Influencer isn't telling the whole story about her viral AirPods replacement ordeal

Grand Central Apple Store

The TikTok video by a woman identifying as "Sophie Ogle," which is fast approaching 1 million views, shows the influencer talking to camera from within Grand Central Terminal in New York. In the video, she claims to have managed to secure replacement AirPods from the store after three hours.

Starting off the video by claiming "if you can't tell by my aesthetic and my demeanor, I've never been told no in my f***ing life," Ogle goes on to claim she had been at the store for three hours trying to rectify a problem with "faulty AirPods" that she was sold.

"It was determined by the diagnostic test that the AirPods were having a manufacturing issue and that it was not user error," she explains, before alleging she was told by store staff "We can't replace them."

Ogle then told the employee that she would "start getting louder" until she's "literally screaming, until I get what I want, which is either a new pair of AirPods or for mine to get fixed. Plain and simple."

After insisting she didn't "feel like anyone was taking me seriously," Ogle then said her new AirPods were on the way in three days time from the recording.

Not the whole story

Many elements to the video are factually correct, including her presence at the Grand Central Apple Store as evidenced by the background and a previous video. But, it's not the entire story.

A source of AppleInsider that works in the store confirmed to us that there was an incident. While they didn't wish to discuss the way the TikTok user treated staff at the store, they did let on that the reason behind the lack of an immediate swap within minutes of her arrival was two-fold.

"As I understand it, she didn't have an appointment, and was told to wait until we had an opening for her," our source told us. "We didn't have service exchange stock, so we told her we couldn't swap them on Saturday."

Saturday is the busiest day for Genius Bar appointments at every location. Historically speaking, if you don't have an appointment scheduled at Grand Central by Monday or Tuesday, you won't get one later in the week for Saturday.

Service is still possible at every Apple store on a walk-in basis even on a Saturday, but Apple warns that waits can be lengthy. Three hours is not out of the question at less-busy stores that we are familiar with, much less the Grand Central location.

As far as the three-day wait goes, Apple does not replace product needing service with new shelf stock, unless the product is returned within a 14-day window. Instead, it draws from service stock which is an entirely different inventory pool.

The woman has prominently featured AirPods max in other videos, dating back well before 14 days. It is probably these that she was attempting to get replaced or returned. Repair stock on AirPods Max is much tighter than on AirPods or AirPods Pro.

As the store is located in Grand Central Station, it is one of the busiest outlets in Apple's network. That fact alone can impact how the store can provide support to customers.

AppleInsider recommends that customers attempt to follow established procedures and protocols when attempting to secure support from any service, such as booking Genius Bar appointments in advance. It is also strongly advised to try and treat front-line staff with at least a basic level of respect, instead of resorting to shouting or other tactics designed to intimidate.