Tonight ` Do you see any difference between the words free and no cost? ALL LAUGH Watch out if this company comes knocking. These contracts are wrong. It's the big property squeeze, and it hurts. We're not financially stable, so... Boop-boop! Boop-boop! Toadie! Boop-boop! Toadie! Boop-boop! And why are Badger, Ratty, Mole and Toad so unhappy? To coin a phrase, it's criminal. Copyright Able 2015 Welcome to Fair Go. We've had lots of lovely comments about our new location. It's TVNZ's temporary home while our place is being renovated. First up tonight ` hard selling, confusing contracts, unprocessed cancellations, claims that equipment is free. We are increasingly disturbed by what we hear about American company Vivint Alarms. Ah. They're putting on a show. Here they are, the boys from Vivint, heading out last week from headquarters in Auckland. Last year we heard about the Vivint hard sell. Basically ambushed into signing. I was very pressured. It was done so quickly. So we're back on the trail of the Vivint Alarm people, and the people here have something very very interesting indeed. Since that story last year, we've heard from plenty of unhappy customers. Gidday. Mike, is it? Mike and Adrienne on the North Shore did not sign up when Vivint came calling last year. So many people get caught out and been told they've said things when they know they haven't, and I thought, 'Well I don't want to be one of those people.' What did you do? What did you do? I actually taped them. And a bit of the grandkids. Mummy! Mummy! ALL LAUGH Listen for the word 'free'. 'Also free,' he said? 'Also free,' he said? Yeah. 'Also free,' he said? Yeah. He did. Yeah. Vivint insist their reps should not say equipment is free. 'It's going to be free for a lifetime,' he said. 'It's going to be free for a lifetime,' he said. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. It wasn't just a once-off. It was a continuous 'free' throughout the conversation. Last year, Vivint told me reps aren't trained to say 'free' at any time during the sales pitch. But they do train them to say... Now, Mike, do you see any difference between the words 'free' and 'no cost'? LAUGHTER I see it as exactly the same. It's like six of one and half a dozen of the other. It's like six of one and half a dozen of the other. It's nonsense, isn't it? We think these are the installation guys, not the sales reps. And that looks like the free` oh, sorry, no-cost equipment you don't pay for they were loading up last week. Uh, what exactly is the difference between 'free' and 'no cost' or 'don't need to pay'? We think they're all rubbish. If you sign up, you will pay handsomely for as much as five years. Nothing is 'no cost'. In West Auckland, Judy wants to be shot of Vivint. She and her husband got the hard sell 18 months ago. He's a very sick, terminally ill man at that stage. And your husband is no longer with us? He's passed away now, yes, and, um, when I came home, he said, 'They've been here all afternoon. I could not get rid of them.' Totally pressured. Pressured. She's furious at Vivint's response to a call-out over Christmas, when she was away. They sent the security men, and they looked over the gate and said everything was OK. They just did not do their job. That siren on the house didn't do its job either, says Judy. That box ` you obviously expected that that was going to make a noise. That box ` you obviously expected that that was going to make a noise. Oh, yes, totally. I think it's useless. Totally useless. And then there's the Vivint contract. First there's the usual guff about free equipment. Zero, zero, zero, zero, zero. And then on this page... This is what really really annoys me. This is the standard Vivint contract. I've seen quite a few now. Seems they make a big show of crossing out that number and writing in a smaller one. But look at that number ` the total cash price. It should change too, but often it doesn't. It stays way, way more than it should be. I've seen this mistake again and again and again. Vivint customers say the contracts aren't invalid. Customers only pay the monthly amount. We still find it troubling. These contracts are wrong. Judy's hired a new local alarm company, and she's trying to cancel her Vivint contract. So I've been very distraught over this, because I've been trying to ring them, and I can't. So I just say thank you, Gordon, and thank you, Fair Go, for all you've done. The Vivint guys may be coming to you soon. It was Hamilton, Whangarei, Upper Hutt in recent weeks. What's your advice if the Vivint salesman comes calling? I'd say just to politely say, 'On your way.' 'Down the road!' 'Down the road!' BOTH LAUGH Vivint had cancelled Judy's contract. They say the guard wasn't able to enter without instructions, and they've no record of being told the siren wasn't working. Vivint say they've got hundreds of satisfied customers in this country, and they're proud of the kit and service. We had a lot of questions for them, including, "What is the difference between 'free' and 'no cost'?" They dodged that at first but said it's not illegal to say 'free'. They compare that no-cost equipment to buying a mobile phone ` sign a fixed contract and pay little or nothing up front. Then early today, they sent another statement. 