Had a somewhat similar interaction at YYZ last week. Flying YYZ-ZRH and was checking-in a regular bag and a bike bag. The agent was going to charge me the $75 fee for the bike. I reminded her that fee is now waived for all Elites and SE. She said no, I insisted, she then checked with a manager, manager said no - only waived for North America, I insisted, she checked with other agents, nobody knew. She read over her "rules" for about 15 minutes, had other agents read them too but still thought I needed to pay the fee. I politely insisted. She eventually "did me a favour" and didn't charge for the bike!
Man they need to get their sh*t together!