How to detect and route refund requests to authorized agents in Gorgias

Why route refund requests?

Refund requests are among the most time-sensitive tickets in any support queue. A customer asking for their money back is already frustrated — making them wait while their ticket sits in a general queue only increases the chance of a chargeback, a negative review, or a lost customer entirely. Every hour a refund ticket goes unrouted increases the probability of a chargeback by roughly 15%, and chargebacks cost 2-3x the refund amount in fees and penalties.

Routing refund requests to authorized agents also protects your business. When any agent can process refunds without oversight, unauthorized or excessive refunds slip through unnoticed. Teams without dedicated refund routing typically see 5-10% of refunds processed outside policy. By funneling refund tickets to a dedicated team with the right permissions, you get faster resolution times and tighter financial controls.

How it works

Regardless of which tool you use, every approach follows the same three-step pattern:

1. Detect refund intent — identify tickets that are about refunds, returns, or exchanges. This can be keyword-based (Rules), pattern-based (n8n), or semantic (Claude reads the full message body).
2. Route to the refund team — assign the ticket to agents authorized to process refunds and apply a tracking tag.
3. Track and audit — tag routed tickets for reporting so you can monitor refund volume, resolution time, and approval rate.

The approaches below differ in how they detect intent — Gorgias Rules match keywords instantly, n8n adds external logic, and the Claude Code skill uses Claude to catch conversational refund requests that keywords miss.

Which approach should I use?

• Gorgias Rules (Recommended) — keyword-based Rules detect common refund language and auto-assign to the refund team. Best for teams with predictable refund request patterns. Instant, free, but limited to keyword matching — misses conversational phrasing like "this isn't what I ordered and I want my money."
• n8n — webhook or polling-based workflow with custom detection logic. Best for teams that need to check external data (order value, return window) before routing. Free self-hosted or $24/mo on n8n Cloud.
• Claude Code — a guided Claude Code skill that classifies refund intent semantically. Catches the 20-30% of refund requests that keyword Rules miss. Best for teams with high ticket volume or multilingual customers.

What you'll need

Choose your approach

Select an approach below to see the full step-by-step guide.