When the bot doesn't answer right
Find what you see below, then go through the reasons from the top. Each fix names the screen and the setting to change.
The bot doesn’t reply at all
Section titled “The bot doesn’t reply at all”| Why | What to change |
|---|---|
| Bot Response is off for the number. | Settings → Meta Platforms: turn on Bot Response for the number. |
| The chat’s AI switch is off. Someone turned it off, or the customer first wrote while Bot Response was off. | Open the chat in the inbox and turn on the AI switch at the top. |
| The chat was assigned to a teammate. Assigning a chat turns its AI switch off, also when a workflow’s Assign to team member action does it. | Turn the AI switch back on in the chat. To keep the bot on when a workflow assigns chats, turn on Keep AI bot replies on in that action. |
| A workflow answered first. If a workflow step with the trigger Customer sends a message matches the message, it runs instead of the bot, even if it only adds a tag. A workflow that matches every message, such as one made from Reply to every message, stops the bot completely. | Automation → Workflows: turn that workflow off, make its trigger narrower (for example, match a keyword), or add a Hand off to an AI bot action to it. See How a workflow runs. |
| You use Wabot’s AI and your wallet is empty or almost empty. The bot stays silent, and the wallet shows No balance, AI features are paused. | Top up on Settings → Pricing → Wallet, or add your own key on AI providers. |
| The bot is in Test mode, and the customer’s number isn’t one of its Test Phone Numbers. | AI bots → open the bot: add the number under Test Phone Numbers, or set Mode to Live. |
| Your bot isn’t the number’s Default AI Bot, or it’s turned off. Your bot then doesn’t answer: the number’s agent identity answers instead, without your instructions. | AI bots → open the bot: turn on Default AI Bot and Enable Bot. |
| A workflow handed the chat to a bot on another number. A bot only answers chats on its own number. | In the workflow’s Hand off to an AI bot action, choose a bot on the same number as the chat. |
| The customer sent a sticker, a location, a contact card or a reaction. | Nothing to change: the bot only answers messages with text. |
| The customer sent a voice note. | Voice notes are answered only if your plan includes them and Wabot has switched them on for your number. Contact support. |
| Your account is in Test Mode (yellow banner at the top of the app), and the customer isn’t one of your verified test numbers. | In Test Mode, only verified test numbers get bot replies. See Quick start. |
| The contact is blocked. | Unblock the contact in Contacts. |
The bot ignores its instructions
Section titled “The bot ignores its instructions”| Why | What to change |
|---|---|
| Your bot isn’t the number’s Default AI Bot, or it’s turned off, so the number’s agent identity answers. The identity has no instructions, and its replies aren’t marked AI agent. | AI bots → open the bot: turn on Default AI Bot and Enable Bot. |
| A workflow hands the chat to the option that ends in (Default). That’s the number’s agent identity, not your bot. | In the workflow’s Hand off to an AI bot action, choose your bot in Select AI bot. |
| The answer shows products from your store. Product answers are written from the product details only. | Nothing to change in the bot. Keep product names and descriptions clear in your store. |
| The question was about an order or a booking. These are handled separately, without your instructions or your knowledge. | See Products, orders and bookings. |
| The instructions ask for something the built-in rules don’t allow, such as answering from general knowledge, long formatted answers or another language. | Rewrite them. See Instructions (System Prompt). |
The bot says it doesn’t have the information
Section titled “The bot says it doesn’t have the information”Customers get your Fallback Message, or I don’t have information on that topic., more often than they should.
| Why | What to change |
|---|---|
| The answer isn’t in your knowledge. | Add an entry with Add info. See Write knowledge the bot can use. |
| The entry is in the category Product. Entries you add yourself are only found in Other. | Add the entry again with the category Other, then delete the old one. |
| The customer asked about a product, and you don’t sync products from a store. The bot looks for products only among those synced from Shopify or Wix. | Sync your products: see Import products from your online store. Without a synced store, the bot may not be able to answer product questions. |
| The product is out of stock. | Nothing to change: the bot only offers products that are in stock. |
| The entry uses different words from the customer. | Use your customers’ words, and write the entry as a question and its answer. |
| The bot uses only selected documents, and this entry isn’t selected, or it changed after you selected it. | AI bots → open the bot → Data Configuration: select the entry again. Leave Select Categories and Select Sources empty. |
| A website page couldn’t be read, or its text only appears after the page loads. | Ask the question in Test bot. If the bot can’t answer, copy the page’s text into Add info. |
| You synced store products after adding your other knowledge. A product sync clears the other knowledge from search. | Contact support. |
| The customer sent a photo or a file. The bot can’t see it, only its caption. | Nothing to change. The customer can describe what they need in words. |
| The answer depends on something said more than 10 messages ago, or more than 24 hours ago. | Nothing to change. The bot only remembers the last 10 messages from the last 24 hours. |
Wrong or made-up answers
Section titled “Wrong or made-up answers”| Why | What to change |
|---|---|
| Two entries say different things, such as an old price and a new one. | Keep one entry per fact. Edit or delete the old one, and check your website pages too. |
| An entry is vague, so the bot fills the gap. | Spell out the details: amounts, days, times, areas and conditions. |
| A similar entry was used, such as home delivery instead of collection from the shop. | Give each entry one topic and a clear title, and say in the text what it’s about, for example This is about home delivery. |
| The instructions push the bot to always answer, or to always sell. | Remove lines such as “never say you don’t know”. Tell the bot what to do when it isn’t sure. |
| Another number’s entries were used. All your bots can use all your entries. | Select the right documents in each bot’s Data Configuration. |
| Product details changed in your store after the last sync. | Product details come from your last sync. To update them, sync again, but read the warning first. |
See also Stop made-up answers.
