Skip to content
Customer Support agent

Returns and warranty claims

When a return or warranty claim comes in, the order, the serial number, the dates and your policy are checked first. Covered claims get a label and a reply, and the unclear ones wait for your returns lead.

  • $12,500 fixed
  • Live in 3 to 6 weeks
  • Yours to keep
Let’s build your agent How it works
The review screen for Returns and warranty claims: four items, three done, and one (Past warranty) waiting for the returns lead, who is asked: Two months past warranty, no past claims. Offer a goodwill repair on W-1187?
How it works

A yes when it’s covered. A person when it might not be.

Here’s a typical run, step by step: what automation handles, what the agent does, and the calls that stay with your team.

The workflow for Returns and warranty claims, in 5 steps. It starts with “A claim comes in” and ends with “A label, or a decision”. Each step lists what automation, the agent and your team do there.
Returns and warranty claimsA typical run
Starts withA claim comes inA return request or a warranty claim, by form or email, often with a photo or a serial number.
The agent: Reads the form, the email and any photo, and files W-1187 as a warranty claim on a vacuum: the motor stopped, no damage visible.
~18h/mo

Step 1 of 5Read the claim

  • The agent

    Reads the form, the email and any photo, and files W-1187 as a warranty claim on a vacuum: the motor stopped, no damage visible.

    Customers describe faults their own way. “It just died” and “won’t charge” can be the same fault or two.

Reads
  • Support desk
Writes
  • Returns log

~18 hours a month back

Automation: Finds the order from the customer’s email, confirms serial VX8-40982 was sold on it, and pulls the purchase date and past claims.
~14h/mo

Step 2 of 5Find the order

  • Automation

    Finds the order from the customer’s email, confirms serial VX8-40982 was sold on it, and pulls the purchase date and past claims.

    The customer’s email finds the order, and the serial number is a field on it.

Reads
  • Orders
  • CRM
Writes
  • Returns log

~14 hours a month back

The agent: Reads your policy against W-1187: a covered part and no past claims, but bought 26 months ago on a two-year warranty.
~24h/mo

Step 3 of 5Check the policy

  • The agent

    Reads your policy against W-1187: a covered part and no past claims, but bought 26 months ago on a two-year warranty.

    Policies say things like “normal wear excluded”. Deciding if a stopped motor is wear means reading the claim against it.

Reads
  • Warranty policy
  • Orders
Writes
  • Returns log

~24 hours a month back

Where teams differWarranty terms often differ by product line, and some brands add time for registered products.

Automation: A claim past the warranty or the return window, or outside your policy, goes to the returns lead with the order, the dates and the policy line.
IfYour team: Offers a goodwill repair on the vacuum, a discount on a new one, or declines with a note that explains why.
~8h/mo

Step 4 of 5Decide the edge cases

  • Automation

    A claim past the warranty or the return window, or outside your policy, goes to the returns lead with the order, the dates and the policy line.

    A purchase date and a warranty length leave no room for argument. Past the end, a person decides.

  • Your teamIf outside the warranty

    Offers a goodwill repair on the vacuum, a discount on a new one, or declines with a note that explains why.

    A goodwill repair costs money and sets a precedent. Someone who can make that call should.

Reads
  • Returns log
Writes
  • Returns log

~8 hours a month back

Where teams differSome teams allow a month or two past warranty as a matter of course. Others decide every one.

Automation: Creates the return label or the replacement order, sends the customer a reply in your voice and logs the outcome.
~20h/mo

Step 5 of 5Send the label

  • Automation

    Creates the return label or the replacement order, sends the customer a reply in your voice and logs the outcome.

    The decision is made. The label, the order and the reply are the same clicks every time.

Reads
  • Orders
Writes
  • Orders
  • Customer email

~20 hours a month back

Ends withA label, or a decisionA return label or replacement sent with a reply, or a person’s decision on the record.
Total~84h/mo

What changes

Claims your policy clearly covers get a label and a reply without waiting in a queue. The returns lead sees the edge cases, with the order and the policy line attached.

  • 3steps automated
  • 2steps for the agent
  • 1call kept with your team

Pick any step to see what happens there and why it sits in that lane.

What it could be worth

~84 hours a month back

$40,300 a year in time

For a consumer products brand handling about 600 returns and warranty claims a month, at $40 an hour. We work out yours from your own volumes before you sign.

