So I fell for the classic blunder and ended up with a pixel that’s not OEM unlocked despite being advertised as such. After a few hours of searching it looks like the only way I’m getting an OEM unlocked pixel is full price from Google itself. I don’t have $400 for a new phone, I bought the one I have for $150 in 2019.
Are there any cheaper ways to get control of my phone?
Not unlockable means you can never have complete control of that device unfortunately.
You could return the phone to whomever lied about it being oem unlocked. Pixel 6 used is around $150, 7 go for about $220. Use a service like swappa so you have some assurance you will get what you pay for this time.