I agree, I think what the documents say and what happens in practice are very different.

In those cases, I think it's best to accept whatever overpriced ticket they offer to sell you (or even accept a penalty fine) but then write and get a refund after the fact.

TOCs are generally pretty good about replying to complaints (although my experience has been that paper letters elicit the best responses) - please let us know what you get back from GA.