SAMSUNG Z fold screen not covered under warranty by Samsung and Cell C.

I have a SAMSUNG Z Fold under contract from Cell C, the device has a clear marked 24-month warranty on the device box and just reached a year - still under warranty. The fold on the screen froze when I was sitting in the car and used it, the seam went black and the LCD was unusable. I fitted a protective cover from CELL C on the day I got the phone. Cell C repair center sent me a quotation of R25000 stating my warranty is not valid due to impact damage. This now forces me to claim insurance and experience terrible Cell C service where 3 out of 2 follow-up calls on my phone status told me they could not detect where my phone is from the reference, I received from them.