* Tonight ` a serious safety concern. It is a really bad problem. Sticky dashboards. It causes major vision issues, and it just happens to be right in my critical vision area. Car manufacturers say they're not a problem, but motorists disagree. It is just not good enough. And childhood treasures can turn into valuable heirlooms. There was a set called the Emerald Night, which is a rare train set. But beware of deals too good to be true. There is quite a few people who have lost $1000, $2000. Plus ` when little gripes become major grumbles. It represents underhandedness and it's unscrupulous of the company to do it. Yowzer. But wait, there's more. The other day, we were baking and we needed raisins, and they were only half-full. Hado's Mailbag is back. What's going on, Fair Go? Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2018 Kia ora. Welcome to the show. We lead tonight with a sticky question ` is the dashboard in your car melting? This might surprise you, but sticky and gooey dashboards are a serious problem. Toyota, Mazda and Nissan have been the subject of a class action in the United States, and there's cause for kiwi motorists to be concerned about their safety. Here's Garth. Some things are meant to melt,... like candles when they burn... or chocolate ` it's made to melt in your mouth. Ice cream ` same thing. Some things are meant to melt, but dashboards in your car ` no. Dashboards aren't meant to melt. Kerryn has a melting dashboard. It's the top layer of it that is actually melting in the direct sunlight. It is a really bad problem. It's very unsafe. It causes major vision issues; I can't see. It reflects really badly on the windscreen, and it just happens to be right in my critical vision area. I put a tea towel over top of it, a lovely black tea towel. It's just not good enough. Not good enough, and not safe for her or her daughter. It's dangerous. Dangerous? Cos we could crash. And it makes it even worse if I need that there to stop the sun. I have a vision of about that much. And they do get a lot of sun here in Nelson ` more than anywhere else in New Zealand. It just doesn't handle the intensity of the heat, which I find really, really bad for a dashboard. Does this happen to lots of people in Nelson? Not that I know of. Not in Nelson, but from around the country, we're hearing more cases. Ryan from Napier. Anna from Ashburton. And, of course, Becky from last week's show. (LAUGHS) It's Becky who's made the breakthrough here for sticky dash owners. The Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal has ruled that in her case, the... making that fault a... which allowed her to reject the car and get all her money back from the dealer ` eventually. I feel like I've been held hostage. But Kerryn would rather keep her Mazda. I love my car. It's an awesome wee car. I just like it. It's fast. It's lowered. (LAUGHS) And it's black. Black's our favourite colour. Yeah, loves the pace, the pep ` just not the dash. It's a second-hand car, so you expect a few little bits and pieces to be wrong with it. I don't expect it to be completely perfect, but I don't expect the dashboard to be melting away in direct sunlight. Kerryn thought, 'No drama. The Consumer Guarantees Act means 'you can present a fault to the manufacturer if you wish,' so she contacted the manufacturer's rep ` that's Mazda New Zealand, which, like a number of car companies here, is already dealing with a major recall ` faulty Takata airbags. We're taking a few precautions ourselves. A year and a half ago,... - (BOOM!) - Ooh! ...Fair Go highlighted the fact that here, at least 300,000 vehicles from 12 different car makers have a potential problem. Now that number is over 450,000. These pictures come from US news coverage. Worldwide, there have been 23 deaths. Two, one. (BOOM!) There are no reports of any deaths or injuries here. The government, though, has announced a mandatory recall for 50,000 cars with the oldest and most suspect parts. Mazda New Zealand is just one of the many local car companies replacing the worst of those airbag inflators with safe new parts. They're covering all costs, including labour, if they imported the vehicle from Japan. But what about second-hand imports? Used imported vehicles, in law, it rests with the importers of used vehicles. Given the scale of this recall, the manufacturer's reps have said, 'Actually, we'll do everyone's ` used or new cars ` to get it done.' WOMAN: Yuck. But when it comes to matters like the dodgy dashboards, Mazda New Zealand says company engineers in Japan and officials in the US don't believe a safety recall is justified, so they seem to be sticking strictly to our consumer law, which says if it's a used import, it's not up to the local new car distributor to fix a fault. The liability is with whoever brought