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What guarantee Master Builders?
Reporter: Gordon Harcourt
The Master Builders logo is one of the most trusted brands in the housing game. The TV ads actually say "they may be the best builders in the world... Award winning excellence guaranteed".
Tell that to the people I've been talking to - seven complaints from Kerikeri to Wellington.
They're all about the Master Build Guarantee. It offers cover up to $500,000 for various things including if your builder is "unable or unwilling to put things right".
One couple has actually had a pretty decent guarantee payout but they're still furious with the way they were treated.
And then there's John and Jill in Kerikeri. They've got a dream location overlooking the Bay of Islands. The house has sat unfinished, unlived in, empty for four years. They've got various reports including one from the Department of Building and Housing which says "design and construction" are to blame for leaks. They won't have the builder back. And because they won't, Master Build Services (MBS) won't pay out on the guarantee.
Isabelle in Upper Hutt has one of the worst renovation horror stories we've seen. The first estimate was $470,000. The final cost over $1,000,000! The MB guarantee does not cover cost overruns but there are plenty of things she thinks it should. MBS won't pay because Isabelle won't pay yet another $10,000 to the builder.
And how about this? Isabelle has an email from MBS which says "you cannot guarantee skill or experience". Well doesn't that totally contradict the TV ads?
I interviewed Warwick Quinn, the boss of both the Master Builders Federation (MBF) and of Master Build Services, the company which administers the guarantee and which is fully owned by MBF. He says there's no conflict of interest there, and in fact it can help put pressure on member builders.
His key point is that MBS cannot step in while the contract between builder and client is live. Until it is lawfully cancelled or the builder has abandoned the job, the client must stick to the contract dispute procedures.
He says he will look into all the cases we've received.
Hall Pass
Reporter: Phil Vine
The Canterbury earthquake has seen a massive outpouring of compassion by companies.
But university student Cameron Sims discovered a limit to that compassion from the multi-national company that runs the halls.
Although they let the students who left Canterbury straight after the February earthquake out of their contract with nothing to pay, Campus Living Villages wanted to charge Cameron $1,344.
Milo undercover
Reporter: Hannah Wallis
Last week Milo-mad Jay tipped us off that something was wrong with his favourite drink - he was right.
Parallel imported Milo from the Philippines has hit the market, made by Nestle in Manila but to a different recipe, different taste, with less dairy product, less malt and less nutritional value.
We did an undercover survey of dairies and superettes to see how the Milo was being sold and packaged. Not one of the places we visited had any signage on the shelves saying parallel import, not one salesperson alerted us to this unless they were asked and all the packages we saw failed to have any local contact details for the importer and/or distributer.
That is a breach of the labelling rules.
We discovered that much of the Milo was imported by West Auckland based firm Elite International. They told us they didn't' know about the packaging rules and promised to start putting stickers on the packets with Kiwi contact details so consumers know who to contact if they're not happy with the product.
They said only about 5% of their retailers had reported complaints about the different Milo and had no plans to stop supplying it.
We suggest if you get the Milo and consider it a dud, try getting a refund either from the retailer or, if the details are supplied, the importer. And you can also report the matter to MAF - the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
