impossible to return an item

I have bought quite a bit from takealot and they always deliver speedily, however last month I have tried to return an item for a credit, they scheduled the collection and the gentleman from MrD (Mabenge Den) collected the item on 2017/09/18 at 10:45 in the morning. A few days later I called their callcentre and was informed that the item was actually received and would go to inspection but this might take a FEW days. It's now 17 days later and their site is still not reflecting that the item was collected and there is no indication that I will ever hear back from them on this. In the interim I don't have the item or my money...