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First, sorry about the aggravation. If it had been me, I would have let you change the reservation, with no cancellation and no cancellation fee. After all, you were still coming, just a day late. That would have been the courteous, customer-friendly thing to do.
That said, this company was probably well within its rights to do what it did. Having no cancellation period for those who book within the window is very common practice. This should be made clear at the time of booking, however, ether verbally or through a clear written warning. Your future plans to deal directly with the hotel/motel are great -- this is always what I recommend. However, know that they will quite often have the same booking policies as any third-party broker, and may not express them any better. It's always best to deal with a real person, as opposed to a website.
As far as the printed instructions, you may not have seen anything like this before, but they are actually awesome. What you did was buy a room from a party other than the hotel itself. These "extra parties" go by many names: wholesaler, travel agency, tour operator, broker, Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, etc. etc. Your contract is with them. Your financial transaction is with them. They just send the reservation details to the hotel. What you often find is new or inexperienced or just busy reservations or front desk agents at the hotel who make the reservation incorrectly, and set it up for you to get double-charged. These implicit instructions make it really clear to all involved that you have already paid for your room, and the hotel better not try to charge you for anything other than incidentals. If you ask me, this is awesome. It prevents errors and confusion. (Of course, getting it too late doesn't help!)
So, while frustrating, I don't think you got ripped off, unless you were never told of any cancellation policy until after you gave your credit card information and were charged. And crappy as it is, it was probably in the fine print somewhere. True, a company interested in good customer service and repeat business wouldn't quibble over $10 to $25, but they were most likely following policy. It never hurts to try to talk to a supervisor (with the broker, NOT the hotel, remember, the hotel didn't sell you the room!) if possible. They may be able to do something more.
If you have further problems with this company, or incur larger charges than what was quoted, and you are not able to get satisfaction from a supervisor, you may try contacting a travel ombudsman. I suggest visiting www.elliott.org Christopher Elliott is a great consumer advocate, and reading his site lets you know about what is and is not standard and legal within the travel industry. Also, visit another site Christopher is affiliated with, www.tripso.com DISCLAIMER: I write for this site, so call me biased. But it is an excellent site, dedicated to educating consumers to help them get the most out of their travel experience. (There are also forums on this site.)
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