I have a feeling there's more to this story. What type of bromeliad did you get, what else did you do and what happened between the store and home?

Putting water in the cup will not cause broms to turn brown and crispy, just the opposite. You do have to water the roots too, though. But even if you didn't water it I wouldn't expect it dry up that quickly unless they were exposed to extreme heat or cold or something toxic along the way.

Did you perhaps buy the plants and leave them in the hot car for a while? Where are they in your house? Anything nearby that could be stressing them out? Did anything besides water get into the cups?

If the answer is no then perhaps something happened to them at the garden center. How did they look when you got them? Overly dry or overly saturated? Can you post a picture? That might help.

Hopefully you didn;t put fertilizer in the cup.....

Wet leaves, SW window indoors up close??? Hot sun?? = :-(