Refusal to honour warranty after they break the device

<div>AC Direct delivered and installed my AC unit on the 6th of December 2023, and the unit seemed to be working. After not using the unit during winter, we tried to turn it on again on the 8th of October 2024, only to find that it was no longer working at all. Upon inspecting the power going to the unit, I found that the unit had been installed (by AC Direct) by wiring it directly into an electrical junction box, which goes against AC Direct's promise and requirement to install the unit to a plug point within 7m of the unit, with an isolator. I emailed AC Direct immediately to report the faulty unit and the dangerous installation situation. The AC Direct customer support team rebuffed my request for support and told me that they would not fix the wiring of the unit. After many back-and-forth emails and ultimately hours on the phone with AC Direct, they agreed to come and fix the faulty installation, which was both dangerous and violated my electrical CoC. While fixing the installation, they agreed to assess the unit for faults. Once the installation and wiring were fixed, the AC Direct mechanic reported that the unit's mainboard was "dead" and was no longer passing power through to the unit and that AC Direct would be in contact to address the issue. This took an additional 3 weeks of waiting to hear back from AC Direct, during which they confirmed that the mainboard was faulty and required me to pay for a replacement and the work needed to perform the replacement. I pointed out that the unit was still within its 12-month warranty based on the delivery date (as stipulated by their warranty conditions) and that AC Direct had performed an installation that violated the manufacturer’s installation requirements. As such, AC Direct should repair the unit at no additional cost. AC Direct rejected this, stating that the unit was originally ordered outside of a 12-month timeframe. I responded by pointing out again that their own warranty statement (https://acdirect.co.za/return-and-warranty-policy/) specifies that a warranty is valid for 12 months from the date of delivery and that they themselves violated their own warranty clause by performing a "poor installation." AC Direct (++++) simply said that even though I am correct—that the unit is within 12 months of delivery (per their warranty statement) and that they violated the installation guidelines (per their installation requirements)—they could not honor the warranty because the supplier would not recognize it. I pointed out that AC Direct sold me the unit and that the sale was conducted under the terms of their installation guidelines and warranties. AC Direct said they did not care and would not be helping unless I paid.</div>