Get away from it. Get away from it. No. You can learn from this scary stand-off. Auction, auction, auction. This duplication, triplication of expense, all getting reports on the same property, is madness. $6.5 million ` a bargain. 'For sale'. Auction. And ` Argh! Copyright Able 2015 We'll explain that later. We'll explain that later. Yes, welcome to Fair Go. Towies. We have some rather scary video of a confrontation between a motorist and a towie. Before you see it, do you know what your rights are if tangling with a towie? Here's a question. (READS) Um... false. It's false. 'Do you think he's right? Hmm. It's a curly one.' I'm going false. They can tow you. Oh, always a little bit of drama on K Road. I'd say true. Probably false. I've heard that's true. False. True...? Uh... I'll say false. Later we'll see if he's right. We'll have the answer for you after this story by Gordon, who is a wee bit obsessed about towies and clamping and rules about parking, so he got excited when a video turned up. Well, it is actually quite a striking video, as you'll see. And it perfectly explains one part of my obsession ` what is the law if you come back to your car while a towie is trying to hook you up? Mate, you're going to damage her car. Mate, you're going to damage her car. No, I'm not damaging her car. Get away from it. Get away from it. No! This is an angry towie. He's trying to tow away a car with the driver inside it. So sorry! So sorry! No, no, don't be. I think it's ridiculous. Erika parked in the wrong space outside her gym and ran out when the towie pulled up. If I'm not here you can tow me away. But I'm here, then you shouldn't take it away, so... < So, you're refusing to let the vehicle go. She called her lawyer, and he took the video. He was threatening her. He threatened me when I was here. Now, he might seem familiar. That's him ` Tuariki Delamere, a cabinet minister in the late '90s; now an immigration lawyer. < No, I am acting for the lady. She has possession of her car. I was surprised. I thought he would have just packed up and left, you know. Win some, lose some. You're too late. You don't have possession of the car, mate. She is sitting in it. She wishes to leave. But Erika says it wasn't connected to his truck when she turned up. No, not at all. Um, he was... um, backing into my car. We seriously question that. We seriously question whether he has any legal right to tow that car. Why? Simple ` this 1983 High Court ruling, my favourite bit of obscure law. We've featured this before on Fair Go. It was Wellington, 35 years ago. Mr Murray came back to find a towie hitching up his car. Mr Murray protested. He got in his car, and he put on the brakes, but the towie bled the brake fluid and towed the car with Mr Murray inside. Mr Murray took Jamieson's Tow & Salvage to court for trespass and vehicle conversion, and he won. The tow company appealed and lost. Now, the guts of the High Court ruling is that the lawful right to tow disappears when the driver is present because of the risk of a breach of the peace. < And she wishes to leave. In this case the principles are the same, according to the lawyer who fought and won that 1983 case. And you don't have the right. The tow truck driver has yet to hitch the vehicle up to his tow truck, and therefore he hasn't got the right to do that. Things start getting a bit ugly. Yeah? Eh? Go on, you <BLEEP>. Go on. You gonna sort this out? You gonna sort this out? Eh? The towie wanted it sorted with $100 release or call-out fee. But he say he wouldn't let me go unless I pay him $100 in cash. He can't tow her away, and he can't charge her any call-out fee. He can only charge a release fee if in fact he has at that time exercised his right lawfully. In this case, because he hadn't got to the point of restraining the vehicle, he doesn't have any right to demand a fee. Auckland Towing have helped Fair Go before, but this time we think they got it wrong. A shy beastie, the towie. No on-camera interview. But they have given me this ` legal advice they got 21 years ago. Basically, they say that if they've started hooking you up and you turn up, well, you are too late. It is lawful for them to demand you pay them a release fee. The car wasn't even hooked up. He was backing up. Sorry, mate, you're too late. Oh, I'll call the police if necessary. Police were on the way. The lady has possession of her car. They turned up not long after this happened. Argh! You <BLEEP>ing! What happens at the end of the video? Well, he came round, bent down there, and you can see in the video he's bending down. And the next minute he picked them up and smashed them against my shins. The towie and Auckland Towing vigorously deny that, and police didn't press charges. They did insist that Erika paid the release fee. Eventually I had to pay $100 because the