7 day policy of Takealot does not protect clients from severely damaged goods

Hi

I bought a 6-liter Instapot from Takealot; I received it and opened the top of the box. It looked like it was in good condition, and the box was not damaged at all. The pot is heavy so I thought I will take it out when I need to test it. It was just before the one-month return policy, and I took out the pot to test, and it was damaged so badly. The bottom was falling out and the side looked like someone actually took a hammer to it. The box is in perfect condition; it looked like it happened before it entered the box. They declined my return on this expensive product which was a unboxed deal by the way. I have called takealot about the 7 day policy because there should be some contingency in place for issues like this. They told me to reply to the email sent to me and that someone would reply or call me. This was on the 7 March. Since then, I have sent two more emails, but there has still been no reply. I always hear people complaining about Takealot, but never think they were right about the terrible service. The 7-day policy is nonsense as not everyone can check a large product within that time. I know I should have checked it but I honestly didn't have the time at that point and the box was also in perfect condition. The point is they could reply to me at least. It's been a week, and there's still no response. Should there not be something in place to protect consumers from issues like these? I want to take it up further but I can't do that because I have not heard from Takealot yet and I want to try and sort this out with them first.