Thanks again for the excellent and thorough response.
This gives me renewed confidence to further escalate the issue with either the former employer or the 401(k) provider or both and a clearer description of what the proper (corrected) 1099-R forms should look like.
Your original post was helpful as well. I did talk to a department at my IRA provider this afternoon that specializes in distribution of excess contributions and they will be providing me with the paperwork / forms that are required to start the process on their end once I get the corrected 1099-R forms from the 401(k) provider.
