Captions by James Brown. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. - Tonight, how are kids getting vapes delivered straight to their door? - I found a Prezzy Card in my rubbish bin. And being the mum I am, I thought, 'Woah, I haven't seen that.' - Plus, a bus-fare breakdown... - They were charging $232 more for two hours less travel on the same route. It's ridiculous. - ...with results no one expected. - I'm sorry, New Zealand. And a new issue plaguing our older population. - They just throw their head back and laugh when I say, 'Look, I'm having trouble with the bank.' 'Ha-ha! Who isn't?' www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2024 - Tena koutou katoa. Welcome to the show. The Government's changes to tobacco laws have been in the spotlight. But we're yet to hear how they plan to protect our kids from vaping. - So when we heard they were getting vapes delivered straight to their door, Fair Go put it to the test. Here's Garth. - A peek inside a schoolbag might reveal more than rubbish and undelivered notes these days. Vaping has a grip on too many of our young learners. Despite the signs at stores and laws and fines of up to $10,000 for selling to under-18s, kids are getting vapes. They could be landing right on your doorstep. - Our kids need a fair go. - Patrice Morris could be any mum with a teenager. Hers got hooked at 13. - Coming off the nicotine is the hardest thing for these kids. Horrible ` hot sweats, not sleeping, anger, you know, flipping out at parents, flipping out at siblings, not concentrating at school. - This is all stuff you've seen at home? - Yeah, first-hand. It's just sabotaging themselves, really. - It's meant more than a year of hell for her, on top of everything else that life in Hawke's Bay has thrown at families ` many suffering in silence or blaming the wrong people. - It's not about pointing the finger at one kid, or two kids, or a group of kids, or whoever it is. It's the situation. And it's the law that's allowing this to happen, really. And the lack of any sort of control. - Because with vape sales online, every mobile phone, every laptop in every bedroom is also a vape shop. Patrice says hacking the payment method was the key to uncovering the source of this trouble. - I found a Prezzy Card in my rubbish bin. And being the mum I am, I thought, 'Woah, I haven't seen that.' So I picked it out of the rubbish bin, had a look at the code, searched it online, had a look at the transactions, and there was a transaction at Shosha online. - We'll come back to that company. We asked Patrice to try again, this time with a camera keeping watch at the door. And sure enough, there's the package in his left hand. Is it going in the bucket? No, it's going over the fence. That's what came ` a vape cartridge ` R18, which should not be left for just anyone to collect. So, what's failing? Let's take a look at the rules and how vape companies have been applying them. We chose four online sellers ` two Patrice had tested and failed, two more for comparison. To prevent online sales to minors, the regulators encourage five steps ` one, the website has an R18 declaration on entry ` that's easy; two, proof-of-age documents are verified by a staff member before payment is made by the customer ` only one asked that; three, the retailer ensures the delivery name aligns with the name on the payment method ` well, you can put anyone's name on a Prezzy Card, or no name at all ` it's like paying cash online; four and five, all deliveries are meant to be signature-only and use R18 courier services, meaning IDs are checked at the door. But what about these ` our little haul of online vape deliveries, made, apparently, in breach of the law? Despite a bold, clear label warning it's a vape, NZ Couriers dropped this off, no questions asked. This is from the retailer who tried the hardest to check out our mystery shopper, insisting on a driver licence scan and a scan of the Prezzy Card. The owner of the Vape Shed said that staff there actually stalked our producer online to check out that she really was over 18. - We're confident that our internal processes were effective. Regrettably, in this instance, the courier driver failed to adhere to the agreed protocols. We will follow up with our delivery partners to ensure these events are mitigated as much as possible. - NZ Couriers admits... - The courier should not have left the parcel at the door. - ...but says the business... - ...did not purchase the additional service ticket which verifies proof of age and also reimburses our courier drivers for the extra time this takes. - The ones who sent us these didn't need to see any ID before allowing an online purchase. Take a look what the camera caught. As NZ Post drops this off, no check at the address. And before that, no request for ID on the site. And because we've used a Prezzy Card, no idea who bought it, and no guarantee of age either. Now, Vapo said thanks for letting them know that this had slipped through. - It is the nature of e-commerce that customers can disguise their identities when placing orders. This is why we've focused our efforts on the delivery end of the sales process and invested in an expensive age-verification solution from NZ Post, which has unfortunately let us down. - As you'd expect, NZ Post has a bit to say about all this. - It is clear that we have failed to meet