Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

This applies to all units imported, sold, or installed since June 2018.

More information about this recall and the retailers who are working with MBIE:

Serene S2068 Bathroom Heater. Originally published February 2024(external link) — Product Safety New Zealand

The hazard

Serene S2068 heaters have a manufacturing defect. There have been 17 reported fire events associated with these heaters.
There is a significant risk of people being seriously harmed and property being damaged.

What are my rights around unsafe products?

The Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA) guarantees that products must be of acceptable quality, including safe to use. Where a product is unsafe – or doesn’t meet mandatory product safety requirements – you have the right to return it to the business who you purchased it from for a refund, repair, or replacement.

These rights apply regardless of whether the retailer has issued a voluntary recall.

More information about your rights under the CGA:

Consumer Guarantees Act

Check if this heater is in your home

The prohibited S2068 heater is described as:

• Wall mounted fan heater with step-down thermostat with pull-cord on-off switch, for fixed-wired installation in bathrooms and similar locations
• Mirror polished stainless steel metal shell with die cast grille OR White shell with die cast grille
• Dimensions: 300 mm wide, 210 mm high and 110 mm deep.  

Serene S2068 Bathroom Heater. Originally published February 2024(external link) — Product Safety New Zealand

What you should do if you have a Serene bathroom heater in your home or rental property

Check to see if you have an affected heater with model number S2068. If you do, stop using it immediately.

Consumers can contact the business to return the goods under the Consumer Guarantees Act and ask the supplier they purchased it from for a safe replacement (if available) or a refund.

If the heater has been installed by fixed wiring, consumers can also require the supplier to arrange for its removal by an electrician.

If consumers can’t identify the supplier, they will have to arrange an electrician to remove this heater at their own cost.

If the heater is plugged into the wall, consumers can switch off the electricity, unplug, and remove the heater.

Please ensure that all units are safely disposed of so they cannot be reused or resold.

If you are a tenant of a rental property, discuss a course of action with your landlord.

Are there other Serene models affected?

Energy Safety have also issued notices on two other models.

• They have prohibited sale, installation, and importation of Serene S207T wall mounted bathroom heaters. This prohibition applies to all units imported, sold, or installed since January 2018.
• Serene S2069 wall mounted bathroom heaters imported, purchased, or installed after June 2018 have had their approval withdrawn. This confirms they cannot be legally sold in New Zealand.

Although Energy Safety have not declared these two models to be unsafe, they advise there is a low risk from continued use. If consumers observe an unusual smell or noise from the heater, do not use it and contact an electrical worker to check it over. You can also report the incident to WorkSafe for further investigation.

Notification of a non-workplace event(external link) — WorkSafe New Zealand

If you have a S2069 or S207T installed in your home and are concerned, you can also contact the supplier to seek a remedy under the CGA. Some suppliers have also undertaken a voluntary recall of these heaters. You can also find out more on the Product Safety New Zealand website:

Serene S207T Bathroom Heater(external link) — Product Safety New Zealand
Serene S2069 Bathroom Heater(external link) — Product Safety New Zealand

More help

We recommend that you first contact the business you purchased the heater from to agree a course of action and appropriate remedy.

If you have questions about your rights or need help to get a fair deal we suggest you contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau or use this website to learn about your next steps to resolve your issue.

Button batteries are widely used in musical greeting cards, toys, remote controls, and key fobs. If they are swallowed or placed in a child’s nose or ears, they can quickly burn through tissue causing serious injury leading to possible death.

They’ve been identified as a high-risk product by MBIE, especially for the harm they can cause to children and their families.

Ian Caplin from MBIE’s Consumer Protection team says people need to be especially mindful of the dangers these button batteries can pose when they are purchasing presents and decorations this time of year.

“The National Poisons Centre receives on average 41 calls a year related to button batteries being swallowed or stuck in ears or nose (between 2019-21)”.

Children under five are particularly vulnerable, says Ian.

“Knowing if button batteries are in your home and knowing where they are is incredibly important. Not only could they be in gifts tamariki may get at Christmas, but also in everyday items like key fobs, or kitchen scales or hearing aids.”

“Over 60% of the incidents involving button batteries coming loose from inside these sort of items, with a further 29% coming from batteries that weren’t disposed of or stored safely.”

MBIE is encouraging New Zealanders to check and see where button batteries are in their home.

If you can, change the products that have these batteries to ones that use other types of batteries, says Ian.

“For those products you can’t change, make sure the battery compartment cannot be opened by a young child or when dropped.”

“When you change the batteries, make sure the used ones are disposed of somewhere out of reach of children, and any spare ones are kept secure and away from children.”

“And finally, when Christmas is all over and you’re packing up the decorations for another year, take a quick look to see if there aren’t any tiny button batteries left behind in amongst all the left over pine needles.”