cop asked me to. That I found astonishing. He says towies and police should know the law. Given that tow truck incidents happen several times a day, every day, I would think most cops would know that. So, no assault charge, but the Transport Authority upheld a complaint about the driver's behaviour. Tuariki Delamare has complained to police about their actions, or lack of them. Police won't comment on the ongoing investigation. We had general questions, too, about any legal advice police might have on this sort of thing. They'd only say they assess incidents like this case by case and police often have to make decisions on the spot to ensure community safety. Now, I've written some more about this, and it's on our website. One thing you must know ` that obscure legal ruling I so fondly quote is only about towies and private land. If you're getting towed on a public road, local council policy applies. So we've actually just given you the answer to this week's True or False quiz question, which was, of course... (READS) BOTH: True...? Yep, the answer is no. You can't be towed if you're sitting in your car, but don't treat that as an invitation to leap in as your car's being towed or hooked up. If the car was lawfully hooked up, you're too late, and we say it's a very bad idea to jump in your car to try and stop it going. If you're parked in the wrong place, well, that's your bad luck. So, repeat that ` don't get in your car. It'll make a bad situation a lot worse. And remember ` we put big money on that. 10 bucks goes to the person who got the most right answers. So a winner or not ` next week. Now, Gordon, there's something that's been really winding you up. Waiting for Vodafone. Argh! My recent Vodafone call was two hours, 18 minutes. I thought that'd be tough to beat. I was very wrong, as you'll see. And next ` Auction, auction, auction. This duplication, triplication of expense, all getting reports on the same property, is madness. $6.5 million ` a bargain. 'For sale'. Auction. Welcome back. Buying a house ` scariest financial decisions you'll make. You don't want to make it in a blind panic in a room full of strangers and a bloke with a hammer. Yes, auctions. Great for sellers, can be horrible for buyers. And doing it right will cost you thousands, probably for nothing. Brodie asks ` is there a better way? Auction, auction, auction, auction. 'Exclusive'. Auction. Auction, auction. Auction, auction. Oh, that's got a price tag ` $6.5 million. A bargain. 'For sale'. Auction, auction, auction. Are you starting to pick up what I'm putting down here? Call it if you want to buy it. Really really hard. Surprising. The final call... Stressful. Frustrating. Going... Definitely difficult. Annoying. (LAUGHS) (TAPS GAVEL) Gone there. So why are auctions so hard? I think that this duplication, triplication ` whatever ` of expense, all getting reports on the same property, is madness. Madness ` what? It's taking money away from the people who need it most to finance their house purchase. Holy moly. I thought buying a home was supposed to be part of the life dream. It's a nightmare that you want to get over as quickly as possible. Expats Simon and Alana are living in Singapore, and they'd love to come back to their dream home, but they've failed at six auctions over the past two years. The frustration is heightened because people have got to invest to go to these auctions. You know, we're spending up to a thousand dollars just to be at the auction. Back the truck up ` a grand an auction at six auctions? Why? Cos they're forking out for due diligence on places they don't stand a chance with. Why a buyer should be spending money on due diligence reports on properties that they think might go for 500,000 then turn up all excited for the auction and having spent all of that money, and the first bid is 650,000. It's wrong. But auctions are all the rage these days, especially here. 70% of all the country's auctions are in the City of Sails. What we're seeing is people attending auctions, and they are packed to the gunnels. Which is ideal for the seller, a winner for the real estate agent, and building inspectors cash in too. But who loses out? The would-be buyer, because any responsible buyer does their homework, and we're talking about things like LIM reports, property inspections and valuations, which can cost you up to $1500 per house. Isaac and Liz bought this Mt Wellington home late last year. It was the third house they bid on, and they forked out nearly $2000 on due diligence. Yeah, so we had to do valuations on three houses, and two we just had no chance. Went to auction and absolutely no chance. They were spending $600 per valuation ` required by their bank ` turning up to the auction, and missing out big time. I think the first auction we were out by about 100,000. The second