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
Published: August 2025
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 by Government Ministry MBIE against the Serene Industries Ltd directors, Christopher Woodward and Alexander Woodward.


FROM THE INTRODUCTION:


7 years, 52 Safety Warnings, 19 Fires, $17 million cost, Zero Accountability.

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

Worthy of a Netflix drama, this is the shocking true story of how one of New Zealand’s most respected appliance brands collapsed into the largest safety recall in New Zealand history. What followed was a government ministerial inquiry—a major insurance fraud investigation—and thousands of business and property owners across the country left millions of dollars out of pocket.

"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, Grenfell Tower fire, and the Titan/Ocean Gate disasters.

It also draws remarkable similarities of corporate subterfuge matching the Theranos/Elizabeth Holmes scandal.

Meanwhile, the authors sheer effort and tenacity in exposing this scandal, is a near carbon copy of the TV drama "Mr Bates vs the Post Office", and the account also outlines how the course of the exposure effort had, for a time, the real potential to end like the famous but tragic story of Australian pioneering engineer C.Y. O'Connor and his historic water pipeline. 

"Extremely well researched and meticulously written"
HOT AIR is a gripping, cautionary account of hubris, subterfuge, profit, bureaucracy, technical incompetence, and regulator ineptitude, getting in the way of sound decision making and public safety. Written with a healthy dose of humour, this is an eye watering and breathtaking story of New Zealand national and public interest significance, and especially for anyone in business, including those who say they have seen and heard it all, because until you read this story—you haven’t. Instead this story will leave even the most seasoned international business owner in utter bewilderment and disbelief, reflecting "you couldn't make this up writing a fiction."

Industry insider Justin Sollitt, has authored this deeply researched evidenced-based investigative work where he pulls back the curtain on the current multi-million-dollar scandal surrounding Serene Industries Ltd of Christchurch, and its owners/directors Christopher Woodward and Alexander Woodward, as well as the New Zealand safety regulator Worksafe / Energysafe.

The downfall of Serene Industries was not just a failure of manufacturing; it was a profound oversight of electrical safety, regulatory compliance, consumer safety, and corporate accountability. In a twist of irony, it was Sollitt's trade-based electrical experience—which the Serene directors had twice sought, first in 2014, and again in 2015, by inviting Sollitt to join the Serene business—that was ultimately the root of Serene Industries undoing. The very knowledge and expertise they wanted to secure and leverage in order to expand their Serene business across Australia—became the precision tool that completely unravelled and toppled them. 

The reasons for this book are three-fold:

Sollitt provides the clear and complete explanation and record to New Zealanders' —that is unforthcoming by the country's safety regulator, Worksafe/ Energysafe, including their governing Ministry MBIE, as to how and why this disaster could even be allowed to happen. This is especially significant considering the numerous and obvious dangers—as well as the numerous warnings of the dangers—that had been prevalent as well as placed under the regulators nose for seven years prior.

This is also significant considering that Worksafe’s predecessor, the Department of Labour (DOL), have the experience of their infamous Goldair heater recall that they orchestrated in 1985. In that case the DOL were merciless in swiftly making a TV news example of the Goldair owner PDL—all that is the complete antithesis of the Serene safety situation and the regulator's effectiveness 39 years later.

A warning to New Zealand property owners —that still have Serene heaters installed, that this recall situation still remains a serious, unresolved matter of public safety that has not passed, just because the story is no longer ranking within front page headlines.

Despite the recall having materialised, the Worksafe response is still completely inadequate, because at the time of publication 28,000 of the circa 50,000 recalled Serene heaters still remain installed in New Zealand properties—and Worksafe / MBIE continue to do largely nothing to ensure that the dangerous mess that they allowed to happen is actually cleaned up.

Holding the Serene directors and Worksafe to account. —Despite their forcing an instant, an enormous cost onto Kiwi property and business owners, safety regulator Worksafe have absconded from any financial responsibility for the mess that they allowed to happen. Their CEO resigns—they choose to hide behind a few brief public comments, unsurprisingly one being "no comment"—and they shelter behind the principal of "Crown indemnity", a luxury only afforded to government agencies and their staff.

Meanwhile, the Serene directors, at the first sign that their 10 year facade and artifice was about to come crashing down, they attempted to palm their mess off to an unsuspecting New Zealand manufacturer. When they were yet again swiftly found out and that failed, they closed up shop and disconnected their website and all communications before fleeing to either Hong Kong or the Philippines. They knew full well that everyone that they and their products have encountered over the years, will be left substantially out of pocket with dangerous products, and worthless warranties.