our security standards in these instances, and we sincerely apologise for this. We will be conducting further training and improving the technology to make it easier for our delivery partners to make these deliveries correctly, as well as improving our reporting to monitor compliance. - Which might help, especially with these other two fails we found. We need to say NZ Post did the right thing first time with this package. No one home, so it wasn't left. Our mystery shopper got a link to redeliver. Back it came, with a fresh label over the top that omits the all-important age-restricted stuff ` which might explain how this happened. A delivery, with no ID check. - Thank you. - Thank you. - The person who answered that door was 16, too young to be getting these handed over. That was from Shosha, the same retailer Patrice had spotted selling vape product online to her then-13-year-old son more than a year ago. - So I went into Shosha, and I said, 'What is this?' And he said 'Oh, it will just be an online thing.' And I said, 'Well, my son's young. How can he do this? And I said, what ID checks do they have? And he said, 'No, there's no ID checks online.' - Shosha says... - We have identified an issue under our current system where payment by Prezzy Card does not trigger the same safeguards as if the customer had used other forms of payment. To ensure this does not happen again, we have introduced a new safeguard that prevents orders from being processed if the cardholder's name is not present on the transaction. - He's also talking to delivery companies about the R18 ID checks on the doorsteps and with the banks about what can be done to prevent purchases by under-18s. It seems like it's everybody else's problem, huh? Our final test ` again a drop-off by NZ Post, despite an age-restricted marking and this comment. - That's the courier talking to the 14-year-old who opened the door. The owner of Vapourium, which made that sale, was shocked when we let him know. He says he's now banned Prezzy Cards as a payment method and already runs software that blocks sales to sensitive addresses like schools. Is it just a question of making it harder for under-18s to buy vapes? Or should we be making mistakes more costly and more likely to be found out? Time to get political. We tagged in Maiki Sherman from 1 News to put the Minister in charge of smoking and vaping on the spot. - You haven't looked into online sales. Why not? Because that seems to be a big avenue in which young people could try to get their hands on it. - I haven't` That's the thing, is I've got advice, and it's part of the programme of work, but I haven't got anything specific as yet. - Casey Costello is about to ask her Cabinet colleagues for the green light to bring changes to how vapes are displayed, sold and controlled, to make it more like the way tobacco is handled. But these laws are only as good as the enforcement by public health officials. - So, are you gonna pump that up? - Well, this is where I want to look at the whole how we're licensing and regulating that regime um, and look at how, where that should sit. At the moment, it's sitting with Health, and I believe that there's a lot more value in it being locally controlled and locally monitored. - Another job for your council, maybe. We don't want young people vaping ` categorically don't want them to be taking it up. But we do know it's an effective tool to stop people smoking. - Patrice knows what we've been doing so far is pitiful. - It's too big. I can't change it. I can't stop a child vaping if it's accessible. When you're buying a 30ml for $10, or $12.95 delivered, we've got a major problem on our hands. Kids can't come up with $1200 to buy three cartons of cigarettes. But they can come up with 12.95. Actually, this government need to take responsibility and actually shut this thing down so these kids don't get access to it so easily. - You know what? Good on you, Patrice for speaking up about this, because that's what needs to happen if we want to see change. Now, the Ministry of Health tells us that they have checked 47 of the 149 online vape stores, so they still have a lot more work to do. - Ooh, yeah. E haere ake nei, coming up ` it takes four hours in a car, but if you need to catch the bus, that'll be $1000 return, thanks. - I feel like they're taking advantage of the tourists. - And banking woes. - I used to love tidying up and going down to the bank ` talk to the ladies, make their day, and made mine too. - Kia ora. Nau mai, hoki mai. Welcome back. On the show, we've been talking digital exclusion, asking, are businesses leaving customers behind? - That's right ` customers like Alan from Mosgiel. He's perfectly happy with his iPhone 6 ` as he should be ` but his bank has told him he needs a new phone to use their app. Here's Gill. - Here in a retirement village in Mosgiel, south of Otepoti Dunedin, a topic of conversation has taken hold. - We're in the right place to know what is happening out there. - And what's happening in most of these houses is frustration with phone app banking. - I've only gotta mention it to mates. They just throw their head back and laugh when you say, 'Hey, look, I'm having trouble with the bank.' 