I work in the medical field and my phone has very large amounts of data on it.
You have a device that is essential enough to the work you do you need an immediate replacement but neither you nor your employer have a process in place to replace the device in short order, instead relying on what loaner device Apple might or might not have on hand?
If I didn't keep a spare of my essential work computer I'd be gambling with my livelyhood. In addition to AC+ on my main work Mac I also have a desktop Mac as well as a spare desktop computer as well as a spare (old) Apple laptop and another (newer but cheap) laptop in a drawer and if the office were to burn down I could still visit the next store and buy a replacement and be up and running from offsite backups in a few hours. I pay for this out of my pocket, because I certainly won't trust Apple or anyone else with it.
I don't know what medical data you have on your phone, whether that is a personal phone or if that is even in accordance to basic data privacy protection laws to store such data on there. But it does seem strange and makes me think that if this was all to regulations and you had a legitimate business need for accessing that amount of data on an iPhone, your employer either made provisions for that, or they didn't in which case I'd be more upset with my employer for getting me into this situation than at Apple.
Because as much as some voices here claim how unacceptable the Apple Store treatment was, I just don't see it. Having to hand over the phone for servicing for more than a few hours, and not having it back the next day because it's weekend is really not unexpected. If you had a special business service contract where Apple promised you to replace the device the same day, and then they broke that promise, of course that would be unacceptable.
They did not break any terms of the AC+ warranty, and the iPhone is a consumer/prosumer device with a regular AC+ plan. Why should Apple (and thus all us customers) have to finance your high expectations when you bought such a device and didn't inform yourself exactly what services you are entitled to, and didn't make any provisions for this worst-case scenario of a sudden dead phone?
Oh, and express replacement won’t work if it’s already flagged to be sent away, hence why they didn’t mention it.
Am I thinking correctly that even if I have an Apple Store across the street, I should not bother and just initiate the express replacement online instead? That's what I'd do anyways, Apple always had extremely fast express shipment deliveries in the past. Though I assume if the 2nd attempt weren't flagged, the store employees would have then suggested the express replacement anyways? Then this would make a lot of sense, customer comes in with a device, attempt a same-day repair in the store, and if that doesn't work initiate the express replacement.
AppleCare expectations. You don’t get any priority service with AppleCare. I mean, express replacement options with no fee, sure. But there isn’t a separate policy for people with the coverage. You just pay less to get your stuff working.
...and it's not like Apple is known for taking long for repairs. It's mostly been same-week turnaround. That is still 3-4 days, but I don't see why Apple would need to be faster, or how they could realistically offer that at no extra cost. The fastest other manufacturers are still no quicker than that. In the end it's just flagship tech for a private end user. If it's so important that livelyhood and other important matters rest on that tech, it's important enough to have a spare on hand for emergencies.
seems contrary to all sorts of UK consumer rights. My friend should really just ave insisted on a refund and re-purchased the phone but in the heat of the moment just walked away with potentially dangerous phone.
That isn't such a clear cut case, unless you can reproduce the issue in the store and determine that it's actually faulty, I understand that it has to be handed over for diagnostics. Phones get hot, especially when fast charging, but also due to software issues where a stuck process takes cpu cycles unnecessarily. It probably isn't viable to swap out brand new phones on the spot every time a customer is worried about their phone heating up. Hot and potentially dangerous phone is subjective, I have one of these tiny GaN chargers that fit into the palm of a small hand yet can do 100W and more. That gets buring hot when fast-charging my Macbook, and it heats up my phone considerably. Someone who isn't aware of that might get worried.
Consumer rights work well for situations where a brand new product becomes unusable, but here you have a fully working device where you can't objectively demonstrate a defect. That's where consumer rights get muddy, from my experience they only work with cut-and-dried situations. Consumer rights might also dictate that the main purpose of the device is no longer functioning to invoke the right of an immediate exchange. This is to avoid swapping out entire devices for every minor issue, it would not be sustainable if sellers were forced swap a smartphone for every issue. Imagine the camera glass cover breaks (on its own like it did with some Pixel 7 Pro phones), under many consumer protection laws you'll have to give the seller at least a chance to rectify that, after all the phone is still mostly usable. You can still use it in the meantime until you have a less stressful week, and have organized a loaner phone.
If the phone really heats up when doing nothing that should heat it up (like fast charging or filming prores) and you can reproduce a safety issue in the store, then Apple should swap it out for sure. If the device can't safely be used at all anymore, then that's clearly something that should be protected under consumer rights. Maybe that was such a case an Apple dropped the ball, I couldn't tell from the description.
