Rigid and inflexible policies.

<div>In March 2021 I was looking for accommodation on Afristay. They recommend you enquire on several establishments to help secure a booking which I did. One establishment was Avondrust Guest House. ***** of Afristay advised me that Avondrust had accepted/confirmed my dates, unless I wanted to cancel, I rep**** 'yes please cancel' and thought that was that, until I noticed some time later that R4500.00 had come off my credit card. I immediately contacted Afristay to kindly refund me the R4500, they said it was not possible as I hadn't cancelled. I stated that I had requested ****** to cancel immediately, she denied this even though I sent her a copy of the email. At no time was I advised that you had to go through a specific process to cancel. Afristay have rigid policies and refused to refund me. ***** of Avondrust also refused to refund. Afristay have refunded me R1500 and some of the balance in vouchers. I have been dealing with Afristay for a number of years. A similar thing has happened in the past and in that case the host did refund Afristay however it took Afristay a few weeks to refund me, again I had not been made aware of the specific cancellation policy ie. to login to the Afristay website, then go to your profile’s inbox and select to cancel there. I was only aware of this as of yesterday thanks to family spotting that in their help section. I told Afristay I didn't want or need vouchers - I am an old lady and this was a birthday surprise for me paid for out of my pension savings. To date Afristay and Avondrust insist on not refunding me, I am left out of pocket by R3000.</div>