Captions by Sean Lydiard. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023 - Tonight ` kids baseball ` are the rules getting in the way of the game? - Everyone was really disappointed; some people got quite angry. - It was really annoying because baseball's not really big here and, like, it's kind of just more of an opportunity for us to get like seen and get more playing time in. - Plus, she had an accident in a carpark and was sure it wasn't her fault... But when it came to proving it, she got a huge surprise. - 'There's video footage, are you going to pursue that?' And they said no. - And pet insurance ` have you got the right cover for your furry, feathered and fishy friends? - It seemed quite misleading, so, yeah, that's why I called Fair Go. Tena koutou katoa ` welcome to the show. Happy Monday. Our first story is about a keen team of young baseball players, who are serious about their commitment to the game. - So when the rules stopped them entering a national tournament, they wanted answers. Gill went to find out why the team couldn't get their case past first base. (J. BRISTOL'S 'PLAY BALL') - These Canterbury players have got skill, they've got team spirit... - Nice catch, Mitchell. - ...and dedication. Do you play any other sports? - Yeah, I play six. - Do you have a favourite? - Uh, baseball. - But here in Christchurch there's something they haven't got... - At the moment, we've got nobody to play. - Not for miles in any direction. Which is why a tournament in Nelson was a big hit with the team ` it could be game on. Described as a great platform to participate and compete, the chance to be national age group champions. - Got really excited, yeah, basically. - Just gave us opportunity to play because we didn't really have any other teams to play against. - Couldn't believe I thought, 'This is awesome! We get to take our team up to Nelson, 'we have a whole weekend up there, we stay locally. We've done it before, you know, for previous tournaments. - Good pitches, now. - But talk about a curveball. - Us parents, we all got an email saying 'We can't go because not enough of our players were registered last year.' As we're not a playing team, a lot of the parents didn't see a point in getting registered. - The last chance to register was in November. Still, it was only the start of February and the tournament wasn't till April, so... - We offered to register them there and then and they said no. - It was Canterbury Baseball that were keen to enter a team, but they accepted Baseball New Zealand's rule that late registrations weren't possible. Not the parents though. I'm sure you said, 'Well, can you explain why that's so important?' - Yes, I did, yeah. - What did they come back with? - Baseball New Zealand never replied to me. I emailed Baseball New Zealand, Oceania Baseball, my local MP, Minister for Sport, and I see CCed baseball New Zealand into all those emails and I've had no response, apart from yours. - Yay! - So thank you. Thank you. Somebody's listening. - As you can see, Leslie is determined to bat for her son's team. - There's COVID in my family and I'm not gonna stay home, I'm gonna come out and make my point known that what's happening is wrong. - She hoped Baseball New Zealand would step up to the plate. - It's about children; children need to go and play. They're keen, they want to play, let them play. - Instead, these players are down, that they're out. - It's kind of annoying. - It was really annoying because baseball's not really, really big here and like it's kind of just more of an opportunity for us to get like seen and get more playing time in. - Baseball New Zealand says rules are rules. - Other regions, they abide by the process ` they, you know, have registered members; they register at the start of the season just like everybody else has to. - It's not the first case of late registration preventing a team from taking part, and it's definitely not the most famous. Remember this? - NARRATOR: Their dream was to compete in the Olympics, but they chose a sport they knew nothing about. - In the movie, they had to beat the odds ` in real life, they had to beat the rules as well as the odds. At first they were told late registration barred them from taking part. But in their case, the Olympic Committee reversed its decision on appeal, so the team famously got to compete. - Even the IOC, the International Olympic Committee, can change its mind, and it does so just about every year. - Sport policy expert Mike Sam loves a good old movie, especially one that makes a fair old point. - For every sport, I think the two main objectives are getting more people to play more and getting more people to play better. That's what they should be trying to do. - He's baffled by Baseball New Zealand's decision. - Thinking about why registrations need to be` need to occur by a certain date, and I really can't think of a reason. - So we tried again to get one. What was the harm in letting them register that team to play in the tournament? - The harm comes that it's unfair to those players that have played the whole season. National tournaments are put together as a pinnacle event. - Registration does show commitment, but these Canterbury players have shown it in other ways ` most had played for years; several have trialled for national teams; four