Takealot sold me a defective item

Good day, I would like to express my disappointment. I am not sure whether its Takealot.com or Samsung. I bought a brand new tablet Samsung Tab from Takealot.com in september 2021 and i was happy. The touch screen ended up being unresponsive so i checked the warranty and saw that it was still under warranty and sent it back requesting a replacement. the feedback i got is that it will be prepared however, no comms was provided whether it was going to be covered by the warranty or whether i needed to pay for it. anyway the tab was returned under the impression that it has been repaired. when i decided to use it i saw that it had the same issue so i sent it back again with the impression that they were either going to repair it or replace it. no comms again about whether i need to pay for the repair so i thought it was repaired again. so i went to the extent of calling the repair centre of where they sent the tablet to only to find that it wasn't repaired on both ocassions and was not replaced due to damage. i found this quite strange as i sent the tablet back in absolute immaculate condition. then i asked the repair centre to send me the first and last damage reports. the first damage report said that the tablet had an unauthorized repair and therefore the warranty was void. i was in shock because i bought the tablet brand new and if i repaired a tablet at an unaurthorized place, why would i send the tablet back if i knew if was under warranty. my tablet was new, and in no way was this tablet sent anywhere else but back to takealot.com for repair or replacement. the picture showed that the screen was opened and the glue is signs of unauthorized repair. the report mentioned nothing about other damage to the casing. the second damage report said that there was an internal crack on the screen and damage on the casing. but the first time the tablet was returned to me, it came back to me with that damage. i would like to express my dissatisfaction with takealot.com and samsung because my husband even logged the tablet on the samsung website but up to this day we don't have a response. now the warranty is almost over and the repairs cost more than what i paid for the tablet. Did Takealot sell me a defective item that was repaired at an unauthorized place?