Let’s build your agent
What we customize with you

One proven agent, plugged into how you work.

Every team does this job a little differently, so we set these five with the people who do it today. We’ve done this in dozens of businesses, so we know where teams usually differ and ask about those first.

The agent

Same for every client
  • Follows the same proven steps
  • A person on every exception
  • Every decision logged
  • Tested on your past work first
  • Never turns down a claim on its own

  1. Your systems

    Where the work comes in, and where the result goes.

    For this agentClaims from your web form and support inbox, orders from your store or ERP.

  2. Your rules

    The limits and exceptions it works to.

    For this agentYour return window, warranty terms by product, and what counts as wear.

  3. Your team

    Who signs off, and who covers when they’re away.

    For this agentThe returns lead for anything outside policy, a manager above a set value.

  4. Your channels

    Where your team hears from it.

    For this agentReplies by email, Slack for the claims waiting on your team.

  5. Your output

    What it hands back, in the format you already use.

    For this agentA return label or a replacement order, and every claim logged with its reason.

Checking what comes back stays with your warehouse, and damaged deliveries are the Ticket triage and refunds agent. Anything your policy doesn’t clearly cover stays with your team.

What you get

The agent, and everything that keeps it working.

  • The agentRunning on your systems, under your rules.
  • The review screenWhere the exceptions land for your returns lead and team.
  • Your rulebookYour limits, exceptions and who signs off, in one place, often for the first time.
  • A test reportYour past claims, run through it and checked against the number.
  • The runbookHow it works, what to check, and what to do if it stops.
  • 30 days of tuningAfter it goes live, through a full month of your real claims.
The number we agree

Days from a claim arriving to a label sent or a decision made. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.

How we get there

Live in 3 to 6 weeks. About seven hours of your time.

We do the building. Your side: access, three months of closed claims and your warranty terms, and a short weekly check-in.

  1. Before kickoff

    We send the access checklist.

    You, 2 hours. Access, an owner, and three months of closed claims and your warranty terms.

  2. Weeks 1 to 2

    We connect your systems and set it up.

    You, 1 hour. Walk us through your rules.

  3. Weeks 2 to 4

    We test it on your past claims.

    You, 1 hour. Review what it flagged.

  4. Weeks 3 to 6

    It runs beside your team, then goes live.

    You, 1¼ hours. Work from the review screen.

Then 30 days of tuning, with a short check-in each week, about two hours of yours. At day 30 we show you the number and hand everything over.

After it’s live

It keeps running whether or not we stay.

  • It runs in your accounts

    Your cloud, your systems, and an AI account in your name, billed by the provider at their rates.

  • Changes in the first 30 days are included

    A new rule, a changed limit, someone new signing off. That’s what tuning is for.

  • After that, your call

    Your team edits the rulebook, the care plan covers it, or a bigger change is quoted first.

Questions

About this agent.

What if there’s no serial number?
It asks the customer for it, or a photo of the label, in the same thread. If they can’t find it, the claim goes to a person with the order attached.
Can it turn a claim down?
No. It approves what your policy clearly covers. Everything else, including every no, goes to someone on your team.
We sell through retailers too. Does that work?
Yes, if you can see those orders or the customer sends a receipt. Your rulebook says which proof of purchase you accept.
Our process isn’t quite like this. Will it still work?
That’s the usual case. The job looks the same in most businesses, but the details never do. We map how your team does it today, then set the rules, systems and approvals to match. That’s what most of the 3 to 6 weeks are for.
How do we agree the number?
Together, before any work starts. For this agent it’s the days from a claim arriving to a label sent or a decision made. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.
What does it cost to run once it’s live?
Hosting and AI, paid straight to the providers, not through us. It usually runs 5x to 25x cheaper than doing the same work by hand, and we work out your figure from your real volumes before you sign.

Should every claim reach your team already checked?

Tell us how your team handles claims today. We’ll show you this agent on examples like yours, and whether it fits the fixed price.

Let’s build your agentBack to Customer Support
New to Switchboard Agents? How it works, what’s included, and what it costs.
  • 3 to 6 weeksto live, then 30 days of tuning
  • $12,500fixed, per agent
  • Yours to keepno license fees
See the service
Switchboard Agents$12,500 fixed · live in 3 to 6 weeks How it works Let’s build your agent