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AI Returns and Refund Intake Agent Development
Returns taken in, your rules applied
An agent that takes a return or refund request from start to a decision-ready case.
An agent that takes a return or refund request from start to a decision-ready case. It checks the order and who is asking, applies your return policy as written rules, collects what the case needs and hands the decision to the person who makes it.
A return request is a small investigation. Is it this customer's order, is the item inside the return period, is it a category that can come back, is there a photo of the damage. The customer waits while someone looks each fact up, and the answer depends on which colleague is asked. The decision itself usually takes seconds once the facts are in one place.
Parts of this workflow run today in our demonstrations on test data. The refund intake runs today in our customer support demonstration on test data: it checks the order and the requester and logs one request for a person to decide. Eligibility rules from your policy, return labels and stock handling are not built. The rest of what this page describes is a proposal that we build with you.
From the First Signal to the Record
An example of one case, in 6 steps. The same steps play in the picture at the top of this page.
Request received
"I want to return the blue jacket from my last order" arrives in chat.
Order confirmed
The order is found, and the requester is verified against it.
Policy applied
The jacket is inside the return period for its category and is not excluded.
Evidence collected
The customer gives the reason and chooses a refund over an exchange.
Case prepared
One case is opened with the policy result, the reason and the amount from the order.
Decision routed
Your returns team approves. The label is issued and the refund waits for the parcel.
How the Work Is Done Today
Policy applied from memory
Two colleagues give two answers to the same request.
Facts gathered one message at a time
The customer is asked for the order number, then the reason, then a photo.
Requests for someone else's order
A refund is claimed on an order the requester did not place.
The same refund asked twice
A request by chat and another by email become two refunds.
Decisions without a record
Nobody can say why an exception was granted.
Stock that never returns
The refund is paid and the item is not received back.
Six jobs it carries through
01Order and requester check
Confirms the order and the person.
- Finds the order
- Confirms the requester's identity for it
- Lists the items that can be returned
- Stops after repeated failed proofs
02Policy eligibility
Applies your return policy as rules.
- Return period per category
- Condition and proof requirements
- Items that cannot be returned
- The reason behind each result
03Evidence collection
Collects what the case needs, once.
- The reason, in the customer's words
- Photos where your policy asks
- Preferred resolution
- Everything in one request
04Case preparation
Prepares one decision-ready case.
- One case per order and item
- Policy result and evidence together
- The amount your system calculates
- Marked as awaiting a decision
05Decision routing
Sends the decision to the right person.
- Within policy to your returns team
- Exceptions to a named approver
- High value to a second approver
- Tells the customer who decides
06Return logistics
Starts the return once it is approved.
- Issues the label your carrier provides
- Gives the drop-off instructions
- Tracks the parcel back
- Notes when it is received
What We Need to Scope This
- The process as it runs today, in a few lines.
- The systems it touches, for example orders, return policy, ticketing, carriers.
- Rough monthly volume, and who approves what.
The Agent Prepares the Case, a Person Decides the Refund
Money leaves your business on a refund, so the decision stays with a named person. The agent's job is that the person has every fact in front of them: the verified order, the policy result with its reason, the evidence and the amount your system calculated.
Exceptions are routed to whoever may grant them, and the reason is recorded. The agent cannot issue a refund, a credit or a replacement.
- Requester verified for the order
- Policy applied as written rules
- One case per order and item
- Refunds approved by a person
- Exceptions need a named approver
- The reason for every decision recorded
The Systems Around It
The systems named here are the kind this agent works with. Which ones it connects to in your case is settled in the scope.
Orders
- Your shop or order management system
Return policy
- Rules by category, period and condition
Ticketing
- Where the case and its decision live
Carriers
- Return labels and tracking
Payments
- Your refund process, operated by your team
Warehouse
- Receiving and inspection status
Straight Answers
Can it approve refunds that are clearly within policy?
Not as designed. It prepares the case and a person approves. Some businesses later allow automatic approval for narrow cases, such as low-value items inside the return period. That is your decision, made on evidence from the prepared cases, and it needs your payment process to support it.
How is this different from the order and delivery support agent?
Delivery support is about getting the parcel to the customer. This agent starts when the customer wants to send something back or be refunded, and its core is your return policy turned into rules.
What does it need from us?
Your return policy written precisely enough to become rules, read access to orders, a place for cases to be decided, and your carrier's return-label interface if you want it to start the return. Policies with many unwritten exceptions are common; writing them down is the first step.
What exists today?
Some of it. The refund intake runs today in our customer support demonstration on test data: it checks the order and the requester and logs one request for a person to decide. Eligibility rules from your policy, return labels and stock handling are not built. The remaining steps on this page are a proposed workflow. We would build them with you and prove each one on test data before it touches a live system.
Bring Your Return Policy and Fifty Past Requests
We will turn the policy into rules, run the fifty through them, and show where the rules and your actual decisions disagree.