Bed bugs give tourists a 7-week itch
A family of tourists thought the bites they suffered while on holiday were from the infamous New Zealand sandflies. But the red welts came from 54 days in a rental campervan infested by bed bugs.
The rental company said there was a chance the family brought the bugs into the van, and believe they dealt with the infestation quickly and fairly when told of the issue.
German’s Helmut Kazmaier and Verena Golkel, and their children Emilian (4) and Marla (2), were plagued by bites while travelling around New Zealand in a Euro Campers van.
The family picked up the van on January 6 and returned it on February 28, after discovering the source of the itches, which they had put up with since after their first week in the van.
‘‘The moment we learned it wasn’t sandflies, and it was a problem that could have been prevented pretty easily … the whole situation changed in our minds,’’ said Kazmaier.
He said they had paid for another 11 nights in the camper, which they did not take. The family’s only compensation for the ordeal was one night in a motel room and a rental car for a few days, he said.
Kazmaier is angry with the way the issue has been handled, saying its ‘‘the worst I have ever been treated as a customer’’.
The family started a website outlining their issues. He is seeking a full refund, based on similar situations they found.
It is not the only complaint of bed bugs in a Euro Camper rental. Several others have made similar accusations on the Euro Campers Facebook page or the ratings website NZ Rankers.
Through the Rankers website, Kazmaier found a complaint of bed bugs from a Singaporean family. After contacting the family, Kazmaier learned they had been in the same camper van. However, there was a three-week gap between when the Singaporean family dropped the camper off and when Kazmaier picked it up, when customers from the United States were in the van. Those customers did not make a complaint.
Because of this, Euro Campers do not believe the van was infested when it was picked up by the Kazmaier family, but acknowledge there was a possibility it was.
A Euro Campers spokesman said the campervan was professionally treated as soon as the company was aware of the issue.
Euro Campers gave the family a hotel and car while the van was treated overnight, before offering the van back when it was cleared by the pest control company. When the family would not accept that, they were offered a different campervan when one became available, the spokesman said.
He said the company had fulfilled their obligation to fix the issue.
Strong Kaikoura quake
A 4.6 magnitude earthquake struck near Kaikoura at 2.10pm yesterday. It was centred 15km north-east of Kaikoura at a depth of 17km. The quake was initially rated as a ‘‘moderate’’ 4.8 magnitude quake, but the magnitude has revised to 4.6 and the intensity to ‘‘strong’’.
Man denies murder
The man charged with killing Hawke’s Bay man Mark Beale, found unconscious and critically injured near the mouth of the Tukituki River, has pleaded not guilty of murder but guilty of stealing his cellphone. Johnnie Puna, 19, appeared briefly before Justice Simon France in the High Court at Napier yesterday. Both Justice France and Puna appeared via audio visual link. Beale, a 45-yearold father of two was found near the river in the seaside Hawke’s Bay settlement of Haumoana about 7am on Monday, February 6. He was taken to Hawke’s Bay Hospital but later died of his injuries. Puna remained in custody and would appear again in early October.
Airport check-in delays
A computer crash that caused lengthy delays for international passengers at New Zealand and Australian airports has been fixed. Immigration NZ national border manager Senta Jehle said the global Advance Passenger Processing (APP) system went down for three hours yesterday morning. The APP is used during check-in to confirm whether a passenger is authorised to travel to their destination. ‘‘INZ used manual backup systems, which caused some delays to passengers checking in for flights to and from New Zealand and passengers arriving in New Zealand,’’ Jehle said.