'Ha-ha! Who isn't?' They just think it's a joke. - What's funny is banks call it progress, while Alan Weir prefers... - Stupid. - Not the app itself. He took to that like a duck to water. - Yep. Yep. Yep. I had my banking on it, and it was perfect ` good. - Good meaning easy. He just needed his thumb. - I just used to push that button, and up would come BNZ. - And at 90, he was fine, but his phone had grown too old, BNZ said. - Upgrade it. I don't want to upgrade my phone. My grandson gave me that. - Having been around a while... - He's vintage. - ...Alan appreciates things that last. - If it ain't broke, don't fix it. - Take his marriage ` 68 years. On their honeymoon, he was told he was getting the best. - And I said, 'I know that.' There it is. Absolutely still the best. - It's not the only thing still true to form, either. - This is an anvil. There we are. - Glenyse has her decades-old mixer. - And this is spanner, from when men were men. - Then there's their microwave, a gift from their daughter. - She brought it back from Australia for us. And they weren't even in the shops here then. That was 1982, when we shifted south. - That's about 40 years. (DING!) But banking just isn't the same. - I used to love tidying up and going down to the bank, talk to the ladies ` make their day, and made mine too. - Still, they embrace new technology. They just can't stand waste. - It's all right for them that are still on good wages, but we aren't budgeting for things like that. - My phone will see me out. - And given there will soon be over 100,000 Kiwis over 85... - Everybody'll tell you they've gotta do better than what they're doing. - We put that to five of Aotearoa's main banks. But none supports an iPhone 6 like Alan's. So they point to other ways to make transactions. Physical banks ` not many left, though. 40% shut in the '90s. Another 300 or so closed in the last few years. Phone banking ` yep, but we know call waiting can be a pain... - All representatives are still busy. - ...though Westpac says it has priority waiting for customers over 65. Or internet banking ` on a laptop, or on a phone, like Alan's iPhone 6. ANZ says it runs tech classes to help the elderly. BNZ says it now has free mobile data. But let's see how using banking online works for an average older person like Alan. To get to grips with it to make payments on his old phone, Alan and Glenyse made a trip to Dunedin. You actually went in to see BNZ? - Yes. I said, 'Look, can you write that on a piece of paper, step-by-step?' Bit hard, isn't it? - It is quite hard. (CHUCKLES) - By the time I got home, I'd pretty near forgotten. - You have been able to make it work using these instructions? - No. - So we try ` an honest attempt. 'Your login details are incorrect. You can change your password.' Oh, well, let's try it. - Boy, that's small. - Hold on. It says, 'Your passwords do not match.' 'Oh, no! Not that. 'We deal with that. Then...' - What do I want to do? Push that? - So, everyday banking. 'Almost there.' - The Netguard card. - That's an authentication tool that looks like this ` prompts take you across, then down. C1 is H. You enter an H. - Where am I getting an H from? Did that do it? - Nah. 'A few times.' And the next one... is G6. 6... G... is back to an H. And then press 'continue' ` the green button. I think you're in! '15 minutes that took, instead of a couple of seconds with his thumb.' - That would be too much for me. I got there this week. How would I remember that next week? - After hearing from BNZ about this... Hi, Alan. ...we confirmed the days of using banking apps on old phones are over. But we kinda knew they were going to say that. And we passed on BNZ'S offer. But BNZ are definitely happy to send someone down to just help people work out how to use their phones with internet banking. - ALAN: I'll check that one out. - But even better than help would be keeping the process simple. - That old fat thumb of mine does a good job on that little app. It needs to be as easy as that. - Look, in case you were wondering, Alan says he couldn't do online banking on his laptop, because it asks for authentication via ` you guessed it ` the phone app. - Ugh! I hate those things ` so pesky. Hopefully BNZ can give him a hand with that. Sounds like those residents are keen to get a visit from the bank. E haere ake nei, coming up ` the result I was not expecting. I'm sorry, New Zealand. (STARTLES) Shhh. (SOFT GRUNT) You've had a big day, Dad. VOICEOVER: Imagine if instead of the kids wearing you out... (SNORING) ..you wore them out. Get AIA Vitality and start thriving. - Kia ora. Nau mai, hoki mai. Welcome back. Time to visit a South Island town where, if you don't drive a car, you have little choice for getting around. - You take your pick between hitchhiking, a really long bike ride, or spending hundreds ` and I mean hundreds ` of dollars on public transport. But does it need to be this way? 500 bucks can get you places. A hop over to Sydney and back. A trip to the Islands. It could even get you to Vietnam. Or, alternatively... - You could come to Murchison. (COW MOOS) - Hey, no choice is a bad one. - Murchison ` beautiful, rural, rustic. A bit of kayaking, bush walks. So much fun to be had. - But for all the South Island town's selling points, Corrina says it just isn't worth what it costs to get there on public transport. - I feel extorted. I feel held hostage, almost. - Corrina doesn't drive, and her son Ethan lives about 280 Ks away in Christchurch. - What have you been doing today? - Not much. - She'd hoped to have him up for Christmas. - He wanted to come up. 