When the author, Justin Sollitt, first raised and tried to correct the safety issues from inside the Serene business in early 2017, this whole safety and recall saga was very easy to overcome and would have cost little more than total $1000 to remedy.

Fast forward to 2026 and the total cost of this uncorrected Serene mess across Australia and New Zealand is approaching NZD 17.0 million dollars.

Serene was once celebrated as one of New Zealand's most prestigious heating appliance brands with a leading tier-1 “made-in-NZ” quality legacy dating back to 1967. However, under the current owners (Woodward’s) since 2012, Serene finally collapsed in late 2023 under the immense weight of its own hubris, corporate subterfuge, and frightening technical ineptitude—all coupled to regulatory indifference.

The narrative details how Sollitt and his company, Genco Energy Group, became central to the unfolding crisis after being twice invited by the Woodwards since 2014 to be the exclusive licensee for Serene heater distribution in Australia. Genco Energy's Melbourne based subsidiary commenced well with "Serene Australia" in early 2016. However it wasn’t long after the first product shipments arrived from New Zealand and Asia, and sales commenced, that their new business became highly problematic. However this was just the start— nothing could prepare Genco/Sollitt for what lay ahead over the next eight years.

"Serene Australia" quickly became a warranty claims office nightmare, as nearly all products sold were quickly returned because of either safety or compliance alerts, or manufacturing quality defects. Such was the rate of product returns that staff quickly coined the phrase "Serene make boomerangs, not heaters, because everything we send out comes straight back."

Sollitt and Genco's technical team swiftly 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 the products 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 fire ratings, adequate thermal cutout protection, electrical earthing, and correct wiring, all of which is stock-standard with every other appliance brand in the western world. Further, many of the required safety and compliance certifications and quality assurances behind what Serene published on their product cartons, in their manuals, and online—didn't exist. 

In Australia, Sollitt had already been cautioned in early 2017 by his own counsel concerning the risks and liabilities with the "Serene Australia" distribution business:

...that any director of an Australian importer, distributor, or reseller that knowingly sells dangerous or non-compliant products, and especially those that have a safety incident record that the Serene brand currently has, would likely face prosecution and up to eight years imprisonment (8), as a consequence of just one (1) fire or electric shock incident, resulting in either an injury or death from an illegal Serene product.

Non-negotiable, is that the accountability for all Serene products that are sold in Australia, rests with all the directors of the importer and/or distributor licensee. This same accountability also applies to the directors of all downstream resellers that have agreed to represent the Serene brand and sell the products.

The last point of accountability is the manufacturer in Asia.

Ignorance is no defence, nor is placing hard reliance on an appliance that has a valid certification or approval, especially when there is a consistent adverse public safety record, and/or it is under questioning by a safety regulator.

The same Australian accountability and penalties also applies in New Zealand. This would include the directors of importer Serene Industries Ltd, as well as the directors of all downstream resellers who have agreed to represent and sell Serene products in that country...

After futile attempts by Sollitt to remedy these concerns with Serene Industries directors during 2016 and 2017, including instruction on the necessary corrective action required in the factory, Genco unilaterally terminated their "Serene Australia" license/business, recalled what had not already been returned, and destroyed their entire inventory to protect Australian consumers. Meanwhile the identical safety flaws were festering, unchecked across New Zealand, where the same products originated and had been sold since 2012.

So concerned was Sollitt, that after ongoing and persistent attempts to warn the Serene Industries directors of the acute safety issues, he commenced filing Genco's meticulously detailed safety reports to the New Zealand energy safety regulator, Worksafe/ Energysafe. He also proceeded to warn all known Serene resellers in New Zealand of the situation.

At this time the official Serene fire count was 5. 

During 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023 Genco repeatedly filed its safety concerns to Worksafe and New Zealand industry. This also included Genco's concerns about the explanations provided by Serene directors, in their justifying to the public and industry the safety incidents and non-compliance over many Serene products. Genco officially labelled the Serene situation "life threatening", "an accident waiting to happen", "Pike River Mine 2.0", "a train wreck".

At final count in late 2023 the total official Genco safety communications, spanning seven years, was no less than 52.

