Yala Prima Hit, After Key Client Bunnings Pulls Dodgy Heater From Shelves

Yale Prima the South African owned distributor who were a multimillion dollar creditor, following the collapse of Dick Smith is facing new problems after Bunnings were forced to withdraw a Moretti 11-Fin Oil Column Heater from their shelves, this is not the first time that retailers have been forced to recall a Yale Prima sourced product.

The heater which has been escribed as highly dangerous, after consumers discovered the device was so poorly manufactured that it leaked oil which could easily rupture spilling out spewing out hot oil on users as well as small children playing near the heater.

What is not known is how the heater passed Yale Prima certification.

Bunnings on realising there was a problem with the heater has issued an urgent recall a move that could cost Yale Prima further losses in Australia.

According to Federal Government Safety experts Bunnings fielded complaints from five customers, who discovered that several of the heater leaked oil. It’s also not known whether the oil itself was toxic if licked by a young child.

“We urge customers to stop using this heater immediately,” a Bunnings spokeswoman said.

Some 600 people who bought the defective heater will be offered a full refund.

Receipts are not required as proof of purchase, as the heater was an exclusive Bunnings product.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, “affected heaters have Batch Code 12/16 and OLN 9532 or OLN 9539”, which should be displayed on the rating label.

This is not the first time that retailers have been caught out selling questionable products sourced by Yale Prima.

Last year the Company was forced to comply with an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission order that they had to provide remedies to consumers who purchased faulty JVC-branded televisions from Dick Smith prior to 5 January 2016.

Yale Prima were forced to offer full refunds to consumers under its own 12 month manufacturer’s warranty for unrepairable televisions purchased from Dick Smith prior to 5 January 2016.

Yale Prima provided this commitment following an ACCC investigation into consumer complaints after Dick Smith went into external administration.

It’s not known how much this cost the Company.

For several weeks in 2016, Yale Prima referred all customer enquiries back to Ferrier Hodgson as the receiver for Dick Smith, despite its own ongoing ACL obligations.

Then after the ACCC stepped in the South African Company had a change of attitude and started to offer a partial refund in place of the full refund promised in the manufacturer’s warranty. The ACCC deemed that this was not good enough and eventually the Company gave a full refund.