Apple ID recovery process: 12 days?!

My wife upgraded to a new iPhone 8 Plus over the weekend. We went to Best Buy.

Unfortunately, she had forgotten the password for her Apple ID, so the saleswoman at the Best Buy cell phone counter went through the "forgot password" process.

Unfortunately again, the process asked to confirm her credit card, and the last four digits listed were for an old credit card that she doesn't have anymore.

The saleswoman said that the account recovery process would probably take 24 hours, so she would probably receive a text message the next day.

The next day (yesterday), my wife still hadn't received anything, so I tried going through the "forgot password" process for her again. I hit the same roadblocks and a notice said that we should receive a notification in 5 hours.

This morning, there still wasn't a notification, so I called Apple to see if someone could help. I told him what had happened, and he had me go through the same "forgot password" process I had already told him I had tried. (I thought maybe he was going to have me try something new, or perhaps he could intervene somewhere along the way.)

When I got to the same conclusion as before, the notice on the screen said it would now take 12 days (whaaa?!) to recover the account. I told the guy on the phone that and he could only say, "Sorry."

Thanks, man.

Has anyone else gone through this before? I'm wondering if it really will take 12 days, or if maybe I should try calling a different Apple support number. Unfortunately, the nearest Apple Store is a couple hours away, so that's not a feasible option right now. (Maybe if we get desperate.)

Thanks.