Stephen Fry’s NZ Broadband Tweets And The Entrepreneurs Organization Conference

There’s been a Mega embarrassment for New Zealand this week as Stephen Fry criticised the lack of a decent broadband service at the same time that the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) were having their international ‘university’ conference in Queenstown.

Stephen Fry made the comments in his Twitter blogs. It’s shocking that the country that brought you Avatar in glorious 3D, and the Mega Upload/Dotcom scandal, can’t even offer a reasonably priced, first world broadband communications service:

The EO is an international grouping of 8000 business founders from 40 countries. It meets twice a year to offer inspiration and networking opportunities. Among those present in Queenstown are Craig Nevill-Manning, director of engineering at Google; his wife Kirsten, director of human resources at Facebook; Sarah Robb O’Hagan, PepsiCo’s Gatorade president North America and global chief marketing office;, and Linda Jenkinson, founder of multinational provider of concierge services Les Concierges (source) So far none of them have yet tweeted about New Zealand’s internet, nor given public comment.

But this is what Stephen Fry had to say to his Twitter followers.

New Zealand so fine. It they have probably the worst. Broadband I’ve ever encountered. Turns itself off slows to a crawl. Pathetic. Rise up, Kiwis and demand better? You wouldn’t allow crap roads with pot holes and single file. Hats what youve got BBwise a smart guy could I know, it’s feeble to moan. I’m on set now. It’s 6:15 and the wifi here is good. But I have So many videos and sound files to upload.

I’m sure another couple of flat whites will cheer me up…I meant “make (not male) a fortune and a fool of the complacent Telecomm and their contemptuous attitude to customers. Phew! Rant over.”

Then later, when the news of his tweets had filtered out he added:

“Well, seem to have stirred up a hornet’s nest. It seems I exceeded a d’load limit and had my BB throttled to a crawl: @TelecomNZ have put this right. Very quick and polite. But I wonder if everyone who complains gets this attention? I think Comcast style throttling is a for the economy it’s disastrous, for visitors for everyone. It won’t stop illegal bit torrentinf. Makes as much sense as closing a lane of traffic because there’s congestion.

Yes, kiwi land is remote, but if Avatar can be made here and MZ wants to keep its rep for being the loveable, easy-going, outdoorsy yet tech savvy place it is, then pressure @telecomNZ into offering better packages.

Kiwis travel. A lot. They know 20MB is routine in Europe ( nothrottling) UK rolling out ultra fast fibreoptic. S Korea miles ahead

Instead of being a technologically advanced and internet savvy country, New Zealand’s broadband services are third rate.

Come on New Zealand. You’re world champions at rugby & filmmaking. Pressure the providers to stop it being a digital embarrassment.”

Mr Fry has struck a chord with many New Zealanders who have backed up his comments in many ways. This is what they’re saying on the message board at TradeMe.co.nz

• Good on you Stephen, get your own back ! No one here picked up the Baftas, which I hear you did a marvellous job of compering.
• Stephen fry is right about the data caps and slow speeds. New Zealand’s broadband is a major digital embarrassment, and it’s disastrous for our economy.  John Key can say “oh, but in five years time we’ll have ULTRA ULTRA fast broadband”. But guess what, we should have ADSL2 by now, but most of us don’t. When fibre comes out, it’ll be expensive. In the meanwhile, enjoy your ADSL1, suckers!
• Telecom sucks our money up and invests it in Australia.
• I agree its crap. Slow. Limited. Time to vote off THE WEAKEST LINK. Telecon for starters.
• We’re getting a big one rammed right up us…….bone dry.
• It’s nothing we all didn’t know and the govt are throwing millions of taxpayers money at an inefficient service.
• we in tauranga are getting ultra fast broadband,, coming soon installing now,, wooppee,, contractor is getting 5mil for the job,.,
• My bro lives in Japan and says our boradband is slow compared to theirs,,
• We have had really fast VDSL2 available in my area for nearly 2 years but no one seems to be selling it – we will soon be getting the fibre UFBB in a couple of months, too.
• slingshot is so slow in the evenings that if you want to post on this  MB you have to do it the day before,I put up this reply yesterday,hope it makes it in time,if you cant see it it hasn’t arrived yet
• Dont believe it will be cheap when it does come, does anyone believe government propaganda, we will be fleeced n milked for it, especially with line charges. they were laying fiber optic cable back in 1987, its not new tech, they could have done it all 20 years ago.
• We are slow compared to everyone else in the world, not just Japan. NZ seems to be the only country that puts a cap on broadband…

Auckland Expensive, Cost Of Living Explodes, Poverty Increasing.