'There's no difference between 'free' and 'no cost'," and they insist customers do not pay for the equipment if they sign a contract; no part of the monthly fee is allocated to equipment; contracts are vetted by a NZ law firm. The Commerce Commission is investigating Vivint. Contact them and us if you have concerns. We especially want to hear from you if you worked for Vivint. There's some significant changes in consumer law rolling out this year, which got us thinking ` how well do we all know the law? SNEAKY MUSIC Let's try our luck on K Road. We sweetened the deal with a wager too. I've got six questions here ` true-false questions. $10 if you get five of them right. (READS QUESTION) ...to sell it to you at that price. True or false? True. BOTH: True. BOTH: True. Whoopsie. True. True. You've got true facing. (LAUGHS) > You've got true facing. (LAUGHS) > I'm sorry, false. True. Overwhelmingly, word on the street is that you can buy a wrongly priced item at face value. But are they right? And what do you guys at home think? We reveal all later in the show. I'll give you the correct answer later in the show. Now, imagine how stressful it would be if you had 11 days to find a new home for you and your family. Sorry? Sorry? It's also illegal. It was, like, difficult for me to hear that. Sometimes I think I am the only one who has really grown up. And what do Ratty, Badger, Mole and Toad know that you don't? Government have made a decision that impacts on all these voluntary organisations without any thought of what the consequences were. RUSSIAN ACCENT: Sometime work follow you home like bad smell. Set some boundaries. CELL PHONE RINGS, VIBRATES CELL PHONE RINGS, VIBRATES Work? Oh, oh no! Night-night, smart device. Take some time for you; nobody die. TINKLY MUSIC Welcome back. We know it's getting tougher and tougher to climb the property ladder. And for some, the hardest step is just getting and keeping a roof over their family's heads. That's causing problems for tenants and landlords. Here's Garth with advice on avoiding some of those woes. This must be every landlord's nightmare. ALL CHEER Watching this on the news last year, you might be forgiven for refusing to rent to anyone under 30. But if you think it's all fun and games for the growing numbers of young 'uns who are paying off someone else's mortgage, check this guy out. Hi. Yep. Sorry? Sorry? It's also illegal, cos we` I don't care. Meet Brett Sosich. He's just popped in to step up the pressure. He's giving his tenants notice, but not for anything they've done. He didn't give us a written notice. One tenant, he just texted him and said, you know, 'You have to leave.' Their landlord had been trying for months to sell this house in Papakura. When it went unconditional, he says the owners wanted vacant possession in less than a fortnight. Looks like he was doing everything he could to send the tenants packing, and that left just 11 days to find a new home ` one that's still handy to the store Nick manages. I told him, 'You need to follow the rules and regulations. 'It's really difficult to find a house in two weeks.' He said, 'Well, I don't care.' Pretty much what he said. 'I don't care.' I said, 'I've got two kids.' 'I don't care.' I actually started crying, because I was thinking about it, and I was, 'I could go to my mom's,' but there's no permanent solution to where we're gonna live. And I have two kids. He said he was gonna shut off the power and water. And we're not financially stable, so it was difficult for me to hear that. How can this be right? They'd signed a lease ` or thought they had. Nick and Sarah had an agreement, but it wasn't a residential tenancy agreement ` four pages of fine print. No. And it was not a boarding house tenancy agreement, no. What they had signed was a flat- or house-sharing agreement. Technically, the landlord was their flatmate, and the Residential Tenancies Act didn't apply. So no 90 days' notice, or 28 for a boarding house. In the end, not even the two full weeks promised by the agreement they had signed. Can that be legal? Well, yes ` if Brett Sosich was one of their flatmates. The catch is he admitted to me on the phone he wasn't living here at all. So is his flatshare agreement an attempt to skirt the law or just a mistake? Here's what he told me. That will turn out to be very bad advice he's followed. He's also failed to lodge their bond with the authorities as the law requires. Pretty much a granny flat up here. Pretty much a granny flat up here. But no kitchen, right? Pretty much a granny flat up here. But no kitchen, right? No, kitchen. No. The real estate agent's pitch had called their place a three- to four-bedroom home. But check