How many times must you repair before replacing?

I bought a phone on 1 September 2017 at Cash Crusaders Midrand City. Phone had a 1 year warranty which is the main reason I bought it. It started freezing and crashing in January 2018. I wasn't around at the time and couldn't take it back. I went to the store on the 1st of March 2018. It was booked in for repairs. I received the phone back on the 19th April 2018. The comments from the repairs was "battery swollen and screen cracked" I asked if any repairs were done on the phone, they told me to buy a new battery which I rightfully refused. On testing the phone, the phone was no longer charging. I told them I had taken the phone in with the battery fullest functional. I was not prepared to fix what they had broken. They gave me a different battery and the phone charged. I switched on the phone and found that everything was exactly as it was. The Manager advised me to take the phone home and see if it still had the same issues since I was travelling that day. It worked fine for the first 2 days then the screen stopped responding.

I could only go back to the store on the 4th of May and I was told that they would need to book it in for another 6 weeks for repairs. Meaning for 12 weeks of the 12 month warranty, the phone is with them. I asked the shop assistant what guarantee they can give me that it will get fixed the second time around. She told me she couldn't guarantee that.

To top it off, she told me to take off the screen protector I had put on the phone after the screen cracked and I told her I'm not willing to do that. She proceeded to try and take it off, further damaging the screen and uprooting the internal part. I told her I didn't want to do that since I could damage it and lose the warranty.

My question is, how many times do I have to take the same phone in for repairs on the same problem? What do I do for the 3 months or even longer while the phone goes for repairs? What's the point of taking it in for repairs if they won't even investigate on the problem when it was clearly stated when booking it in?

I have bought phones before from other branches and whenever I had issues, they would gladly give me other options while they fix the problem, why is Midrand not doing the same for their customers? Why must I be the one to suffer without a phone when I gave them money for a phone?