Thinking of emigrating to New Zealand and looking for a better lifestyle? You may be better off staying put and not risk becoming caught in a poverty trap.

An article in today’s Stuff  highlights how outrageously expensive Auckland has become over the last two years,  due mostly to a strong NZ dollar. Living costs have risen by almost 60%, outstripping wages by 13%.

Executives salaries in the largest city in New Zealand are lagging behind their contemporaries in other countries:

Workers Struggling in City of Sails

“Executives in Zurich, Geneva and Sydney are the best paid in the world after taxes, according to a survey by Swiss bank UBS – but Auckland workers are not flourishing to the same extent.

Though the survey shows wage levels – taking into account exchange rate effects – have risen over 45 percent in Auckland over the past two years, its living costs have risen by 58 percent over the same period.

Two years ago, Auckland was the world’s 43rd most expensive city of 73 surveyed, on 49.6 points, now it was ranked 24th, at 73 points…” more here

UBS didn’t survey any other New Zealand city but we suspect that it’s a similar story in Wellington. Auckland is likely to be a barometer for any reasonably sized of employment in the country.

It’s not all down to the strong dollar though. Rising food, fuel and energy prices also have had a signficant part to play. And it’s not just the executives that are doing it tough and falling behind, at the other end of the scale low income families are in dire straights.

Published research from the University of Auckland shows that low income families can’t afford to buy basic nutritious food for their children. The Child Poverty Action Group has called for more support for families and say the effects of poor nutrition are being seen in New Zealand’s hospitals every day.

The highest cost for families is rent, then electricity, transport and education. It’s far more than not being able to budget properly, its about having money left after the basic essentials for life have been met to afford luxuries like healthy food. It is now cheaper to buy cola in New Zealand than it is to buy milk

Nutritious Food Too Costly For The Poorest Families

“Latest research from the University of Auckland supports recent claims that many low-income families are unable to afford even a basic nutritious diet for their children. A paper published in Nutrition and Dietetics in December 2010 found that low-income families may not be able to afford meals recommended by the national nutritional guidelines, especially if there are teenagers in the household whose meals cost a lot more.

In response to the findings Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) is calling on the Government to increase support for families so they are able to provide nutritious food to their children.

Professor Asher says, “In reality, rent is the highest cost faced by most families, closely followed by unavoidable expenses such as electricity, transport and school-related costs. This leaves little for a good diet, especially for older children who eat so much more.

Nutritious food for children is beyond the reach of many low-income families, especially those thousands of families ineligible for the full Working for Families package. This study clearly highlights that using food banks and purchasing cheap poor-quality food is not always a matter of choice. “

CPAG is calling on the Government to help all families better afford nutritious food by extending the In-Work Tax credit to all low-income families. The cost of basic food items have increased over the last year, exemplified by the rise in milk price – 9%. “We see the outcome of poor children’s nutrition in our hospitals every day. This problem can’t be solved just by budgeting, and will not go away through magical thinking.”

Spokesperson Professor Innes Asher i.asher@auckland.ac.nz 021492262″ (Voxy)

In 2010- 2000 more children were admitted to hospital with poverty-related illnesses than during 2007-08

“What seems to have slipped below the radar is the fact that a crisis is occurring in our hospital admissions.

That’s the fact that medical conditions which occur more frequently for children living in poverty have been increasing over recent years – particularly for Maori and Pasifika children.  Or that close to 250,000 children are living in homes reliant on the benefit for income…

…We’re talking about admissions for respiratory problems, infectious diseases, and other conditions with links to poor housing and economic hardship –all diseases of poverty which could have been prevented if children were taken to see a doctor earlier…“ Rahui Katene, MP for Te Tai Tonga

You may also find interesting:

Travel, food, and power prices push up CPI

“…Significant upward contributions in the year to the June 2011 quarter came from higher prices for transport (up 11.0 percent), food (up 7.0 percent), and housing and household utilities (up 4.4 percent). Petrol prices increased 20.1 percent, cigarette and tobacco prices were up 16.0 percent, and electricity prices rose 7.8 percent..” Statistics New Zealand 18 July 2011

No milk price inquiry but probes continue:

“The Commerce Commission has ruled out a milk price probe but is investigating claims that dairy giant Fonterra is misusing its market power.

