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What I gather from the OP:

He deposits $500. Bankroll $500.

He is given $120 bonus. Bankroll $620.

He bets the bonus and loses it. Bankroll $500 (all HIS money)

He plays poker and loses some. Bankroll $401 (HIS money).

He attempts to withdraw. Withdrawal $281 (Site takes $120 bonus out of HIS money).

I would be pretty pissed too.

Imagine this. He puts in $500. They DON'T give him a bonus. He loses the money playing poker and has $401. He withdraws $401. Why the [censored] does he lose $120 of his own money because they gave him a bonus?

I'm sure it says somewhere in the T&C "user always wagers own money before bonus money" or some other yada, which is just cheap, but then contemplate this. He deposits $500, gets $120 bonus. He withdraws $500. He's not withdrawing any bonus so this shouldn't be a problem. He bets the bonus and loses it. Are they going to call him up and say "uh, you owe us $120, please redeposit"? Because that's the scenario here.

Edit: I see now that they gave him back the $120 they took out after emails and phonecalls. My point still stands though unless this is a one time software error and not policy.

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Some crypto sites do this as well (Will Hill and Littlewoods IIRC), except the "bonus" is for wagering in their online casinos. If you withdraw your poker bankroll, you can wager the bonus money (with restrictions on cashouts if you win), but if you try and use the casino with real money in your account it will take that off you first, leaving the useless bonus money. (The bonus money cannot be earned by playing poker, only by playing casino games. I forget the wagering requirement but I expect that the -EV of the wagers conveniently equals the size of the bonus).

Infuriatingly, the bonus money appears in the poker account balance, and has frequently confused me as to my true account balance. I've emptied my littlewoods account of real money, and periodically the cheeky fuckers mail me and tell me that there's money left in my account, because I'm ignoring the unwanted, and unasked for, casino bonuses.

I feel that this practise is an immoral scam. I'm glad you didn't give up on it and got your money back PITTM.