It’s been two months since I lost my AirPods in Miami and wrote about it. The good news is, they were shipped back to me just a week later! I’ve been hesitant to write this update because I wanted to put the whole ordeal behind me and move on. But after telling the story of how I got them back to my friends so many times, I realized it was a story worth sharing. Hopefully, it can help someone else in the future when they face a seemingly impossible situation.
After my last post on June 15, I told myself that I was done with it. My thinking was, “What’s a new pair of AirPods—maybe $250? How much is my time worth? And how much is my peace of mind worth if I just let this go?”
But I didn’t follow my own advice. While I was watching an alligator show in the Everglades, I just had to check the “Find My” app again. To my total shock, the location had moved back to the hotel where my friend’s wedding was! All these questions flooded my mind: “It wasn’t the cleaning staff after all? Was it the valet?” “What was the exact moment I lost them?” I couldn’t even enjoy the show, and we ended up leaving just five minutes in.
I went straight back to the hotel in the Everglades, opened my laptop, and found the customer service contact for the hotel where my friend’s wedding was. I quickly wrote up an email and hit send. Ten minutes later, my phone rang. It was the hotel telling me they were launching an internal investigation. The very next day, I got an email saying my AirPods had been found and that they were taking care of the shipping. My AirPods were home before my vacation was even over.
So, what did I put in that email? I told them my missing AirPods were currently on their property and provided a screenshot from the “Find My” app. I also gave them the exact address and asked if it matched any of their employees’ residences. My strategy was simple: I was essentially asking them, “If an employee is willing to take a $250 item from a customer, what else might they take? Is that a risk you want to take with your hotel’s reputation?”
It all came down to a simple, universal rule of negotiation: put yourself in their shoes. And it worked! My AirPods were back.