| A few years ago the concept of going to court or battling it out with companies used to scare the hell of out me. Who am I take on large corporations?! Furthermore, I've got this real fear of prison, its been enough to keep me out of the red! Although realistically - no one goes to prison for trivial civil matters! When we had the drama with the rental house in Auckland, a whole new world emerged to me. The right to fight for what's right. The first house with all the leaks promoted me to learn all about the tenancy act here in NZ and realise that no, I didn't have to put up with it. The second house became a house of horrors! The house itself was wonderful, but the agency was just the worst company I have ever come across. We decided that why should we be paying high rent and not getting our monies worth? And so began this battle to ensure we weren't taken for a ride any longer. I won't write it all out again, but it started with a 'mediation' session - it ended with an agreement of more than we had even asked for. However, at payment time, the agency suddenly created a new argument and so we had nothing. The next thing was the 'telephone mediation' again, agreement reinforced for the original amount and so we waited. It ended with court. The prospect of entering a court was enough to see me popping antacids like smarties! The way the Judge spoke to us - and we were the claimants! We had to sit up every night compiling evidence, getting dates together - knowing the Property Manager had a distinct advantage because she's done it all before. We couldn't believe it when we received the written 'verdict' the case was again in our favour and we were awarded more money. It was a very stressful time, especially because we were in the process of moving to Welly. It was so good though to know that we won our case. Our hard work paid off and we shouldn't have been forced to endure the treatment that we did. We had a new battle recently, not a big one, but Moons old school claimed we hadn't given them the full month's notice period required and there for intended to sting us for a few hundred dollars! I had spoken to a staff member and then compiled a letter, but they wouldn't accept the verbal notice, the letter was one week shy of a month and therefore they wanted to sting us for an entire month! Despite our arguments with the owner of the school, she referred the case to a debt collection agency. Its been going on for nearly a year! We say the amount isn't fair, she argues back! We got legal advice and stood our ground that what she wanted was unfair. We were threatened with court action, bad credit, the works, etc. We didn't back down. We offered them just less than one week's school (to compensate the time and inconvenience this has caused us and to cover the last week that THEY claim we missed out on). They accepted and thus the settlement has been made. Had we not have argued our case, we could have been looking at a damn sight more. Then there was my gym membership. An iron clad contract that despite offering them money to break, they wouldn't accept. They insisted that, depsite being pregnant and being unable to use most of the faciliies, I should be liable to pay my entire year's membership. I battled it out, got threatened legal action and finally they agreed to my offer, deciding it was better obviously to settle, then to persue my lousy membership. I NEVER would have thought to battle it out before. Finally, ANZ passed my details to a debt collection agency for an account that was overdue that I HAD PAID!! It was an error on their part, but it took a long time for things to be tracked down and an apology to be made. This sort of thing could have unfairly affected my credit history. Yes, these sorts of problems do happen everywhere else in the world, but I've never known life to be as difficult as it is in New Zealand!! No one seems to stand up for themselves, so it makes these companies think its easier to fleece you! Now, if there is a battle coming, I put my boxing gloves on and get ready! See, there's something good to come from this experience - I have learnt to battle for what's right! And not just lay down and let people put things up my bottom! I just wish I could do something that enable me to put these skills into helping other people in these positions fight their cause. |