Booking.com or Owner who is responsible for refund after walk out of filthy, broken accommodation

Convexmirror

Booked two nights at one bed flat in London.
Conerns started at arrival, met and brought to a different address than advertised  
key fob to main building wouldnt work. 
On entry decided almost imediately not to stay.
Unsafe - large letter box was loose and falling from door frame - green tape inside behind the letterbox to try and stop people reaching in through the letterbox to open the lock.
Filthy, dirty, all sofa (bed) cushions were stained and I mean big stains. 
bed lamps broken, - shades unached and balancing on stands, missing bulbs and covered in dirty hand marks, dirty hand marks on wall
Cupboard doorwere hanging , handles missing from doors, dirty clothes cupbaords stacked with cleaning equip and junk 
Shower was broken - the shower head was disconnected from the wall socket as the pipe was snapped where it joind the wall socket!! We turned on shower water to video it coming out of the wall joint. 
Ladders in hallway. 

We have contacted Booking.com for a refund. they said they would respond by yesterday,. They said they would get in touch with the owner. When we tried to meet the owner or owners rep (who gave us the keys) minutes after arriving and having already decided to walk out, that person said he couldn't come round and we should leave the keys on the table. 

Took photos of everything and video of the shower and broken toilet seat which we sent to Booking.com. 

Who are we dealing with here? Isn't it the people we booked through = Booking.com? 
They had this down as a 4 star / dot accommodation. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hello OP

Booking.com is an agent so contract for accommodation is usually with the owner. 

Booking.com may offer some extra cover for guests but that would down to their terms if such an offer/guarantee exists.

Not sure where you stand on a chargeback here, one for @born_again I'm sure they have said before services aren't covered which this is.

If you check the CEO email website for Booking.com and try the contact on there you might get a better response from a higher level of customer service. 

MyRealNameToo

Visa has reason code 13.3 - not as described or defective merchandise/service, Mastercard has a similar defective option but its not as explicit as saying it covers both products and services. 

Dont remember what Barclays were using but have done a chargeback successfully on a service in the past. 

Where you can't use a chargeback is for things like "loss of enjoyment", where you stay in the hotel but dont have as good a time because there was construction work happening near by. 

born_again

Could try as above. But worry is that they did not stay.
Problem is that you pay booking.com. But they do not provide the accommodation. They are just a intermediatory. So a chargeback against them could be rejected on the simple basis, that they are not the supplies of the service. Or owner could contest against booking.com that they never stayed, thus broke the contract.

Good news is OP has pictures, which may prompt Booking.com to refund & remove the add, especially given that the location is not as listed.
Can fully understand why they did not stay if as described.

Convexmirror

Thank you for your comments so far, if I could share the photos and video you would understand. Travelled expensively and not faced this level of neglect.

I wrote a very strong negative review. At the time mad at B.com as we couldnt get through.

See Lovely One Bedroom Apartment On Edgware Road. To their credit Booking.com have posted it since i posted my complaint on MSE. They are now stating on their site 'We're sorry, but it is currently not possible to make reservations for this hotel on our site.' One of the guys at B.com said he wouldnt have stayed there. But not heard back since Sunday. 

thanks again for youe responses.

Convexmirror

BTW The two lampshades either side of the windows in the online photo on B.com are the ones now either side of the bed broken  / filthy. If there was a way to upload photos of the place and video of the shower here or on B.com I would happily upload them.