Who can I sue for a faulty heater if the brand name is missing?

The situation

I am living in Melbourne, Victoria, and I am having a real nightmare with a portable electric heater I bought. On the 12th of May, I purchased this unit from a local appliance warehouse for $245. Everything seemed fine for about three weeks, but last night, the casing started to melt and it emitted a strange burning smell, which was incredibly frightening. I have checked the unit thoroughly, but there are no labels, logos, or manufacturer details anywhere on the device to show who actually made it. I have already gone back to the retail shop where I bought it to ask for help, but the manager just told me they are only the middleman and that I need to deal with the manufacturer directly. Since I cannot find any information about the actual maker of the heater, I am stuck. I want to start a claim for the damages caused to my carpet, which cost me $1,200 to replace, but I don't know who to legally hold responsible. If I send a formal letter to the shop asking them to tell me who the manufacturer is and they refuse to help me, can I just treat the shop as the manufacturer for my claim?

Detailed Analysis

Because your heater has no labels or logos, you are currently in a position where you do not know who the manufacturer is. Under the law, you have a specific way to fix this. You can give a written notice to the appliance warehouse where you bought the unit on 12 May. This notice must "request the supplier or suppliers to give the person particulars identifying the manufacturer of the goods"^[1]. This means you are formally asking them to tell you who actually made the heater.

If the shop refuses to help or simply ignores your request, the law provides a fallback. If "30 days after the person made the request or requests, the person still does not know who is the manufacturer of the goods, then each supplier... is taken... to be the manufacturer of the goods"^[1]. In your case, if 30 days pass after your written request and you still don't have the name, the appliance warehouse will be legally treated as the manufacturer for your defective goods action.

Since the melting casing and burning smell indicate a safety defect, you may be able to claim for the damage to your carpet. A manufacturer is liable to compensate a person if "the goods have a safety defect; and... other goods of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption are destroyed or damaged because of the safety defect"^[2]. Because your $1,200 carpet was damaged by the faulty heater, you can seek to recover those costs.

It is important to note that the shop's claim that they are "only the middleman" does not protect them from this specific rule if they fail to provide the manufacturer's identity.

Statutory Citations

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