I’d also like to point out that I’m currently sick and running a fever, which is why I tried to call ahead and get things figured out.

One of my AirPod Pro rubber ear tips tore in half trying to replace them so I called this Apple store to see if they had them in stock. There is no way to check this in the Apple Store on your phone. The woman at the store said they would transfer me to Apple Care, which I thought was weird, and they told me that they were not allowed to tell me if they had them in stock at store and that the only way to see if they had them in stock was to show up to the store. I was already a little annoyed but told them I would drive 30 minutes to the Apple store to see if they were available. NOTE: this would have been a great time to tell me I needed to bring my AirPods with I me!! As you will see later, this wasn’t told to me until the last possible moment.

So I finally get to the store and tell the person up front what I am looking for. One set of medium AirPod pro ear tips. There were three people I spoke to in quick succession, each one telling me something different until I was ultimately told to go wait by a table. About 5 minutes later a person comes up to me and tells me they do have them in stock and to check in with a girl in the middle. I check in with the girl in the middle who directs me to another table at the opposite side. About 5 minutes later a person comes up to me and tells me that they can only sell me size small or large but if I want to buy a medium, I would have to book an appointment with the Genius Bar. This already made no sense to me but I didn’t argue. Before he left to put me in the cue I said, “BTW, I don’t have the AirPods with me. That isn’t going to be a problem is it?” He assured me it wouldn’t.

EDIT: Lol I just remembered this detail that was kind of weird. The employee who told me about the Genius Bar also told me they could sell me a pair of small or large ear tips right now, but I needed to make a Genius Bar appointment for the mediums. Literally I could have bought the smalls or large a without a serial number, but the mediums were off limit to me without one.

So after waiting 15 minutes I get called to the Genius Bar and explain my whole situation and what I’m looking for and the first thing he asks is if I have my AirPods with me. I said no and that I told the person who made the appointment for me this and they told me it wouldn’t be a problem. I tried to explain the situation and who I had called over an hour ago and they wouldn’t even tell me if they sold them unless I showed up in a physical store and never mentioned bringing them.

EDIT: I’ve gone into more detail on my interaction with the Genius Bar here

Long story short I made the 30 minute drive home empty handed because Apple is frustrating bureaucratic and each team so separated that no one could give me a correct answer out of the 7 different people I spoke to. By far the worst/most frustrating customer experience of my life and I am going to be looking for alternatives than go back there. I’m usually unfazed by burdensome company policies but this was so beyond bizarre and left a bad taste in my mouth.

Final edit- click here for the tldr conclusion I’ve come to of what happened. Thanks for everyone who commented with helpful suggestions!