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What are your rights with an LED upgrade?

During an LED upgrade in your home what are your rights and how are you protected? We're the experts. Find out here.

Please note: As of 1st February 2023, FREE Lighting upgrades are no longer available for Victorian homes. This is in accordance with the Victorian Energy Upgrades program (VEU).

Energy efficiency upgrades in homes and businesses are not new. They’ve been around for over a decade now and you’d be hard-pressed to find a homeowner or business manager around NSW or VIC that doesn’t know about LED upgrades and other energy efficiency upgrades. We do get some concerned customers that worry about unknown contractors being on their property or working with a business they haven’t employed before. So we thought we’d address some of these concerns and how you can protect your home or business while upgrading your energy efficiency with an LED Upgrade.

Tips on how to make sure you’re safe on your property:

  • Check for identification – Energy Makeovers’ team always carry identification to customers’ homes. You should always ask for identification. It helps that our electricians’ also have the ‘EM’ logo on their shirts.
  • Are they a licensed electrician – all of our electricians are licensed. So you can rest assured that your home and personal safety are taken care of.
  • Make sure to check identification and be sure who the installer works for.

How to make sure you’re protected as a consumer?

  • Does the business have aggregated reviews on an impartial 3rd party site? – Energy Makeovers are proud to boast of hundreds of reviews across numerous 3rd party sites. These reviews are organic, not incentivised and provide essential feedback from our customers. They also help potential customers, like yourself, make an informed decision on the credibility of a business and whether they can be trusted to complete an upgrade for you. Here are our reviews:

Trust Pilot  –  Google  –  Productreview.com.au  –  Facebook

  • How long has the business been running? Are they a brand new business, or do they have a history? When an incentive program like the VEU picks up steam it’s not uncommon to see start-up businesses throw their hat in the ring and get involved. Sometimes businesses like these can burn out quickly and then there is no one to honour a warranty or address any problems. If possible, check out how long the business has been running. (Energy Makeovers has been in business since 2008)
  • Is the business an Accredited Provider under a government-run program? To be involved in programs like the VEU installers like Energy Makeovers need to be an Accredited Provider. That is the VEU’s specific wording for a participating installer. In order to become an Accredited Provider there are a lot of protections and guarantees a business must supply and we’re audited often to ensure we’re providing high-quality installations and customer service. Energy Makeovers are one of the largest Accredited Provider in the program and you should check when agreeing to work with a business for an LED upgrade, that they are one of these APs.
  • If unsure, contact the Program’s overseeing body to discuss the contractor/business in contention – the websites for the governing bodies is provided at the bottom of this post. You can contact these bodies to ask questions or file a complaint about a business.
  • Check out comments on the business’s social media – do they respond, is the feedback positive? Does the business have a social media profile? Energy Makeovers has an active Facebook page where we engage with reviews, comments and messages daily. We take all contact seriously and do our best to reply same-day.

How to make sure the service has been provided as advertised

  • Is there an audit? As an Accredited Provider in the VEU program we are audited regularly to confirm we are supplying quality products and services and our customers are happy. We also do internal audits and keep an eye on feedback from our reviews and social media to make sure our customers have received the service they expected.
  • Does the business provide a warranty. This is important – is your upgrade protected. For LED upgrades we supply a 1-year warranty. If something is going to go wrong, it will happen by then and we’re happy to address the problem and return to your property to find a solution. In order to be an Accredited Provider a business needs to supply a warranty, but it’s worth checking anyway, to ensure your rights are protected.
  • Is the business contactable after installation? You should have contact details and warranty information so the business is contactable after install. Don’t let them disappear on you.

 

If you have any concerns or complaints you need to raise, please reach out to the installing business to see if they can be addressed first. If not, the governing bodies for the incentive programs in NSW and VIC are as follows:

Victoria – The Essential Services Commissions oversees the Victorian Energy Upgrades program

NSW – The Energy Savings Scheme oversees incentivised upgrades around NSW.

Please note: As of 1st February 2023, FREE Lighting upgrades are no longer available for Victorian homes. This is in accordance with the Victorian Energy Upgrades program (VEU).

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