We were unfortunate enough to not check the reviews thoroughly, when booking UNION SQUARE BACKPACKERS in sanfran USA), upon doing so we saw the horrific reviews, and cancelled our booking within the time, then when we contacted them to check they had received our cancellation and a very very rude person answered the phone(Clearly one of the 3 mentioned in all the bad reviews) I attempted to explain my situation, stating we'd heard nothing back, and asked that if the full cancellation fee would apply, as obviously then we would still take the room, as after all the reason we book hostels is for the reasonable price, and we didn’t want to pay for two places for one night. The guy on the phone told me he wouldn’t know until that night, obviously a major annoyance to us as he didn’t seem to care that we were keeping our lift waiting and would be waiting all day only then to be told that it was charged and also booked out, and then it would be to late to book somewhere else, so i asked him to find out and ring back. He said he would. He didn’t.

Then i rang him back, he told me he'd ring back in 5minutes. He didn’t.

Meanwhile three hours after our first call we were STILL waiting so i rang back upon which he whined that he was too busy and on his own to call me, as if i was paying to listen to the employees whine about how understaffed they are. Then he changed his mind and told me that he never said he'd ring me back (after admitting he had but was to busy). Then he told us that we would be charged, upon which I told him that we had already booked somewhere else as we were waiting (all the double rooms booked out for 2 other hostels so it was our last chance and we had to take it to avoid being stranded). He told me "yeh well that’s cool" to which i replied "ugh excuse me not really, how is it okay that we are paying for a room that you have sufficient warning to sell again?" he didn’t have an answer for this.

This continued with unusual stories til the guy who is clearly off his head told me "you know what shut the f**k up and go f**k yourself just f**k off" and started screaming erratically and hysterically down the phone and then hung up. This is under ANY circumstances completely unacceptable behavior from someone working in any sort of hospitality. It is also very unfair that they should receive two payments(ours and another’s later that day)(and if they do not sell the room then it would be there own problem as i know first hand that all the other hostels fully book every night), for the one room. What it stated under Terms and conditions as you book is the "Cancellations must be notified to the hostel directly at least 24 hours prior to arrival", we did this the day before.
This is not a one off occasion, there have been so many complaints about them, including comments about drugs, bedbugs and rats.

Therefore condoning the payment for a place that is clearly not fit for the rats to stay in never mind the hysterical out of control employees who apparently live in a closet, and most certainly not for customers. this is not how hostels started out, they are supposed to be reasonable not unlivable, and they are not supposed to be a scam, when i see that the hostel has "warm and cozy" I presume that this is monitored. We are monitored in our comments to others in which we still cannot really display fully how bad they are, therefore what the hostel has wrote should be monitored too. Fair is fair.