Takealot's ineffective return policy

A few weeks ago I bought a bike rack for my car on Takealot. The rack was delivery to my home in a box that looked like it travelled far and took a beating to get to it's destination. It's not a problem, as what I wanted was the merchandise inside.

Fast forward a couple of weeks later, I take the unopened box to my local bike shop for them to assist in fitting the rack on my car. The shop owner takes one look at an image of the rack that is on the box and tells me I bought the wrong rack for my car. We didn't even open the box.

I notify Takealot that I need to return the rack as it was the wrong type. The return is within the 30 day window and they are refusing to take the rack back and they are giving generic reasons for not taking it back. And every time I communicate with them it is a different person and I have to keeping trying to explain to them that that box was never opened.

I have tried to email and call them. I don't even know if the customer service number ***) listed on Google is actually correct because it has the automated voice asking you to choose which department to speak to but as soon as you choose, it rings a few times and drops. And no consultant that has emailed me has taken this up with a supervisor despite my request.

Such disappointing service from them. I never thought I would consider Amazon but they have a new customer without even trying to market to me.