HOT AIR: Serene Fan Heaters and the largest Appliance Recall in New Zealand history by Justin Sollitt

HOT AIR: Serene Fan Heaters and the largest Appliance Recall in New Zealand history

by Justin Sollitt

DESCRIPTION
ISBN: 9780473707996
Format: medium softcover
Size (mm): 160 w x 210 h x 25 d
Pages: 286
SKU: A4/2608/POD 

ABOUT

This story is being updated in lieu of the recent ongoing media coverage and enforcement action against Serene Industries Ltd directors, Christopher and Alexander Woodward.


FROM THE INTRODUCTION:


7 years, 52 Safety Warnings, 19 Fires, $15 million cost, Zero Accountability.

The Story that Serene and Worksafe Tried to Bury...

The Shocking true story, worthy of a John Grisham thriller, of how one of New Zealand’s most trusted appliance brands ended up at the centre of the largest recall in NZ history and a government ministerial inquiry.

"HOT AIR: Serene Fan Heaters and the largest Appliance Recall in New Zealand history" exposes a staggering, real-world tale of industrial negligence and regulatory failure that has striking parallels to both the Pike River Mine and Grenfell Tower fire disasters. It also draws remarkable similarities of corporate fraud matching the Theranos/Elizabeth Holmes scandal.

HOT AIR is a gripping, cautionary account of hubris, bureaucracy, technical incompetence, and regulator ineptitude, getting in the way of sound decision making, profit, and public safety. This is a must-read story of New Zealand national significance, and especially for anyone in business, and who says they have seen and heard it all, because until you read this story—you haven’t.

Written by industry insider Justin Sollitt, this deeply researched investigative work pulls back the curtain on the current multi-million-dollar disaster surrounding Serene Industries and its owners/directors Christopher and Alexander Woodward.

Sollitt provides the explanation to New Zealanders' that is unlikely to be provided by New Zealand's safety regulator, WorkSafe, as to how this disaster, with the numerous and obvious warning signs could even be allowed to happen. This is especially significant considering that WorkSafe have the experience of their infamous Goldair heater recall that made national headlines in 1985.

Serene was once celebrated as one of New Zealand's most prestigious tier-1 heating appliance brands with a quality legacy dating back to 1967. However, under the current owners since 2012, Serene finally collapsed in late 2023 under the immense weight of its own hubris, corporate deception, technical ineptitude, coupled with breathtaking regulatory indifference.

The narrative details how Sollitt and his company, Genco Energy Group, became central to the unfolding crisis after being twice invited by Serene Industries to be the licensee for Serene heater distribution in Australia. Genco commenced well with Serene in 2016, however it wasn’t long after the first product shipments arrived into Melbourne from New Zealand and Asia, and sales commenced, that Sollitt and Genco's technical team quickly launched safety and compliance audits across the whole Serene product range. What they uncovered was horrifying: 29 out of 30 products were either; electrically unsafe, prone to catching fire, void of adequate compliance certification, shockingly poor quality, or they simply didn’t work. Several products had all these problems combined.

Specifically, Genco's safety audits uncovered that Serene products completely lacked the minimum required plastic fire ratings, adequate thermal cutout protection, and electrical earthing—all of which is standard on every every other appliance brand in the western world. Further, the required safety and compliance certifications and quality assurances behind what Serene published online, didn't exist. Genco reported that whilst they looked good, all but one in the Serene products was of shockingly poor standards, ranking with the most inferior third world standards. They describing it as junk, rubbish worthy of the scrap metal heap. 

After futile attempts by Sollitt to remedy these concerns with Serene Industries directors during 2016 and 2017, Genco unilaterally terminated their "Serene Australia" license/business, recalled what they had sold, and destroyed their entire inventory to protect Australian consumers. Meanwhile the identical safety flaws were left to fester unchecked across New Zealand where the same products originated and had been sold since 2012.

So concerned was Sollitt, that after continued repeated and futile attempts to warn the Serene Industries directors of the safety issues and necessary corrective action, he commenced filing Genco's meticulously detailed safety reports to the energy safety regulator, WorkSafe / EnergySafe as well as warning the New Zealand electrical industry of the situation.

During 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023 Genco repeatedly filed its safety reports and concerns about the explanations provided by Serene. Genco officially labelled the Serene situation "life threatening", "an accident waiting to happen" and "Pike River Mine 2.0". At final count in late 2023 the total official Genco safety communications, spanning seven years, was no less than 52.

In the face of an ever growing tally of house fire and electric shock incidents across New Zealand, Genco's safety reports were universally dismissed by Serene, Worksafe and industry. Sollitt was mocked and ridiculed as either "inexperienced", "an outlier" "an idiot", "a troublemaker", and the Genco safety reports labelled "amusing", "vexatious", "nonsense" and "marvellous fiction".

