Front line staff don't have the authority to change the rules. They may have thought that you were asking about a single ticket or something else. The problem is that this information is all on the IB website, so asking random employees for interpretations won't get you far.

If you want to frame a customer service complaint, you might ask that as a gesture, IB refund the fee or give you a credit on the basis that a specific employee provided incorrect information. Try to provide a name or at least a description, the location, and time of day. Leave out all of the irrelevant stuff about your encounter at ORD. I doubt that this succeeds, but it certainly won't if you focus there.