Companies are cold calling and cold emailing AED owners across New Zealand, using scare tactics to sell "AED testing" and "AED inspections". Before you pay, here is what ZOLL Medical and AED NZ actually recommend.
If you own an AED, there is a good chance you have already had the phone call or the email. It usually follows the same script: your defibrillator "must" be tested, it may be "non-compliant", lives are at risk, and for a fee their technician will come and certify it. The pitch works because it targets exactly the people who bought an AED out of genuine care for the safety of their staff and customers.
Here is what those companies do not tell you: there is no legal or regulatory requirement for AED testing in New Zealand. Not annually, not at any other interval. No WorkSafe regulation, no health and safety legislation, and no manufacturer requirement compels you to pay a third party to test your AED.
The reason annual testing adds so little is that a quality AED is designed to test itself far more often than any service contract ever would.
The ZOLL AED Plus automatically performs weekly and monthly self-tests, checking its battery capacity, pads connectivity, internal circuitry and its ability to charge and deliver a shock. If the device detects an issue, the status window changes from a green tick to a red X, and it can emit an audible alert similar to a smoke alarm chirp so the problem gets noticed even if nobody is looking at it.
That means the only routine human input required is a weekly glance by a staff member to confirm the green status indicator is showing. A weekly check is 52 times more frequent than an annual service visit, and it is significantly more likely to catch a problem in time.
A service or testing report confirms one thing only: that the AED was operational at the exact moment it was tested. It says nothing about whether the device will still be operational days, weeks or months later. A battery can degrade, pads can be borrowed or damaged, and a fault can develop the day after the technician leaves.
Your AED's automated self-testing, on the other hand, re-verifies the device every single week for the life of the unit. A paper certificate on file is reassurance for an audit folder; a green tick in the status window is reassurance that the device will work right now.
Third-party testing is not just unnecessary, it can actively shorten the life of your consumables. Each time an AED is powered on and shock simulations are performed, and a typical test involves several, the batteries installed in the device are being consumed.
A reputable testing provider should fit temporary test batteries during testing rather than draining the customer's installed set. In practice, many cold-calling operators do not, which means you can pay for a test and walk away with less battery life than you started with. If unqualified handling or non-genuine parts are involved, you may also be putting your manufacturer's warranty at risk.
If an AED genuinely needs electrical safety testing, for example after physical damage, the person performing it should be a qualified biomedical engineer holding an electrical certificate. Most companies in New Zealand and Australia offering "AED testing" or "AED inspections" are not qualified biomedical engineers.
Price is a useful signal. The industry standard for a test performed by a ZOLL Medical certified and qualified biomedical engineer with an electrical certificate is usually in the realm of $450 + GST. A cold caller offering to "test" your AED for $100 to $200 is, almost by definition, not sending a qualified engineer. You would be paying for someone to switch the device on, watch it run the same self-test it runs by itself every week, and print a certificate.
Because the AED continuously performs automated self-testing, we do not actively recommend routine annual servicing as part of normal AED ownership. Skipping unnecessary service contracts provides significant long-term cost savings, money better spent on genuine replacement pads and batteries when they actually reach their expiry dates.
The routine that genuinely keeps an AED rescue-ready is simple:
The full routine is in our AED maintenance best practices guide, with more simple habits in tips to keep your AED rescue-ready.
Had one of these calls or emails? Before you pay anyone to test a ZOLL AED, call us free on 0800 55 99 55. We will tell you honestly whether your device needs anything at all, and as New Zealand's authorised ZOLL supplier since 2011, we would rather save you the money than sell you a service you do not need.
No. There is no legal or regulatory requirement for AED testing or annual servicing in New Zealand. Claims that testing is legally required are a common scare tactic in cold calls and cold emails.
It automatically runs weekly and monthly self-tests covering the battery, pads connection, circuitry and charge capability. If a test fails, the status window shows a red X instead of the green tick and the device can emit an audible chirp. Details on the ZOLL AED Plus page.
Yes. Powering the device on and running shock simulations, usually several per test, consumes the installed batteries. A reputable provider should fit temporary test batteries during testing. Many cold-calling operators do not.
A qualified biomedical engineer holding an electrical certificate. Most companies offering AED testing in New Zealand and Australia are not. A genuine test by a ZOLL Medical certified biomedical engineer typically costs around $450 + GST, so a $100 to $200 quote is a strong signal the tester is not qualified.
No. A test report only proves the AED was operational at the moment it was tested, not days, weeks or months later. The device's own weekly self-tests plus a weekly glance at the status indicator give far more current assurance.
Glance at the status window weekly to confirm the green indicator, put pad and battery expiry dates in a shared calendar, and replace consumables after any use. The full routine is in our maintenance guide.
Call us before you pay a cold caller. Honest advice from New Zealand's authorised ZOLL supplier, free.
New Zealand's authorised ZOLL AED supplier since 2011.
