Upvote:3
Interesting question. I suppose few countries would be likely to hold this against you, but do you have any specific prospective visa application in mind?
In general, if you're in doubt as to whether the incident constitutes a refusal, you should disclose it. You can explain what happened in a brief statement.
It's also unlikely that you'd bring much trouble on yourself by asking the embassy. You can explain that you would like to know whether you need to report that application when applying for a new visa.