In the face of the ever growing tally of house fire and electric shock incidents across New Zealand, Genco's safety reports were universally dismissed and Sollitt was treated with a high degree of scepticism. For seven years Sollitt was mocked, ridiculed and treated with absolute contempt every time he presented Genco's evidence. He was repeatedly labelled "inexperienced", "an outlier", "an idiot", "a troublemaker", "a loser from way back".

Meanwhile the detailed Genco Energy safety, compliance reports were either ignored completely or labelled "lies", "rubbish", "amusing", "vexatious", "nonsense that you write", "puerile harping", and "a marvellous fiction". However, never once were the Genco reports and claims challenged technically by either Serene or Worksafe as to specifically why they were rejected.

The labels applied to Sollitt left him completely bewildered, because it was this very same electrical qualification, industry experience, and reputation of success internationally, that had Serene Industries repeatedly asking Sollitt/Genco to join the business in the first place.

Sollitt also requested an explanation from Worksafe in an attempt to reconcile the irony behind their extensive TV/PR campaigns that they were clearly deploying considerable resources to. He highlighted that at the same time Worksafe were dismissing the proactive approach to public safety by Genco—and in the face of the Serene fire incidents tally—Worksafe were chanting on TV "if you can sense it, you can stop it", and every email communication and online post was tagged with "a new way of thinking", and "ensuring everyone gets home safe, that's what we're working for." 
Unsurprisingly, Worksafe completely ignored this request too.

So consistent was the increase of the Serene fire incident tally, as well as the inversely proportional disinterest from Worksafe officials and industry, that Sollitt stepped up his alerts and walked his safety reports directly into the office of Minister for Worksafe. However, the Minister, then under by the Ardern/Labour Government was little interested either, telling Sollitt that the Minister cannot be involved in Worksafe operational matters.

Then for good measure, Sollitt was personally met with aggressive litigation, Serene Industries hiring one of New Zealand's largest and most prominent law firms, in an attempt to silence Sollitt by burying him in ruin citing "defamation", "injurious falsehood" and claiming "your conduct will see you prosecuted". All Genco safety findings and claims were vehemently rejected, the Serene lawyers stating they were "baseless" and that there was "no evidence" of any fire or electric shock incidents "that you claim", and "there are none" referring to safety and compliance defects. At that time this was an incredibly difficult stance for Sollitt to challenge is the lawyers were largely fully supported by the country's safety regulator, Worksafe, with little concern shown by the industry at large.

Then in another extraordinary twist in an attempt to deflect the truth, Serene Industries directors reported to Worksafe, industry, installers and consumers, that they had been the victim of an infiltration by "cyber criminals" from the "murky dark web". They claimed that a "crime ring" were illegally importing and selling re-worked second-hand "identical, but clearly counterfeit" Serene branded heaters across Australia and New Zealand, and that these were likely sourced from "Eastern Europe". It was these "counterfeit" heaters also causing the trouble. 

When the Serene directors were asked to explain their prior Serene Australia distribution license and the Genco connection back in 2016, they flat denied that Serene Industries had ever had a business in, or products even certified for Australia, and that they have never even heard of "this person Sollitt". Further, the Australian market was something that they "might consider" well into the future.

The brutal reality was that despite there being enough counter evidence to fill a room, the Serene Industries directors had pulled out all stops in an attempt to deliberately mislead everyone that encountered them. They delivered carefully scripted responses that had an air of faultless aloofness, masking a deceit that knew no bounds. The Serene directors deliberately lied point-blank to the public, wholesale resellers, installers, consumers, Choice Consumer Advocacy Australia, Wikifrauds, the safety regulator, their lawyers, even their own staff. Their subterfuge was an act of master manipulation that was hidden behind a wafer-thin facade of legitimate previous owner legacy and reputability, that was now well in the past. All the while the directors knowingly allowed the New Zealand public to remain entirely at risk by continuing to promote their dangerous and illegal products.

Meanwhile, behind closed doors the Serene directors were frantically re-furbishing the mounting tally of fire destroyed bathrooms across New Zealand and paying these costs out of pocket. They were desperate not to allow a single whiff of the fire smoke to get under the nose of their insurers, as well as requiring all staff to maintain absolute silence. Between 2017-2022 Serene Industries was a revolving door of senior staff who simply walked out then contacted Sollitt in absolute horror with what they had witnessed.

