Narrative:

The aircraft previously had a MEL concerning the right elevator PCU - however this MEL was cleared overnight prior to my arrival at the aircraft. During our preflight inspection we noted the right elev PCU status message was displayed. We called maintenance. Two amt's (aircraft maintenance technician) arrived at the aircraft and began working the issue; while I stood in the doorway observing their actions. I was reading from their tablets as well as the MEL when they were going to placard the system again; yet they were not following the written guidance. I ask the two amt's if they would repeat the reset procedure step by step and if it failed would they run the MEL procedure over as well step by step. Although irritated; they agreed. Somewhere after the reset process and while working on getting a MEL authorization code the status message disappeared. the amt's released us; I initialed the journey log and we pushed. Sometime after pushing and before starting the engines the status message returned. I ask my first officer (first officer) to call operations to see if we could be towed back in and I instructed the tug driver to tow us back to the gate.the same amt's showed back up at the aircraft as well as a maintenance supervisor. This is where the fun begins. The amt's had previously cleared a MEL; been issued a new MEL authorization that was subsequently voided in the aml; we departed / returned generating an out / in time. The amt's wanted to void the voided entry which occurred prior to my initialization of the journey log and re-instate the MEL.I tried several times to explain to them this would not work as they were placarding something prior to my taking the aircraft and for FAA purposes we had 'flown.' I was handed a cell phone and immediately found it was tech services. I spoke to this gentleman explaining my dilemma and told him I had generated an out / in event and this was not right to void a voided entry in the MEL and allow this to occur before I accepted the aircraft only to have the MEL placed on the aircraft after I departed. The tech services rep said he was not told by the amt's I had flown.after these discussions the amt's handed me the aml as described above. I explained again to them I could not and would not accept this aircraft with the aml in its current state. Reluctantly they took the aml back and after more than an hour returned to the aml to me as it should be and we departed.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757-200 Captain reported refusing aircraft due to improper MEL application.

Narrative: The aircraft previously had a MEL concerning the R Elevator PCU - however this MEL was cleared overnight prior to my arrival at the aircraft. During our preflight inspection we noted the R ELEV PCU status message was displayed. We called Maintenance. Two AMT's (Aircraft Maintenance Technician) arrived at the aircraft and began working the issue; while I stood in the doorway observing their actions. I was reading from their tablets as well as the MEL when they were going to placard the system again; yet they were not following the written guidance. I ask the two AMT's if they would repeat the reset procedure step by step and if it failed would they run the MEL procedure over as well step by step. Although irritated; they agreed. Somewhere after the reset process and while working on getting a MEL authorization code the status message disappeared. The AMT's released us; I initialed the journey log and we pushed. Sometime after pushing and before starting the engines the status message returned. I ask my FO (First Officer) to call Operations to see if we could be towed back in and I instructed the tug driver to tow us back to the gate.The same AMT's showed back up at the aircraft as well as a Maintenance Supervisor. This is where the fun begins. The AMT's had previously cleared a MEL; been issued a new MEL authorization that was subsequently voided in the AML; we departed / returned generating an OUT / IN time. The AMT's wanted to void the voided entry which occurred prior to my initialization of the journey log and re-instate the MEL.I tried several times to explain to them this would not work as they were placarding something prior to my taking the aircraft and for FAA purposes we had 'flown.' I was handed a cell phone and immediately found it was Tech Services. I spoke to this gentleman explaining my dilemma and told him I had generated an OUT / IN event and this was not right to void a voided entry in the MEL and allow this to occur before I accepted the aircraft only to have the MEL placed on the aircraft after I departed. The Tech Services rep said he was not told by the AMT's I had flown.After these discussions the AMT's handed me the AML as described above. I explained again to them I could not and would not accept this aircraft with the AML in its current state. Reluctantly they took the AML back and after more than an hour returned to the AML to me as it should be and we departed.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.