It's a self-setting trap that catches rats and stoats and only requires rebaiting every six months.
That's the claim of Kiwi business Goodnature and it's what drew Northland Predator Free volunteer Tim Trengrove to the A24 trap.
But what happens when the trap doesn't trap?
Tim Trengrove reckons he's had about a dozen of these traps stop working – the latest failure was what brought him to Fair Go.
When a pest nudges a trigger inside the trap, it releases a punch device powered by the pressure created from carbon dioxide gas, and this device kills the animal humanely.
It's called the A24 because that's how many times the trap should work, and then re-set. But some of Tim's traps weren't getting anything like 24 hits, before seemingly running out of gas.
"So something had gone wrong," he says.
Trengrove says he's experienced the problem with traps in the wider Wellington region, some in places managed by councils.
Goodnature advises customers to replace the carbon dioxide cannisters and bait every six months. So it's important that the traps are reliably lasting the whole six months.
Trengrove says he'd previously returned four traps to Goodnature and alerted the business to what he believes is a gas leak issue.
But, he says, he didn't receive any updates from the business as to why the traps weren't firing.
The traps range in price from $169 to $199 and have a two-year warranty, and any faulty products returned beyond that time are replaced by the business for a "reasonable charge".
Under the Consumer Guarantees Act, a product has to last a "reasonable" time, and Tim believes that 10 years "is not a big ask for the trap to continue without failing."
Goodnature co-founder Robbie van Dam told Fair Go the traps should last at least half that amount of time.
"Because the product's been out for a decade, we have massive historical information to provide us with confidence that it lasts a minimum of five years."
During that time, over 500,000 A24 traps have been sold and Robbie says less than one per cent are returned under warranty.
So did the traps Trengrove returned have a gas leak?
Van Dam says he doesn't know of any continuous fault that could point to such a problem with any of the traps that have been returned.
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"Suggesting that it's one thing or another probably misses the point here of a process of diagnosis. So, when you go through that process you might not actually identify a technical failing, it might actually have been something quite different."
But van Dam says the business can do better in its communication with customers over what is wrong with a returned trap.
And, Goodnature's been in touch with Northland Predator Free members, suggesting a staff member join trappers in the bush to see what's happening.
Fair Go will keep an eye on any developments with this story but in the meantime, Tim's not leaving his traps to fate, certainly not for six months at a time.
"I've found the best practice is just to get out and check them," he said.
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