{"id":"ind-sup-refund-delay-macro","audience":"customer-support","category":"customer-replies","technique":"context","title":"Write a reusable help-desk macro for late refunds","free":false,"task":"You're writing a saved reply (a macro) that every agent at Brightnest Meal Kits will send when a customer asks where their refund is. The help desk only fills the exact tokens {{first_name}} and {{order_id}}, so use those and no other placeholders. Keep it under 80 words, plain text, with no subject line and no apology, with the refund times from the newest policy update, and promise nothing the policy doesn't allow. Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.","materialLabel":"Refund policy notes (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"REFUND TIMING - internal notes for the macro (Brightnest Meal Kits, fictional)\nOwner: Tasha Reed, Support Ops\n\nHow long refunds take to show up:\n- Credit or debit card: 5-7 business days\n- PayPal: 3-5 business days\n- Store credit: instant, shows in the account wallet\n\nUPDATE Nov 1 (from Finance, replaces the card line above): our new payment processor is slower. Card refunds now take up to 10 business days. PayPal and store credit are unchanged.\n\nThings agents keep promising that we CAN'T do:\n- \"rushing\" or \"expediting\" a refund (we have no way to do this)\n- giving a refund to a different card than the one used\n\nWhen a refund is late:\n- If it's been longer than the times above, the customer should reply to this email and we'll send a trace number from the processor.\n\nOther:\n- Most of these tickets come in on Mondays.\n- Team lunch moved to Thursday this week.","rules":[{"type":"maxWords","max":80},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for \"under 80 words\" and it often lands well over.","fix":"Cap each part instead: \"keep it to 4 short sentences, each under 15 words.\"","checks":["maxWords"]},{"title":"Letting the AI pick placeholders","why":"The AI writes [Customer Name] or {Order #}, which your help desk prints as-is.","fix":"Add: \"Use only the tokens {{first_name}} and {{order_id}}, exactly as written.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Missing the policy update","why":"The old 5-7 day card line sits first in the notes, so the AI copies it.","fix":"Add: \"Card refunds now take up to 10 business days per the Nov 1 update.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Letting the AI dress it up","why":"The AI adds a subject line and an apology, which every customer gets whether or not anything went wrong.","fix":"Add: \"No subject line, no apology. Don't offer to rush the refund.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Ignoring where it will be pasted","why":"AI loves bold and headings, which show up as stray ** and # symbols in the help desk reply box.","fix":"Name the place and the format: \"For the help desk reply box. Plain text, no bold or headings.\"","checks":["plainText"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Names the exact tokens","patterns":["\\{\\{first_name\\}\\}","\\{\\{order_id\\}\\}","token","placeholder"]},{"label":"Uses the policy update","patterns":["update","nov(ember)? 1","10 business days","newest","latest"]},{"label":"Rules out over-promising","patterns":["expedit","rush","don'?t promise","trace"]},{"label":"Sets a word limit","patterns":["\\d+\\s*words","word (limit|count)"]},{"label":"Asks for plain text","patterns":["plain","no bold","no markdown","no formatting","no headings"]}],"hint":"A macro gets sent thousands of times, so the AI needs your tool's exact placeholders and the current policy. Tell it both, and what agents must never promise.","rubricLabels":["Uses exactly the tokens {{first_name}} and {{order_id}} (each at least once) and no other placeholders such as [Name], [Order Number] or {{customer_name}}","Gives the updated card refund time of up to 10 business days (not 5-7), and if it mentions PayPal or store credit, uses 3-5 business days and instant","Has no subject line and no apology (no 'sorry', 'apologize' or 'inconvenience'), and promises nothing the policy rules out (no rushing or expediting the refund)"]}