were registered this year, five in previous years, just three were new registrations. - There we go. - And remember, the lack of registration was because they had no teams to play against, yet they still practice twice a week ` it's what they live for. - I kind of grew up with it. My great-grandpa played baseball when he was in Canada and so did my grandpa. - I was born in Ohio, in America, so yeah, we just` I always played it. - Started in Japan, came back and found this club. - The other players are passionate too, and the parents, but they weren't prepared to front. - Parents are scared that the fact they'd stand up for what they believe in will affect their child's future in baseball. - We've seen the letters of support. - Everybody was really disappointed; some people got quite angry. - We would probably say that that's unfounded, from a Baseball New Zealand perspective. We work closely with our regional associations and our clubs. We understand that the communication may have degraded a little bit, but we know that our club and our regional association have provided the parent group with sufficient information. - Sadly, the team haven't even got to first base on this one. The tournament for under 16s was cancelled due to ` you've got it ` not enough teams to compete. - We're never going to grow the sport if you don't get children playing. - So game over for now. But they proved they had balls, and they're getting to talk with Baseball New Zealand through mediation and their stand might help down the line. - It might not make a difference immediately, but the boys who spoke up and the parents have spoke up, I'm almost certain it will make a difference in the future. - Oh, I reckon just let the kids play. - No! - Get them out on the diamond. - Don't let them play. Why do you want to the kids to play? It's gonna be bad for their health. - Don't listen to him. - Don't let them play. Make sure they're registered. - E haere ake nei, coming up ` the crash was caught on security camera, so why is the driver still battling to prove she wasn't at fault? - I'm just a little bit over it, you know, I've spent months constantly calling. - And our pets ` we love 'em to bits, but we're not so keen on the vet bills ` is insurance the answer? - The vet told us that we did not have a very good chance, that it was more likely that Garry wouldn't survive. Kia ora, nau mai, hoki mai, welcome back ` is there anything more infuriating than getting back to your parked car and finding someone's hit you and is nowhere to be seen? - Yes, there is. It's having an accident, knowing who the other party is, knowing that you can prove it wasn't your fault, but not being allowed to. Confused? Let me explain. Niamh Bothwell is stuck... not in this car park, but between two insurance companies, the police and Bunnings; a Bermuda Triangle of bureaucracy that could soon leave her car-less. All because while she was reversing, someone else did the same. (CRASH!) - Cos I was kind of already grumpy that he was continuing to pull out even though I was there. - Niamh says she stopped and honked. (HORN HONKS) - I held it down for about three seconds. - It didn't help. - First thing he says to me, is 'That wasn't me'. I had to explain to him the smashed light on the floor, the little dent on his car that lined up with my smashed light, and how his bumper lined up with my bumper. He then told me he didn't have insurance. - The other driver says, Not so. - No insurance would have been a dream scenario for Niamh because when she got home and on the phone... - It happened in the car park at Bunnings. - ...things got more complicated. - If he was uninsured, then AMI would cover my car for free. - But turns out the other driver did have third-party insurance; good news, because although the damage wasn't serious, it was expensive. - I've had a couple quotes done and they're both around $1700. And that's just from what they can see from the outside; there's always that chance that there's more damage underneath. - Niamh has just graduated, is working her first job as a hand therapist and doesn't have $1,700 on hand. - No, definitely not. Got a nice student loan to pay off. - The car's essential for a job, and with her Warrant of Fitness up in July, Niamh needs results fast. - I've had a quick chat to VTNZ and it will fail, unfortunately. And if it fails then I legally won't be allowed to drive it on the road. - With liability disputed, Niamh went back to Bunnings, where the fender-bender happened; they had the crash on security camera. - I thought it was a done deal, yeah. - Not so fast ` Bunnings wouldn't give her the footage. - We can only release footage to the police. - So she went to the police ` wasn't good news either. - They don't normally investigate car park accidents as they're considered private property. - Niamh says a local sergeant gave her his email address as a place for Bunnings to send the footage, but still no. So she asked Bunnings again, quoting the Privacy Act, which says... - 'People have the basic right to access information that is about themselves.' - This includes CCTV footage, but Bunnings said no, again. - 'As our standard practice and in accordance with our legal obligations, 'we only release CCTV footage under court order or at the police's formal request.' - There was