Complaints, product recall hit Sooshi Mango comedian Carlo Salanitri’s green energy empire

Carlo Salanitri, part of the comedy group Sooshi Mango, has become a household name, but he is also a co-owner of Ecogenica and Eco Alliance heat pumps, which are facing an ACCC recall and angry complaints.

Carlo Salanitri from Comedy Trio Sooshi Mango, with his wife Fifi Rostom Salanitri. Picture: Instagram.

A performer in one of Australia’s most popular comedy groups is the co-owner of a green energy empire which has been inundated with angry customer complaints while also dealing with a major product recall.

This masthead can reveal Carlo Salanitri, a member of “Sooshi Mango”, is the Director of four separate businesses which have profited from lucrative government incentives on heat pumps.

Mr Salanitri has now distanced himself from the operations, with a spokesperson saying his name on company records is an “administrative oversight” which will be “rectified first thing tomorrow.”

Official ASIC documents reveal the comedian and his business partner Remi Infanti are the co-owners of “Eco Light Up” established in 2012, the 2018 company “Eco Alliance”, another company created in 2021 called “Ecogenica” and their latest offering, “Econova” in 2023.

The businesses have made millions of dollars from state-issued energy “certificates”, which are distributed to private companies who install energy-efficient appliances such as heat pumps.

One of their products, the Ecogenica EG-215F, was recently the subject of a product recall from the ACCC due to the regulator’s concern around potential “risk of serious injury or death from electric shock.”

The EG-215F was sold in NSW, Victoria and South Australia between May 2022 and September 2023, a period when the largest amount of government discounts were available.

The companies have also received complaints for falsely advertising that their heat pumps are “Australian-made”. A legal letter sent in July 2024, on behalf of a rival hot water company warns: “we are instructed that the Ecogenica hot water heat pumps are made in China.”

Ecogenica responded by confirming the error was the result of a “website designer fault and not wilful representation.”

“Remedial actions were undertaken… to replace the words Australian-made with Australian-designed” Ecogenica wrote.

Ecogenica and Eco Alliance have more than 150 “1 star” reviews on Google - with complaints ranging from poor-quality service and faulty hot water systems.

Carlo Salanitri (centre) and the Sooshi Mango comedy group. Picture: Dylan Coker

One such unhappy customer is a home owner at Mona Vale in NSW. Perry Walker said his partner Michelle had been contacted via a “letter-box drop”, which advised them government incentives allowed them to have two Ecogenica heat pumps installed for $33 each. Mr Walker said when he came home he “heard a roar” from the noisy new systems.

“They’ve put a new powerpoint in - and when you undo the main valve - hot water pours all over it. I don’t think it’s even saving money.” Mr Walker said.

Perry Walker has major concerns about the wiring and noise of the system installed by Ecogenica at his partners’ home in Mona Vale. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Thermometer tests on a separate Ecogenica heat pump installed at a factory in Prestons in NSW have found the adjacent bathroom basin was running water at 60 degrees - which can cause third-degree burns.

Inspecting the system, Jason Camilleri, the head of Training and Compliance at Australian-made company Dux hot water said the unit’s consumer settings had been installed inside the system: “if you put your hand in there, you are not going to be protected from electrocution, and the result is going to be - you are dead.”

Ecogenica and Eco Alliance have more than 150 “1 star” reviews on Google.

In Geelong, home owner Danny Graham had an Eco Alliance heat pump installed for free about three years ago. “All the pump’s hoses have corroded and I have replaced them multiple times. We get hot water but the longevity of the parts isn’t there. It’s probably lucky it’s lasted this long” he said.

The Ecogenica EG-215F was recently the subject of a product recall from the ACCC due to the regulator’s concern around potential “risk of serious injury or death from electric shock”.

Speaking on behalf of Mr Salanitri, a spokesperson for Sooshi Mango told this masthead he “has not been active in any of their operational activities for over four years now.

“It is an administrative oversight that he is still listed as a director which will be rectified first thing tomorrow by filing the requisite documents with ASIC” the spokesperson said.

Sooshi Mango have more than 2 million followers on Instagram and regularly tour nationally with their light-hearted take on Mediterranean culture.

Significant federal and state government discounts, which encouraged people to replace gas and electric hot water systems with heat pumps, has resulted in more than 400,000 units installed in Australia over the past five years. Only 10 per cent were manufactured locally.

Complicating the issue is that the four companies in the “Eco” group were involved in the installation of heat pumps, but also sold many of their units to a third-party operator.

The four "Eco" brands involved in heat pumps, each owned by Carlo Salanitri and Remi Infanti. Source: Supplied

Mr Salanitri’s business partner, Mr Infanti responded to inquiries about Ecogenica from overseas. In a statement Mr Infanti said:

“All products provided by Eco Alliance meet the certification requirements in Australia and NSW. Any product that has been installed at the request of customers by Eco Alliance, is only undertaken by qualified installers. Where a customer has purchased our unit via a third-party installer who installs the product, Eco Alliance is not responsible for any of the installation work. Our service department work with the customer to resolve any issues with the Third-Party installer.

“All products sold by Eco Alliance have a manufacturer’s warranty. We have a dedicated service department that is national and covers both states. At all times, we are taking customer feedback seriously. However, it is unfortunate that recent online reviews of this sector are based on misinformation.

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Originally published as Complaints, product recall hit Sooshi Mango comedian Carlo Salanitri’s green energy empire