one was a bit closer, wasn't it? It was about 20,000 or 30,000 that we were out by. But it's all just dead money. So we're looking at two big issues around auctions here; the first being how people are wasting this on due diligence. We have heard of situations where the same report has been paid for by four or five different people, and to us it's sort of getting a little bit silly. The second issue is the fact that practically anyone with a toolbelt can do a building inspection, a crucial part of due diligence, and it can cost you anywhere from 300 bucks up. They are incredibly mixed in terms of quality. Some of them are appalling; some of them are really good. Um, but telling the difference, even for an experienced real estate practitioner, is often very difficult, and it's a totally unregulated market. This just seems a bit bizarre. If you're selling a car, there are certain declarations that you as a vendor have to make. There's no equivalent in the real estate industry. If you're a vendor and you're selling a property, there's a real information imbalance between vendor and purchaser. All right. So we've identified the problems. What are the solutions? The very best way to do it is to have a homeowners information pack that would have the LIM, a building inspection that's available to everybody and a registered valuation and that that was funded as part of the costs of sale by the seller. Does the Real Estate Institute agree with this? It could mean the use of the R-word. At the end of the day, I'm not a big fan of regulation for regulation's sake. But this is the biggest asset you buy. Helen believes a one-stop shop home info pack with the LIM, a price guide and a building inspection could work. It's something that pretty much already happens with unit-titled properties. There is a Form 18 that owners have to fill in and complete, provide a bunch of info about the property. You start to say, 'Why only unit title properties?' They're not the only ones that have issues that people need to know about. Should we be looking at that as well? And she definitely believes it's time to figure out a better system for building inspections, too. A report being done to a certain standard, being kind of banked so that all` the vendor puts it there and all perspective purchasers can get access to it at a reasonable cost, knowing that it's a good and reliable report, and we would support a scheme like that. All of that would be a great help to Simon. But for now, they are quite happy staying in Singapore. It would just be much easier if you knew what was going to happen before you walked in there. And an info pack would've been awesome for Isaac and Liz. But they're just relieved they've found a house to call their home. You just have to persevere. You have to just go to every auction that you want the house for. You never know. Like, we got lucky. We got very lucky. And I wouldn't do it again. (LAUGHS) No. So, what do you think? Is that a good idea? A one-stop shop home info pack with the LIM, a valuation and a building inspection and so on, all provided by the vendor for prospective buyers, who could access it at a reasonable cost. We asked the Minister of Housing, Nick Smith, about regulation or some sort of better system for the building inspections part. He didn't get back to us. But I happen to know there is a scheme just like that being worked upon. And we hope to bring you news of it soon. Now, call waiting. We issued a challenge ` could you beat my very, very, very long call to Vodafone? A glance at Vodafone's Facebook page shows how many of you find this infuriating. Argh! I thought I could beat your two hours with Vodafone. Argh! Welcome back. Now, Gordon's call to Vodafone a few weeks back was nearly 2� hours. So we challenged you ` can you beat that time? 'No, I'm not really on hold with Vodafone here. This is just really bad acting.' Argh! 'But believe me, I do feel your Voda-pain.' Now, my recent Vodafone call was two hours, 18 minutes. I thought that'd be tough to beat. I was very wrong, as you'll see. Vodafone have some serious service problems. Here's just a few hours' worth from the Vodafone Facebook page. What's going on indeed. My 2:18:00 was relatively piffling. Ashleigh from Christchurch broke three hours; Melody Sione-Mulipola and Leisa Aumua beat that. But then... I thought I could beat your two hours with Vodafone. I didn't think I was going to double it, though. (LAUGHS) Stephen Charles from Dunedin waited five hours, 10 minutes, two seconds and never got a word from Vodafone. At first it was, 'Well, they'll answer.' 