Have you been approached to join KiwiSaver by someone coming to your house?
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Students and a pregnant teenager are among those who say they have been pressured into signing up to KiwiSaver by salespeople illegally marketing the scheme by approaching them at home.
Selling any kind of investment house-to-house is illegal under the Securities Act and the Securities Commission is investigating a number
of cases after complaints were made to Inland Revenue about the way KiwiSaver was being sold.
Liz, a 20-year-old Wellington student who does not want her full name printed, said she didn't know it was illegal to sell KiwiSaver house-to-house.
"I was really surprised to find it was illegal. I have had other people come around and sell power, I thought it was normal."
She was approached to join Huljich Wealth Management's KiwiSaver scheme by two young salesmen who came to the door of her Mt Cook apartment in January.
"I was already in KiwiSaver but I wanted to hear a bit about it because I had been looking to change out of the scheme I was put in when I signed up."
Liz says she ended up joining the scheme because the two salesmen were quite insistent. It was not until later when she went through the scheme prospectus with her father that he pointed out extra costs she says she was not told about.
She says the salesmen went around all the apartments in her block.
In another case an Auckland woman said her 17-year-old sister had been approached by a house-to-house salesman in Manurewa to also join the Huljich KiwiSaver scheme.
The salesman, who told the woman he previously worked selling cars, signed up the teenager and also convinced her to sign up her unborn baby.
The woman found out about it after her sister gave her name to the salesman for referral and he then rang her at work to talk her into joining.
"It took over 30 minutes before he got off my phone and got the picture that I was not interested."
The woman said the man had got her street address off her sister and tried to set up a time to visit her at home but she refused to give him the street number.
"I just got so annoyed when he wanted to get my address."
But others say they have had a good experience with being sold KiwiSaver at home and believe the Government should legalise house-to-house selling.
Leon Parore said he had asked a sales rep to come to his house because it was easier to explain it to both him and his wife at the same time.
"The service was really good and made it easy for us to both understand KiwiSaver."
Another woman said she believed the Government should allow KiwiSaver to be sold house-to-house.
"I am a stay-at-home mother and if someone would actually come out to my home to explain things then I would welcome the opportunity to talk about bettering my future."
Peter Huljich, managing director of Huljich Wealth Management, said on Monday that he had taken on some distributors on a trial basis that he had suspected were selling door-to-door. He had let them go because they did not fit with the standards of Huljich.
The Securities Commission investigation was first revealed by financial adviser website Goodreturns.
