Frustrated Student

I bought a phone on Takealot beggining of August 2020, on the 26 and 27th of September 2020 the device became stuck on me and did not respond to touch, I had to listen to the alarm I set the whole night until it decided to switch itself off on it's own because when I tried to switch the alarm off it could not because the phone did not respond to my touch, I watched as it rang because I could not do anything to switch it off, the buttons on the side were working but the touch screen did not budge. This went on for 2 nights, I logged a return on Takealot.com for them to fetch the device and refund me since it was defective, I then got a message that they will send a courier to pick up the device for assessment, on the 3rd day, while waiting for the courier, as I was packing the phone I realised that it had started working again, I then went into settings and reset the phone to it's factory settings to delete my personal information and to log me out of my accounts.

After the device got to the warehouse for assessment a Sikhumbuzo Mathebula logged on the system that I did a hard reset on the device and therefore "damaged it". They then refused to refund me my money. I am frustrated because I am a student I need to be studying for my exams right now but i can't because I don't have a phone.

I just want Takealot.com to take responsibility and pay me back my money so I can buy a proper working phone.

I am Frustrated,