Having spent 2 hours on live chat to network provider, four visits to shops one call to manufacturer "help" line to try to get an old phone unlocked so someone else could use it, my wife told final third tier "help" person, who like the others couldn't solve the problem, "forget it, I'll throw the phone in the pond and buy one from X" (a competitor provider).
It seems all IT "help" line staff just read from a script and have no real understanding of their products.
Rant over.
RtS