What to do when you are a promised a research-based research associate role but are required to act in an IT support role?
Your writing certainly does not betray a "lack of eloquence"; in fact, it's probably better than most of the computer scientists I know!

That said, as JeffE has indicated, you are being mishandled by your employers, and I would strongly encourage you to find a new position as soon as possible. However, it is important to point out that your situation is not academic versus industrial, but instead good employer versus bad employer. The distinction is crucial.

In any position, there will be parts of your job that are less appealing than others; the absolute "dream job" which you're happy about 100% only exists in Utopia. The key is to make sure that the important parts of your job give you more satisfaction than the less desirable aspects take away. Here, this clearly isn't the case. That does not mean that you can't find what you're looking for, either in industry or in academia. What it does mean is that you need to find it somewhere else than where you are, because it's clear the job isn't going to change in any sort of meaningful way in the short term.