the car across the border into New Zealand. It probably doesn't seem fair to them. I can understand completely that it's not their problem; they didn't` they haven't caused the issue. But it's their brand. And... I can't go to Mazda in Japan. I wouldn't know where to start to make contact with Mazda in Japan. They should be taking responsibility for it. Indy Cars in the importer and dealer who brought in Kerryn's car about a year ago. I can't see them wanting to actually do anything with it. Kerryn paid $22,000 for the car, and there were troubles from the start ` unrelated to the faulty dash ` that took months to resolve. They didn't wanna come to the party. I ended up actually getting the MTA involved to get a result. And that was how I managed to get the issues with the vehicle fixed that they were legally obliged to fix under the Consumer Guarantees Act. Kerryn reluctantly went back to Indy Cars with her melting dash. The boss said he'd be happy to look into a solution. He suggested an upholsterer could patch it up. When Kerryn checked, the advice was it might not last and wouldn't be guaranteed. I just want my vehicle fixed. I just want it replaced. Yet neither Indy Cars nor Mazda New Zealand seem to be in any hurry to fix the fault. Trapped between the two of them. Where do I go? I'm sorta stuck in the middle. We're not ready to throw in the towel, but we need it back in place to go get something that's meant to melt. I think you've earned a treat. Let's get some ice cream. Yes! (LAUGHS) As for the dash, we've been talking to Indy Cars. Ice cream. At first, they insisted on an independent assessment of the problem. Cheers. Thank you. Within hours, they'd changed their minds and offered Kerryn a second-hand dashboard for free. (LAUGHS) But we've got an even sweeter deal for her. So, what would you say if I said I've already had a little chat to the Mazda people. Depends on what they've said, I suppose, is what it comes down to. (LAUGHS) Well, what they've said is ` '(STAMMERS) All right, then. We'll take care of it.' Really? Yeah. They're gonna fix it? They're gonna fix it all up. Oh my God. (LAUGHS) (LAUGHS) That would be amazing. I would love to be able to drive my car without having a tea towel on it. Mazda New Zealand insists it doesn't have to do this for a used import. Thank you very much, Fair Go. (LAUGHS) (LAUGHS) And Mazda New Zealand. And it's not promising to be so sweet to anyone else. Now, I know what you're thinking ` sticky dash, sounds like and old English dessert or something, but it is actually a really serious problem. You can't see out the front of your windscreen. Imagine driving with that. Terrible. Terrible. Hey, and well done, Mazda, for coming to the party on this one. Yes, really well done. Didn't need to. Now look, Mazda New Zealand tells us... Since last week's show, we've been contacted by several people with dodgy dashboards. All of them were the owners of second-hand imports like Kerryn's. Mazda's advice ` Of course, you stand a better chance of winning the argument now, thanks to that motor vehicle disputes tribunal ruling which stated... So what we're saying there is if you do have a dodgy dashboard, the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal could be the way forward for ya. Right. Coming up after the break ` the great online toy swindle. If it's too good to be true, it's likely to be. He bought some pricey Lego online and got swindled. There's is quite a few people that have lost $1000, $2000. Now he's sick of playing around. Just give me my money back. And there's trouble in the kitchen. The other day, we were baking and needed raisins. We checked, and they were half-full. This cook isn't happy. What's going on, Fair Go? Check out the three essentials for a healthy home on our website. * Welcome back. Most parents have a love-hate relationship with Lego. Yes, I do. I love how the colourful bricks get kids thinking outside the box. But I really hate the way that one stray brick always manages to find its way under your foot in the middle of the night. Oh, yes. Lego had been polarising parents for 85 years. It's a go-to toy for kids, but it can lead to a manly addiction. Here's Hannah. Lego ` normally the kids get stuck into it. But not just kids ` some adults do too. The geometry and the mathematics behind the design of the Lego bricks ` everything just fits. David is one of them. It's perfect. You might call David a super collector. You might David obsessed. I build sets. I write reviews on an internet website in Britain. So you can actually just spend a whole weekend just doing Lego-related activities? Oh yeah. Easily. David also spends a bit of time buying Lego off the web, but he's careful with it. I prefer 'Buy Now' as opposed to auctions. I don't get too caught up in the enthusiasm