Just want to make sure about this ruling...

[bellatrix]

Live 4/8 limit game.
I'm in Seat 1 and on the button. Seat 9 is a bad player. It is folded to him. He cuts 8 chips, puts them in the palm of his hand and starts motioning a bet. At that moment I looked at my cards, because I assumed he had put out the raise. I got JTs. Dealer's in front of me and I put out 8 chips and say call. Of course the other player had gotten all cutesy and actually folded his hand

Dealer goes: "8 chips... uh, wait a minute, you said call"
I take my chips back, explain the situation that I didn't see that the guy hadn't put in the chips over the line in the end. I put them back and say "raise".
Is it correct I can't do that? What if I didn't take them back?