In a bewildering turn of events in 2021, at Genco's insistence Worksafe reluctantly bench-tested the same appliances that Genco had five years prior in 2016. Then to Genco's astonishment Worksafe officially certified the dangerous appliances with near 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 they were deemed "isolated incidents" and Serene had "done good" and at least repaired the damage. By now Serene heater fire tally had climbed to 12.

Fast forward to late 2023, and the official Serene fire incident tally has reached 19, as well as an unofficial tally leaked within industry sources was measured in the hundreds.

Genco Energy mounted a final push to expose and end this public safety crisis by arranging to have the same previously tested and Worksafe clean-bill-of-health cleared appliances, independently re-tested and cross checked.  This time the safety reports were not lodged under Sollitt's pen—Genco Energy meticulously filed them through an industry associate—and via another Worksafe office not previously involved with Serene. This submission was completely and carefully void of any previous reference to, or prejudice that Worksafe officials clearly had towards anything at all from Genco/Sollitt. 

Worksafe officials swiftly validated every single one of the safety warnings filed—officially confirming 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 circa 50,000 Serene heaters—sold since June 2018—representing all sales from six years prior.

Worksafe then gazetted a Ministry backed 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 now illegal to import and sell them"—"it is now a criminal offence to 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."  

It was the regulatory equivalent of mishandling a hand grenade when Worksafe gazetted their safety recall, because it wasn't long before they realised their terrifying mistake and magnitude of neglect.

The new Serene safety reports filed and that they had promptly acted on were actually a copy of the very first Genco fire reports in 2017—and the same Genco reports that Worksafe had dismissed then certified Serene with a clean bill of health in 2021.

Unsurprisingly and ironically, the only thing that Worksafe were highly efficient at was denying this situation via media questioning, their claiming; "those early Genco/Sollitt safety reports only concerned earthing/electric shock issues"—"Genco had never raised any issue concerning the fire incidents"—"the fires were isolated."

Worksafe also claimed that the seven year delay before taking action was because "this investigation took time", it was "technically complex and comprehensive".

In reality Worksafe had also blatantly lied to New Zealanders'—because the very first Genco submissions to Worksafe in 2017 to 2018 only concerned the heater fires, nothing else. Whilst the other safety concerns flagged were no less important, Sollitt had deliberately staggered these into subsequent submissions, intuitively aware that dumping the entire myriad of every known Serene safety concerns onto a government department at once would only result in a bureaucratic gridlock and a result of nothing.  As it was, asking Worksafe to handle just one thing at a time was still excruciatingly tedious, difficult and glacially slow. From the very first interaction in 2017, Sollitt realised he wasn't dealing with the sharpest knives in the block.

What Worksafe had attempted to hide was that fact that between May 2021—when Worksafe issued Serene heaters with a clean bill of health—and their recall in early 2024—Worksafe were not in any way at all navigating a lengthy and "technically complex" investigation as they publicly stated. What they were in fact doing, for two and a half years, was "comprehensively" ......absolutely nothing.

At the same cracking pace, that Worksafe gazetted the recall, the Serene directors, Christopher and Alexander Woodward closed up their New Zealand office, shut down their website, disconnected their Serene emails and phones and fled to either Hong Kong or the Philippines without a trace in order to escape any accountability. 

Now one of the largest and most prominent law firms in New Zealand was left on their pat-Malone, now purporting to Sollitt that Serene Industries is not their client. This was in response to Sollitt demanding from their partner(s) as well as their firm's chairman, an explanation to "so—what the hell was all that about?"

The Worksafe CEO resigned under the guise of a "career break" leaving Worksafe bosses to face the music. Despite their early but very brief statement attempting to claim that the early safety reports did not flag any concerns about fires, Worksafe made near zero comment to explain their years of inaction and this outcome. Their silence was despite the enormous public and media pressure on them to do so, including on their governing Ministry MBIE, the Minister for Worksafe, and the Minister for Regulation. 

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 2016—and that would have then struggled to cost more than $1000—was allowed by Worksafe to spiral into a life-threatening, national crisis, that by 2026 has left property owners, distributors, resellers and installers facing total costs and losses across New Zealand and Australia in the range of NZD 17 million dollars.

Notwithstanding, that the quality/warranty returns, as well as Genco's termination of "Serene Australia" was very costly back in 2016-2017—this same recall outcome in Australia is not one heater, not one dollar, and the public safety risk is zero.

