Extremely Poor Service from Builders N1 City

In preparation for the summer break, I planned to set up a pool for the kids during their school holiday period. While at the Builders Warehouse branch in N1 City, Cape Town, I noticed a Kreapy Krauly sand filter pump set on sale. I previously had the exact one but the multi-valve port broke. I immediately thought this would be a great replacement. I noticed the pipes were not included, which wasn't a deal breaker for me as I already had these. Before paying for the set, I asked if anything was wrong with the product as the price was much lower than the original price. The employee said everything was in working order and just the pipes were not included. I was sceptical but they reassured me that everything was okay with the product. This was mid-November.

In December, my wife and I bought everything else we needed for the pool built purely on the pool pump filter purchase. We had a pool technician come and set it up. When everything was connected correctly, we switched on the pump and immediately, water started gushing from the top of the MVP. This is when we found out that it was a defective product. According to Builders T&Cs, with any sale product (the ones with the stickers) it should have been disclosed any issues with the product. This wasn't done.

I took the product back to the store on 16 December 2024. The manager opened the MVP and found that the pipe connected to the handle was indeed broken. Luckily, the part was still under warranty and the manager instructed an employee to complete the return-to-supplier process with me. On the document, she wrote that it would take approx. 14-21 working days. Here, I would lose most of the peak summer swimming time. Nonetheless, I was okay with it and made other arrangements by using another filter pump which required cartridges. By mid-January, I hadn't heard back from Builders. I wrote an email to customer support. Two days later I got a call from Builders N1 City. The employee told me (and I'm not making this up) that she just received the email I sent and it turns out that the initial employee did not send the defective MVP to the supplier. Apparently, the initial employee resigned and did not tell anyone about it. It was lying in some corner of the store. But it gets better... This was all mentioned to me on the phone with the employee thinking I was the supplier asking me to come collect the product. Realising that the employee was speaking to the customer, it was said that she would try to rush the process, as by this time, my pool where I spent a few thousand bucks, was in a bad state. A day later, the employee calls me back to say that it would take another 3 weeks to get a replacement and I should just come get a refund. This made me very angry. She handed the phone to the manager (the same one who authorised the return) and said it was best to get a refund. This showed me that they took no ownership and accountability for their negligence and the best thing they could do is give me a refund. Unacceptable!!! The least they could have done was offer me a replacement from in-store or check another branch. But now I'm stuck with the problem of Builders N1 City not taking any responsibility!!!