AI support agents and refunds: the 2026 numbers
AI handled an average of 31% of customer interactions for ecommerce brands in 2025 (Gorgias), and the median AI support vendor automated 48% of conversations in SaaStr's October 2026 data (SaaStr). No public source yet measures how often the refunds these agents promise are issued correctly. This page collects the numbers that do exist, each linked to its source, and will add Recoup's own anonymised audit data once audits have run.
How much support do AI agents handle?
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Share of ecommerce customer interactions handled by AI, 2025 average | 31% | Gorgias, 2026 (vendor) |
| Share that companies with $100M+ revenue expect AI to handle within two years | at least 53% | Gorgias, 2026 (vendor) |
| Conversations on Gorgias in 2025 | 350M+ | Gorgias, 2026 (vendor) |
| Brands in the Gorgias dataset, plus a survey of 400 decision-makers | 16,000+ | Gorgias, 2026 (vendor) |
| Common service issues Gartner predicts agentic AI will resolve without a human by 2029 | 80% | Gartner, 5 Mar 2025 |
| Reduction in operational costs Gartner links to that prediction | 30% | Gartner, 5 Mar 2025 |
Gorgias is a help desk vendor reporting on its own customers, so treat its figures as vendor data. The Gartner figure is a prediction, not a measurement.
What resolution rate do Gorgias, Sierra and Intercom AI agents get?
SaaStr pooled four weeks of data across 13 vendors and published it on 6 Oct 2026. The top five averaged 70%, the median vendor was 48% and the volume-weighted rate was 46%.
| Vendor | Automation rate |
|---|---|
| Rep AI | 75% |
| Decagon (34 conversations) | 73% |
| Yuma | 71% |
| Ada | 68% |
| Gorgias | 64% |
| DigitalGenius | 50% |
| Sierra | 48% |
| Siena | 46% |
| Kodif | 44% |
| Intercom | 42% |
| Zendesk | 37% |
| Envive | 22% |
| Klaviyo | 21% |
Source: SaaStr, 6 Oct 2026. The Decagon figure rests on 34 conversations, a small sample.
An automation rate says a conversation ended without a person. It says nothing about whether money promised in it moved correctly. That gap is what the glossary calls the difference between resolution and a correct outcome.
How often do AI support bots give customers wrong information?
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Customers who say they have received incorrect information from an AI self-service bot | 53% | Shep Hyken, 2026 |
| Customers who say offering a human option is essential when using GenAI | 87% | Gartner, 4 Aug 2026 |
| Customers who say interactions are easier with GenAI | 50% | Gartner, 4 Aug 2026 |
| Customers in the Gartner survey (B2B and B2C, Feb to Mar 2026) | 3,566 | Gartner, 4 Aug 2026 |
Hyken's figure is from his 2026 State of Customer Service and CX research, reported in an article dated 25 Mar 2026. It covers incorrect information in general, not refunds specifically.
Has a company paid because of a chatbot's refund promise?
Yes. The cases below have a money figure attached. The full list, with cases that had no money figure, is in the incident log.
| Case | Money | Outcome | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air Canada chatbot promised a bereavement discount after travel | $483 plus fees | Tribunal ordered Air Canada to pay | Yahoo News / CP, 19 Feb 2024 |
| Priceline "Penny" called a non-refundable GBP386.91 booking eligible for a full refund | GBP363.11 | Paid nearly six months after booking, after press coverage | Vibe Graveyard (secondary, citing The Telegraph) |
| Chevrolet dealer chatbot agreed to sell a 2024 Tahoe for $1 | $1 offer | Logged as AI Incident Database incident 6228 | AIID |
Platform rules that affect refund errors
| Rule | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify adds optional idempotency keys to refundCreate in Admin GraphQL API 2026-01, to prevent duplicates on retry. Planned to become mandatory in 2026-04. | 12 Dec 2025 | Shopify changelog |
| Shopify App Store requirement 1.1.15: refunds only through the original payment processor; store credit via refundCreate or returnProcess. | 22 Apr 2026 | Shopify changelog |
| Stripe "credit not processed" dispute category covers Visa 13.6 and 13.7, Mastercard 4860, Amex C02, C04 and C05. | Current | Stripe docs |
Recoup's own data
Recoup is new and has no aggregate data yet. We are onboarding the first brands by hand. Once at least 10 audits have run, we will publish anonymised totals here: the share of AI-closed money promises that were never issued, issued twice, issued for the wrong amount or outside policy, and the median money gap per 1,000 orders. No brand will be named, and no figure will be published from fewer than 10 audits.
Until then, the best way to get a number for your own store is to run the in-browser audit on your exports, or follow the manual method.
How this page is kept
Every figure was read on the linked page on or before 17 Oct 2026. Vendor numbers are labelled as vendor numbers and secondary sources as secondary. We leave out figures we could not trace to a source. We review this page at least every 60 days. To report an error or a new source, email support@recoupaudit.com.
FAQ
What share of ecommerce support do AI agents handle?
An average of 31% of customer interactions in 2025, according to Gorgias' State of Conversational Commerce 2026, which covers 16,000+ brands. That is vendor data.
What is a typical AI support automation rate?
In SaaStr's October 2026 data across 13 vendors, the median was 48% and the volume-weighted rate 46%. The top five averaged 70%.
How often do AI bots give customers wrong information?
53% of customers told Shep Hyken's 2026 research they had received incorrect information from an AI self-service bot. It measures customer experience, not error rates per conversation.
Is there data on how often AI-promised refunds go wrong?
Not publicly, as of 17 Oct 2026. Recoup will publish anonymised totals here once at least 10 audits have run.
Can I use these numbers?
Yes. Please cite the original source linked next to each figure, and this page if it helped you find it.
Get the number for your own store
Run the audit on your own exports, with files kept in your browser. Or let us run the first 90 days for you, free.