Accommodation company charges

In the course of Oct 2018, I made a booking online with The Living Collective via booking.com for accommodation as my partner and I were going to visit the Drakensberg area for the weekend.

I entered my details together with my bank card information. On the day that we were supposed to arrive at the place, we couldn’t go due to family issues that took place. The lady that works at The Living Collective calls me to ask if whether we’re still coming or not, I inform her about the family situation that I was currently going through; she advises me to write a report so I’ll be charged the cancellation fee (which I had no problem with paying) via booking.com. I wrote the report on Friday, 26th of October 2018 then Sunday morning I receive a bank notification that they took money out of my account. When I call the lady, she spoke about a whole lot of things that she didn’t explain in the beginning and said; She is running a business. Hence, I hadn’t even signed any contract or paperwork with her. The company then decides to take the money out of my account of R2278.10 and says it’s for the accommodation. I contacted my bank, they said they can’t assist because is shows a pending transaction and it’s a credit transaction; apparently I “swiped” for it, which I didn’t. Instead they will further charge me to do a quiry check.

Bottom line is my partner and I didn’t go and yet we’re charged the full amount of accommodation.