I had an issue with some google phones at work where no one knew the password to them or whos phones at the company they belonged to so I performed a factory re

I had an issue with some google phones at work where no one knew the password to them or whos phones at the company they belonged to so I performed a factory reset on them which I then discovered had caused them to go in to a theft protection mode which essentially bricks the device until the original users password is entered. I attempted to contact google but found that there is no way to do that unless the device was purchased within one year even though I had the original boxes and proof of purchase to show the devices are not stolen. The whole reset protection thing is a horrible system as well, I understand trying to stop theft but why didn't they make it so that when you reset it the device locks for a few days and keeps pinging back to the servers and if the original owner hasn't marked the device as lost/stolen within that time then it just unlocks. Since this event I had a family member call me up asking how to get their phone out of reset protection mode because they forgot their account password. I had to tell them their device is essentially a useless brick now.