Booking.com - double booking & terrible service

We inquired about accommodation in and around Mokopane. The website took us to a portal where we could make a booking at Squirrel's Lodge and booking.com send us confirmation of our booking - inclusive of a reference number and a follow up sms closer to the date of arrival. It was a long journey and we were 2 ladies (one of which is an elderly lady of 78 years) and it took us 7 hours to get to our destination by car. Upon arrival we were told by the manager at Squirrel's Lodge that booking.com made a mistake and there was no accommodation for us. Beside the fact that the manager was extremely unhelpful we inquired with booking.com and to date had no response. We experienced a very stressful time in an unknown area without any help or support. It was during a time of an annual sports festival and all accommodation in and around the area had already been taken. The fact that booking.com does not even bother to explain is totally unacceptable and it is obvious that their systems does not work - will never use them again!