'I'll catch the bus, Mum.' - By car, the journey takes around four hours, going through the Lewis Pass. But there's no longer a public bus service. Instead, a trip via Intercity involves first catching the TranzAlpine train, going coast-to-coast via Arthurs Pass, before hopping on a bus at Greymouth for the rest of the way. All up ` a nine-hour trip. And that was going to cost Corrina $512, one way. - $512 is the bulk of my wages. That's my week's living expenses. That's my rent, my phone. You do that twice, that's $1000. - Ethan could fly to Nelson and catch a bus down or bus with a different company to Greymouth, but both options would have to include an overnight stay, because the timetables don't match up. - We might as well be up the hill in huts, you know? Yeah. It's ridiculous. - But what Corrina discovered while on Intercity's website seemed even crazier. - They were charging $232 more for two hours less travel, on the same route. - The same trip, but destined for Nelson, only cost $280. But that's further away. - Two hours further away. - So Corrina got on the phone to Intercity but was told the two routes weren't the same. - I've got the itineraries here in front of me. You can clearly see... And she hung up on me. - The next person to take her call did see sense ` or the lack of it. - She went, 'Oh, hang on. you're right. This is really strange. 'I'm not sure why. I'll pass it on to my supervisors.' - Corrina then made the obvious choice and bought her son a ticket to Nelson. When Ethan got to Murch, he jumped off the bus. - A little bit worried at first, cos there might have been some rule that says I can't get off, or the bus can't leave without me or something. But I told the bus driver once we got there, and he was fine with it. - Phew! Christmas saved. But despite Corrina's call, the price mix-up didn't get sorted. - I feel like they're taking advantage of the tourists and people that come to the town and do bus everywhere, because they actually wouldn't know any better. - So we got in touch with the Chief Operating Officer at Entrada, who owns Intercity, who confirmed there was a problem. - We apologise unreservedly for Corrina's experience booking her travel with InterCity. It appears there was a glitch with our booking system which meant that the price for a trip to Nelson, which should have been slightly higher than a trip to Murchison, was displayed incorrectly. - Intercity hasn't been overcharging Murchison; Rather, they've been undercharging people heading to Nelson. The Nelson leg wasn't factoring in the full cost of the train ride, operated by KiwiRail, which, on its own, is $449. Intercity has updated the price, so this route to Nelson has gone from $280 to as much as $544. Yep, you've heard me right. By raising this issue with Intercity, it's now worse for everyone. I'm sorry, New Zealand. But also, we have to ask, what's that all about, Intercity? Because those are astonishing amounts for Kiwis to pay to get around. Why not bring back the bus via the much shorter inland route, instead of people having to fork out for a luxury rail ride? Intercity says it was only a temporary service while State Highway 1 was closed after the Kaikoura earthquake. It says it doesn't receive any government funding, so while it connects over 600 destinations, it can't cover everything. - What aren't they offering us as an alternative? Absolutely nothing. - Ethan has been working on that. He's now got his licence. So one more person to hitch a ride with instead. And the award for the worst result on Fair Go goes to... - Oh, Kaity! You tried your best. Surprised you showed your face here today. What they need is some kind of car-pooling app. I'm sure there must be something out there. But very, very tough. - Right, time for a new weekly segment where I give you the latest in consumer headlines. - This week Pippa's talking cologne, TikTok and buried treasure. Take it away, Pip. (SMOOTH R&B MUSIC) - Valentine's Day is so last month. But we've got shocking news if you bought your loved one some perfume. A survey from PriceSpy shows that prices are bumped up in the month of February by 21%. The best month to buy perfume is October, when prices are down a sizeable 32%. Speaking of fragrance, there's a good chance that fragrance houses are noticing a lift in sales from a surprising group. Courtesy of a couple of TikTokkers, including this one, the Cologne Boy... - Let's put on a fragrance. This stuff is powerful! - ...teenage boys seem to be getting right on board the fragrance bandwagon. Now, Jean Paul Gaultier fragrances ` those are the ones you'll in the torso-shaped bottle ` seem to be particularly popular. Since when was a can of Lynx not enough? And finally, if you're having a bit of a clean-out, you never know what might be hiding. That was the case for a Canadian family that stumbled across a large unopened case of ice hockey cards from the '70s and sold them just recently for more than $5 million. And that's a wrap. - Oh, hot chips ` lucky! - Actually, cold chips, Kaity. - All 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. - You can get us on most social media channels, email us at fairgo@tvnz.co.nz, or you can write to us. - Thanks so much for watching. I'll go grab some hot chips for you now. Until next week... - BOTH: Pomarie.