still one slim hope. - No, the closest thing I've got is a description from someone at Bunnings who's seen the footage, describing what happens. - A Bunnings employee had sent Niamh an email with a description of what happens on the video. - 'You start to reverse first. Shortly after, the other vehicle reverses, 'you are stopped for three seconds till the other vehicle hits you.' - Case closed. - You'd think so. You'd think so. '...third-party with you guys.' Niamh's insurance company, AMI, initially offered to pay half, but once they read the description of the footage, they dropped the offer and told her, - 'As you have third-party cover, we will withdraw your claim 'and you can approach FMG insurance directly.' - So back to the phones. - But I guess I'm also just a little bit over it, you know, I've spent months constantly calling. - The other driver's insurer, FMG, was a no-go as well. They told Niamh, - 'Your story doesn't line up with our customers.' And then that's when I said, 'There's video footage. 'Are you going to pursue that?' And they said no. - So to keep her car on the road, Niamh needs the video footage. No one really wants to help and time is running short. - Think currently I'm just quite stressed about it all. - Funny thing is, this could be you one day. So what if something happens to you and it's caught on someone else's security camera ` are you entitled to the footage? Well, despite Bunnings saying no, the law says yes. - Privacy means the right to make decisions about who knows personal information about you. - New Zealand's Privacy Commissioner is Michael Webster. He says when it comes to privacy, individuals have one set of rules and organisations have another. - Under the Privacy Act, we all have the ability to request access to personal information about ourselves that an agency has collected. - Whereas... - Individuals are not covered by the Privacy Act. - So when my neighbour catches me admiring his house, he doesn't have to show or share the security footage with me. (WHISTLES) Nice build. But... - Individuals, if they're operating security cameras, should operate them in a way that isn't, frankly, creepy. - What about a company or organisation like Bunnings? Do they have to hand over all footage of you? - Individuals have the right to request access to personal information held about them by agencies, yes. - Right. But do they have to release it? - Unless they can determine that there are grounds withholding that are set out in the Act itself. - Bunnings says they withheld the footage to protect the privacy of the driver who hit Niamh. - ON PHONE: They didn't ask me. - It put his privacy interests in front of hers even though she could lose her car if she doesn't have the footage. The Privacy Commission recommend blurring or editing the footage as a compromise. Bunnings were not interested in this. We checked in with other big retailers ` most say they take a case-by-case approach. None of them require a police request or a court order to release footage and the police tell us a formal request from them is just not necessary. - Police are not usually required to give permission for a private property owner to release footage for purposes such as these. - We asked Bunnings about their policy and questioned if it was violating the Privacy Act. They are firm. - Our general approach is to only release footage at the police's formal request or under a court order. This is especially relevant where other people are identified. We appreciate the customer's frustration and have advised that we are willing and ready to cooperate with police on request. - Luckily, after we rang around the insurance companies, they got talking and FMG now says they're going to cover your claim and pay for your car to be fixed. - That's amazing. It's such a relief. Thank you. - FMG says they had the information to approve the claim for a month, but were busy with Cyclone Gabrielle. - We needed to prioritise our most vulnerable clients who have lost their homes and livelihoods. - That said... - We apologise this type of claim took longer than it normally would for us. - So Niamh can stay behind the wheel. You can keep your car on the road. - That's` That's great. - While giving her fingers a long-awaited rest. So, just to sum up what you experienced over the last seven-and-a-half minutes of your life. Bunnings won't release the footage unless, they say, they get a police request; the police are like 'We're not requesting this, we don't even deal with these sorta things.' It's just crazy; people are just trying to get on with their life. Let's all just get on with our lives. - Let's do that. - I need to ring talkback. - (LAUGHS) E haere ake nei, coming up ` pets, we love them, but when things go wrong, they can cost us dearly. Next to Fluff-Ball is Crackers. Inside the food bowl is Ragnarok. And then all the way over there is Midnight, who's a little bit camera-shy. - Kia ora, nau mai, hoki mai, welcome back to New Zealand's greatest consumer affairs show. Now, insurance hassles are one of those pet hates on Fair Go ` the ultimate grudge buy. But when need it, gosh, you appreciate having it. - Yeah, true. Well, one of our younger viewers, Reuben, needed some for his pet pigeon Garry, but couldn't get it ` so he called Fair Go for help. Here's Garth. - This