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Internet mocks business owner for using AI after chatbot gives 80% discount to customer on ₹9.8 lakh order
A small business owner in the UK has claimed that an AI chatbot offered a massive 80% discount to a customer without his authorization
A small business owner in the UK has claimed that an AI chatbot offered a massive 80% discount to a customer without his authorization. In a post highlighting the potential pitfalls of relying on AI instead of human employees, the small business owner said he would have suffered serious losses if he had honoured the discount offered by the AI agent.
AI creates and offers discount
The man asked for legal advice on Reddit, creating a post titled: “An AI chat-assist created and offered a customer an 80% off offer. Customer has now placed an order of £8,000+”
In his post, the business owner explained that the customer placed an order for 8,000 pounds (or ₹9.8 lakh), after the AI agent offered a discount of 80%.
The business owner claimed that the customer managed to “convince” the AI to offer this huge discount.
“A customer was chatting with it and managed to convince the AI to give them a 25% discount, then he negotiated with the AI up to an 80% discount,” he wrote.
Customer refuses to cancel order
The business owner said that he would have lost thousands of pounds if he actually sold the products at 80% off. He wrote to the customer to explain what happened and cancel the order, but the customer refused a cancellation.
Instead, the customer threatened to drag the owner to court if he cancelled the order. (Also read: Claude AI deletes 15 years of family memories — ‘Nearly gave me a heart attack,’ says VC)
“I'm going to be losing thousands on my material costs alone,” the Reddit user wrote.
“I've written to my customer to cancel it and they responded that they will be taking me to small claims court if I fail to honour the order. They've given me 3 days to respond,” he added, asking Reddit users for legal advice.
Internet says ‘hire humans’
At a time when the general public is afraid of losing their jobs to AI, the post found little sympathy online.
“I’m fully on the customer’s side. This is the exact kind of punishment a business owner replacing humans with AI deserves. Some people only learn when the lessons cost money,” wrote one person on X, where the post was reposted.
“This is why you never let automated systems fully handle a negotiation like this,” another said. “It’s his own fault for being lazy. I doubt he gets so many orders that he absolutely needs to have a chatbot handling customer service like this.”
“Bet that minimum wage chat customer support/sales person doesn't seem too expensive now!” a user added.
Several people advised the business owner to simply cancel the order, saying the customer did not have a legal led to stand on.
