Takealot.com sells substandard quality goods and refuse to refund rusted tap

Bought a stainless steel kitchen mixer tap in November 2023. The tap was installed in the last week of November and as early as mid-December, I started noticing, what looked like rust, on it. I requested a refund, but due to their policy, the tap has to be returned, inspected and only then will it be refunded. Now as everyone probably knows, if a tap is removed, something should be fitted in it's place, otherwise you'll have a flood, or at worst, no water. This being the case, I did not want to go and buy another tap and decided to live with the rusty fitted unit. To my extreme dismay, last week the pipe supp**** with the tap, burst and flooded my kitchen! The quality of the kitchen mixer, it later became evident, is of extremely poor quality, so much so, that there was rust everywhere on the "stainless steel" in places not normally seen. Now I'm told the warranty expired on 12 March 2024 after I tried to lodge a return on the 18th March 2024! They sent an email regretting the fact they cannot return the unit, which is utter nonsense! They sold me a defective, sub-standard quality unit and the failure and resulting flooding have cost me thousands. The least they could do is to man up and do a refund! Pathetic!