Unlike other disasters in history, this Serene story is far from at an end, and this book will end up going through at least a third review.  The fact is that right now this Serene saga still remains a ticking time bomb in New Zealand—and the public still remains at risk, because that at the time of publishing, there are circa 28,000 of the total near 50,000 dangerous Serene heaters subject to the recall, that are still installed in New Zealand properties. There have already been 19 official and many more unofficial fire incidents recorded, and two of those were near fatal.

In yet another unsurprising demonstration of how money/cost frequently gets in the way of public safety decision making, Worksafe have still taken zero action beyond gazetting the recall on paper, to proactively ensure that every one of the dangerous Serene heaters that they should never have allowed to be sold, is actually removed from New Zealand properties, and foot the cost thereof.  Worksafe have let a once small and easily manageable problem get so large, they now simply cannot afford to fix it—and trying to would cause immense taxpayer, political and public fallout.

However, with 28,000 heaters still in New Zealand properties, all that is required is for one of these fire incidents to result in a fatality and this story will instantly be elevated to a whole new, and highly visible public scandal. The current recall will immediately take on an emergency response akin to the gun buy-back post the Christchurch mosque shootings, and the current ministerial review will be elevated to something resembling the aftermath of Pike River Mine disaster.

What are the chances of this outcome?  Sollitt puts this at ”very roughly—99 per cent certainty”.

Precisely as the Genco safety findings were laughed off seven years ago, ultimately this inevitability of more fires involving death or injury is also, and sadly, simply a matter of time.

The unnecessary reality in New Zealand is that the government universally only takes the required evasive action towards these types of situations in arrears, when obviously it should be in advance. Universally, they always have the cart before the horse, and in the case of Serene the horse has not yet bolted. A Serene disaster involving death is still entirely preventable.

The reason that Serene Industries got away with all this for so long in New Zealand, can be deduced to three significant shortcomings in the New Zealand appliance regulatory system, where the same does not exist in Australia. 

Firstly, the safety systems governance in NZ
The system that governs New Zealand appliance safety regulations is hopelessly inadequate and farcically senseless. There is a key loophole that one can drive a bus through, that permits "S-Doc" self-certification for many appliance categories, where there is absolutely no requirement that a new appliance has to be physically cross-checked against its factory test report, prior to being given a New Zealand safety certification.

If Serene was in the motor trade—this is akin to them being allowed to import a cars and self-certify them for New Zealand roads, then they write their own warrant of fitness stickers—when all the cars have bald tyres and no seat belts. Combine this with a rouge operator who frivolously treats safety systems and compliance like a marketing gimmick, and you have a lethal combination effecting public safety that Serene was.

Compared to the highly unionised and zealous safety culture and regulatory environment that universally exists across Australia, New Zealand is by comparison largely the unregulated wild-west. The epitome of this in New Zealand is Pike River Mine—the same mine would never receive approval to be built in Australia.

Secondly, the Serene SKU code rort
Since 2012, the Serene Industries directors were running a perpetual and devious rort where they simply updated the product SKU code whenever the safety incident or failure numbers on a particular model became red-flagged. The standard Serene speal that was wheeled out to market was that the "new and improved" model ensured that all the issues flagged were now in the past. The brutal reality was that these assurances didn't exist beyond what was printed on a slightly flasher carton. The "new" model was exactly the same as the previous model, and the model before that, as well as the model before that.

Thirdly, the acumen of Worksafe personnel
Worksafe are supposed to be, and promote themselves, as the final ultimate backstop that the public can rely on to protect them from dangerous products and rouge operators. In reality, Worksafe are an introverted and dysfunctional organisation that has clearly lost their way years ago.

Across multiple industrial disasters in New Zealand history, including Serene, Worksafe demonstrate a clear pattern of being hidebound, clumsy, naive, technically inexperienced, glacially slow, and always reactive—not proactive. From the very top down, Worksafe staff are boy scouts—model bureaucrats, siloed academics, who are completely void of any practical or commercial intuition or public relations street smarts. This includes any ability, whatsoever, to think— even just slightly—outside the box. Many Worksafe personnel carry prestigious academic qualifications, but universally, their practical, trade-based, intuitive and PR experience ranks hopelessly lacking, to absolute zero.

