Complaint Review: Hotels.com

 I had a trip to DC planned for the weekend of October 4-6, 2013. I was scheduled to visit several institutions which are governement owned and operated, and which were going to be closed. On October 1, right after the midnight shutdown, I called Hotels.com to cancel the trip. They LIED TO ME and said that they called the hotel and that the hotel was refusing to cancel my reservation, therefore they were keeping my money. I called the hotel DIRECTLY (Westin in DC) and spoke to both Alison and Manuel who BOTH agreed to cancel my reservation with no problem whatsoever. They ALSO TOLD ME THAT HOTELS. COM NEVER CALLED THEM!!!! I called back Hotels.com and spoke to supervisor Jose. He said they called the hotel (which I knew was not true) and that they hotel was still refusing to cancel (even though at this point I had a cancellation reference number from when I spoke to the hotel directly). I asked Jose who Hotels.com had spoken to and he refused to tell me (UMMMMM....that is because they spoke to NO ONE). They kept my money and are CRIMINIALS. I wish I could file a police report on these crooks!!!!!!!