The Product Safety website contains up to date information about button battery safety.

Button batteries(external link) – productsafety.govt.nz

Major promotional events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday see scammers use the heightened sense of urgency to attract consumers with fake online shops and advertisements. These often particularly revolve around brands which do not have a direct presence in New Zealand.

These websites often end in nz.com or newzealand.com rather than .co.nz

A recent survey from Netsafe found shopping scams were the second most common form of scam in New Zealand.

The State of Scams in New Zealand – 2023 [PDF 756KB](external link) – netsafe.org.nz

Ian Caplin from MBIE’s Consumer Protection team says consumers should consider three things when they’re shopping over the promotional weekend.

“Check the online trader is who they say they are, that they’re contactable if there is a problem with your order and that they will deliver what you ordered in good time.”

“Things to look out for include lack of local contact details, a web address that doesn’t match what’s being sold and if the price is noticeably lower than everywhere else. Make sure any website asking for your information has a padlock symbol next to the web address in your browser.”

“You can also protect yourself by using trusted payments systems like PayPal, Apple Pay or Google Wallet.”

CERT NZ’s new consumer-focused website, Own Your Online, contains up to date guidance for anyone concerned about online shopping scams.

Own Your Online(external link) – ownyouronline.govt.nz

The numbers show that scammers are smarter and more active than ever before. Scammers know all kinds of ways to trick you out of your money especially if you’re looking to invest. This week as part of Fraud Awareness Week we’re asking Kiwis to Stop and think – is that return for real?

If you are approached for money or personal information, it’s important to remember:

• Real investments don’t come out of the blue.
• Check your source to make sure it’s real.
• Get a second opinion before handing over money.
• if you don’t understand an investment, walk away.

Visit Fraud Awareness 2023 to learn how to protect your money.

The units were voluntarily recalled in 2013. Anyone with one of the recalled units that has not been repaired is encouraged to contact Samsung on 0800 SAMSUNG to request a repair, replacement or refund.

Auckland fire

A family of five had to leave their home on the 25 September after their smoke alarm went off and they found their washing machine on fire. The fire was able to be extinguished without it causing significant damage.

Fire and Emergency’s Community Risk Manager for Counties Manukau Thomas Harre says smoke alarms helped prevent what could have been a much worse outcome.

“This family was very lucky to have been ambient and awake with working smoke alarms meaning they all evacuated to safety with minimal property damage, however the outcome could indeed have been very different.”

Voluntary recall

The washing machine model was subject to a voluntary recall in 2013, with MBIE, Energy Safety and Samsung all working together. Communications with consumers included direct mail fliers, text alerts, calls and paid advertising.

Simon Gallagher, National Manager, Consumer Services at MBIE says over the following four years, over ninety-six percent of impacted washing machines were repaired, replaced or refunded to remedy the fault.

“While this remedy rate is considered high for electronics recalls, I’d encourage anyone who has a Samsung top loader washing machine model built between 2010 and 2013 to check their model number to confirm it isn’t one of the models affected. If it is, they should get in touch with Samsung.”

Consumers can check the Product Safety New Zealand website for details of product recalls or subscribe to receive regular updates on recalls.

Affected washing machines were manufactured in 2010, 2011, 2012 and some models in 2013. Affected model numbers:

• SW75V9WIP
• SW65V9WIP
• SW80SPWIP
• SW70SPWIP

Media contact

MBIE email media@mbie.govt.nz

Fire and Emergency email media@fireandemergency.nz

These results have now been published and offer insight into what New Zealanders know about their consumer rights and their experiences of dealing with problems. This survey is the fourth in the series which also enables reporting and emerging trends.

Here are some of the key findings.

Awareness that consumer rights and laws exist remains widespread, though self-reported knowledge continues to be lower than in 2016.

Almost all consumers (95%) are aware that New Zealand laws exist to protect basic consumer rights when purchasing products and services (this is consistent with previous years). While awareness is almost universal, self-reported knowledge of these laws is still relatively low (less than half feel they have at least a moderate understanding of these laws).

Consumers are less positive than ever that consumer protection laws are adequately enforced.

Consumers’ confidence in the enforcement of consumer laws is lower than ever after improving in 2020. The proportion who agree that the laws that prohibit businesses from misleading or deceiving them are adequately enforced has fallen back down to 34%, while agreement among consumers that laws that prohibit businesses from price-fixing, or engaging in other anti-competitive behaviours, are adequately enforced has fallen to a new low of 24%.

And while consumers are broadly trusting and confident when purchasing, they are continuing to lose faith in the ability of our laws to protect them.

In line with previous years, most consumers are broadly trusting and confident when purchasing products and services. Over half of consumers agree that businesses will do the right thing, and not try to mislead or cheat consumers (72% agree). That said consumers are increasingly discouraged about whether consumer legislation is sufficient to protect consumers from being misled or cheated by businesses.

