SERENE PRODUCT ADVISORY: FEBRUARY 2024
These Serene fan heaters models; S2088W / S2088S / S2088A, are in no way part of the current national heater recall ordered on Serene Industries Ltd, by the New Zealand Safety Regulator, WorkSafeNZ / Energy Safety.
This includes where this product image is depicted in various media reports.
For precisely the reasons that lead to the compulsory national recall of Serene heaters that is currently in force, as well as the subsequent Government Ministerial inquiry, and the enforcement action being pursued against the directors of Serene Industries Ltd:
1. HeatCo, operating as a licensed online reseller for Serene Australia, refused to sell the models of Serene heaters that are now subject to the recall.
2. HeatCo ceased selling anything at all made by Serene in late 2019 per the advisory below.
SERENE PRODUCT ADVISORY: 12 NOVEMBER 2019
On 12 November 2019, HeatCo voluntarily ceased selling all Serene Industries Ltd and Serene Living branded products, including the S2088 model.
This is not a product recall or a safety notice.
HeatCo has never had any concerns regarding the safety of the Serene S2088 product.
- It is electrically safe because it is fully earthed,
- It has adequate fire protection because it is entirely encased in metal with no plastic components.
The reasons for ceasing to have anything to do with Serene are, in order of importance:
- Serene Industries Ltd has a long history of neglecting or abandoning electrical safety certifications across its entire product range. Numerous instances have been recorded of products sold by Serene Industries Ltd in New Zealand and Australia without any safety certification at all.
- Since 2017, numerous unresolved safety and compliance investigation reports have been filed with the New Zealand Safety Regulator concerning Serene Industries products currently being sold in New Zealand.
- Serene Industries Ltd are notorious for declining customer warranty claims on their expensive heating products. Despite Serene promoting these items with a 10-year warranty, the products frequently fail after just a few weeks, or months.
- The ongoing regulatory and consumer law investigations, alongside the
associated negative publicity concerning Serene Industries Ltd and its
directors: Christopher Woodward, Alexander Woodward, and GM Jeff Ong.
There have been numerous consumer law investigations into the operations
of Serene Industries Ltd in Australia and New Zealand.
Investigations involve:
- (a) New Zealand Safety Regulator, Worksafe and EnergySafe
- (b) Choice Consumer Advocacy Australia
- (c) Australian ACCC
- (d) NSW Fair Trading
- (e) Wikifrauds
- Highly unreliable general product supply continuity by Serene Industries Ltd.
NOTICE TO CUSTOMERS
From the Directors, March 2020
Heatco Australia Pty Ltd (ABN 16 613 418 518)
Heatco NZ Ltd (NZ Co 2244023)
("HeatCo")
These companies have closed permanently, effective from 17 October 2020.
PRODUCT WARRANTIES
The Directors of HeatCo remain committed to facilitating manufacturer warranty support for all non-Serene branded products sold by HeatCo, and we foresee no issues in providing this ongoing support.
SERENE LIVING / HEATER WARRANTIES
For all Serene Living product warranties and support, please contact the manufacturer directly:
Serene Industries Ltd www.serene-ind.com
Australia Office Free-Phone: 1800 844 942
AUenquiry@serene-ind.com
While HeatCo previously managed all Serene product warranty claims in-house, we can no longer do so. It is not viable for us to continue supplying customers with poor-quality replacement Serene products, especially when their safety certifications have either expired or been deleted entirely by Serene Industries Ltd, as detailed below:
The decision to close Heatco was driven by the following factors, in order of importance:
1. Extreme difficulties with our foundation heating brand Serene Industries Ltd, as detailed.
2. COVID-19 and global logistics delays
While Heatco also sold many other high-quality brands, operations were significantly affected by the global disruptions surrounding COVID-19, which deteriorated rapidly after March 2020.
The pandemic caused all product supplies to become highly unreliable, leaving us with no clear path toward restoring commercial viability across our global supply chains in the medium term.
A subsequent review of this situation in October 2020 confirmed that the disruptions involving anything at all concerning international procurement had only worsened.
We thank all our customers for their support over the years, and we deeply regret having to make this difficult but necessary commercial decision.