The AI Quoted a Wrong Price: What to Do in the Next Hour and How to Stop It Recurring

A customer forwards a screenshot to the owner: the shop's assistant offered a product at 185,000 when the price is 285,000. The customer would like to order twelve. Nobody on the team typed that message. The AI quoted a wrong price, the customer acted in good faith, and the next hour decides whether this ends as a small cost and a lesson or as a public complaint.

The first hour

1. Reply to the customer quickly, as a person. Silence makes it worse.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Dewi. This is Arif, the owner. Thank you for sending this. The price in that message was an error on our side and I apologise. Let me check and come back to you within thirty minutes with how we will make this right."

2. Find out how far it went. Search recent conversations for the same product and the same wrong figure. One customer or twenty changes the decision.

3. Stop the source. Switch the assistant to draft mode for price questions, or pause it for that product, until the cause is found. Do this before investigating, not after.

4. Decide and reply within the time you promised.

To honour or not

There is no universal rule, but these questions settle most cases.

• How large is the difference? A few percent on one order is a small marketing cost. A third off a bulk order may not be.
• Was the error obvious? A television offered at the price of a cable is plainly a mistake, and most customers understand that. A plausible discount is not obviously wrong.
• Did the customer rely on it? If they have paid, or turned down another supplier, the case for honouring it is stronger.
• How many customers? Honouring one is cheap. Honouring two hundred may not be possible.
• What does the law say where you operate? Consumer protection rules differ. For significant amounts, ask someone qualified.

A reasonable default for small businesses: honour it for the customers who received it, within sensible quantity, and correct it for everyone else. Being fair to a handful of people costs less than the reputation of being a business that hides behind its software.

When you cannot honour it:

"Ms. Dewi, I have checked. The correct price is 285,000. The figure you received was a mistake by our automated assistant, and I am sorry for the confusion. I cannot offer twelve units at that price, but I would like to offer you 10 percent off this order and free delivery, as an apology. Would that work for you?"

Three things make that message work: it comes from a named person, it admits the error without blaming the customer, and it offers something.

Do not blame the AI to the customer

"The AI made a mistake" is true, and to a customer it sounds like an excuse. The business chose to let the assistant answer. Say "we made an error". Explain the cause briefly if asked.

Finding the cause

Almost every wrong price comes from one of four sources.

1. Stale information. The price changed and the assistant's reference did not. A price list uploaded in March is still being read in November.

Fix: one price source, with an owner and a date. When a price changes, the source changes first. Better still, have the assistant read prices from the same place the team does.

2. Conflicting information. Two documents with different prices: an old promotion, a reseller list, a catalogue from last year. The assistant picked one.

Fix: remove or clearly label everything that is not the current retail price. Promotions carry an end date in the text itself.

3. Missing information. The product, the size or the quantity tier was not in the reference, and the assistant filled the gap with something plausible.

Fix: instruct it explicitly. "Quote only prices that appear in the price list. If the item, variant or quantity is not listed, say you will check with the team and hand over." Then test with items that are not listed.

4. Arithmetic and conditions. The unit price was right, and the total, the discount, the tax or the delivery fee was wrong.

Fix: do not let the assistant calculate complex totals unaided. Give it fixed package prices, or have it state the unit price and pass the total to a person or a calculation tool.

Guardrails worth setting up

• Draft mode for anything negotiated. The AI writes, a person sends.
• Limits. No discount beyond a stated percentage, no quotation above a stated order value without a person.
• A validity line. "Prices are confirmed on the order form" in the reply, so a chat message is not the final word.
• Handover triggers. Bulk orders, custom requests, complaints and anything involving a refund go to a person.
• Test questions before each change. Twenty questions with known answers, including traps: a discontinued item, an expired promotion, a quantity above the top tier. Run them again every time the price list changes.
• A weekly sample. Read thirty real conversations that mention a price.

Record the incident

Write five lines and keep them:

• What happened and when.
• How many customers.
• What it cost.
• The cause.
• What was changed.

After three such notes you will see whether the same cause keeps returning.

How this looks in Polynusa

Polynusa's AI agents can run in a mode where replies are drafted for a person to approve, or sent directly, and that choice can differ by situation. For prices, we suggest starting in draft mode and moving to direct replies only for a fixed list that has passed your own test questions. See the pricing page for what each plan includes.

Summary

Reply as a person within minutes, check how many customers were affected, and stop the source before investigating. Decide whether to honour the price by the size of the gap, how obvious the error was, and whether the customer relied on it. Say "we made an error". Then find which of four causes applied: stale, conflicting or missing information, or arithmetic. Fix the source, add guardrails and test before switching automatic price replies back on.

FAQ

Do we have to honour a price the AI quoted by mistake?

The legal answer depends on your jurisdiction and the circumstances, so take advice for anything significant. As a business matter, honouring a small error for the customer who received it is usually cheaper than the argument. For a large or obvious error, correct it promptly, apologise and explain, and consider a goodwill gesture.

How can we stop an AI assistant from inventing prices?

Give it one authoritative price list to read from, instruct it to quote only prices found there, and have it hand over to a person when an item or situation is not covered. Then test it with questions about items that are not on the list and confirm it declines instead of guessing.

Should the AI send prices automatically at all?

For a fixed, published price list, automatic replies are reasonable once tested. For negotiated prices, bulk discounts, custom work or anything depending on stock or delivery distance, have the AI draft and a person approve.