Apple representatives do not appear to have access to their service center?

FWIW, these Apple Community forums are peer-to-peer support forums. You are not speaking to Apple here, only other users, and we understand Apple don’t actively participate here.

Obviously you feel strongly about your experience.

You can leave feedback about this direct to Apple using this link: Product Feedback - Apple

you can try here—

Apple-certified repairs — here you can Track the status of an existing repair

Apple Repair and Repair Status Check - Official Apple Support

Get up to date information on your repairs, reservations, and tech support cases.

My Support - Official Apple Support

For your assessment you can submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

The Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) where you took it to be repaired should be able to make the inquiry on the status of the repair on your behalf if they shipped it to an Apple mail-in repair depot.

If they created the mail-in repair to be returned to you directly (an option that has been available for a few years), then perhaps they end up closing the repair on their side so that only the mail-in repair depot has the ability to interact with Apple on that specific repair. Still I think an Apple Store or AASP can ask on your behalf if they have the system serial number and repair number.

Were you given any information by them? If your AppleID is associated with the repair, then perhaps you can check the repair status. See the link at the bottom of the following Apple article:

Apple Repair and Repair Status Check - Official Apple Support

Of course if everyone & every option is unable to provide you with a status update, then I would certainly contact Apple corporate to voice your displeasure with the repair process.

Contact - How to Contact Us - Apple

<< Called Apple support after the promised date was missed.>>

What was the 'promised' elapsed time?

EXACTLY What results do you get from the repair web site, whose address has been posted several times on this discussion?

What was the promised elapsed time for the repair -- not just the promised due date?

I am trying to understand whether this is a real issue, or whether the real issue is that the Store promised you what is clearly impossible.

Studebaker49 wrote:

The promised date was december 22. Tue last update was December 19, technicians are reviewing the device. On December 25, it changed to repair in progress.

Sounds like the repair is under way. Keep in mind 12/20 & 12/21 are the weekend.

Mail-in repairs depend upon a lot of things.....first is the time it takes to reach the mail-in repair depot...keep in mind it is the holiday season where the shippers are overwhelmed with packages, so it may take longer to arrive at the facility. Plus it depends upon the number of other repairs ahead of your own, proper testing & evaluation is necessary to attempt to figure out the bad part (not easy to do these days), and whether the part is immediately available or they must wait for the necessary part to become available. The evaluation phase can be difficult & time consuming these days. Plus they must perform testing & evaluation after the repair is performed to make sure there are no more issues.

Most mail-in repairs average about a week turn around once the mail-in repair depot receives the device.....some may take a day or two less while others may take a bit longer.

Studebaker49 wrote:

Thanks. If that was the case, it should be well known by the rep in the Apple Store when they set an expectation of a Return date.

i understand your points, but people who do this for a living should have a better process.

No one, and I mean no one, can provide an exact amount of time a repair will take. I will never give anyone a hard & firmware date. I can give them my best guess based on years of experience & taking current circumstances into account, but I cannot & will never give a firm date. If anything I tend to quote an ETA much longer than I expect because people never mind when a repair is finished early.

This is also why many places won't even give someone a best guess on ETA because some people tend to take that as a literal & exact time/date. You would be amazed at people's expectations even when a tech clearly spells it out for them. They hear what they want to hear.

Studebaker49 wrote:

Thanks. Was wondering if this is just how they operate, or if it was a special case.

I wouldn't expect so, but I also wouldn't know.