I'm pretty sure that's the standard operating procedure for many orders online.
I recently ordered an item through PETCO and the post office was not able to deliver it due to the address not being specific enough (They auto-corrected my shipping address, which wiped out the suite number for my office, and I didn't notice). I saw on my tracking that it was going back to the sender, so I called both PETCO and USPS to get it intercepted and the address changed, but neither could do anything about it. I decided to have PETCO cancel the order, which they did, but they said they couldn't refund me until they physically get the package.
I think that's acceptable. People can't always be trusted.