However Prime Minister John Key said it was important that the Government continued with an investigation into prices, because many people struggled to afford milk…” Business Day 2 August 2011

Winter and disasters hit food prices:

“Families have been dealt a double blow today with the announcement that the cost of food has increased 7.5 per cent this year and petrol prices are rising.

Statistics out today show fruit and vegetables had the largest impact on food prices in June, rising 12.2 per cent.

The Green Party blamed the rise in GST last year for exacerbating the problem of food costs.

Child Poverty Action Group co-director Mike O’Brien says families can’t keep up with the rising costs and were increasingly utilising budgeting and food bank services… “Business Day 13 July 2011

Our other blogs:

“NZ: 100% Pure Rip-Off” (July 2010)

NZ’s Poverty Gap – Fat Cats Feast Whilst Queues Form For Bread And Jam (July 2010)

Immigrants Caught In Cold Poverty Trap (July 2010)

How New Zealanders Would Fix “Broken New Zealand”

Planning to emigrate to New Zealand because of the troubles in Europe and the US?

Before you do you may like to stop for a few minutes and read what Kiwis are saying out their country and how they’d fix it if given the opportunity.

This is a discussion taken from a message board on the online TradeMe community, a New Zealand auction site similar to ebay.

New Zealanders are just as dissatisfied with their country as you are with yours for much the same reasons. Plus they have some unique problems of their own such as those that arise from the Treaty of Waitangi (“The Treaty”) the Resource Management Act (RMA)  and issues with immigration. This is how they’d fix it.

How to fix New Zealand? Your ideas on making this a prosperous successful country..

thaler: Sack every politician and start again – would never happen – NZ will never be ‘fixed’

millenium1: Invade aussie !!

gemmigem: Goto Aussie….easy

pinkfloyd2002: Get rid of the “welfare, entitled to attitude”

lyonruge: Sell all the land to China.

gemmigem:  Only allow people in Government to hold a portfolio if they are one of the leading experts in the country on the particular subject…
They are successful business men/women…
Are paid on a success based rate…
Don’t belong to any political party what-so-ever!

beurrevaleur: Yea, i agree, country should be operated as a business, if i dont work i dont get paid, why should anyone else?

arcticus:  Enslave everyone who watches Masterchef Australia and thinks that it is “Really great viewing”. We can then use these mindless hordes of people to work in the factories that we will build using free labour from any builders in NZ who use Holden utes as work vehicles. In these factories we will make counterfeit Louis Vuitton handbags, Levi’s and Apple iPhones and flood the world with them at cheap wholesale prices.
The workers will live in camps and enforced breeding will be applied so we have a new generation of workers to take over from the ones that get too old and have to be ‘retired’ (retired workers will be shot)
Outside of these factories and death…oops, I mean labor camps, we will carry on life as usual. But with less stupid mindless people around we will notice some immediate benefits
1)The roads will be less congested
2)Housing will be readily available after the ‘relocating’ to the camps of some people
3)I’m guessing that all of the Greens and Labour parties will be in the camps, so no need for elections, saving us money.

This is only the start to my plan to make NZ great. It is not a short term quick fix, in fact, after 40-50 years I propose that with the money we have made from selling to the word that we turn the whole South Island into a Vegas like city and let the new generation of slav….workers, from the camps work there as croupiers and bus boys (and girls, I’m not sexist).

All the cows from the South Island can be moved to Hamilton, as I know a few cows that live there and they really seem to like it.

Love and kisses
Don Brash

harryhenderson: Some interesting ideas there, although some might be a little less practical…lets here some more

thaler: become a independent country and burn the treaty of waitangi

icemans1: burn the treaty, yeah right, too many white folk make money out of it and they ensure that the pot keeps boiling,bubble bubble bubble 2012-2025-2050-2075 and so it will go.

snork28: Make New Zealand Organic for starters…better late than never!

