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I had my car serviced in May 2011 and was advised my ball joints needed replacing. I then arranged for the replacement to be carried out also in May 2011. In October 2011, I received a safety product recall from Ford NZ advising of the fault in the territory ball joints and to visit my local ford dealer to have them replaced free of charge. I have had this visit carried out and was advised that the replacement ball joints I had done in May were aftermarket ball joints and not original Ford ones therefore they could not offer me a refund for the work I had carried out in May. My question is, am I able to seek compensation from the repairer in May, as the replacement was only carried out 5 months ago???

Unfortunately, as the replacement balljoints you had fitted in May were not genuine Ford items, understandably Ford will not reimburse you for them. Also, the garage that installed them has fitted them in good faith, so they are under no obligation to refund you either.
Having said that, if the recall still applies to your vehicle, your Ford dealer may be able to fit new genuine Ford balljoints as part of the recall campaign.