Furious with Apple (lack of) support

My SO purchased a new Apple Watch 5 for me for Christmas with the cellular capability. She lives in Switzerland. I live in the US. She didn't know it wouldn't work with the networks here. I was hopeful that in talking to Apple I might be able to send it in and have it replaced with a US model. But as it turns out, I was told to sell it and buy a new one...but the Apple tech did say "yeah, you'll probably lose some money because it's used now, but you shouldn't need to spend too much more to get the new one."

Hey Apple...is this really what top line customer service is? I spent two years helping you set up your Apple Care facilities throughout Latin America and I know what you spend sending KBBs and KGBs back and forth. But someone spends $500 on your product and your level of support is "yeah, sell it and buy another one"? I get that she shouldn't have believed the salesperson that it would work anywhere, but still.