Vodacom refuses to repair 7 month old tablet

I purchased a Alcatel Tablet from Vodacom in December 2014, the tablet worked well up until 2 weeks ago when i had issues with the Wi-Fi connection, the Alcatel Tablet is a budget tablet made of cheap plastic, the unit was dropped and there were a few dents and scratches, however this has nothing to do with the fault on the unit, i booked the unit in for repairs, i never asked for a replacement unit as the unit is over 7 months old, i received a phone call from the Vodacom Repair center stating that the device was not covered under warranty due to the dents on the cheap plastic and scratches and i needed to pay for it, a response from Lindiwe goes further to state \the unit is supposed to be in its original form""; the Tablet is a mobile device; all i asked from Vodacom is that my device be repaired but Vodacom does not repair devices they swap them out; i dont want a swap i want my device repaired; just fix the fault how hard can it be;but i guess Vodacom doesnt believe in customer service just in covering themselves"""