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I booked an entire house in Somerset West via Booking.com mid-January for my birthday weekend in April (1-3April) The booking was made way in advance to secure availability. Payment of R10 089.00 was made, confirmation received, excitement mounting. 2 Weeks before my birthday weekend I received an email, nonchalantly informing me that the booking was canceled due to the place closing down and it will take 7-12 days for me to receive my refund. Meanwhile I had to scramble trying to find alternative accommodation for 10+ people, and pay for the new accommodation, whilst still waiting on my refund from Booking.com. We were a large group, making it difficult to find alternative accommodation at such short notice.

After alot of stress and searching I found a suitable place, (which cost more) for the following weekend, (8-10April) in Bettys Bay. All the places were fully booked for the weekend that we originally planned. Booking.com promised that they would refund me for the extra cost of the new accommodation, which was over 2k. All I had to do was send them the invoice from the host after our successful stay, even though they had all the details on their system. I also sent them the confirmation number of the new booking. So after our stay I emailed them the invoice as requested. They informed me that they will give me a cash credit for the amount. First time I heard of a cash credit, which I refused as I had no need for it, and asked them to refund me the money and pay it into my bank account as discussed. Next day I received an email saying they won't be refunding me as the dates of our stay are different to the dates of the original booking. I was never previously informed about this. Damn fools know that there was no accommodation available for the original dates, hence us settling for the following weekend. My birthday weekend was completely ruined as it had to be postponed. Then they still have the audacity to deny my claim because the dates differed. This company have no intention of following through on their promises and obviously don't care about their customers. From all the complaints I have seen on Hellopeter and other social media platforms , it is surprising that they are still in business. Stay away from them.