Open-box items being sold as new/daily deal

I have previously bought a "daily deal" item which was clearly returned, but decided not to say anything since the price was low. I still thought it was unacceptable that Takealot would sell the item without being upfront about it being open-box.

Today, however, I received what was clearly an open-box item that had been sold (and charged for) as new: a Solenco CF8500 air purifier. I noticed that the box was damaged as though it had been opened before. When I plugged the air purifier in it was noisy, which is probably why it was previously returned.

I contacted Solenco and the first thing they asked was whether the air filters were provided in separate plastic bags. There were no air filters in separate bags; they had already been installed. Between the air filters and the damaged box, it's clear that I was sold a returned unit.

Solenco has arranged to collect and replace the unit because they don't want Takealot to replace the item only to try to pass on the open-box unit to another unsuspecting customer.

It's clear that Takealot tries to sell unboxed items as new when they believe they can get away with it, so I can only recommend that purchasers only accept items when they are clearly brand new.