out the claim. It rents for 1200 a week. How? Well, there have been a few modifications. This wall seems to chop a room ` and a window ` in two; and this rather dark, windowless lounge where the garage used to be; and those numbers over the doors looks a lot like someone's thrown together a boarding house. Others were living downstairs. And it wasn't really fit for our kids, but we just did it because that was the cheapest option that we thought was good for our kids. Low-wage earners can't be choosers in this market. Their alternatives are pretty awful. People live in these. Down here. See the basement down here? Underneath this office? Underneath this office? Yeah, cos I've delivered food parcels here. I'm out for a drive with the Reverend Mark Beale. He's showing me what happens if you get chucked out of a boarding house in south Auckland. I can see, like, a lounge suite in the garage down there. Would that be...? Yeah, there's someone in there, cos I've done a food parcel into that one. Garages, caravan parks and basements are the next stop for some families. And the desperation, I think, is caused by the fact that you haven't got the money to get into an ordinary place because of $2500 to $3000 to get into it. Never mind saving for your first home. Round here, saving the deposit for a rental is the first step on the property ladder. So, what about Nick and Sarah? Well, a few weeks later, they have had to take a step backwards to move on. They've shifted in with family. Four adults and four children now share this three-bedroom home. Cheerful chaos inside and out. Whoa, don't go over the back. I guess living in a shoebox isn't all bad some of the time. (LAUGHS) I don't know if they love living with us, but... (LAUGHS) we love living here. They had felt trapped. It was so horrible dealing with all that and then being stuck in that situation. Their so-called flatsharing agreement was with a guy who is actually their landlord ` plain and simple. They're tenants, and tenants can't contract out of the legal minimum notice periods. No way a landlord can lawfully chuck someone out in 11 days unless there's an order from the Tenancy Tribunal first. Nick and Sarah laid a complaint against Brett Sosich at the tribunal. With a date set for a hearing, they had some leverage. Who wants to go to court? They wanted something swifter and more certain, so Fair Go helped them negotiate. I cancelled the court date this morning. The agreement was that he pays us a thousand ` that's including the bond and all the other costs. How would you do this differently next time? < Look at the contract a bit more before signing it, not rushing in and signing a contract because it's a new house, taking your time, make sure you read it, um, properly. Pretty much just have everything in writing. And on camera if it gets really ugly. And it's worth knowing these things don't die easily. Either party can apply for a hearing at the Tenancy Tribunal. And that can happen even after they've moved out or been moved on. Now, did anyone win that $10 with the true-false question we posed earlier? I've got six questions here ` true-false questions. $10 if you get five of them right. (READS QUESTION) ...to you at that price. True or false? Schools, churches, gyms, community groups, theatre groups and plenty more are all about to be hit hard in the pocket, maybe even get fined. It's because of the government. But it seems the government doesn't want to help. Boop-boop! boop-boop! Toadie! Surely there is a better way. It's really affected so many people, and to coin a phrase, it's criminal what they've done. We asked you what you reckon we should work on at Z. (SIGHS) I'd like to fill up no matter which side I park. Well, we've got super-long hoses. So come and see what you reckon now, as we help you Zip Thru Z. Welcome back. Government makes a hundred million-plus; community groups lose thousands. Sound fair? We sure don't think so. It's all about these ` radio microphones. Hannah explains. The characters Mole and Badger, Ratty and Toad. Rabbit, I wonder. You're a man of the world. It's am-dram time ` Wind in the Willows at Whanganui's Royal Opera House. Where might one purchase one? Where might one purchase one? Purchase what? Where might one purchase one? Purchase what? One of those motor car thingies. The actors are amateurs, yes. Boop-boop! Boop-boop! Toadie! But to amplify their voices, they use professional-quality radio mics. The opera house owns a dozen,... Toadie, come back here! ...used by amateurs, professionals, and local schools. Oh, it's crucial for them. You imagine the schools, with the youngsters as their actors. They haven't got big, strong voices, so they need some way of projecting their voice. Radio microphones like these use radio frequencies to transmit sound,... And now speak to me. ...just like your radio, telly or cell phone. But last year, government sold off the radio frequencies used by radio mics, because the cell phone companies