Terrible experience at Afristay and accomodation partner.

We recently booked a weekend in Frankfort, we always travel with our dogs and we always bring their own things (beds, blankets etc.) and always clean up after them. We travel extensively throughout South Africa with our pets and always send a message before booking to check if a place that we like can accommodate the dogs. We unfortunately used Afristay for this booking, we made a provisional booking and left a message to say before we finalise and pay can we check if you are ok with our dogs. The following day we received a confirmation email and so we finalised the booking and paid assuming they were happy with our dogs. On arriving at the premises the manager of Neema Spa explained that they could not take dogs. Apparently she had not read the message and nobody at Afristay had communciated? The first problem is why didn't somebody pick up or read the message. Our expectation was that if you leave a message on a website with a question then surely someone would at least read it? Especially an aggregator site like Afristay. We have used LekkerSlaap and Safarinow with great success and great communication and support of there are any issues. Initially, the manager said she was sorry and that she would refund the charge and to send her the banking details on Monday. We understood and managed to find a place to stay. On Monday on providing the banking details but the manager then denied offering a refund and claimed she never said that. Unfortunately for her, I clearly heard the offer to refund and she is basically accusing us of lying. We understand that it is there right to refuse pets but we did clearly check before we finalised the booking. So beware of Afristay as any messages are not read. The so-called Afristay customer service claimed we are at fault as their website is automated (so why have a message?) and in my opinion the website is not fit for purpose. So much for customer service. Secondly be aware that the manager at Neema is prepared to lie to her customers and to her booking partner Afristay. Afristays terms and conditions state they will ensure good service from suppliers - i wonder if anything further will happen to this ****. I am going to continue to escalate this but just wanted to warn others of the terrible response we have had so far.