Is AT&T unable to connect the dots that 2 affected May be Coincidence but 100+ its an internal issue

I am at my wits end and its been a week so I can’t fathom how people have maintained their sanity for 3+ months being jerked around by AT&T who can’t see the evidence laid out before them that there is an internal issue either negligence incompetence  or an ability to hire properly possibly even outsourcing to the wrong companies or very well a mixture of all the above. I have the same issue as hundreds of people sent phone back received a text confirmation from AT&T it was scanned in and in route to warranty department yet two months later there’s a back dated charge for the value of a phone much higher than the worth of the “renewed” iPhone 7 and after several calls getting different story every time I’m ready to walk away from the cell phone company I have been with since it was cellular one. First interaction consisted of someone waiving the charge and in its place giving a non compliance fee as if they were helping me. When I pointed out that’s essentially saying I refused to return the phone and want special treatment. Not to mention it would affect any future purchases or warranty issues that may come up and may impede possible phone upgrade deals and what not. Not to mention I refuse to be held responsible for the incompetence or Illegal activity or fraudulent behavior of someone else whether it’s individuals or a corporation. He offered to waive the noncompliance fee ignoring that at that point while $75 dollars is less than the $800 Att is currently trying to steal from me and while I appreciated the patronizing tone in which the offer was given I still wouldn’t accept responsibility for someone else’s Incompetence/theft. The next day I called and spoke to someone who continued the run around but was nicer about it. That is until either she lied to me or didn’t notate my account that she had located the phone which was in an AT&T warehouse and that charges would be removed in 48-72 hours. When I called back 75hrs later is when the real fun began (sarcasm in case it’s not clear) I was told that I was never told the phone was located (to be clear I wasn’t told that I was lied to or misunderstood but that I wasn’t told that implying that I’m lying. I was also informed my case had been closed insufficient evidence and therefore denied (apparently I have access att system and can send myself texts from them). I was told that the text don’t mean anything ignoring the fact that if that were true then maybe customers shouldn’t trust the text passcodes they receive for verification purposes from AT&T since they don’t really mean anything. What it means to me is that at the very least AT&T is acknowledging that The device is no longer in my possession whether it be in route from the post office or that it’s been  received by AT&T and is now being shipped internally to the warranty department which the bottom line is that it is no longer in my possession which means it is no longer my responsibility and becomes that of AT&T’s or even possibly the USPS however I’d argue not the USPS since the text came from AT&T not the USPS. Until this  incident my account has only ever been late paying a bill once or twice by a few days but has always been paid. More over since the account was first opened with cellular one there’s always been minimum one line but typically 2 or more since I used to praise AT&T and never used to hesitate when my contract ended to sign a new one cause I new I’d be with AT&T whether there were better deals at other companies or not. Loyalty and stability are worth the couple of extra dollars I could’ve saved. I hated when att did away with contracts since it meant phones were to be bought at full price but now I see I’m lucky cause if contracts were still in play I would’ve had to resign to get the garbage phone I got which would mean I’d be forced to remain with AT&T despite the fact they are pulling some sort of scam to rob me of my hard earned money but instead if this isn’t resolved I can walk across the street to Verizon or maybe Sprint or a smaller carrier (not T-Mobile since I would shortly be back to paying the same company that is try to rob me now) I am by no means rich but what I do have is my integrity and that means more to me than the cost of starting over with another company. This is not just a hiccup in the mailroom AT&T this is a bigger problem and if you actually care about the customers you have... wait scratch that your actions show you don’t care about customers since actions speak louder than words your lack of action on this issue is deafening. So if you care about the money you receive for the services you offer and wish to continue to receive them address the issues that clearly show your problem is internal. Own the mistake and make it right rather than passing the blame off to the consumer. It’s not good business these days to step on the little guy so you can pocket $800. When will someone at your company take this seriously and show that you mean what you say when you’ve told your customers like myself that I am a valued customer?