Instead of paying so much money for prisons, use it to pay for dental and health so every New Zealander has good teeth and in good health.

Get rid of additives, colours and preservatives and stop feeding our children poison.

Get schools growing organic vegetables and orchards, so the children can have fruit salad every morning for breakfast and extra fruit can be dried or preserved or sold to the public to use the money for the school.

Find out what every child’s passion is, and up date it every year, so teachers can direct them in the right direction and get them excited about life and their future.

moore79: the treaty is out of date..no separatism

alpinestar “become a independent country and burn the treaty of waitangi“

yer wouldnt that be something…maori & pakeha burn the treaty and shake hands on waitangi day
aint guna happen..its a legal binding document the POMS were stupid enough to sign in their need for greed , or greed for need

wilsee3: -Become organic
-100% renewable energy sources
-Less laws but harsher penalties/ punishments that fit the crime.
-Separation of the Police and traffic officers.
- A government that runs the country and doesn’t supervise our lives.
- one law for all.

glenngt: Start teaching kids in kindergartens that they will have to be responsible for their own destiny one day, stop raising them to think they are entitled to things as of right…so that by the time they are adults they will actually have a work ethic and not believe the whole world owes them a living….so they don’t stand there with there bloody hand out!

fpress: Sell Australia.

melvis4: Get rid of mmp to start with : instant millions saved overnight .

inter: Perhaps first decide whether it is actually broken…

pico42: Oh id say that horse has bolted…

thaler: Fix NZ? b specific we r very lucky here

win8: Fix New Zealand and not the whole world this time round.
GST stays at 15% but is dropped from food and fuels.
Have a good look at where all the money goes to in Government and propose a new deal.
Same as before everyone gets a decent liviing wage. Jobs for New Zealanders first. Abolishing of overseas pricing structures on our foodstuffs eg milk and meat.
Affordable housing, land freed up by the repealing of the resorce management act. Councils made to be responsible for their spending and services. Capped pay for cheif executives. Free education for anyone that wants it.
Railways expanded so that they can take on more labour and teach badly needed practical engineering skills.

Now here is a controversial part, The reintroduction of steam power to New Zealand Railways. We have the technology now to build better more efficeint locomotives. That way we lower our needs for imported oil.

Manufacture of oil from coal as we have the technology to do so efficiently now. Same as for biofuels and man made crude oil production from algae. Get the country as self reliant as possible.

Same as before everyone that can work, works for a living, mums and
children under 16 excempt.

Reintroduction of respect for society and for other people in that society. Repealing the anti smacking law as no one realy knows where they stand at the moment.

As stated before for law and order
the 6 x 6 plan
6 days hard labour shifting 6 cubic meters of soil per day for 6 days
7th day rest and learning how to become a good citizen.
Reopening our own factories and concentrating on what is best made in New Zealand with our skills and strengths. We would initially have a protected workforce and market. Employers and employees would have equal rights.
A ban on short selling in sharemarkets. Our major industries taken off the share market.

The government has a moral right to represent the people of New Zealand. So therefor power companies water companies railways telecome post office and a new bank would all be under Government ownership. A new superanuation retirement fund. A compulsory savers fund. Education set up so people can accept and excel at the challenges of living in a modern society and being productive.

thats about it for now.

neville106: “Oh id say that horse has bolted…”
+1 Yep, started cracking 40 yrs ago and now its just a mess.

 sw20: I like neville106′s suggestions, he has obviously put a lot of thought into them. In addition to those suggestions I would like to see (1) the deportation of immigrants who commit serious crimes and (2) an increase in immigrants from Europe and North America.

 kaiser2: Benefits should be only paid out in 2.5 year Intervals and with a max of 5 years per person in their life.

munkweed: My daughter (aged 7) after watching the news the other day suggested all 1. the pokie machines be emptied – then put all that cash in the bank – that would earn more interest than the pokie machines and stop the gambling.

2. (on watching the stock/shares market) people with failing companies/shares should sack the bosses, get new ones, cut staff etc.

