Yeah. The fact that the original UK budget rebate was paid for by extra contributions from other member states didn't go down well either. That rebate also had the effect of making the UK into a larger net contributor than it had to be. EU funding is not doled out to some spreadsheet formula: member governments negotiate to try to wrangle as much back out of the pot as they can, but the UK never really tried very hard. The main reason for this is that while full-rate contributors were able to claim 50% funding for EU co-funded projects, the UK's reduced pay-in meant it had to stump up 66% or so, which reduced the incentive for the UK to seek such funds. (Also, co-funding was usually only available in areas of economic disadvantage, places that the majority ruling party over the UK's membership never seemed to think were electorally important to them)
The UK rebate wasn't the only one, btw, just the biggest. Now it's gone, there's a move to eliminate all special-case rebates