Bad customer service, faulty device

I have/had a Mate 20 pro. Absolutely loved the phone. It's one of the best I've owned, up until now. We were on holiday a few weeks back, and long story short, we were at the pool, my nephew bumped into me, the phone dropped in the water and I picked it out quickly and everything was fine (this was all in a matter of seconds by the way). I thought IP68, it'll be fine. The phone functioned properly for the next day or so until the battery died.

When I charged the phone, the always on display came on, however I couldn't unlock it. I restarted it...nothing. The place we were at was remote so I figured I'll have it looked at when we get back home. I take it in to the Huawei store in Canal Walk.

After a long interrogation about whether I was taking underwater pictures or deep diving with the phone, they tell me they'll send it in for repair. I get an sms saying that the phone is in the queue for repair and a quote is being prepared. I then hear nothing for two weeks. I call Huawei, and apparently there was a mix up with my email, they apologise and say they'll send me the quote. I ask the customer service agent does he know the amount? He says R2,200 (something along those lines). I'm already annoyed by this, but I think fine, I just want my phone back, so I tell him to send the quote anyway.

I get the quote, open it up and the amount glaring back at me to my astonishment is R22,461.62! With tax and obviously a R250 labour charge. So I think surely it's a mistake. I call back and the agent confirms the amount (the first agent must've read it wrong). So I tell the agent I think that's unacceptable. He tells me I can escalate the issue. I tell him please do so (To be fair, all of the customer service agents I've spoken to have been very polite and understanding albeit not very helpful).

Another week goes by and I've heard nothing. I just keep getting sms's asking whether I'm going through with the repair. So I call back today. There's no recollection of anything having been escalated. This agent tells me to call the store in Canal Walk and take it up with them. When I call the store, the lady is as surprised I am and tells me the tech is not in and they'll call me back when he/she gets in at 1pm.

The phone was first taken in on the 29th of April. I understand that the warranty doesn't cover water damage but surely a flagship phone with an IP68 rating should be able to withstand a few-seconds drop in water. Not just that, but the completely disorganised after sales service has left me disappointed and angered with the company.