3. no one should buy anything they don’t need, that includes toys and food, if you run out of something, don’t buy it until you need it, and not to buy take-aways any more and every one should have a cow, a sheep and some vegetables and chickens

4. everyone should help everyone else

I think she’s sort of on the right track – but I don’t think we could implement it just yet dear….

mrsmcgoo: It’s the reverse racism & sense of entitlement killing us.
Plus the pathetic justice system, readily given hand-outs, and loss of respect/fear in our children.

cosby: the 1 bullet policy toward serious criminals. maybe even taggers as well just put a sniper on the roof to take them out. they will stop it sooner or later

nightg: Oh heres another. untill the newzealnd and the rest of the world stop concentrating on growth we will always have problems they always want the population to go up so it will pay for the aging population BUT just like every living thing that has a growth explosion it always crashes. we need to be stable even if it comes and at short term cost.

nightg: tv & radio running adds for electricity prices ,who pays for the adds? we do,,this is just one sector that government has made a mess of ,we should all be charged the same rate ,just like it was before ,phones another government mess, GST another government mess ,we pay rates a tax ,then they tax the tax again ,all way through business making a loaf of bread every ingredient pays tax ,and when they sell it to us we pay tax to another government mess ,so the moral of the story government can sell what ever it likes ,sack who ever they like ,they just TAX us more ,

rain.bow: Find the oil,drill for it,sell it.Find the gold,dig it up,sell it.

sandypheet: Drastically overhaul the RMA.Adds huge compliance costs to anything that needs developing to the point lots of good projects never get off the ground simply because so much money needs to be be thrown into the bureaucratic cesspit.Adds so much cost to to the ordinary citizens expenses as these costs need to be recouped in the products and services.RMA is a license to print money for a huge number of consultants and lawyers for very little tangible benefit

porka1:  1. utilise skills of immigrants, so that doctors arent driving taxis etc
2. Allow recognition of UK and EU qualifications (some are recognised and some arent).
3.improve the education here

happysmile4:  Rape the minerals

ramones67: “Rape the minerals“
pretty much our only hope

fergus96: neville106 some great ideas.
comments on just stopping benefits and making people work isnt going to help. We need to stop sending our jobs off shore, the recent news about Govt sending to china to build our trains therefore closing the yard in Dunedin leaving all those people out of work is a prime example.
We can stop buying all this cheap imported crap, and look for New Zealand made.

plasticboys: “Get rid of the “welfare, entitled to attitude“
get rid of the “we are entitled attitude” all together, it not only is in the welfare side of things..

sexy_tidus:  the govenment should put 1 billion dollars at the tab on the all blacks to lose the first match get them to lose and bobs your uncle

thaler: We could stop spending money on depreciating consumer crap we don’t NEED. That is a good start, especially replacing perfectly servicable items like TVs and cellphones etc. just to keep up with fashion.

crzyhrse: #1- Stop whining.
#2- The REAL reason why the Aussies are ahead of us is because they don’t whinge and just get on with it. Change your attitude – stop looking at the glass half empty.
#3- Put a quota on PC
#4- Stop cutting down every tall poppy – You reap what you sow.
#5- Personal responsibility – Stop blaming everyone and everything else.

smoth_007: Build a time machine go back to the 1970s and prevent Rob Muldoon ever becoming PM and this will fix many of the problems we have faced since then.

bhowden: …. raze it ….

bizatlarge: “comments on just stopping benefits and making people work isnt going to help. We need to stop sending our jobs off shore, the recent news about Govt sending to china to build our trains therefore closing the yard in Dunedin leaving all those people out of work is a prime example.
    We can stop buying all this cheap imported crap, and look for New Zealand made.”

Yes very true fergus. Not only do the workers suffer but also the community and business community also suffer because of teh amount of money taken from those communities. Thought has to be made of devastaion downline of the primary wageearners losing their jobs.

Some more on sharemarkets and shareholders. Alowing foreigners and foreign governments and interests having a financial stake on our primary industries is just crazy. Because they can stabotage our industries by with holding of money or forcing of decisions that disable our labour and labour markets.

As for immigrants they will have to obey our laws and be prepared to live under our laws and religion. NZ was founded as a christian country so it has christian laws. Therefore no sharia laws. If you dont like it here then go home.
Human rights laws wil need a revamp where human rights let individuals have rights over many, show that something is seriously wrong the human rights issues. And yes i am referring to the Maori rights issues as well.

