Hotwire I booked two rooms in the same night that I could not use, was not able to check in Internet

I was traveling and had an itenerary that kept me busy until latenight. When I got to the hotel that I booked on Hotwire, it was locked, nobody at the desk and no one would answer the phone. Exhausted I get back on hotwire, book another room five minutes away and when I get there the guy at the desk tells me they are booked and there are no rooms available. I contacted hotwire about this and they have a strict no refund policy, so they are just taking payment and booking rooms for people that people can't use. Lousy service. It's the same as stealing.