but it's the recruiter who decided to play along despite that. At that point OP has no choice but to elaborate and counter the 'criticizing from outside' thing
And who could blame them? I'm sure recruiters at most companies have a litany of responses they use based on the tone of the candidate. They get paid on how many people they can get into the interviews, accept an offer, and stay X months past their start date. Why wouldn't they use form responses on the off chance it works?