AT&T have effectively stolen my FULLY PAID FOR AND UNLOCKED PHONE

I about to post the following on various social media but thought I would first come here and see if anyone in a position to put this right will respond. 

Dear ATT&T

Both my wife and I hold Go Phone accounts with you and have done since 2012.  We choose to buy our phones outright because we travel internationally a number of times as year and need them to be unlocked from day one.

We recently bought new Iphones.  Neither of these phones were previously registered to any network and were not locked at the time of purchase.  Now they are - to you.  WHY?

What right do you have to appropriate our property? 

We are currently in the UK where we both have a series of important meetings.  In my case I am dealing with my late fathers estate and have numerous meetings arranged with people who expect to be able to contact me on my UK cell number.  They can't because my phone is locked to a US network, so is effectively useless to me.  A fact I only established on arrival.

I called your off shore customer service on Monday and when, eventually, I spoke to a Manager, David (after first being told it would take 3-5 days to unlock) he was very appologetic and I was told my issue would be resolved within 24 hours.  24 hours later we recieved two emails which stated that as our phones were less than 6 months old they would not be unlocked.  Again, what right do you have to attach this to other peoples property? I regard it as a form of stealing. 

To add insult to injury when we again tried to speak with your off shore call center customer service, my wife this time, was outrageously patronised.  As if how long we had owned the our phones for was relevant in the first place, she was told to "count on her fingers" if she needed to be clear how many months she had owned her phone for.  The person, who identifed herself as the most senior person in the building, Noel, employee #NGV3YG2 spoke with me afterwards (I will admit I shourted by this stage) and refused to give me any further redress by way of who at AT&T could address my complaint.  She stated such information was "against protocol" to reveal.  Noel is very keen on talking about your "Portocols".

Perhaps somewhere in your terms and conditions there is something which allows you to undertake the practise of disabling a phone to which you have no ownership.  If this is the case I find it outrageous and would ask you to refer me to what legal grounds you rely on. 

As a result of this incident I have wasted a great deal of time that I do not have while I am abroad.  My wife has borrowed a phone from a co-worker.  I have been forced to buy a handset so as to be able to make and recieve calls.  I shall look to you for reimbursement. 

I invite your comment on this.

Tim & Dione