HOTWIRE Cancelled my return flight, charged me to reinstate it and never did...I'm stuck in Dallas. Internet

So I booked travel on Hotwire to attend some training in the Dallas area.  On my way to the airport I ran into some unexpected road construction and arrived at the airport 15 mins to late to board my plane.  I could have made the flight because our airport is so small but the airlines wouldn't print off my boarding pass 30 minutes before departure.  Ok, fine I should have given myself more time and I was willing to take that responsiblity.  I ended up paying an additional $530 for a one way on top of my already purchased tickets to get to Dallas to make my training on time.  So I bought a seperate one way ticket and just figured I would have to eat the additional cost.  

This is where it goes down hill fast.  I was told by the airline desk person that since I missed that flight Hotwire would cancel my returning flight as well.  I never read this or saw this on my itinerary that Hotwire sends you and even have looked since to see if it indicated this which it did not.  I called Hotwire's customer service and explained what had happened and that I was still going to need my return flight.  I was informed that there was a penalty fee of $125 to keep my return flight.  I was irritated but paid this fee thinking that all was well and the worst was behind me.  I was wrong because when I tried to check in for my return flight this morning it was unable to verify my spot on that plane.  I called the airlines to see if maybe I was putting in the wrong information but they confirmed that I was not booked for that flight.  The airlines said they saw the orginal itinerary but it had been cancelled and not reinstated by Hotwire.  

I am currently on the phone with Hotwire and have been for 1 hr and 26 mins most of it on hold trying to get the ticket I already paid for and paid a fee to keep it.  I still don't know if they are going to fix this and get me on that plane or if I am going to have to buy another over priced one way ticket to get home.  As of now I have paid approximately $1400 for the travel bundle, $530 for a one way ticket to Dallas and $125 to keep my returning flight that as of now I'm not even booked on.  I am a single mother and my training was on a scholarship so I do not have the money to be throwing around like this.  I paid for a service that has not been provided to me and caused a considerable amount of stress and anxiety that never should have existed.  The amount I saved wasn't even that much of a difference from what it would have cost to book everything seperately and I wouldn't have had any issued with rebooking my original flight or my return flight.  Don't use hotwire they will rip you off any chance they can get.