Can an AI agent replace a lost or damaged order?

Yes, within the business's lost and damaged policy. When the carrier's tracking confirms a parcel is lost, or the damage is evident and the item is below a set value, an agent can send a replacement and confirm it. Parcels marked delivered that the customer says never came, high-value items, and customers with repeated claims are held for a person.

What evidence does the agent need?

Lost and damaged are different claims, with different evidence.

Lost. The carrier's tracking is the main source. A parcel with no scan for longer than the carrier's own threshold, or one the carrier has declared lost, supports a replacement. A parcel scanned as delivered does not, because the dispute is now between the customer's account and the carrier's record, and somebody has to investigate.

Damaged. The customer's photos are the evidence, and they come from outside the business. For low-value items, many businesses accept photos alone because investigating costs more than the item. For higher-value items, the policy usually requires a carrier damage claim, an inspection or a collection first.

What conditions decide it?

• A policy that sets the rules: which evidence, which value thresholds, replacement or refund.
• Stock available. If the item is out of stock, the remedy becomes a refund.
• Within the agent's limit, per claim and per customer over a period.
• No pattern of repeated claims on the account or delivery address.
• The original order is in the records and belongs to the verified customer.

What may the agent do, and what stays with a person?

The full process for delivery failures is in how to handle delivery problems and lost parcels with an AI agent. Replacing a bank card is a different process altogether, governed by security rules rather than stock and carriers; see how to block and replace lost or stolen cards with an AI agent.

What does this look like in practice?

Take a homeware retailer whose policy accepts photos alone for damaged items under 50. A customer sends a photo of a vase broken in its box. The order is in the records, the vase costs 35, it is in stock, and the customer has made no previous claims. The agent creates a replacement order, tells the customer they can keep or recycle the broken one, and sends the replacement order's confirmation.

Later the same day, a customer reports a television delivered with a cracked screen. The value is 800. The agent apologises, asks for photos of the screen and packaging, opens a damage claim with the carrier, and books a collection. It holds the replacement for the claims team, who approve it once the collection is booked. Each step is filed with the evidence the agent relied on.

Which controls make it safe?

• Value thresholds and evidence rules in the policy library.
• Carrier tracking read live, with the time of the last scan recorded.
• Photos treated as supporting evidence, sufficient only where the policy says so.
• Claim frequency checked per customer and per delivery address.
• Replacements created as new linked orders, so stock and cost are tracked.

A replacement is a new order in its own right; whether the agent can send its confirmation is covered in whether an AI agent can send order confirmations. The broader approach is in the guide to AI customer support agents.

Where Pryme fits

In Pryme a carrier's "lost" status arrives as signed by a named party, while the customer's photo arrives as external. Your policy decides which evidence is enough at which value, and the minimum chain applies the lowest bound. The verdict names it, so a held replacement shows whether value, evidence or frequency stopped it.