Getting help
Sometimes you need help when relationships with people who provide your necessities of life break down. Here are strategies to follow and organisations to contact when it all goes wrong…
Your local Age Concern can be your first port of call for assistance and referrals, or to help you prepare your case.
This page has an overview of other agencies which can help when you feel unprotected and you're having trouble with:
- Law
- Health
- Caregivers
- Information
- Insurance
- Banking
- Energy
- Media
- Privacy.
or > VISIT ComplaintLine, a gateway website for disputes resolution and investigation agencies.
Law
Community Law Centres provide legal help to people who face barriers in accessing justice. 27 Law Centres around the country offer free and confidential legal advice and information, representation and education. Staffing is a mix of paid employees, law students and volunteer lawyers. They may be able to represent you in the criminal court if you cannot afford a lawyer and have been declined legal aid. They can also help you draft legal letters or refer you to appropriate legal specialists.
They can help with:
- Traffic, employment, tenancy, Police, consumer / debt, criminal, ACC, neighbours, government departments, family matters.
They can't help with:
- Wills, trusts and estates, (other than general information), buying and selling property, business and commercial matters.
You can take your dispute to a Disputes Tribunal. It costs very little and there are no lawyers involved. Contact the local District Court for details. Use court action as a last resort.
> VISIT Community Law or RETURN to the top of the page.
Health
The Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) promotes and protects the rights of health and disability consumers, and facilitates the resolution of complaints about the quality of health care and disability services.
Anyone can make a complaint to the HDC, including consumers, their families and support people, and other third parties.
The HDC advises discussions with the health care provider as a first step. A Health and Disability Consumer Advocate may also be able to help. You can contact them by phone on 0800 555 050 or advocacy@hdc.org.nz.
HDC’s complaints resolution staff are located in
Complaints are usually sent to the provider for a response. Senior staff will then assess the complaint and recommend to the Commissioner how it should be handled – it may be resolved informally or lead to a full investigation. About 10 percent of complaints received are formally investigated.
A full HDC Investigation is an impartial and independent process and it can take 12 to 18 months. Proven violations of the Code of Rights are treated seriously and have resulted in beneficial changes in service providers and the health system.
> VISIT the Health and Disability Commissioner or RETURN to the top of the page.
Caregivers
See our page on home support problems.
If you were a resident of a State care facility or institution before 1992 and have concerns about the way you were treated, the Confidential Listening and Assistance Service provides a forum for you to share your concerns and experiences.
> VISIT the Confidential Listening and Assistance Service.
Information
Citizens Advice Bureaus say they can provide information to assist with almost any issue, and if they can't, they'll find someone who can.
There's a huge variety of publicly available information from government and public agencies available.
Services are available from 90 locations around
> VISIT Citizens Advice Bureaus or RETURN to the top of the page.
Insurance
The Insurance & Savings Ombudsman ("ISO") is an independent and free service for resolving insurance and savings disputes. The ISO deal with complaints about house, contents, vehicle, travel, health, income protection, life insurance and personal superannuation.
The ISO is located in
> VISIT the Insurance & Savings Ombudsman or RETURN to the top of the page.
Banking
The Banking Ombudsman is independent of banks, consumers and government. They provide a free dispute resolution service to anyone who wants to resolve a complaint about a bank and has not been able to resolve it directly.
Before the Ombudsman can consider a complaint, you must have contacted your bank and asked it to consider your complaint through its internal complaints procedure. It's important to act quickly; there are time limits on claims.
If the complaint is not resolved informally and the Banking Ombudsman finds that a bank has acted wrongly, she can require the bank to pay compensation – up to $200,000 for direct loss or damage and up to $6,000 for inconvenience.
> VISIT the Banking Ombudsman or RETURN to the top of the page.
Energy
Although you are obliged to pay your bills, there are strategies you can follow if you get a shockingly high bill. It's important to talk with your energy company and establish your circumstances with them. Companies now have a strengthened voluntary code to assist "low-income" and "vulnerable" consumers in difficulty.
For example, you can tell them if you have special health needs, dispute an estimated account, tell the power company you will pay by installment, or ask for your usage or power meter to be checked.
If you go on to complain formally to your energy company and this can't be resolved, the Electricity and Gas Complaints Commissioner offers a free independent dispute resolution service for complaints about member electricity and gas lines and retail companies.
Complain to the commissioner by contacting her office by phone, letter or email. Include your complaint and full account details and explain what you would like the company to do to resolve the problem. However, the commissioner cannot look into the amount companies are charging.
If you can't afford to pay, you may be eligible for emergency help from Work and Income New Zealand
> VISIT the Electricity and Gas Complaints Commissioner or RETURN to the top of the page.
Media
You can make a formal complaint about something you have seen or heard on radio or TV to the Broadcasting Standards Authority.
First, you must complain formally and in writing to the broadcaster concerned (except for media privacy complaints, which can be made directly). You should state the specific Broadcasting Standards breached, the name of the programme, the station it was on, and exactly when you saw or heard it.
The Authority will consider your complaint if you're unable to reach agreement with the broadcaster. Act quickly as there are time limits on complaints. If you're successful, you may be awarded help with your legal costs.
The New Zealand Press Council follows a similar process for complaints about newspaper or magazine content.
Complain directly to the Advertising Standards Authority about offensive advertising.
> VISIT the Broadcasting Standards Authority
> VISIT the
> VISIT the Advertising Standards Authority
or RETURN to the top of the page.
Privacy
The Privacy Commissioner helps people and society as a whole protect and use personal information safely, using principles set out in the Privacy Act.
If you think you've suffered "interference with privacy" you should first complain to the privacy officer of the agency/organisation that holds the information you're concerned about.
The Privacy Commissioner can investigate complaints about actions that may be a breach of the Privacy Act. Any decisions will be informal and non-binding, but complaints can be escalated to the Human Rights Tribunal.
Contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner enquiries team on 0800 803 909 or email enquiries@privacy.org.nz.
If you don’t like people trying to sell you things by mail or over the phone, you can contact the Marketing Association (0800 347 328) to ask about its Name Removal Service. Click on the links to the Do Not Call Register and Do Not Mail Register or phone 0800 222 332.
> VISIT The Privacy Commissioner or RETURN to the top of the page.
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