Terrible service from Christopher Trowsdell. I've ...

Terrible service from Christopher Trowsdell. I've stayed at Embassy Suites for years and in fact stayed at this exact location in the past with good experiences. This time was the opposite. I had made a reservation for one night to stay at this hotel because I was going to a nearby conference and that hotel didn't have availability for the final night of the conference when I booked my travel.
However when I checked in they had availability so I decided to book the extra night so I wouldn't have to move hotels. This was on a Monday and my stay was scheduled for Thursday at Embassy Suites. Their cancellation policy is that I needed to cancel by 4pm that day and it was after 4pm when I called so I asked the staff I talked to if I could still cancel my reservation after I explained the situation. This person was very helpful, told me no problem and gave me a confirmation number for the cancellation. This issue was closed...or so I thought.
I just checked my credit card and I was still charged for the room, which could happen so I called and talked to the manager Chris Trowsdell and explained the situation. He looked up the record confirmed I had called to cancel, confirmed I was in fact cancelled but explained that I had missed the cancellation window so that's why I was charged. I re-explained how they said I could cancel, made not comments about still being charged or any type of fee or penalty and he said it's not their policy to explain that you'll still be charged if you call to cancel inside the cancellation window and it's my fault for cancelling inside the time frame.
Chris saying that it's their policy to let you "cancel" and it's their policy that they don't tell you you'll still be charged is ludicrous. What in the world is the point of canceling then? Shouldn't they tell you either A) you can't cancel or at the very least B) you can cancel but you'll still be charged? I think the obvious answer is yes to both of these. Chris admits they don't tell you you'll still be charged and I should have asked additional questions so that it'd be clear to me that being told that I could cancel didn't imply that you don't get charged.
This would be akin to me calling down to the front desk and asking for a late check out and them saying yes...but then charging me for this without disclosing this. Crazy.
I find it hard to believe that this is acceptable service in this day and age and would advise anyone to not deal with them. Chris you displayed very poor service and even poorer judgement in your decision.
What I did not disclose was that I work at a company that has national conference several times each year where we routinely spend 400k - 600k with the hotel in addition to having 500-1000 guests staying at the properties for 3-5 nights and guess what...I choose the locations and hotels.
Hilton, your parent company will give me my money back so that's not the issue, but I'm ashamed to have had this encounter and embarrassed for them and will express my concerns about holding events at Hilton family properties if this is how they treat their guests. - Mike Stodola, GKIC (a former fan of Embassy Suites)