I held off updating this thread until I had the actual replacement at my home before providing a final outcome to my trek here. After tons of back and forth with support and finally the CEO interface to report feedback on how support did, it was determined they could not resolve my issue and didn't have a resolution for it. They are dead set in stating that they can not/ will not offer any kind of one time firmware updater to convert from region to region.
In the end it came down to doing a router exchange. They offered up a RT-AX89X as a replacement because they could not locate another RT-AX88U, but after review I turned it down since the chipset most likely wouldn't ever support a Merlin upgrade if I wanted to go that route. I figured....swing for the fences and asked if I paid the difference could I get an GT-AXE11000 as a replacement? I was told they don't do cash transactions for RMA things like this.....so it was left with.....we will ask if that is possible for an upgrade path, search again for another 88U, if not then I'd settle for the 89X.
Turns out the agreed to the GT-AXE11000 upgrade and it was delivered yesterday. I am happy with the overall results and I have an AX210 in my laptop which will support the 6E 6GHz connection.
I plan on getting this set up this weekend where I'll have time to work on it.
I have some configuration issues that I'll be asking for help setting up. I will create another thread after I post this to focus on that inquiry.
Thanks to all who contributed and overall I think the outcome was worth the wait. Hopefully it will help others who may have this issue.
Greetz to all,
Chris