Beware cancellation policy

Warning, beware of booking.com cancellation policy. I made a hotel booking 7 months ahead and within 27 minutes cancelled the booking. The hotel then took the full amount from my card that day, when I asked for my money back as I had immediately cancelled, and they had lost no business or time requiring compensation, they replied they strictly adhered to this 'policy'. These are terrible customer conditions. Booking.com take no responsibility for such problems, and are a booking platform for many small operators, who may be dodgy or have very poor practice. Despite being an established brand booking.com offers no customer protection. Very important conditions, such as there being no refund, or no cancellation period, are hidden on the booking.com website under a little information button that you have to hover over with your mouse. Booking.com should take the lead in setting fairer cancellation policies for their hotel users to adhere to, and they should display important conditions more clearly (for example like airbnb).