Is it ok for the hotel to charge you up front for the nights you reserved?

i was in chicago last week and i reserved 4 nights at econo lodge but i end up staying only for night. they charged me up front for 4 nights even tho i told them i wasnt sure if i was gonna stay that long. usually when i stay at a hotel they dont charge me till i check out so i find it odd when they ask for my card when i checked in. when i told them that i want my money back they said theyll refund it back to my card but there will be some money deducted out of it for canceling early. it been over a week and i still havent seen any money refunded back to my card. so my question is can i sue them for charging me up front and take so long to refund my money. i gave them a week to do so but i still dont see any money pending in my account. whenever i call they always say to call back in 10 min and when i call back in 10 min they say already got it taken care of