Assurance Wireless review: Government lifeline phone warranty

I have been with assurance wireless this time since March of this year and ever since I got this handset the speaker has been crackly the phone freezes and has to be reset I've done factory resets I've done everything except take the battery out because I can't take the battery out it's screwed in and I called them today 9/27/2023, and they said that they would send me a free phone replacement except for that even though I'm on a government lifeline which means I have no income, they want me to pay $20 shipping and they will not waive it. I even asked if there was an account specialist I could talk to and the tech support girl that I was talking to said unfortunately there's nothing they can do. So I would like to know how they can carry a government plan for people who have no money and are on benefits, and yet still try to get away with charging people this huge shipping fee. The last time I was with Assurance wireless I loved them, everything was great, but that was when they were on the Sprint network, since T-Mobile bought them out, apparently their customer service has gone downhill it makes me sad because I really did like them better than any of the other companies I've tried.