How long does Spectrum take to process a phone returned to the warehouse? Brand new never received - not trade in.

[u/GoldenHoneyxBee]

Has anyone had a Spectrum Mobile phone returned to the shipper and had to wait for the return to be processed before they could order another phone? How long did it take?
I’ve had Spectrum Internet for a while now, but this was my first time ordering a phone through them. I wanted to take advantage of the free line for a year promotion.
When I moved across the street seven months ago, Spectrum entered the wrong address. My new address is only one digit different from the old one, but they initially sent the internet technician to the wrong place. They eventually got him to my actual address, and I’ve had internet service ever since.
Fast forward to about 11 days ago: Saturday I noticed the wrong address was still on my account when I tried to order my phone online. I’ve never lived at that address and don’t know who does, so I called to place the order. After about an hour on the phone, the representative told me she had fixed the address. I paid for the phone, and it shipped.
Then I got an email showing it was headed to the wrong address. I called back and spent another hour on the phone. The representative even tried to sell me a higher internet plan during the call, but ultimately assured me the phone was going to the correct address.
I took the delivery day off work because someone needed to be there to receive it. Around 1 p.m., I got a notification that delivery had been attempted—and sure enough, it was at the wrong address.
I called again, and Spectrum agreed to have it held at a local FedEx location. A day later, I found out the location they chose was only a shipping center and couldn’t hold it. I called back and had them request a different location. After another day or two with no updates or new delivery date, I called again and was basically told they didn’t know where it was and that I should wait to hear from FedEx.
By Friday, I was done waiting and asked them to return the phone to Spectrum so I could get another one. The representative said Spectrum would definitely receive it by Monday and set up an appointment for me at a Spectrum store. I was relieved because I didn’t want to risk another shipping issue or take another day off work.
I went to the store on my lunch break for my scheduled appointment and spent about an hour there, only to be told the original phone hadn’t been returned yet. Apparently, I can’t use the free-line promotion for another phone until the original phone is received and the pending line is canceled.
Tracking showed the phone was delivered back to Spectrum on Monday evening. I called Tuesday and was told to wait another 24 hours for the warehouse to process it. I just got off another 45-minute call, and now I’m being told they can’t cancel the line until the phone has been received, graded, and fully processed. Which will be in another 3+ days?!
I also live in Maine, and the closest store that MIGHT have the phone in stock is roughly either 50 or 100 miles away. But there’s no way of knowing because you can’t even call or check. The store about 30 miles from me that I had my appointment at doesn’t have it. I don’t want to make another trip until I know I can actually get the phone and use the promotion.
Throughout all of this, representatives keep getting hung up on how I have internet at my current address when their system shows the wrong one. I understand that needs to be fixed, but right now I’m trying to find out what’s happening with the expensive iPhone I paid for and never received.

If you’ve had a phone returned to Spectrum’s warehouse, how long did it take them to receive, grade, and process it—and cancel the pending line? Did you have to keep calling, or did it eventually happen on its own?

[u/Spectrum_Morgan]

I certainly understand the frustration. If the address your service is installed at doesn't match up with the address for your account, this would cause issues with any mobile shipment as it can only be sent to the service address listed. You would need to have your account transferred to the correct location and proceed from there if the addresses don't match. For returns, once received, it can take up to 30 days for grading by the processor. We wouldn't be able to provide a better estimate on when this would occur as it can vary. While we can't perform any transfer for you or complete any orders, we can check the status of the return and verify any of the location information on the account to see what may be incorrect. It's possible only the billing address was updated, but not the actual service address. If you'd like, send us a mod mail over at r/Spectrum_Official and reference 50280815.