Beurocracies. Some beurocrats have more power and more authority than our prime minister or cabinet ministers. Referral to health boards they have the power to decide life and death.

Therefor beurocrats need reighning in and their power bases decentralised and more open and transparent.

There is something fundamentaly wrong whhen business leaders get more money than they know what to do with and more money than they can spend or put to good uses in their lifetimes. Its just greed in the most evil sense of the word. To them money and peoples lives are a game and that needs to stop.

Bottom line. To much power is concentrated in the hands of to few people. We need to look at committees and to keep them in line
a new political post called marshals who would work on the same line as umpires.

neville106: We also need to harness new technologies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_thermal_energy_conversion

This technology would particularly suit us because we have the kermadic trench and the kaikoura canyon just off our shores.

neville106: Now here is what is happening in Britain, serious questions are being asked about greed and moral decay in the top echelons of British society.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peteroborne/100100708/the-moral-decay-of-our-society-is-as-bad-at-the-top-as-the-bottom/

And the same type of questions are being asked here as well at the street level.

Adidas is a target of frustration from a lot of other companies overcharging for their products

eg milk, meat, power among other things

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/10033998/anti-adidas-demonstrators-burn-logo/

neville106: make me prime minister! every one get’s extra 100 bux a week, everyone will get a job, criminal record or not. I’ll make a male brothel, old ladies need love to lmao what else you want? me no talk straight action hehe

gawwjiss: Becoming one with Australia….

what?

END

Chilean Tourist Robbed, Loses Life’s Work

Auckland Airport Kiwi Motel

We were saddened to hear that another tourist has fallen foul of New Zealand’s criminal element. It looks like word still isn’t getting out about the high levels of crime in New Zealand.

In today’s Herald

“A tearful Chilean tourist has had the laptop computer containing her life’s work stolen – barely a kilometre away from Auckland International Airport. Graphic artist Macarena Barra, in New Zealand for a one-year working holiday, picked up her parents from the airport this week.

They checked into the Kiwi Motel near to Auckland Airport, Mangere, and on Thursday left their bags in the room while they headed for a day trip to Waiheke Island…”

When they returned to the Kiwi Motel that night they found the room had been broken into. The laptop and hard drives, containing five years worth of photos, drawings and animations were gone, ruining Macarena Barra‘s chances of finding a job back in Chile.

The reaction of staff at the Kiwi Motel surprised us.

Firstly, Macarena said

“They told me there’s been five thefts in six months.”

And secondly

Motel owner Ajay Sone said he had employed a company to carry out security checks since the theft and was in the process of getting cameras installed. “We try to be vigilant but people need to take initiative on their part as well,” he said. “We suggest they leave anything valuable at reception.”

It took five thefts before the hotel thought about increasing security, wasn’t that leaving it a bit too long?

Want to know more about the Kiwi Motel? check out its Trip Advisor ratings, starting with “Somebody stole my sister’s laptop in this motel and nobody cares” and another one of those stories of people who booked for the rugby world cup only to find that their booking had been cancelled :

We booked accomodation at this hotel (called Kiwi International Airport Hotel when we booked). We paid a deposit to secure a one night stay. We were notified several months later by new management that they had cancelled our booking. Furthermore, they were not prepared to provide a refund on our deposit. They were also not prepared to provide a suitable answer as to why they had cancelled our booking, although as it is during the world cup and we had booked for one night only it is not hard to conclude why. In our view the prospect of gaining a few extra dollars appeared far more important than customer relations.

If you are willing to run the risk of being treated in the way that we were then consider the Auckland Airport Kiwi Hotel, but note that 45% of the 71 reviews listed in this link consider this hotel to be terrible or poor – be warned!

• Stayed July 2011, travelled as a couple

It’s no good asking guests to leave everything valuable at reception because, frankly, hotel receptions probably don’t have the capacity or the capability to look after such large amounts of valuable items. Look through your belongings next time you take a trip, how much of that could you realistically leave behind a hotel reception desk for the duration of your stay?

