Don't book thought Booking.com

I made a booking 4 days before I was due to stay, then got incredibly sick and had to cancel, booking.com would not refund because I hadn't given 7 days notice even though I hadn't had 7 days from time of booking to the reservation!! The hotel then told me if I had booked directly through them that I could have cancelled and got a refund on the day of the booking!!, which the booking.com website failed to mention.They stated it was booking.com's policy and that they had to abide by that unless the hotel agreed to a refund and then the hotel said that they had to abide by booking.com's policies!!
Horrendous customer service, this site is a scam to get your money!