of an auction. They can tend to get out of hand. And he'd had his eye on a Lego train set like this, only much flasher. There was a set that's called the Emerald Night, which is a version of the Flying Scotsman. It's an emerald-green coloured steam engine with carriages, and it is quite a popular and rare train set from Lego. Getting his hands on the Emerald Night would have been pretty exciting. I'd really love it, yeah. Yeah. In June last year, David got an email from one of his Trade Me regulars. They had the train at a stonking good price. $450. David put the money in the seller's account and waited for the courier. And I go home, and I look at the front door to see if there's a package on the front door or something. But when no train arrives, David emails the trader to ask why and gets excuses like... 'I'm busy at work. I've been working night shifts. 'I'm off work now this week. I'll be able to send it early this week.' Are you starting to get a bit worried, at some stage? I... is beginning to think that I'm not gonna see anything at all. And I've since started sending requests to have my money refunded. And now? It's gone really quiet. But within the Lego community, David talks to another person, they talk to some other people, and David discovers... There's quite a few people that have lost $1000, $2000, $500. I asked around, and I put a value at about $10,000. Just what you know about. That I know about. So David's got no Lego and no refund. He says the train's bargain price should have been a warning. It's that old adage if it's too good to be true, it's likely to be. And he regrets doing the trade directly by email with the trader, but apparently, that happens all the time. Look, people say that they wanna move the relationship off e-commerce platforms like Trade Me because they wanna save the fees. But I would suggest that more often than not, it's because they wanna avoid the trust and safety mechanisms on those sites. Unfortunately, that's common criminal activity. So, if someone asks you to stop dealing through this site and just deal with me direct by email, it should be a red flag. Should be a red flag. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't exit the system the businesses use, because they use those systems to keep consumers safe and to reduce frauds. And I guarantee a lot of the fraud that people say exists on Trade Me is actually people being taken off Trade Me and defrauded. What can be so frustrating, though, in cases like David's is that often the law says, 'Sorry, this isn't a criminal matter; it's a civil issue.' But not this time. This time, it's ended up in court. This time, it's ended up with a guilty plea. There's been a lot of people talk about doing something, and I just decided to be the person to do it. And I just want to take action. David went to the police to tell them everything he knew about the person he'd been dealing with by email. I've got a couple of addresses. I believe the person resides in Gisborne. There are several names that have been suggested that this person operates by. Gisborne police found the trader. He's 28-year-old Sean Frederick-Ray Las Vegas. He's pled guilty to obtaining by deception. What have you learnt as a result of going through all this? The police have told us he was selling Lego through Trade Me reputably, and then his business practice expanded, and he couldn't keep up, and he failed to deliver what people were expecting, and it just snowballed and got out of control. In the end, police received 10 complaints totally around $7000. Sean Las Vegas is due to be sentenced in July. (CLICK!) But David's already been waiting a year, and he's still wondering where has his Lego money gone? What would you like to say to this guy? Give me my money back. Just give me my money back. Give everyone's money back. Just do the right thing. And although David bought his latest car from a toy shop, he'll still buy Lego online carefully. I wouldn't purchase anything unless it was through a reputable website. I've learnt that the hard way. So are you feeling like your Lego collection is a little inadequate now? My structures do not look anything like that. Yeah. I've got real Lego envy. I reckon. Now, Sean Las Vegas' lawyer has been in touch with us to say his client is remorseful and will be paying the money back. Police dealing with the case say it is risky to trade outside of reputable sites. At the very least, you must know who you are giving your money to and where you can find them if things go belly up. Coming up after the break ` a Kiwi classic has got one consumer really upset. MAN: It's unscrupulous of the company to do it. And there's trouble in the kitchen. The other day, we were baking and we needed some raisins, and they were only half-full. We all know you should never