We have a far better solution, which anyone travelling to New Zealand during the rugby world cup would be well advised to pay heed to:

1. Don’t take anything valuable to New Zealand, or anything that you don’t mind losing. It’s just not worth the risk.

2. Keep a look out for signs warning you about leaving belongings unattended. Leave nothing in your car at supermarket or hotel car parks, shopping centres, public parks, tourist attractions or other locations where thieves know that tourists are likely to hang out.

3. Don’t be fooled into thinking that New Zealand has a low rate of crime, or that is is ‘safe’. We have written countless times about tourists, students and sports teams being targeted in New Zealand. It’s not as safe as you think.

For more blogs about tourist safety in New Zealand click here – Tourist Safety

All posts tagged NZ not as safe as you think

All posts tagged Chilean Tourists

Have you had a rotten hotel experience in New Zealand, or had your rugby world cup booking cancelled? Please leave a message for us below.

Rip Off New Zealand: Buy Your All Blacks Jersey Overseas, It’s Cheaper

New Zealand is expensive

Today we heard about another “Rip Off New Zealand” story, the news that All Blacks shirts were twice as expensive in New Zealand than they are overseas. What can be the reason for this?

Adidas New Zealand is defending the high cost of All Blacks jerseys in the wake of revelations the same jersey is selling for half the price overseas.

The Rugby World Cup edition of this year’s jersey costs more than $200 in most New Zealand retail outlets but the same jersey can be picked up for under $100 online in the United States.

Adidas New Zealand’s country manager David Huggett told RadioSport that the cost depends to some extent on currency fluctuations…

Really? the  soaring NZ dollar must be very volatile indeed if it can cause exports to decrease by 100%,  surely they should be cheaper in New Zealand than in the States.

The new All Blacks jersey is available online at worldrugbyshop.com for just $79.95 US dollars. source

We’d like to know which country the polyester shirts are made in, we think it’s New Zealand but we’d like to be sure.

If they are New Zealand made why are they half the price abroad and why do retailers in New Zealand think they can charge a massive premium for them?

Other Rip Off New Zealand posts you may find interesting:

NZ:100% pure rip off

It all started with an article in the NZ Herald under the header “NZ: 100% Pure Rip-off. Rip off New Zealand?” written by Peter Bills, an international writer for Independent News & Media.

“Guys, just 14 months out from the 2011 Rugby World Cup, you are sleep-walking into acquiring such an unwanted reputation worldwide.

The price of ordinary, everyday articles and living costs horrify me in this country. I’ve been here, admired the place, loved the people since 1975. I wasn’t even put off by my first ever weekend in New Zealand – 17cm of rain in 24 hours and sitting shin-deep in water at Eden Park as the All Blacks aqua-planed past Scotland in that infamous 1975 test.

But what I see today is of far, far greater concern. This place is becoming one of the most expensive I visit, one giant rip-off. And most of you seem unaware of it.”…more here

Another RWC 2011 Rip-Off Story – Waikato Hotels Warned

Another cautionary tale about rip off prices during the 2011 Rugby World Cup has emerged. Ceana Priest, writing for the Waikato Times said that Waikato motels have been warned not to price gouge ahead of the RWC:

“Waikato Motel Association president Mike Ward said hiking up room rates during peak demand was a “bloody rip-off” and would be detrimental to the region long-term.

His comments come ahead of Waikato Stadium hosting three RWC matches in September and October…”

The report went on to state that a standard guest room at the  Novotel Tainui will cost $772 during the All Blacks v. Japan match on 16 Sept 2011. The Ibis hotel is charging $625 a night and both hotels are said to have implemented a minimum three night policy. Read the full report here: Hotel Price Gouging a Bloody Rip Off…read on

What Kiwis say about NZ: Land of the big rip off

“Why is everything so expensive here? Are retailers just greedy or is it the government making it that hard for the retailers to make a living that drives the extorsion they call retail pricing.
I have been looking for a new pair of running shoes; i’ve shopped around & the ones I want are $279 here in NZ… yet I can buy them (& just have) from USA for $39.99 plus $22 freight.
I also bought a new telescopic sight for my fathers rifle from the same store for $69.99 which has been put in the same box so no extra freight charge on that item. The exact same sight here is $498.

C’mon NZ, stop ripping us all off…” more here