israel. - But there's something remarkable about how she does it. How do people get hold of you? - They can either write or ring me. - That's on a landline. (PIANO PLAYS TINKLY MUSIC) - Or they can come and see Jenny, like we have, at Otaki Heritage Museum, where she volunteers, so we can learn, face to face, about her issue ` let's call it the no-more-paper problem. What's your mobile number? - No, no mobile. - Email address? - No, doesn't happen. - Not a Google-er? - No. No, one doesn't Google. Yeah, never had to, and so my life's run quite well without it. I just feel I can't cope with anything more in my life. - You prefer to see it on a piece of paper? - Yes. Yes. - But her landline provider doesn't. - Yeah, my Slingshot account ` they're not sending paper accounts any more. I'm not dealing with that. - And it all happened quite abruptly, just before Christmas, when Jenny cleared her mail and found the last letter that Slingshot planned to send her, though there'd still be a bill to pay each month. - I can download it via my mobile app or, um, online or email and things, and there was no, sort of, thought or suggestion that people perhaps might not do that. - The letter said Jenny could email Slingshot to discuss ` no number. Luckily, she had her old bills that show an 0800 number to call. After a bit of a wait, an answer. - No, there was no option. - Jenny is reasonable ` she's been paying Slingshot an extra $2.50 every month to get the bill mailed out to her. But now, it's unavailable at any price. - There are a lot of people out there that have not adjusted to... an online world, and, um... and some people struggle with some of those sort of things. - What Jenny is talking about has a name ` digital exclusion. - 50% of people in the stats that I've got, over 85, cannot use, um, digital devices. You're asking too much to expect everyone to move with the times. - Jan Pentecost says plenty face digital exclusion, due to poverty, disability or age. - Especially given that upskilling is necessary very frequently. - Jan reckons there should always be a place for paper, or at least a non-digital option. - I don't think it's enough for businesses to just actually make those decisions and leave people behind. - It's just hard to get companies to see it that way, without some rules laid down to preserve access for offliners. - Well, make allowances for people that, sort of, have not got to grips with these things, yeah. And I s'pose that's the thing ` I have not got to grips with it. - If Jenny were a Google-er, she could find out that Slingshot is owned by 2 Degrees. And I just happen to have an email and a number for someone there who might help. At first, it's helping justify the change. Oh, apparently, ditching paper invoices will save tons of CO2 emissions. But with a bit of coaxing, 2 Degrees has a limited-time offer for Jenny, which it emails to me. Oh, that's gold. Time to call that landline. - Yeah, hi. Is that you, Garth? - It is, Jenny. How are you? - Good, good. Have you got some news for me? - Well, they said for the next six months, they will print off your bills and mail them out to you free of charge, and then at the end of that six months, they'll give you a ring and` - Hey, six months is a bonus and whatever. So, hey, that's better than nothing. - Yeah. - Thank you very much for your help. - It isn't a permanent fix, but Jenny will take it. She's busy enough reading up. There might be another trip planned. - Nice work, Garth. That seemed like a really elegant solution. - There was a little bit more needed, though. A final irony ` Slingshot stuffed up her latest bill. It accidentally charged Jenny three times the usual, which is proof you need an actual invoice to check. But the good news is that's been wiped, and they've put a $200 goodwill credit on Jenny's account, which they say will be posted out next month. - Nice. Nice work, Slingshot. You've put the problem right. That's all we ask, isn't it? Right, that's it from us, but if you only caught part of the show, you can catch our stories on the Fair Go page on TVNZ+ and on YouTube. - That's right ` our programme is all about you, so please do get in touch. - Now, you can find us on most social media channels, email us at fairgo@tvnz.co.nz or write to us. Thanks so much for watching. I'm now gonna switch all the modems on that Garth's turned off, so we can get some work done. Until next week,... - BOTH: ...pomarie.