New Town Apartments

I booked this apartment through hotelclub.net for £214 for 3 nights. On arrival, we discovered that the accommodation was nothing like the description and photographs on the bookers website. We had been led to believe that this was a "one bedroom apartment with fully equipped kitchen and lounge area", with many facilities including: hairdryer, iron and board, concierge, luxury bath, breakfast included, cable TV, etc. etc.
What we actually got was a flat with an OK kitchen and bathroom (though the "luxury" bath was in fact a rather small and grubby bath which was unusable, as the boiler was not up to the job of filling it with hot water. The power shower was fine though), then everything else - bed, settee, telly and two lamps (one of which didn't work) crammed into one tiny room. There was no iron, no hairdryer, no ironing board, no wardrobes or anywhere to hang clothes, no tables of any kind (even bedside tables), the "luxury" bed was broken and leant to one side, no cable or Sky - only terrestrial TV with a very bad picture, and the included breakfast was 4 miniature boxes of Frosties (there were 2 of us there for 3 nights!). There wasn't even a bin in the whole apartment! Perhaps most worryingly of all, the smoke detector in the kitchen was broken.
Once my partner (who's birthday it was) had stopped crying, I phoned the concierge service (there was no phone, I had to use my mobile), which is a rather grandiose title for someone who sits in an office about a mile away - not on the premises as one might imagine. I complained that this was not the room I had booked and said we wanted to check out. I was told that, as it was booked through hotels.net I would have to cancel with them. I was given a number for the company, who are based in Australia. I was unable to speak to anyone on this number, nor on the second "emergency" number I was directed to by the first number. I wonder how much that cost me?
It looked like we had no choice but to stay in this room, so I again phoned the concierge and asked if she could get me a hairdryer and iron - these arrived after about an hour.
We had decided to just make the most of a bad situation, and just stay out most of the time. We had a bite to eat, then I loaded up the dishwasher which needed plugging in. After a few minutes I discovered why it had been unplugged - it leaks, yet there was no notice on it to indicate it was broken. Luckily, I discovered this before it had done any damage and went to get the mop. Err, there wasn't one, so I mopped it up with towels.
The next night, just as we were about to go for a meal, drips of water started to come through the ceiling above our window. As water began to come through more and more quickly, I had to arrange an assortment of pans to catch the drips. All the wiring was under this window, and our (and the apartment next to us') electricity went off. Once again, I phoned the concierge who told me they would report it to maintenance. I left them my phone number and they said they would get back to me. It was now about 7 o'clock - we were hungry but could not go out in case the maintenance man came, and could not cook as there was no electricity (though the lights were working).
About an hour later, I was phoned and told that maintenance could not come until the following day. Luckily, the leak had stopped, and our neighbours had found the fuse box and put the electric back on. But what if they hadn't? What if the leak hadn't stopped? Why is a concierge service being advertised, when a maintenance person won't even come out?
I was told by the "concierge" that we wouldn't be held responsible for any water damage. Well, as the water was coming from the ceiling, I don't think they would have had much of a case!
What really upset us about this apartment is that it was nothing like the apartment we thought we had booked. We were completely misled, and feel that we should have been given our money back by the Edinburgh office. We would have been prepared even to pay for the first night, though we wouldn't have been staying there (I did suggest this) Then, if it was the booking agency who were doing the misleading (as the office in Edinburgh claimed), it should have been up to Edinburgh office to claim back the money from hotel club. At no point were we offered even a partial refund.