Is speaking to a manager not a thing in Japan?

Okay before everyone calls me a Karen let me explain the situation.

I bought an iPhone at the Apple Store a while back. I paid for it in full by card. It was therefore unlocked and I could take it to any cell phone service provider I want right? Well I found a provider and used them for a while before I decided I wanted to switch.

I get set up with my new provider, but they are all like arara, your phone is still locked to your old provider. You need to resolve this before we can get you set up.

Thus began my seven hour circle of doom.

I call the old provider to explain. Hey I need you to unlock my phone so that I can sign up with my new carrier. I didn’t even buy the phone from you and have paid off any statements so there should be no problem.

They tell me they haven’t locked my phone and that Apple has so I need to call Apple to resolve this issue. I call Apple and they say that no such locking ability exists on their end because they don’t have the power to lock or unlock carrier settings so I need to go back to old provider. I go back to old provider and they tell me the same thing. I go back to Apple and they tell me the same thing. I do this like three or four more times. Apple has escalated my case each time I’ve called and passed it on to a more senior technical support officer to ensure they haven’t messed up. I notice that old provider does not do this. I always get whoever picks up the phone first and it ends with them.

So I ask. Hey can I speak to your manager? The guy seems shocked that I would ask this and says no. I told him he wasn’t helping me and I’ve talked to a handful of other people about this and I can’t keep going in a circle so please I’m begging you to pass this conversation up the chain. He shuts off completely and will no longer say anything except for the same scripted line of sorry we cannot help you this is not our issue. I asked him if I could drop this issue and instead file a complaint with the company. He again seems shocked that I would even ask this and says there’s nobody for me to speak to.

The story pretty much ends there but in case anybody is wondering after a couple more calls and speaking to more reps there, it was indeed old provider who had locked my phone and they unlocked it for me so that I could start with my new provider.

But anyways my question is — do they not do the speak to a manager thing in Japan?? Honestly power move on his part. Once he said no I was kinda so surprised by it that I didn’t know what to say next. I didn’t know what to do LMAO. But I feel like this is a fairly universal concept.