All conversations that Sollitt had with Worksafe technical staff and senior management were "absolutely excruciating". Without exception, everyone spoken to within Worksafe was completely lost on the importance of what Genco had uncovered with Serene safety, and the obvious shortcomings in appliance safety regulation governance.

Even when Worksafe officials were told point-blank in 2017 (as were the Serene directors) —"that unless you lot take action right now—Serene will very easily end up a national disaster worthy the front page of every media outlet in New Zealand, as well as criminal negligence charges". Despite having the situation explained bluntly, Worksafe were still incapable of connecting the dots, or they weren't remotely interested.

"Asleep at the wheel" is the kindest that describes Worksafe officials. The core reason behind why they don't pay more attention to looming crisis like this, simply comes down to the fundamental difference between a government bureaucrat and a business owner. A business owner’s success and decision making, in any size business, relies on their intuition, being competitive, efficient, and as sharp as a tac, where the outcomes of those decisions are connected directly to the owner's back pocket, industry reputation, and shareholder value.

Whereas with a government civil servant or bureaucrat, problems and even crises are often deemed another departments to solve, and universally the risks and money at stake is simply not theirs to worry about. Then as the final backstop, the organisation and their staff collectively have the shelter of Crown indemnity. Worksafe handling the Serene recall is no exception—in fact it is a model example.

In the end, people of the calibre that are running Worksafe universally tend to gravitate to government institutions like this, because the simple fact is that being void of intuition, street smarts and the ability to be effective, efficient and competitive—makes them completely unemployable in the private sector.

What Sollitt also found most extraordinary was that despite Worksafe having the extensive experience of their infamous Goldair heater recall in 1985, and the more recent regulatory shortcomings that led to the Pike River Mine disaster and the subsequent Royal Commission of inquiry—come Serene they still hadn't learnt a thing. Worksafe remained completely inept as a leading safety enforcer when they should have been, and the public needed, and expected them to be. For years the Serene Industries directors ran endless rings around Worksafe and industry, where universally, the naivety and gullibility of Worksafe officials and industry was no match to the deliberate manipulation and subterfuge dispensed by Serene Industries—that was akin to putting a rattlesnake in a cage of mice.

Sollitt was the only person in the entire industry with the combined technical qualification, experience and Serene inside knowledge to be able to see straight through the facade and the artifice, and the fact that the Serene Industries directors were rotten to the core.

In the end Sollitt's exasperation in his dealings with Worksafe is noted publicly, his citing that Worksafe are comparable to "buffoons" who allow New Zealand to effectively operate unregulated—a safety regulator so clumsy and inept—that even a layman can see clearly how the Pike River Mine tragedy was allowed to happen under the very same safety officials.

Meanwhile the Woodwards' are now holed up in either Hong Kong or the Philippines. They always wanted to be the biggest name in the heating appliance business—bigger than the Skope Heating and the PDL/Goldair legacies combined.
.....they certainly got their wish, as nothing comes even close to the legacy of Woodward.

"Back in 2015 we were invited by Woodward to join the Skope/Serene legacy established in 1967, and now under his custodianship. Within only 90 days of commencing we realised that I shouldn't even trust the guy with a TV remote."

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

The enclosed images depict some of the key documentation, once written off as nonsense and troublemaking by an idiot, is now the subject of a government ministerial inquiry, and a major Serene insurance investigation.

About the author
Justin Sollitt is a New Zealand businessman who commenced his first business in 1989. He is a trade-trained registered electrician, construction estimator, senior project and commercial recovery specialist, accredited non-land/property asset valuer, pilot and aviation professional. He is an accredited volunteer business mentor with Business Mentors New Zealand. Since 1989 Justin has the experience of starting and operating 28 businesses and JVs across New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Botswana, and Nigeria. The oldest Sollitt business still operating was started 28 years ago. 

Since 2006, Sollitt is the Co-founder and CEO of Genco Energy Group, where its Melbourne based subsidiary owned the Serene distribution license for Australia between 2016-2017. Through his formal electrical and aviation training, as well as his various business operations, Justin has extensive experience in the safety, compliance and certification 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 by MBIE against the Serene Industries Ltd directors, Christopher Woodward and Alexander Woodward. 

OUT OF THE INDUSTRY WOODWORK

Oct 2017—"your ongoing nonsense and threats noted ...do your worst Justin, but be careful."
Response from Serene owner and CEO, Christopher Woodward, to Sollitt's notice that all prior safety and compliance concerns tabled will now be filed with the safety regulator.

