Return Policy misuse!

I bought a school suitcase for my daughter that was going to Gr1. The school started later than expected and her school group only goes to school every other day. For the year so far, she has had 21 days at school. One of the straps on the back of the suitcase broke off and as the case has a 6 month guarentee, back to Takealot.

The feedback that I got was that the return was declined. I sent an email to them to find out why and got the following response : "Item without original packaging". I emailed them again, as this case came in a torn up full of dust plastic bag, not any neat or savable packaging.

The next email I received was : "Item is defective or damage/The back strap of the suitcase seems like it was not starched properly, as it broke off. As per policy/damage arising from negligence, user abuse or incorrect usage of product; (customer wrote with black ink on bag)". I emailed them again and questioned this, because as per the school policy the suitcases must be marked clearly with black marker and it was just my daughters name and surname on the case, no negligence user abuse or incorrect usage of any sort and they admitted that is was a defect and not by any fault of ours.

The are refusing to exchange the suitcase and said that they will send it back to us.

This is a severe misuse of their policy, as they did confirm that is was the stitching and not neglect that caused this product to fail.

I am utterly disgusted with their reasoning, as this is not how customer service works.

And just by the way, if this is by any chance our fault, why does Takealot.com not sell these suitcases anymore?