Countless people post nearly identical issues on here and AT&T still pretends to be surprised by it

After only looking over a few pages on this forum, it's immediately apparent that there is a chronic and pervasive issue with AT&T's online and phone ordering system. But regardless who you speak to, whether it's an agent over the phone or an employee at a corporate store, they act completely surprised that orders are repeatedly cancelled without explanation. The litany of pacifications, such as, "I'm so sorry you're having trouble. I can certainly understand your frustration" is almost as cumbersome as the company's website. After multiple orders were cancelled online (yes, this was for a new account), I placed my next order over the phone with an agent. This order was processed and verified and I was told that I only needed to pay the taxes on the device. In other words, no down payment was required. After a lengthy process, I was told that everything was good and that I would receive my new iPhone in 2 days. I even followed up later on in the evening and the following day with 2 separate agents just to make sure there were no issues. I was assured multiple times that I had nothing to worry about and that my new iPhone would arrive on-time as expected. The one agent even stated that he could "100% guarantee" that my order would not be cancelled. I was still skeptical. The following morning I received an email telling me that my order was cancelled because I didn't accept the terms of the agreement (not true) or that I cancelled the order myself (also not true). The email also mentioned that they attempted to contact me twice (completely not true) before cancelling the order. I was incredibly angry and frustrated at this point. I called customer service again and was told to try to place another order online. I did this and, inevitably, this order was also cancelled. I then went to the corporate store where I was told that I would have to go through the entire application process again. They would also have to run my credit again even though this had just been done. Despite the illogical and highly questionable policy, I acquiesced. But when the employee spoke with the verification department, they informed her that I was now banned from ordering service for 10 days. Apparently, there had been too many failed attempts to place an order. AT&T not only blamed me for my cancelled phone order and then blatantly lied and said they tried to contact me twice before cancelling it, but now they were punishing me for a mess that THEY created. Nothing this company does makes ANY sense. And any attempt to rectify the situation is completely futile. After the 10 days, I decided to go to another AT&T store and make a final attempt to place an order. I was now allowed to proceed with purchasing a device. I was verified without an issue. And I was told that I would have to pay a $400 deposit (or down payment or however they refer to it). When I explained that I wasn't required to pay anything when I placed my order over the phone, I was told that they couldn't do anything about that because that order was cancelled and they had no way of retrieving my credit information. Naturally, they understood my frustration. But unfortunately, there was nothing they could do to help me with the situation. Is this really the way this company wants to do business??? It's an absolute disaster. There is absolutely no reason why a store employee can't get on the phone, speak to someone in the verification department and confirm information from a few days earlier. Telling customers that something like this can't be done is utter nonsense. Fix the problem that YOU caused. Honor the previous agreement that YOU made. That is the only way I will place an order with AT&T.