PEP Phone not sent to be fixed in 6 weeks!!

I put on laybye a cellphone for my son in January using all the Christmas money he saved up. We paid it off in February. The phone worked for only a week then switched off. I took it back a day later but was told that there was a 7 day money back guarantee and the phone was 8 days old. They said that we must send it in to the supplier. It would take 4-6 weeks. I checked after 4 weeks they said it wasn't back the same after 5 weeks. This week was 6 weeks so I phoned the helpline. They said that I must go back to the store and the phone must be replaced. When I got there they said that I must come back as they hold for long periods sometimes so I agreed and phoned 1.5 hours later. The manager said I must come and get a refund. When I got there they couldn't give me a refund or a replacement because the price of the phone had gone up by R200. Whilst there they tried scanning the phone I realized was ours. The phone hadn't even left the store in the 6 weeks that I had been waiting!! yet everytime I went there they said it wasn't back. I had to use my airtime again to phone the helpline so now I must wait abother 48 hours for an area manager to sort out. I am staying without the product I paid for and the money I paid for it for 6 weeks. How is it that an entire store of staff can't see a phone lying there for over a month? Pathetic customer service. Then I must use my own resources to sort the problem out. Is this what after sales service has stopped down to??