No sorry I think I'm confusing the issue....

The fans do work.

The reason the car was getting hot while stopped was because she'd let it get low on coolant (letting it leak for a week or two without checking it) so it was very low and air got in the system. Then once it'd almost overheat she'd fill up the coolant and the cycle would repeat every week or two. Just laziness on checking it is all. I couldn't pinpoint the leak, I though it was the water pump gasket, but now think it's the weep/vent hole in the pump. I actually replaced the gasket again a few weekends ago.

The new issue is that it gets hot while cruising and full of coolant. I don't believe coolant is circulating. So I'm thinking water pump(especially because of the noise and leak in that area which I now realize is most likely the weep/vent hole). Also it could be tstat (only about 10k miles old) or a clog (doubt this).

Does this all sound logical?

The replacement pump I put in just looked cheap, it came with the gates timing belt kit. I believe the impeller was plastic. Just looked and felt cheap compared to the oem one. I believe it was from china or something.