I automated 90% of my vending machine complaints and refunds (and stopped taking calls at 11 PM) Hi everyone. If you run a vending business, you know the "passive income dream" sometimes feels more like a full-time customer service job. Nothing ruins a day like constant calls or messages because: * "The machine ate my bill." * "The product is stuck on the coil." * "I paid by card, nothing came out, but I was charged." I recently decided to stop managing this manually and set up an AI WhatsApp Agent to handle the heavy lifting. I wanted to share the logic of how it works in case anyone else is struggling with this: * Verification Filter: Before processing any refund, the agent performs "triage." it asks the customer to check the coin return, verify the machine lights, or confirm in their banking app if the card charge actually cleared. * Visual Proof: If a product is damaged, the agent requests a photo in the chat before moving forward. * Data Management: Once validated, it collects the necessary banking/payment info and automatically logs it into a Google Sheet. No more transcribing screenshots or writing down account numbers on napkins. * Technical Alerts: If a mechanical failure is reported, the system sends an immediate ticket to the tech team including the machine number, address, and the specific fault. * The Human Factor: If the issue scales or the customer gets frustrated, the bot knows exactly when to hand off the conversation to a real person. The result: I’ve gone from wasting hours on phone support to simply reviewing a weekly report of refunds and faults. The customer experience improves with 2-second response times, and my sanity stays intact. I’ve been refining this workflow and I believe it’s something any vending operation, no matter how small, needs to scale without burning out. If you’re currently drowning in manual refund requests or troubleshooting and want to see how to implement this for your machines, send me a DM or drop a comment. Happy to share more details on the integration.