Are NZ building supplies companies ripping off locals with impunity?

The story about Sela Apera and the problems regarding the quality and quanity of the building materials from a well know NZ based building supplies company rang a bell with a local couple who had a similar experience with the same company.
They are Tia and Geoff Bergin who are still trying to put out of their minds the bad experiences that began right from delivery of their material for their house project but which she found had been ‘short shipped’ meaning they had not sent all the timber.
Similar to what happened to Sela, the supplies delivered were not the premium quality materials as ordered and paid for, but very shoddy materials especially the decking timber which was bowed The plans were also incorrect because the changes she requested and paid for in the standard model had not been included at all.
For instance, she wanted an exposed ceiling not the exposed trusses which she thought were ugly, nor did she want windows which had bars across the louvres which were the ‘cheaper option’ but looked like ‘prison guard’ louvres and they finally settled on the price for the changes.
The company then tried to get them pay the full amount upfront but she insisted on the usual method of progressive payments as the various building stages were completed. The couple also had other projects in mind and decided that they may as well as order more material which somehow arrived prior to the kitset home they had already ordered.
They were charged for the entire order (despite some of it not on actually in the shipment received).
After hiring a NZ lawyer to sue the company, they found it too difficult and gave up saying they decided to ‘chalk it up to experience’ and have tried to forget all about it until they heard about Sela’s similar experiences shown on CITV and in the CI Herald.
She said the local manager of the company later fronted another company using her own name which she advertised on the front page of the local daily newspaper but stopped advertising a few weeks ago.
Her view is that having consumer protection laws need to be enforced and have a Commissioner to whom the matters can be referred. The new Secretary of Internal Affairs confirmed to the CI Times, that there is not yet a Commissioner to deal with such matters but that Ministry has put in a request to Government to allocate funds for that purpose and is awaiting the outcome of the request.

Headlines : Times 290 02 March 2009
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