'Welcome to Vodafone's landline...' Then we went down the line of, 'I'm going to beat Gordon.' In the end I stayed on because I could. And with modern phones, I just put it on speaker. We went all over Dunedin with it. Including to the Vodafone shop. I took the phone into them and said, 'Have you heard this music before?' And they went, 'That's our hold music.' And I said, 'Yeah, it's been on for four hours.' # So long. # So long. # Five hours is a first; waiting is not for Stephen and so many others. Their call centres are pretty much rubbish. Now, at first Vodafone seemed happy to talk to us on camera, tell you what is going wrong. But no, we just got the old written statement. # I'll wait for an indication... # Vodafone say they've 'had some issues' and they apologise. It's their top focus, and they're taking steps to sort it. There'll be more customer care jobs, especially at peak. They're investing in software and more use of self-service tools. They say 80% of calls are answered within 10 minutes, and they end by saying, 'We are fixing it.' It needs to be fixed. There are so many people with the same problem, not sitting on as long but with the same problem that needs to be fixed. Lovely, helpful people, but hopeless system. Vodafone says Stephen's five-hour call is completely unacceptable, and they've apologised to him. It was an anomaly they say. It got stuck and the system couldn't see he was there. 70% of calls on his queue were answered in 20 seconds. Now, I have to say, Vodafone, pretty pathetic not to go on camera. I mean, you're a communications company, for goodness' sake! And what was that song that was playing? And what was that song that was playing? Uh, 'Sophie', Good Shirt. About 2002. (SINGS) 'So long. So long.' About 2002. (SINGS) 'So long. So long.' (LAUGHS) It's a great song. Now, here's Brodie with a very interesting development on a recent story that got you going. Schaa, You must be stoked. I'm delighted. Why is Schaa Rabbani delighted? Well, I'll get to that very soon. First, you might remember the truck driver came to us cos someone ruined Christmas. Yes, he and his family were travelling to South Taranaki on Christmas Day to spend it with his sister. Someone took exception to his driving and dobbed him in to the police, who turned up on his doorstep. The constable said that, 'We have received a complaint from another road user 'saying you were not driving within the lanes.' Despite Schaa protesting his innocence, the officer went ahead and issued him a $150 infringement notice. He came to us, and we thought, 'This can't be right.' Who knew a cop could issue an infringement based on one person's opinion and something they haven't seen themselves? We even double-checked with a traffic lawyer ` and yes, police can, but... A warning would be perfectly adequate. The police have a duty to investigate, not to just issue an infringement offence on the basis of one person's complaint. So Schaa was ready to battle his infringement notice at court, and we were ready to go down there with him. Many of you were surprised and shocked to hear of his case, how one driver's word was strong enough for police to issue the notice in the first place. No videos, no other complaints. Just that one driver. So, we're back at Schaa's, cos it seems police have changed their tune. I was at my work and received a call from NZ Police saying, 'You know, the police prosecution have reviewed the file, 'and they couldn't find much evidence in the file, so they have withdrawn the court hearing.' Yes, police also contacted us to say they'd withdrawn the charge of failing to remain within a lane due to inconsistencies in the evidence gathered. Have police apologised to you? In the email, yes. They have said, 'Please accept our apologies for all the inconvenience caused.' Yes! Good. We're happy about this. We certainly are, and we'll leave you with Schaa's big lesson from all of this. Fight for your rights and just don't take whatever NZ Police or people say and go to the court. If you have to, whether it's $150, $80 or even $30 ticket, do what you can. Nice one. That's very good advice. A bit of manifesto for Fair Go, that. And he got some help from Chris Ellis, one of the community law centres in Wellington. Nice one. Brilliant. So, that's the show, but 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 ` Write to us ` And next week ` it's all about your biggest asset. Your house ` is it properly insured? Get it wrong, it could be disastrous. Do you want to know the number that we've come up with? Do you want to know the number that we've come up with? Go on, hit me with it. We get the experts in to show you what you might be missing. Wow. Wow. A bit of a shock? Wow. A bit of a shock? Yeah, that is for sure. The number that we have got is... The number that we have got is... Whoo. I could never calculate that. So, big surprise for you? So, big surprise for you? Big surprise, yes. And when you're dealing with the biggest asset that you own, you want to make sure you get it right. That's next week. Goodnight.