International travel can be extremely tricky, and this can worsen according to your nationality and the country you are travelling in to. Issuance of visas is another story - more complicated than rocket science! It is the sole responsibility of the individual traveller to be extremely careful with ones travel documents and have sufficient money, YES sufficient money. Nothing is in plain black & white. Some or most times the immigration officers can take spot decisions. Have heard of people been refused entry, even with a valid visa.
In this case I noticed the following.
1. The departure country visa has almost expired.
2. Cash in hand inadequate or nil
3. Top it all, a tear in the passport.
Breaking in to tears, and blaming all around for ones own complacence will not improve the current situation or what can happen in the future!
Yes, 100's of people are refused visas by different countries, sometimes even without any apparent fault.
Today, international travel is extremely expensive. If I cant afford it, I stay at home. Will never even dream of travel with an extremely low budget - that's asking for trouble!