All of this is available online in the fare conditions for your specific tickets. Thus, if what you are hearing from the call center is confusing, it may simply be easier to read.

While $100 more, if you take the refund option, you will actually have a refund to whatever form of payment you originally used and will be done with the thing.

While not as common, there are many tickets which are refundable but which carry a new money penalty.