RARU "takes full responsibility" for import's warrantee, then won't honour it

I ordered a Nvidia Shield K1 tablet from RARU using their import service. Before doing so, I checked Amazon's published warrantee & Nvidia's. Both stated without ambiguity that it was one year (Amazon actually just republished Nvidia's). I also checked their terms and conditions, where they stated they would be the local contact for any returns / repairs.

A few months down the line ( > 6m, < 12m) the battery stops charging, so I get in touch with RARU. After initially saying that they hadn't dealt with this kind of situation before, they check with the overseas supplier.

After a week and a bit of back and forth, they say that the warrantee was actually 6 months, any implication of a 12 month warrantee is not their problem, regardless of what the manufacturer says. They also say they cannot help me with even getting the item repaired, basically leaving me high and dry with a useless piece of expensive plastic and glass.

I ordered via the import service specifically to get a product from Amazon with a local contact. RARU charges a fair premium over and above the price + duties + shipping on Amazon which I was prepared to pay for the safety net of a local delivery point.

The supreme irony is that had I simply ordered it via Amazon, it would have been cheaper, arrived faster and still be covered under warrantee. I chose South African service, and got typical South African service.