The traveling influencers shared their negative testimony after working at a North Island berry orchard.
Video / @lukeandmayexplores
A pair of British backpackers have complained to MBIE and put a Masterton berry farm on blast over social media after they were allegedly sacked a day into their fruit-picking job.
The couple, 23-year-olds Luke and May from the UK, have had to find new jobs and say they are now sharing their story online so others don’t have to go through the same experience.
However, the Wee Red Barn owner, Dot Bissett disagrees, and claims the pair were not fired.
The couple told the Herald issues allegedly began shortly after they arrived when they parked their van in the paddock where they claimed they were told to and began cooking a meal.
“She did a brief walk around, told us that’s the toilets. That room there, you can cook in there, the field over there, just park in there that’s where everyone else parks,” May claimed Bissett said.
May told the Herald they then drove to the back of the paddock and set up camp.
British backpackers May and Luke. Photo / Supplied
However about 20 minutes later they alleged she came over and began shouting at them for where they parked. Then they claimed she returned and said they couldn’t cook there.
Bissett claimed she had directed them to park near the other vans in the paddock and did not shout at them.
She alleged she had told them not to cook outside or park in the long grass due to a fire ban in the area.
They disputed this, and said she did not mention a fire ban nor were there any signs.
“I wanted to call it quits then and there, just because I knew it wasn’t going to get better from there,” Luke said.
May on the other hand still wanted to stick it out.
The next day Luke said they were given about a five minute explanation on what to do before work picking the berries began.
Backpackers Luke and May. Photo / Supplied
He told the Herald, at around 3:30pm Bissett returned to the site and alleged she yelled at May because she had turned around to look at her when she should have been picking.
The pair were then allegedly told off for not picking the deficient strawberries that geese had already had a go at.
Bissett claimed she had been in the field during the day and they had been told to pick off the “rubbish berries” in a 30 minute training that morning.
“She hadn’t explained that at all,” he countered.
Luke then claimed that she told them, “We’ll call it quits here today because [you] can’t follow simple instructions”.
Bissett disagreed, and said the couple walked off and got angry at her.
“They never got fired, I never fired them.”
Bissett claimed she had asked them to fill out contracts so she can pay them, something they deny and said they had never been given.
Despite the rough start, Luke said they were loving New Zealand and already had new jobs lined up.
May told the Herald they shared a video of their experience on TikTok, under their LukeandMayExplores account, because they believed workers who did not speak English as a first language may be taken advantage of in situations like this.
The pair also provided screenshots of Google reviews that shared similar sentiments about the treatment of staff. Google reviews seen by the Herald contain some positive reviews of the organisation, but there are many negative reviews dating back several years from people purporting to be former workers.
The Wee Red Barn has a review average of 3.1 stars from its 167 reviews.
Bissett told the Herald she employed about 150 per season and there were good reviews on there but she found “bad news travels faster than good”.
“I find this very sad and upsetting, I try very hard to make a nice place for all our workers,” she said.