wanted exclusive use of them. So, Toad, can I check yours? Hello. The auction netted $123 million. And Ratty. And Ratty. Good morning! Government happy, telcos happy. Radio mic users, though, not. (BRAYS) No, it's not fair. It's totally unfair, because government have made a decision that impacts on all these voluntary organisations without any thought of what the consequences were. Currently, radio mic users use this band of the spectrum. But because government has sold that band off to the telcos, they're going to have to shift to these bands of the spectrum. The problem is that some of the old radio mics can't actually make that switch. So people are going to have to buy brand new radio mics, costing thousands and thousands of dollars. We're looking at $35,000, and that's a huge amount of money that we've gotta spend on something we've already got. There wasn't a spare $35,000 in kitty. We've had to go and draw a $35,000 loan. Are you comfortable about taking out a bank loan to cover it? Very uncomfortable, because like any voluntary organisation, again, you budget for the coming 12 months. And then you get hit like this ` it's just shot your budget to pieces straight away. How many others might be in the same boat? Round the country, there's an estimated 100,000 radio mics used by just about everyone. People like drama groups, community theatres, the ministers in churches. Film and TV productions, sports events, musical theatre, plays, concerts, gyms, corporate functions, public events. When The Hobbit premiere was in Wellington, there were 100 radio microphones in use at that time. Stephen says about a third of all radio mics are already using approved frequencies. Another third can be reprogrammed, but the rest have had to be replaced. Around 30,000 new radio mics at around $2000 to $3000 a pop. It's frustrating, and it's infuriating that these costs are put on voluntary organisations like ours and many others like us. And because this lovely old opera house will be closed for five months this year for earthquake-strengthening, that means no shows, no revenue. We're really hit very very hard. So radio microphone users really are the losers here. Government's already made $123 million from the auction. They reckon there's another $2.4 billion in economic benefits from the move. So everyone's creaming it except the voluntary and community groups. They're already on the bones of their proverbial, and now they're having to dig deep into their own pockets. And that sucks. I would like them to have made the money available to every organisation to cover the costs... every voluntary organisation to recover the cost of what it's been to change their radio mics. Stephen Buckland's lobby group asked government for compensation. We put that on the table, and we're rebuffed straight off. Radio mic users don't pay a users fee, but they can only use frequencies not used by digital TV, and they don't have any long-term security. Communications minister Amy Adams told us... A future that looks a lot more difficult for this group, and thousands of others. Sometimes, I think I'm the only one who's really grown up. It's really affected so many people. And, I mean, to coin a phrase, it's criminal what they've done. So here's an idea. The telcos ` Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees ` get to make plenty of money with their new 4g technology. They are benefitting from the sell-off of radio frequencies. Maybe they could put a wee percentage of that aside for those community groups affected. Just saying. And if you're worried because you might have one of those radio mics tuned to the old frequencies, check our website for more details. Now, remember the true-or-false questions we asked earlier in the show? We're back on K Road, this time to get the lowdown on Fair Go's first consumer rights true-or-false pop quiz. (READS QUESTION) I came across this once with a stereo. He said, 'No, actually it was advertised wrong.' I'm gonna say 'false'. Oops, wrong way round. He's right, though ` the answer's 'false'. If something is priced wrong at a shop, that doesn't mean they have to sell it to you for that price. Both parties have to agree on the price in order for the sale to go ahead. Next time, something we all hate paying. And we will be rolling out more true-false questions in coming shows, but that's the show for tonight. We will be on Facebook for the next half hour to answer your questions. Our programme is all about your problems, your thoughts, so do get in touch. We're on Facebook. Email us ` fairgo@tvnz.co.nz, or write to us ` Private Bag 92038 Auckland 1142. And next week ` If we were to stop work, we would survive for a month. So the Masons are making some life-changing decisions. Everyone fritters money. Can they go from fritter to frugal? Your home mortgage, which is currently on track to be paid off in 25 years, we'll be able to get that down to about five and three-quarters. < Can you do it? Copyright Able 2015