The race to secure managed isolation vouchers has heated up so much Kiwis are paying travel agents and overseas contractors to book MIQ spots for them.
Some Kiwi ex-pats say that's unfair and shouldn't be allowed, but with MIQ rooms booked out until November, others say it's the only way.
After five days of trying unsuccessfully to book an MIQ spot, Auckland mum Amber Kasbe paid a freelancer in Bangladesh to do it for her.
“Initially i just logged on like everyone else refreshing, refreshing, there were no dates available. I started getting up at 3am…occasionally a date would pop up then it’s gone before you can get it.
“I contacted someone on Fiverr… I put out a notice for if anyone would be interested in doing the mind numbing job of clicking refresh, refresh, refresh. I had about 40 people answer the ad.”
She paid $170NZD, which she says was worth it. She and her daughter are going to Panama in September for medical treatment not available in New Zealand.
“The reason I had to secure it this way is because the programming is awful with MIQ. The system is absolutely broken. The reason I need to travel is because I'm getting medical treatment for my 8-year-old. I think anyone who’s travelling right now is making a very weighted decision and I'm in that category.”
1 NEWS has spoken to the man in Bangladesh, who says he refreshed the site for about 30 hours to secure the booking, and asked for much less than $170.
In a now-deleted Facebook post he advertised his services to other Kiwis, and there was plenty of interest, but also a backlash, with some claiming outsourcing is unfair.
New Zealander Chris Ruscoe’s been living in the US since 2018, he says he’s been trying to secure a voucher for three weeks, but has had no luck.
“I don't have the time or the funds to go and pay somebody to do that. I think it's extremely unfair... the spots are going in milliseconds on the MIQ website”.
But it’s not just overseas contractors doing the work, while some large travel agencies like Flight Centre don’t book vouchers on behalf of others, smaller New Zealand agencies have been doing so for months.
Travel agent Michele Murphy says her company Bon Voyage Travel offers an MIQ voucher booking service for existing clients that’s priced from $100 for a successful booking.
She’s warning against paying strangers to book vouchers.
“I would be very wary of sharing your information with just anyone online who says they can do this for you. This is sensitive information, you’re sharing passport information, dates of birth, your full name. We are very careful with that information.”
Kasbe says she knows it’s a risk, but it was the only way.
“It’s risky. This shows you what we're willing to do, if you have an eight-year-old that needs treatment, you're willing to do this.”
In January 1 NEWS revealed coders were creating programmes to beat the MIQ system, against the terms and conditions of the website. MIQ officials had to make changes to the booking site in an attempt to stop it.
The third parties 1 NEWS has spoken to say they aren’t using bots, just refreshing the MIQ page for hours at a time.
Joint Head of Managed Isolation and Quarantine Megan Main says if people want to pay another person to help secure a voucher, “that’s their choice.”
“MIQ vouchers are free and people are not able to secure a voucher by paying money. However, if people want to pay someone else to monitor the website for them, that is their choice. They will still have to secure a voucher like any other person.”
“Once the voucher is secured, it cannot be traded or sold as people cannot change anything on the voucher which changes the identity of the traveller.
"If people are using software to try to circumvent the system, this is a breach of the Terms of Use and we take this very seriously.”
Ruscoe says that response is “unacceptable”.
“Those comments are nothing short of spectacularly disgraceful. I think it’s the height of ignorance to suggest it’s OK for New Zealanders to be competing against people in India and Bangladesh trying to secure spots. They’re getting paid to do it.”
Users of the site and computer programmers have long pushed for a queue system, which would put people in a waitlist without the need to constantly refresh. But MIQ officials won’t commit to that yet.
“We are continuing to review our policies and procedures to ensure they remain fit for purpose… that includes exploring options including wait-listing and working on ways to release as many spaces as practicable at appropriately spaced out intervals.”
Kasbe says that system is needed now.
“Auckland Library has it under control. When you order a book they put you in a list, when you book at a restaurant... the software is clearly there.”
Do you know more about this story? Email our reporter Kristin Hall on Kristin.hall@tvnz.co.nz
SHARE ME