upset the cook. What's going on, Fair Go? And style stalking. Asking a stranger where they got their clothes from ` is that cool or creepy? (BOTH LAUGH) It is creepy. * Welcome back. Stalking is creepy and threatening, but what about style stalking? Style stalking, label stalking or fashion stalking is when you ask a complete stranger where they got their clothes from. What? Is that a thing? (LAUGHS) Has that never happened to you? Never. Never ever happened to me. That said, style stalking ` whatever it is ` is it cool or is it creepy? (LAID-BACK POP MUSIC) Check out these crowds, mid-week at Auckland's Sylvia Park. It's proof that we love a bit of shopping, and we love fashion. But how much is too much when it comes to coveting someone else's outfit? Asking a stranger where they got their clothes from ` is that cool... or creepy? (BOTH LAUGH) It is creepy. What? (BOTH LAUGH) I think it'd be... OK. Depends how they ask ya. (CHUCKLES) I think it'd be OK. Also cool. Um, if you want something and you don't know where it's from, why wouldn't ya? Nice dress, by the way. Oh, thank you! (BOTH LAUGH) I like that. I think that's creepy. Do you? I think that's OK. I think that's creepy. It reminds me of school. Like, 'Where did you get that?' (BOTH LAUGH) I always do that. (LAUGHS) Yeah, provided you ask in a nice way, yeah. Yes, creepy. I think you could take it the other way where it's flattering,... Yes. ...because someone has gone, 'Ooh, I like what that lady's wearing.' Yeah. Yeah. Depends on the person. I've had people say it, and I've done it myself, so I say 'cool'. Oh, I'd say it's a bit so-so. So-so. A bit so-so. It's a bit flattering, really. And I don't mind, but it depends on the situation. Yes, it's a compliment. Ah, fashion stalking. Yes. Now I know. It's never ever happened` Happens to you quite a lot, actually. Happens occasionally. People email in, 'Pippa, what are you wearing?' No one has ever emailed in and said, 'Haydn, what are you wearing?' Aw. I think tonight is your night. Yeah, working-style. (LAUGHS) Scams, rip-offs and product failures all have their place on this show, but sometimes, it is the little gripes and grumbles that can really get your blood boiling. Ooh, yes. This is gonna be good. Our mantra has always been 'no problem is too small', so without further ado, it's time to bring back that very occasional but exceedingly popular series 'Hado's Mailbag'. It's Hado's Mailbag, where no gripe or grumble is too small. Time to go bowling. And speaking of small, this week, we're rolling with raisins. Ella from Christchurch is confused about her raisins. Hi, Fair Go. The other day, we were baking, and we needed some raisins. We checked, and they were only half-full. So we checked another packet, and they were only half-full as well. What's going on, Fair Go? Remember, most foods are measured by weight not volume, so it doesn't matter how full the box is. But we randomly weighed some raisins anyway, and they were all overweight. And Sun-Maid say... They've offered Ella some free raisins. Hello, Haydn. You have the power to remove a small thing on the lid of this Kiwi shoe polish. Bob from Northland is not happy with his shoe shine, specifically a small hole you probably didn't notice in your can of Kiwi shoe polish. It represents an underhandedness, unprincipled practice, and it's unscrupulous of the company to do it, because it allows the vapours to evaporate out through this hole. And as a result, shrink the product to a point where you throw it away and you go and buy a new one. It is a really, really small hole. Can you see it? I can see it. That hole does not mix with the Kiwi image. For a start, Kiwi is not and has never been Kiwi. It was an Aussie company and is now owned by American Corporate SC Johnson. And as for the hole, SC Johnson say it has an important job. SC Johnson also claim the hole doesn't cause their product to shrink or dry up. Ray from the Waikato is not positive about his pears. He says they used to be grown in the Hawke's Bay. Now, he says, they're from South Africa. He's also mad there's less fruit in an imported can of pears. And he's right. Wattie's say... That's Hado's Mailbag for this week. I gotta go. That's how we roll. That is a marvellous segment, isn't it? Lousy bowling, though. (LAUGHS) Lousy bowling. Tricky. Really tricky sport. Really bad. Really bad. So, that is the show, but we're always here to help. Our programme is all about you, so if you've got a problem, no matter how big or how small, we're all over it, plus if you just need some advice, drop us a line. We're on Facebook or you can email us ` fairgo@tvnz.co.nz, or write to us ` Private Bag 92038 Auckland 1142. Thank you for watching. I've gotta roll. My bowling coach is picking me up. (LAUGHS) Until next week,... BOTH: ...po marie.