It depends on the sector and the outcome; in regulated sectors, no. There, the agent drafts the final response, with findings, redress and referral rights, and a named complaints handler approves and sends it. Outside regulated sectors, an agent may send responses that fully uphold a simple complaint within limits; rejections stay with a person everywhere.
Why is the final response special?
It is the business's formal position. It states what was investigated, what was found, what will be done, and, in regulated sectors, what the customer can do next if they disagree, often including the right to go to an external body within a time limit. An external reviewer may later read it line by line.
A wrong final response does more damage than a wrong interim reply. It can set off the clock on the customer's referral rights with inaccurate information, commit the business to a position it cannot defend, or reject a complaint that should have been upheld.
What decides whether the agent can send it?
- Regulated sector? If complaint handling is regulated, a person approves. The agent's draft can be excellent; the decision and signature still belong to someone accountable.
- Outcome. Fully upholding a complaint and giving the customer what they asked for is lower-risk than rejecting or partly upholding it.
- Redress within limits. Any payment follows the agent's normal limits.
- No legal or vulnerability flags, and the complaint is not about the agent itself.
What may the agent do, and what stays with a person?
| Step | The agent | A person |
|---|---|---|
| Assemble the investigation file | Gathers records, timeline and contacts | Checks completeness |
| Draft findings and outcome | Drafts with reasons and evidence | Decides the outcome |
| Calculate redress | Calculates from the rules, shows working | Approves |
| Insert referral rights wording | Uses the approved template text | Maintains the template |
| Send in a regulated sector | Never | Approves and sends |
| Send a full uphold, unregulated, within limits | May send if certified | Samples |
| Send a rejection or partial uphold | Never | Approves and sends |
A ready-to-use structure is the final response letter template, and the drafting process is in how to draft final response letters to complaints with an AI agent.
What does this look like in practice?
Take a consumer credit firm. A customer complains that a default fee was charged although they had agreed a repayment plan. The agent assembles the account history, the plan record and the fee entry. It finds the plan was agreed two days before the fee was applied.
It drafts a final response that upholds the complaint, refunds the fee with interest calculated from the firm's rules, apologises, and includes the approved wording on the customer's referral rights. The complaints handler checks the facts, adjusts one sentence explaining why the fee was applied in error, and approves. The response goes out under the handler's name, and the agent's draft, the edits and the approval are filed together.
What if the complaint was caused by an agent?
Then two processes run. The complaint gets its response from a person, never from the agent judging its own conduct. The failure behind it may also be an incident, triggering AI incident response: finding other affected customers, restricting the capability and fixing the cause.
Which controls make it safe?
- Final responses held for a named approver in regulated sectors.
- Referral rights text taken only from an approved, versioned template.
- Rejections and partial upholds always approved by a person.
- Redress calculated from rules, with workings attached.
- Every draft, edit and approval filed with the complaint.
Complaints that mention legal action add further constraints, covered in whether an AI agent can handle a complaint that mentions legal action. The basics of the process are in what complaint handling is, and the wider approach in the guide to AI customer support agents.
Questions people ask
Does a person need to rewrite the agent's draft?
No. They need to check it and own it. Good drafts often need little editing, but approval must be a real review.
Can the agent send interim updates on a complaint?
Yes. Acknowledgements and progress updates are lower risk and usually within an agent's scope.
Should the final response say an AI drafted it?
Policies differ. What matters is that a named person approved it and the customer can reach a person.