However, so rapidly was the Serene fire incident tally increasing, and such was the disinterest from Worksafe officials and industry, that Sollitt stepped up his alerts and walked his safety reports direct into the office of Minister for WorkSafe, who promptly informed him that the Minister cannot be involved in operational matters.

Then for good measure, Sollitt was also personally met with aggressive litigation, Serene Industries hiring one of New Zealand's most prominent law firms to sue him for defamation and injurious falsehood, citing the safety reports were "baseless" and that there was "no evidence" of either any fires or safety defects.

Then in another extraordinary twist, and in an attempt to deflect the truth, Serene Industries directors reported to officials that they had been the victim of an infiltration by "cyber criminals" from the "murky dark web". Serene claimed that unknown attackers were illegally selling re-worked second-hand "identical but counterfeit" Serene heaters, that where likely sourced from Eastern Europe. In terms of explaining their prior Serene Australia distribution license and the Genco connection, Serene Industries directors now claimed they had never had a business in Australia, that they had never heard of "this person Sollitt", and that the Australian market was something that they "might consider" in the future.

In reality, and despite there being enough evidence against them to fill a room, the Serene Industries directors pulled out all stops to deliberately mislead everyone they encountered. They had a ready answer for every concern tabled, for every safety incident that occurred, and their deceit knew no bounds. Serene lied to their wholesale resellers, the public, installers, consumer advocacy groups, Wikifrauds, the government regulator, and their high-powered lawyers. Their deceit was an act of master manipulation that was hidden behind a thin facade of previous owner legacy and reputability, while they allowed the public to remain entirely at risk.

Behind closed doors, Serene directors were frantically re-furbishing the fire destroyed bathrooms across New Zealand and paying these costs out of pocket—not daring to alert their insurance—and requiring all staff to maintain absolute silence. Between 2017-2022 four senior staff simply walked out on the Serene directors and contacted Sollitt in absolute horror with what they had witnessed.

In a bewildering turn of events in 2021, at Genco's insistence WorkSafe reluctantly tested the same appliances that Genco had in 2016. Then to Genco's astonishment Worksafe officially certified the dangerous appliances with completely clean bill of health. In another breathtaking conversation, Worksafe officials informed Sollitt that they were little concerned about the numerous bathroom fires recorded, including the two that were near fatal—because Serene had "done good" and repaired the damage.

It was not until late 2023, with the official fire tally now passing 19 and the unofficial tally within industry sources now in the hundreds, that Genco Energy arranged to have the already Genco tested and Worksafe cleared appliances independently tested/cross checked. However, this time the safety report was not lodged under Sollitt's pen, Genco Energy filed it through an associate and via another Worksafe office not previously involved with Serene—the submission was completely void of any previous reference to, or prejudice with Genco/Sollitt.

Like mishandling a loaded gun—WorkSafe officials immediately validated that every single one of the prior safety warnings that had already been filed by Genco was in fact completely valid, and that the Serene heaters fell woefully short of meeting minimum safety and compliance standards.  With immediate effect, WorkSafe unilaterally ordered a sweeping national compulsory recall of nearly 50,000 Serene heaters sold since June 2018—representing all sales from 6 years prior.

Unwittingly, Worksafe shifted from their previous certified clean bill of health and disdain towards seven years of Genco safety reports filed—to gazetting a Ministry ruling that is absolute;
Serene heaters are "a significant risk of serious harm to people and property damage"—"they are so, so dangerous"—"it is illegal to import and sell them"—"it is now a criminal offence to even switch one on."

The insurance industry was also swift to take action, publishing this non-negotiable warning: "that any property damage or loss from a fire caused by a recalled Serene heater, will likely not be covered by their insurance, if they knowingly ignore the compulsory recall and keep using it."  

At the same cracking pace, the Serene directors closed up their Christchurch office and fled to Asia without a trace—their high-powered lawyers now left on their own purporting to Sollitt that Serene is not their client—the WorkSafe CEO resigned under the guise of a "career break"—and WorkSafe bosses barely made a single comment, despite the enormous public and media pressure on them to explain their years of inaction and this outcome.

HOT AIR serves as an essential, eye-watering read for business professionals, regulators, and everyday consumers. Sollitt's trade-training, and tenacious, common sense approach demonstrates how a problem that was so easily to remediate in 2017—and that would have then struggled to cost more than $1000—was allowed to spiral into a life-threatening, national crisis, that by 2026 has left New Zealanders homeowners and resellers out of pocket to the tune of $15 million.

At the time of publishing, circa 28,000 of the total 50,000 dangerous Serene heaters subject to recall still remain active in New Zealand homes and businesses. 

In yet another unsurprising demonstration of how money/profit frequently gets in the way of public safety, Worksafe have since announcing the recall taken zero action to proactively ensure that every one of the dangerous Serene heaters that they allowed to be sold, is actually removed from New Zealand bathrooms. The simple fact is that Worksafe let get a once small problem get so large, they now cannot afford to fix it—and trying to would cause immense political and public fallout.

