I also had the same experience. However, I also noticed the Pot is not returned on success either. So I'm thinking the Pot is not supposed to be returned on failure.
See
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=17033
There are comments from 2003/2004 that it wasn't returned.
EQTraders shows the Pot returned too on failure.
http://www.eqtraders.com/items/show_...r=035000000000