A WhatsApp message was not answered

If a customer wrote on WhatsApp and nobody answered, first look for their message under Conversations. If it is there, the number works and the cause is usually one of these three: the account has no credits, the agent is not active, or a person is in charge of the conversation. If the message is not there, the problem is in the connection or the plan: go to Channels.

In every case, once the cause is fixed, the agent does not go back by itself to what was left unanswered: it replies when the customer writes again. If the message mattered, answer it yourself from Conversations.

No credits left, the trial has ended or the subscription is not active

You recognise it by the notice shown at the top, throughout the app:

On WhatsApp the customer receives nothing, not even a notice. Their messages are stored under Conversations and a person can answer from there. Press the button on the notice to fix it. More detail in the free trial and credits.

The agent is paused or is a draft

Under Agents, the agent shows as Paused or Draft, and its page says that it does not answer on any channel. Messages that arrive are stored, but nobody answers them. Press Resume or Activate on the agent’s page.

A person is in charge of the conversation, or it is paused

Open the conversation and look at its status. In Person in charge the AI does not reply, and in Paused nobody replies automatically. A conversation gets there in three ways:

• Someone on the team pressed Take over or Pause.
• Someone replied from the inbox: sending a reply puts you in charge of the conversation.
• The agent itself handed it over, because the customer asked to talk to a person or because its instructions say so. The status shows it under Reason:.

The AI stays quiet until someone presses Return to the AI. Answer the customer yourself or return it: see take over a conversation.

The customer sent a photo, a voice note or a file

The agent only reads text. In the conversation, that message appears as a label in square brackets, for example [Image] or [Audio], and the agent replies with a fixed notice in Spanish, Catalan or English, according to the agent’s Default language: “I can only read text messages for now. Could you type what you need?”

That notice is sent at most once every few hours to each customer, so a second photo shortly afterwards gets no reply. Nor is it sent when the photo arrives right after a text message, because the reply to that text is already on its way. If what they sent matters, answer them yourself from Conversations.

The customer opted out with STOP or BAJA

If the customer sent a message that says only STOP, BAJA, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCELAR or PARAR, the agent stops replying to them automatically. The app does not flag it in any other way: you recognise it because that message is in the conversation and the ones after it have no reply.

Their messages still reach the inbox and a person can answer. The agent replies to them again when the customer sends START or ALTA; there is no button to undo the opt-out from the app.

The number’s connection has a problem

Go to Channels and look at the number’s card. The Check button tests the connection there and then.

With a connection in Error, your customers’ messages may still reach Conversations, but replies are not delivered while it stays like that.

Your plan no longer includes WhatsApp

Under Channels, inside WhatsApp, you see “Your plan does not include WhatsApp”. While that is so, messages that reach the number are ignored: they are neither answered nor stored in the inbox. Press View plans to move to a plan that includes it.

You answered from the phone yourself

This only happens on numbers with the label Meta, with the phone app. What you answer from the WhatsApp Business app appears in Conversations as written by a person, and the agent does not answer the same thing twice: if you had already answered that question, it does not. This is expected, and the agent goes on replying to the customer’s next messages. See keeping the mobile app.

The customer sent many messages in a very short time

To prevent abuse there is a maximum number of automatic replies per conversation in a short time, and another per customer per day. Once it is exceeded, on WhatsApp the agent stops replying to that customer. The messages are stored, a person can answer, and the limit lifts by itself.

The AI service was not available

If the agent cannot produce the reply because the service failed, the customer receives one fixed message, “I cannot answer right now. A member of the team will continue this conversation here as soon as possible.” or its Spanish equivalent, and the conversation moves to Person in charge with the reason “The agent could not answer automatically.”

It is not a problem with your account. Answer the customer and then press Return to the AI. If it happens again, write to us from Support.

Your reply is marked “Not delivered”

Below the message, “Not delivered:” gives the reason.

• If it mentions “the 24-hour customer service window”, more than 24 hours have passed since the customer’s last message: see WhatsApp’s 24-hour rule.
• If the reason is a different one, or it says “The channel could not deliver this message. Check the connection in Channels.”, check the number’s connection.

A reply from the agent can also end up as Not delivered if the connection fails while sending it. The credits of that reply are not returned.

What to send to support

Open a ticket from Support with New ticket and, under Topic, choose Channels. Include:

• The WhatsApp number and the label its card shows under Channels.
• The agent’s name.
• The day and approximate time of the message, and the customer’s phone number.
• Whether or not the message appears under Conversations.
• The status on the card and, if there is one, the text after “Technical detail:”, copied as it is.

Never send tokens or passwords in the ticket.