Non refund for terrible facilities

Booked 5 days in advance, paid in advance through bookings.com. On arrival we had no hot water apparently, it had been an issue that day, so instead of advising us, they allowed us to arrive. They sent their maintenance man in the dark with a *****driver to fix the geyser, after 2 minutes was told it was fixed, but it wasn’t. During this commotion, we started looking closely at the hygiene of the facilities. It was filthy dirty and unhygienic to remain a guest at the property. We left after an hour. They are refusing to refund me saying I need to cancel the booking through bookings.com and request a refund. Bookings.com state on their app that the property deals with the refunds. I have involved an attorney and getting nowhere. Absolutely shocking