Woman says her Instacart driver told her the Bose headphones she ordered were out of stock. Then she drove to Best Buy herself: ‘He didn’t even try’

A woman said she drove to a Best Buy after her Instacart driver told her the Bose headphones she ordered were out of stock, only to find the exact pair sitting on the shelf. Kaylla Spencer shared the claim in a TikTok video, where she said the driver delivered a completely different generation instead and called it “completely wrong, so wrong.”

In the video, Spencer walked through the store and pointed at a box of Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones inside a glass case. She stated that she had checked online before placing the order and that the site showed two pairs in stock. Spencer claimed the driver told her the store did not have the color she wanted or anything she ordered, yet the exact same model and color were on the shelf when she arrived. “He didn’t even try,” Kaylla said.

Spencer explained that the headphones she originally ordered cost over $400 and that she considered them the higher-end version. She said the pair the driver brought her cost $359 and was not even the same generation. She added that she drove 20 minutes to the Best Buy and found at least three of the same model available, including the red pair that matched her order, plus green and white ones.

Spencer said she received two different receipts and questioned how that happened

Spencer stated that the driver gave her a paper receipt from Best Buy for the cheaper headphones she received. At the same time, she said Instacart had sent her a separate digital receipt for the more expensive pair she ordered. She claimed that in all her past Instacart orders, she had never received a paper store receipt in addition to the digital one from the app.

She said she was not accusing the driver of anything but wondered if it was possible he purchased the cheaper headphones, swapped them, and kept the more expensive ones. Spencer asked in the video whether a driver could do that and then give the customer the lower-priced item while hoping she would not notice. She repeated that she had never been given two receipts before and asked why it happened this time.

Spencer said she held up the Bose box at home and eventually got the headphones she wanted. She stated that Instacart reached out to her and issued a refund. She added that she was not upset with Instacart and that she liked the service, but she believed it was normal to expect the item she paid for when she paid for delivery. Refunds and credits on the app have caused trouble for other users too, like Instacart credit and overdraft problems.

In the video, she also addressed people who might tell her to just shop for herself. Spencer said that when customers pay for a service, they should receive what they ordered, and she closed by saying, “If that makes me a Karen, then hi, my name’s Karen.” She described the situation as a first-world problem while still questioning the stock claim after seeing multiple matching pairs on the shelf.

Several viewers weighed in on the two-receipt detail. One commenter suggested the driver may have bought the cheaper pair with his own money and kept the ones Spencer paid for, writing, “He may have purchased the cheap ones with his own money and kept the ones you paid for. Swapped them out.”

Another person who identified as a fellow Instacart shopper wrote that drivers are told never to hand out paper receipts because customers already get a digital one, and that many stores avoid giving shoppers receipts “to cut down on scams.” Disputes between customers and drivers over deliveries are not new, as seen in an Instacart delivery reported missing even after the customer signed for it.

Other commenters said the story made them less likely to order expensive items through the app. One wrote, “My trust issues can NEVER order anything high valued from instacart. If I need something of value, I’d do Amazon or just go to the store myself.” Another commenter said that if a scam occurred, Spencer should file a police report because “it’s fraud.”