Fair Price's Complete Disregard for the Consumer Protection Act

I placed a layby at fair price cosmo city branch and paid a deposit of R1000. However I later changed my mind about this product and decided to get a refund. When I got to the store the sales rep refused to process a refund saying that fair price does not allow refunds on layby and the only option was to take something equivalent to that price which I objected to because I did not want anything in the store and I did not want to be forced to purchase something I did not want. She then eventually said they would call us end of January 2025 when fair price's refund policy had been reviewed. I called their head office the following day only to be told that there is a waiting list for refunds that I was supposed to be placed on since the store did not keep cash. I called the store manager for the cosmo branch who instantly became rude, but I was however able to work out from that conversation that I had actually been placed on a waiting list and the refund would only be processed end of January 2025. I found this unacceptable because surely it cannot be accurate that it takes fair price 3 months to make enough to process a R1000 refund. I called their head office once again to object to this time frame and they promised to call me back but never did so. I am becoming more and more convinced that the best way forward is to report this company to the consumer ombuds. This can't be legal!