The man explained that he requested a refund after receiving the wrong order but instead got stuck in an endless loop of chat with an AI-powered support bot
What should have been a straightforward refund process turned into a frustrating 20-minute battle with an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot for one customer. He later shared in a post that he never managed to reach a human representative. His experience has since resonated with many and ignited discussion on AI replacing customer service.
Sharing his ordeal on LinkedIn, Swapnil Gupta claimed he was trying to seek a refund after receiving the wrong order. He expected a quick resolution, but once he navigated the app’s help section, he found himself locked in an endless loop of chat with an AI-powered support bot.
“No Agent, No Number, No Human”
“I fought an AI for 20 minutes over a ₹820 refund,” he said. “The AI won. Not because it was right. Because it was designed to outlast me.” Gupta shared that the chatbot repeatedly responded with generic messages such as “ I understand your concern,” “I’m on top of it,” and “Is there anything else I can help you with?” without offering any meaningful solution.
“No agent. No number. No human anywhere. I’ve seen the same loop on Zomato, Swiggy, Blinkit. Different logos, same script,” he added.
While sharing his experience, Gupta clarified that he was not against the use of AI in customer support, but argued that the real issue arises when it becomes the only channel available for customer help.
He explained, “These bots aren’t built to resolve complaints. They’re built to absorb them. Every dead-end menu, every buried ‘talk to agent’ option, every loop back to square one. It works like friction by design. Because a tired customer gives up. And a customer who gives up costs nothing. They call it ‘AI-powered support.’ It behaves like a refund firewall.”
At the end, he suggested that companies should use chatbots for basic queries but must provide an easy option to escalate unresolved issues to human support executives. “Because ‘I understand your concern’ means nothing when the system is built so no one ever has to,” he said.
Internet Share Similar Instances
His post struck a chord with several users, many of whom shared similar experiences with AI-driven customer support.
“Stopped using AJIO for this reason. Myntra is slightly better – took me only 8 attempts to get through to an actual human and get a refund,” said a user.
Another person wrote, “Yes, I totally agree. Especially with food delivery apps. After a couple of frustrating experiences, I uninstalled all of them and now prefer visiting the hotel directly to buy my food.”