May 2017—"We will have absolutely nothing to do with Serene Industries or Christopher Woodward. Serene products are flimsy, poor quality rubbish, and Woodward is well known as the industry cowboy. Anyone involved with him is backing the wrong horse. "
NZ appliance reseller

June 2017—"Woodward received a real thumping by one of his ex-sales reps a couple of years ago. The quality and safety defects were so bad and Woodward was threatening anyone who challenged him. Woodward agreed not to press assault charges if the rep simply left and kept quiet." JH

Nov 2019—"I walked out on Woodward last year. I am not interested in contributing to your book, in fact I try not to think of the man at all. I now have a job with a great company and am enjoying life, pleased to have that prick out of my hair."
Serene NZ manager

April 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 in charge of manufacturing Serene heaters will only have one outcome...bad."
NZ appliance designer

April 2020—"Serene is just one in many businesses that Woodward has been involved since the 1980s that represents his highly chequered career in the appliance business. From SME's, to national household names, to multinational corporates, there is not a single known example of a Woodward business, licensee, distributorship, or alliance, that has not met a bitter and costly end all involved."
NZ appliance engineering director

May 2021—"Justin, we need to agree to disagree with these Serene safety issues flagged. But you have done the right thing bringing all this to Worksafe attention—you should start a safety advocacy group."
Paul Kauder, Technical Officer, Worksafe

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 he has cost big money. He recently sent a mate of mine broke through supplying crap products. I came across Woodward in Hong Kong recently, we had it out, he threatened me."
Appliance industry specialist 

Feb 2024—"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

March 2024—"Woodward knew all along since the very start that he was shipping bad product to New Zealand and Australia. He had no intention of honouring his warranties, nor any interest in fixing the known safety defects. Even that Wikifrauds investigation didn't worry him in the slightest. Woodward simply doesn't care. He still blames everyone else for his undoing, and Sollitt is at the top of that list." CA 

March 2024—"I can best describe Christopher Woodward; as an 'Arthur Daley' who sounds just like Boris Johnson, who operates with the delusional grandeur and belligerence of Donald Trump, and the manipulative precision of Elizabeth Holmes." Justin Sollitt 

June 2024—"We are no longer instructed by Serene Industries Limited on this matter."
The only response from the Chairman as well as two partners of one of New Zealand's most prominent law firms. This was their only explanation to their ceasing all defamation claims against Sollitt, in lieu of the Serene outcome.

"Serene and Worksafe picked the wrong guy for a fight with Sollitt and they both would have quickly wished they hadn't. Including one of the country's biggest law firms, Serene and Worksafe completely underestimated him and in the end none of them saw him coming." BF

“Sollitt was right all along. At the rate these heaters were being sold and without his persistence over all these years, this situation would likely now be much 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

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

"Worksafe are just a bunch of duds and misfits. For years they ignore heater fires, but will spend millions charging helicopter pilots who saved lives." DS

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

"There is enough damning evidence uncovered by Sollitt that should see many people locked up. As soon as there is a death, this recall will take on a whole new meaning and become a criminal matter for those who kept selling those heaters." IM

"Whilst this situation is unsavoury, it is actually small fry compared to how it could be without the Genco intervention. At the rate these heaters were being sold we can see this problem otherwise being massive, many, many times greater than it is now, including senior industry executives facing criminal charges. Resellers were made well aware of these dangers years ago but they kept selling anyway, this didn't just rear its head a few months ago." 
NZ installer

"Serene and Worksafe better hang on for the long haul. As long as they ignore this, Sollitt will be absolutely unrelenting in holding a blowtorch on those two. " BS

"Robert Stewart spent 50 years building the Skope Heater legacy, and many of his products made 50 years ago would still be working today. Woodward gets hold of it and it takes him only five years to completely truck it." DS

"Had Genco Energy lead by Sollitt not carefully audited the Serene appliances, unilaterally cut ties with Serene Industries, destroyed its own inventory, and meticulously created a massive 7-year safety and compliance paper trail, the defects within the Serene heaters likely would have remained hidden under the radar, until only a far more wide spread and catastrophic situation involving death, injury and significant property damage, and far greater cost to New Zealand businesses and property owners would have galvanised the regulator into action."
Media commentary


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 fact is explicitly clarified:

Personal Solvency

Contrary to inaccurate reports as a result of his investigation and reporting 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.