Booking Mistake by Intrepid agency turns into a nightmare

i booked with what I thought was Intrepid (that was what was on the Internet ) but it turned out it was an agency working for Intrepid. The agency confirmed they were holding my booking but due to a 'human error' they did not actually hold it for me. I went ahead and independently booked hotels and airfares only to be told that I wasn't actually on the trip. The agency had made a 'human error' . I asked to deal with a manager in Melbourne at Intrepid's main office. I was told that I should have known that it was not Intrepid as it had been widely publicized. The Manager sent me an email. When I tried to get back to her there was no answers to my emails. That was because of another 'human error' wrong email address on the email and no staff in that day to answer emails. I then tried to phone. The phone was engaged and did not answer. Finally after calling back to the agency and waiting hours I got a call from the Manager telling me that 4 of the days there was no single supplement. By this time a number of the hotels had taken a deposit and I had paid an airfare with 3 different airlines. I had arranged care for the pets and cancelled my work. I was over a barrel.
Intrepid has recently restructured itself but it's not obvious to the traveller booking a trip. So beware of the agencies purporting to be Intrepid. They are full of 'Adventure Consultants' who are basically young staff with very little experience.
They make mistakes.
Also the Manager in Melbourne made it very clear that no one holds her to account. It was all my fault and my problem. She couldn't admit that it was a major stuff up and she was spoke about my age (64) as if it was a disability.
A very disappointing experience Intrepid.