If the problem is with the installer's work
Put it in writing
Email or write to the installer with what's wrong, when you first noticed it and what you'd like done. Photos of the unit, the drip or the paperwork help. Keep a copy of everything.
Give them a reasonable chance
Under the Consumer Guarantees Act, a service must be carried out with reasonable care and skill. If the work falls short and can be put right, you can require the business to fix it within a reasonable time.
If they won't, or can't
If they refuse or don't fix it in time, you can have someone else fix it and recover reasonable costs from them, or cancel. Where the problem can't be fixed or is substantial, you can cancel or claim the drop in value, plus losses you could have foreseen.
Take it further
The Disputes Tribunal hears claims up to $60,000, including whether a tradesperson did the work properly and what they charged, and its decisions are legally binding. You can go there even if you signed an agreement saying you wouldn't.
Tell us as well
We want to know when an installer who took one of our jobs lets someone down. Send us the postcode, roughly when you sent the job and what happened: complaints email address.
What we do with it, and how quickly: how we handle a complaint about an installer. We can't make an installer refund you or redo the work, and we're not a party to your contract with them. What we can decide is whether they keep seeing our jobs.
Worried about safety or registration?
If you think your heat pump was connected by someone who isn't a registered and licensed electrical worker, look them up on the EWRB's public register. Hold on to your Certificate of Compliance, which is due no later than 20 days after the work. For gas work, the PGDB register shows a gasfitter's registration and any disciplinary decisions.
If the unit is sparking, smoking or wet around its wiring, switch it off at the switchboard if that's safe to do, and leave it off until a registered electrician has checked it.
Pressured into signing at the door?
An installer you asked to come and quote for a job isn't making an uninvited sale of that job. But if a different seller knocked on your door or rang out of the blue and you signed, you can cancel within 5 working days of getting your copy of the agreement. The trader must then repay what you've paid straight away.
If your complaint is about us
Tell us what went wrong at complaints email address. We'll acknowledge it and reply in writing: acknowledgement and response times.
Privacy complaints go to our privacy officer through the privacy request page. If you think something we say about our own service is misleading, say so. The Fair Trading Act bans misleading or deceptive conduct in trade, and we're no exception.
If we can't sort it out between us: where to go next with a complaint about us. Most problems are easier to fix early, so please don't sit on it.