Consumers continue to show increased caution before buying.

The proportion of consumers actively seeking out extra information before purchasing something has increased. Prior to purchase, 71% of consumers seek out extra information such as online reviews, recommendations from friends or reference checks always or most of the time.

Read the full survey results and supporting infographic on the MBIE website

New Zealand consumer surveys(external link)  — Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

Consumers shopping for new curtains or blinds should choose options that are cordless. That’s the recommendation from Simon Gallagher, The Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment’s (MBIE) National Manager Consumer Protection, especially in homes where small children are present.

Six deaths of young children from corded window coverings have been reported in New Zealand by the Coroner’s Office over the period 2009 to 2019. Blinds and window shades with cords are dangerous because young children can get entangled and strangled by the operating or inner cords.

The safest window coverings in homes with young children have no exposed pull cords, inner cords, or cords against the back of the fabric such as those found in Roman or Venetian blinds. These back cords can be just as dangerous and have been the cause of deaths.

Order our Could Your Cords Kill? Flyer for more information.

Could Your Cords Kill?(external link) – MBIE Resources

The latest updates to the Fair Trading Act have come about to protect consumers against pushy, uninvited door-to-door sales people.

Recent changes to the act will make it an offence for any seller to ignore a sticker, or other written or verbal direction not to enter your property.

You now have the right to stop the salesperson from visiting without being invited by either telling them not to enter the property, or by asking them to leave when they are already there. This includes mobile traders (‘truck shops’) and anyone selling products or services door-to-door but excludes people visiting for other purposes (like requests for charitable donations) or to offers of goods and services under $100.

These directions may be given using a sticker or sign, such as a ‘Do Not Knock’ sticker on your gate or front door which tells salespeople that they cannot enter your property. You can also tell a specific salesperson or business not to visit face-to-face, through an e-mail or over the phone. If you give direction to a specific salesperson or business, then they cannot return for two years.

How to provide a direction to uninvited door to door sales people – Telemarketing and door-to-door sales

What you can do

Place a ‘Do Not Knock’ sticker on your letterbox, front door or any place where it’s visible to people entering the property.

Print out a sticker here [PDF](external link)

If you think a business has not met their obligations during an uninvited direct sale, you can report them to the Commerce Commission.

Make a complaint(external link)  – Commerce Commission

Find out more about the changes to the law Fair Trading Act on the Commerce Commission website.

Changes to the Fair Trading Act(external link)  – Commerce Commission

In the middle of a busy day, Mike received an email from his bank. The bank had noticed a possible fraudulent transaction, sending $1,000 to an overseas account and if he wanted to cancel it, he needed to log in.

Freaking out, Mike immediately clicked the link and logged into his bank account. The log in failed, Mike’s stomach dropped. He tried again, still no luck. Worried a hacker had locked him out of his account, he decided to check the banking app on his phone.

Nothing. No transactions, no sign anyone had been in his account. Weird. An hour later Mike’s account was drained, the money sent overseas and his worst nightmare had come true.

Sadly, Mike was one of the thousands of New Zealanders who fall for scams every year. In the first three months of this year, CERT NZ received 1,935 reports from people affected by scams. This type of scam is commonly referred to as phishing. These are the most prevalent, making up 1,370 of those reports.

The reports have a silver lining though. Every report made to CERT NZ about scams helps the government cyber watchdog to help others to avoid the pitfalls and have peace of mind if they do get stung.

CERT NZ director Rob Pope encourages anyone caught up in a scam to report it as soon as possible.

“Scammers are indiscriminate in who they target,” Pope said, “and every report helps us know what threats are out there so we can protect others.”

“We know it’s a stressful time when these sorts of incidents happen, and the scammers add extra pressure by preying on fear and urgency. But you need to report it as soon as possible so you can get help and stop others from getting affected.”

Remember to pause, take a breath, and think before responding to unsolicited messages or phone calls. ‘Does this message look legitimate?’ Or if it’s a deal that’s too good to be true, maybe it isn’t true? Tech companies and banks won’t call you out of the blue and ask you to provide financial or login details. And if they do say you’ll call them back via the number on their website.

What to do if you think you’ve been scammed

1. Stop all contact with the scammer
2. Do not make any more payments
3. Contact the bank or service you sent money through
4. Report the scam 

Reporting puts you in touch with someone who can give advice specific to your situation. It also helps other people avoid similar scams.

How to report a phishing scam

• Report any suspicious phone number to your telco, then block them
• If the scam came via a text message forward it for free to 7726

Steps you can take that will give you peace of mind

Doing those two things will go a long way to help protect from these scam types.

Learn what types of scams to look out for, how to avoid them and how to take action if you are scammed:

Scammed? Take action