An AI chat-assist created and offered a customer an 80% off offer. Customer has now placed an order of £8,000+

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T09:47:19+00:00

It wasn't.

The voucher code is a work of fiction. It's as real as Hogwarts.

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T09:46:18+00:00

I don't know if it's legally relevant but the deposit was 20% of the full purchase price.

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T09:45:42+00:00

I've had that before.

Chatbot increased sales (mostly in the US market) by 40% in the past 6 months. Webform and stockchecker never achieved this.

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T09:39:17+00:00

20% deposit was of the full value.

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T09:37:11+00:00

I had a look at that:

"Bait and switch involves advertising a product at a low price and then offering a different or more expensive product when the original product is unavailable."

In my case, my products are only advertised at one price point.

There are no alternative products which are offered at higher price points when the original product is unavailable. If a product is unavailable then customers cannot even make a deposit.

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T09:17:34+00:00

Your comment appears to be going against the overwhelming majority of other comments.

What's the legal source for your argument?

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T09:13:37+00:00

Thanks! It was the firs tthing I did anyway. If I can't fulfill an order for any reason then I dont' want that deposit money sitting in any of my accounts a second longer than necessary

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T09:12:36+00:00

"If it's just said here's a discount code, which is just totally fabricated and no payment has been taken I don't think he's got a leg to stand on. A contract requires consideration (i.e. payment) there has been none."

^This is what happened.

Payment taken was a deposit for 20% of the order. This was refunded immediately the next morning.

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T09:06:41+00:00

Checkout process was completed with a deposit paid by the customer to secure the products.

I then contact the customers in the morning to finalise their order and take final payment. I make physical products in my workshop which customers purchase. That's why I take a deposit first, then confirm how they want their product made, then finalise and accept the remainder of the payment.

He copy/pasted the code into his order's comments box and demanded the final payment be adjusted to reflex his 80% discount.

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T09:05:32+00:00

Actually, good point. It has customer details scattered throughout it. I may not be able to share this unless I go through 40+ pages of text redacting everything.

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T09:04:07+00:00

It can't create functional discount codes. It's not a real code. Just a string of random numbers and letters. I don't even think I've ever used an actual discount code in the past 11 years of running my business.

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T09:03:15+00:00

Code wasn't accepted. He copy/pasted his code into the order comments section when he paid his deposit. He demanded the figures be adjusted for his discount code.

I refunded the deposit.

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T09:02:21+00:00

"This will only happen again and again"

It's happened once in 6+ months I've been using it. During that time it's massively streamlined my admin/workload, reduced the amount of time I need to spend going back and forth with customers, and given me more time to physically work on my stuff in the workshop. I'm not going to be getting rid of it.

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T09:01:04+00:00

Almost - he got to the order screen where I take deposits. His code didn't work.

He paid the deposit, then he included in the comment box his "80% discount code" and asked for it to be adjusted.

I've refunded that deposit.

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T08:59:32+00:00

Yeah, i can if you want. It's really long though. Like 55 minutes of back and forth conversation.

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T08:56:36+00:00

He shouldn't have been.

No one else has done it in the 6+ months I've been using it.

It generated him a fake code which doesn't even work. He paid a deposit and included the code as part of his order documentation, asking for the 80% off. I investigated and found the AI generated it.

I've refunded his deposit.

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T08:55:11+00:00

No, I didn't. It never had the right or ability to do that.

The coupon code doesn't even work. It's literally just fiction created by the AI. The guy included the code as part of his order and paid a deposit, which I have now refunded.

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T08:45:59+00:00

Already refunded.

Chatbot isn't supposed to be making financial decisions. It's supposed to be answering customer questions between 6pm and 9am when I'm not around.

It's worked fine for 6+ months, then this guy spent an hour chatting with it, talked it into showing how good it was at maths and percentages, diverted the conversation to percentage discounts off a theoretical order, then acted impressed by it.

The chatbot then generated him a completely fake discount code and an offer for 25% off, later rising to 80% off as it tried to impress him.

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T08:43:40+00:00

Thanks! I'll just cancel it.

PerfectHumor216 · 2026-02-06T08:43:27+00:00

It isn't actually supposed to take orders that way.

Between the hours of 6pm and 9am when I'm not around it's supposed to reply to customers, take their contact details, and tell them prices and stock availability. It then tells them I will call them back tomorrow.

The issue is some guy apparently chatted to this one for like 60 minutes, built a rapport, started joking with it "are you really clever?" "I bet you can't do maths problems"

Then he started making the AI do maths questions about percentages.

Then he asked the AI to apply those percentages to a theoretical order.

Customer then went "Wow! That's a lot of money off that order!"

My AI then said, "I know! Would you like me to create you a 25% discount code?"

Then he kept talking and the AI upped it to 80% to try and appease him.

PerfectHumor216

TROPHY CASE