HOT AIR is the epitome of "you couldn't make this stuff up writing a fiction."
 

The enclosed images depict the key documentation, once written off as just nonsense and troublemaking, is now the subject of a Government Ministerial Inquiry.

About the author
Justin Sollitt is a New Zealand businessman/entrepreneur since 1990 and is based between Auckland and Melbourne. He is a trade-trained registered electrician, construction estimator, senior project and commercial recovery specialist, accredited non-property asset valuer, pilot and aviation professional, and accredited volunteer business mentor with BMNZ.

Since 2006 he is the Co-founder and CEO of Genco Energy Group, where their Melbourne based subsidiary owned the Serene distribution license for Australia between 2016-2017. Through his electrical and aviation training and various business operations, Justin has extensive experience in the safety/compliance requirements and expectations of the electrical, construction, gas energy, power-generation, and aviation industries. 


This story is being updated in lieu of the recent ongoing media coverage and enforcement action against Serene Industries Ltd directors, Christopher and Alexander Woodward.

OUT THE INDUSTRY WOODWORK

Oct 2017 "your nonsense noted...do your worst Justin, but be careful."
Response from Christopher Woodward to Sollitt's notice that he is now taking safety and compliance concerns to the Safety Regulator.

May 2017 "We will have absolutely nothing to do with Serene Industries or its owner Christopher Woodward. Serene products are flimsy, poor quality rubbish, and Woodward is well known as the industry cowboy."
NZ appliance reseller

March 2020. "Christopher Woodward is a pure salesman who believes his own bullshit. I was involved with him in the 1980s designing appliances. In the end we did not have him anywhere near the design or manufacturing so basically he couldn't stuff it up. That he is now owner of Serene will only have one outcome, and it won't be good."
NZ appliance designer

April 2022. "Christopher Woodward is a real dodgy bugger, I will have nothing to do with him. There is a long line of people since the 1980s that I know that he has cost big money. He recently sent a mate of mine broke through supplying crap products."
Appliance compliance specialist  

June 2024 "We are no longer instructed by Serene Industries Limited on this matter."
The only response to Justin Sollitt from the Chairman as well as two partners of one of New Zealand's most prominent law firms, and their only explanation following their unrelenting defamation litigation against Sollitt in response to numerous safety reports filed against Serene Industries.

"Serene and Worksafe picked the wrong guy for a fight with Justin Sollitt, and they both would have quickly wished that they hadn't.
I've done business with Sollitt for two decades and Serene would have quicky realised that you get goodwill and kindness from Justin, right up to the point you cross him. Including one of the country's biggest law firms, they all completely underestimated him." BF

“Sollitt was right all along. At the rate these heaters were being sold and without his tenacity over eight years, this situation would now be far worse."
Manager, NZ electrical wholesaler

"Serene will completely reshape Worksafe, especially in lieu of the Pike River Mine and White Island disasters". PN

"This is an absolute fiasco these Worksafe criminals have caused.”
Manager, NZ plumbing wholesaler

"In our own business we get a further (and horrifying) look into the Worksafe team and their complete lack of skill and knowledge of electrical standards etc through this same process. Honestly, we were shocked."
NZ appliance distributor

"I have no longer have anything to do with Serene, now the disgraceful ambivalence from Worksafe."
Appliance Industry PR specialist.

"Worksafe are a introverted and dysfunctional organisation that lost their way years ago. From top to bottom they are just a collection of duds and misfits. They are hidebound, clumsy, technically inexperienced, commercially naive. They ignore heater fires but charge helicopter pilots for saving lives." DS

"I worked with Don Sollitt in the 1990s and Justin has certainly inherited his father's tenacity and horsepower that I well remember.  Few people would have the strength or inclination to single handedly take on an entire industry, a government department, and one of the country's biggest law firms." CL  

"There is enough evidence in this that should see many in this industry behind bars." IM

"Justin Sollitt is wasted in the electrical business, this is the work of a real wordsmith, he should have been a lawyer. CR

DISCLAIMER & FACT CLARIFICATION

This book is an investigative work based on first-hand experiences, corporate records, technical safety audits, and official correspondence spanning more than a decade.  In public interest investigations of this nature, attempts are frequently made to distort the truth, deflect accountability, or undermine the credibility of those who blow the whistle.

To ensure absolute transparency and correct the public record, the following legal and operational facts are explicitly stated:

Personal Solvency

Contrary to isolated and inaccurate reports, or malicious allegations as a result of his involvement with Serene Industries and Serene products, the author and company Director Justin Paul Sollitt, has never been adjudicated bankrupt, placed into receivership or any form of administration, or subjected to any insolvency orders in New Zealand, Australia, or any other global jurisdiction.  Further, Justin Sollitt has no connection whatsoever to another New Zealand company liquidation; Sollitt Developments Ltd.