is Garry. - When we originally got Garry, we were told that she was a boy, but then when we got some more pigeons, Garry laid an egg. We decided to keep the name Garry because it suited her, but yeah, Garry's a girl. - So what happened to Garry? - Garry got sick, was struggling to breathe and wasn't eating that much food. The vet told us that we did not have a very good chance, so it was more likely that Garry wouldn't survive. Garry went into an oxygen chamber and luckily got better. - There are no public pet hospitals; amazing care costs ` nearly $500. - If we didn't have that kind of money, then we wouldn't really be able to help them get better; we would be absolutely heartbroken. - Reuben went looking for pet insurance for pigeons. - Just cats and dogs. Cats and dogs... and horse. Uh, Tower ` cats and dogs. Cat, dog... rabbit and horse. Cats and dogs. PD pet insurance ` cats and dogs. Even though` But as its logo, it has a rabbit leaping into the air. - That especially bugged Reuben. - I just thought that it seemed quite misleading. So, yeah, that's why I called Fair Go. - Reuben has a whole flock to think about. - Garry. Dinosaur. That's Mocha. That's Bolt. Next to Bolt is Fluff-Ball. Next to Fluff-Ball is Crackers. Inside the food bowl is Ragnarok. And then all the way over there is Midnight ` he's a little bit camera shy. - Reuben's story got us thinking too; we love our pets, so is getting pet insurance putting a price on that love? And if so, how do we know we're getting value for money? Love is walking the dog, even if it's a rainy day at the beach in Wellington. Rebecca has also made a study of pet insurance for Consumer NZ, comparing the major pet insurers on their dog and cat cover ` what you get and how much that costs per month. - Well, our survey found that premiums for a puppy from six months old ranged from about $25 through to $75. Some policies range from $9,000 through to $25,000 in terms of what you can claim every year, so it certainly pays to shop around. - And to review what you're paying for, whether or not you make a claim, because the insurer will be. - Every year when it comes up for renewal, they can decide not to cover you or increase the premiums or put more exclusions into your policies so it would make it less good value for your animal. - Consumer found most of us would spend less than the cost of premiums on routine animal care, so there's less need to cover that. So it's really for the big things, the catastrophes? - You insure in case the worst happens, so it's a balancing act and it depends on your finances, whether you have got a little buffer there that you can access to pay for the vet. - Do you have pet insurance for blue? - No, I don't. When I first got Blue, I looked into it for Blue and our cat and it was just really expensive. So I decided to go without it and we just sort of squirrel some money away, so we've got a little bit of a fund there that we can tap into. - Money isn't the only thing that matters if you have a pet. - Remember Reuben's disbelief at the rabbit logo for the company that only covers cats and dogs? A spokesperson says it's not a literal representation of its service, but a symbolic representation of its brand values. We've caught everyone on the hop regarding pigeons. Pet Cover says it's about to launch insurance for any exotic pet that can legally be kept here but doesn't have prices yet. Tower says it would need to do the numbers. - It's largely about how often a pigeon would need to visit a vet for an illness or an accident, and then what the cost of the treatment would be, and that's basically how an insurer would set a premium. - As for Consumer's suggestion to put money aside instead of insuring... - Last year we had one claim of $7,000 for emergency surgery on a dog. So some people have that in savings, but a lot of us won't, and that's where pet insurance helps. - Tower does want to say thanks to Reuben for putting pet insurance on people's minds, with a $50 pet store voucher. - That's one little gesture we can make. Unfortunately, we can't insure the pigeons, but we can help him with that. - We sent word to Nelson via Zoom ` not a courier pigeon. - Oh, thank you. Yeah, they'll be very happy. It will definitely go to good use. - Especially with so many beaks to feed. - Garry, get out of the food bowl ` other people want to eat food. - Good story, shot by Garry ` not the pigeon, the cameraman Garry ` two Garrys on that story, very confusing for Garth, who's not easily confused. - And, fun fact, Garth tells us that it's actually quite hard to work out if a pigeon is male or female. - Nothing gets past Garth. And also that if well looked after, pigeons can live for up to a decade. - Mm, good to know. Right that's it from us. If you only caught part of the show, you can catch it again on TVNZ+. - And remember, if you have problems ` we've all got problems, Star's got problems ` then we are here to help with your consumer problems; no matter if they're huge or teeny tiny, please get in touch. - Do! We're on Facebook and Instagram. You can go to our webpage ` tvnz.co.nz Email us ` fairgo@tvnz.co.nz Or write to us ` PO BOX 3819, Auckland 1140. - Thank you for watching. Have an early night ` remember ANZAC Day Dawn Services tomorrow. See you at dawn. Until next week... - BOTH: Po marie.