Takealot not handling return correctly for defective product. Near impossible to communicate with a person handling the return

I ordered a padel racket for my son's birthday. I returned it one or 2 days short of the return period - but the product was defective. Takealot collected and returned it and just said that it was not returned in time, I tried communicating with the various persons that sent me communication but it seems my response never got back to the same person once, There is no way to properly communicate in such a case with Takealot. There is a policy for handling defective products but they never considered it - the Padel was cracked to begin with which we did not notice in time. I tried on various occasions to try and address this with Takealot but it seems communicating with them is near impossible. I have been a happy customer for years but this is really a big disappointment