I was recently contacted for an interview by, I'd say, a top 20 tech company. I aced the technical interview and was offered an internship for the summer.

I was very excited about this prospect and was very prompt in submitting required documents and forms. This was not my only offer for the summer, so I let them know I needed some time to consider. I asked if I could have two weeks and they said that was fine. Meanwhile I evaluated my 3 options. I asked the respective parties about the projects I'd be working on, work life, how hours and pay worked, housing, etc.

I asked about salary and the relocation stipend. Of the three offers, this offer paid the lowest, but not poorly by any means. I inquired about the wage, challanging with a higher wage request. They declined, so, I inquired about the relocation stipend, reminding them I was coming from over seas. The recruiter said he had to check and see if they could adjust the stipend since it was originally calculated from my home address.

When he got back to me, he made up some story about how after "countering their offer several times", they were implying that I was declining their offer and my the offer letter was now voided! This [more than] shocked me. I've never run into this situation before. Further, they had already presented me with a signed offer letter which stated the details of the offer, including that it was valid until date X (in the future).

I immediately explained I was not countering their offer, but simply trying to evaluate all my options for the summer. I asked kindly for them to allow me the original two weeks we had agreed upon. As expected, they rejected and declined to speak with me regarding the.. misunderstanding.

Is this legal? Has anyone encountered this before? Did I do something wrong? What can I do to avoid this in the future?