The bot replies in English
Section titled “The bot replies in English”| Why | What to change |
|---|---|
| Replies are in English, even when the customer writes in another language. There’s no language setting in the app, and you shouldn’t rely on instructions such as “reply in Hindi”. | Contact support. You can also write your Fallback Message in your customers’ languages: it’s sent exactly as you write it. |
Answers are too long, cut short or missing a link
Section titled “Answers are too long, cut short or missing a link”| Why | What to change |
|---|---|
| Answers are kept under 1,000 characters, so a long topic gets shortened. | Split big topics into smaller entries. In the instructions, ask the bot to give the main point first and offer more details. |
| Answers are plain text, without bold, headings or bullet lists. | Nothing to change. To send a menu or a price list, attach it to the entry as an image or a document. |
| The bot only adds a link when the customer asks for a link, for more details or for your website. | Add a Call to action attachment with your link to the entry, and fill in When to send this attachment. |
| The answer feels too short or too cold. | Choose a warmer Behaviour, such as Friendly, or describe the tone you want in the instructions. |
The bot answers when it shouldn’t
Section titled “The bot answers when it shouldn’t”| Why | What to change |
|---|---|
| Bot Response is on for a number where you don’t want AI replies. | Settings → Meta Platforms: turn off Bot Response for that number. |
| You turned off the bot, and now the number’s agent identity answers instead. | To stop AI replies on the number, turn off Bot Response. |
| A workflow hands chats to the bot. Turning the bot off may not stop this. | Automation → Workflows: change or remove the Hand off to an AI bot action. |
| A teammate is handling the chat, but it isn’t assigned to them. | Assign the chat under Assigned to in the inbox, or turn off the AI switch in the chat. |
| A workflow assigned the chat with Keep AI bot replies on. | Turn off Keep AI bot replies on in that Assign to team member action. |
| The bot is in Live mode while you’re still testing. | Set Mode to Test and add your test numbers. |
| The bot talks about things you don’t offer, because its knowledge includes pages about them, for example from a whole sitemap. | Delete those entries, or select only the right documents in the bot’s Data Configuration. |
Products, orders and bookings
Section titled “Products, orders and bookings”| The customer asks | What happens | What to change |
|---|---|---|
| About a product, such as “Do you have this in blue?” | The bot looks only at in-stock products synced from your Shopify or Wix store. Without a sync, it may send your fallback message. | Sync your products: see Import products from your online store. |
| About an order, such as “Where is my order?” | The bot looks the order up in your connected store, using the customer’s phone number or the order number. With no store connected, it replies I’m having trouble retrieving your order right now. Please try again in a moment or share a few more details so I can help. | Connect your store under Settings → Integrations. If the bot still can’t find orders, contact support. |
| To book, or about your services and prices, such as “What services do you offer?” or “How much is a massage?” | The bot may treat this as a booking request. With no store connected, it replies I apologize, but the booking service is not configured for this account. Booking functionality requires proper setup. Please contact support to enable booking features, or let me know if I can help you with something else. | Contact support. You can also answer common booking questions with a workflow that replies to words such as book or appointment. |
Workflow hand-off problems
Section titled “Workflow hand-off problems”| What you see | Why | What to change |
|---|---|---|
| The bot a workflow handed the chat to doesn’t reply. | The bot is on a different number from the chat, or the chat’s AI switch is off. | Choose a bot on the same number in Select AI bot, and check the AI switch. |
| The bot you need isn’t listed in Select AI bot. | The list may not show the bots of all your numbers. | Contact support. |
| The exit message isn’t sent. | Someone wrote after the bot’s last reply, the chat’s AI switch is off, the customer’s last message is more than 24 hours old, or Idle Time is empty. | Set an Idle Time. The other cases are expected. |
| The bot keeps the chat for too long. | Idle Time is empty, or very long. | Set a shorter Idle Time. |
| The bot uses entries outside its selected documents. | A bot that gets a chat from a workflow can use all your knowledge. | Keep it to its topic with its Instructions. |
See Hand off to an AI bot from a workflow.
You can’t find a setting
Section titled “You can’t find a setting”| What’s missing | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| AI Agents in the sidebar | Your plan or your permissions don’t include it. | Ask your account admin. See Team & permissions. |
| The AI switch in a chat | Your user needs the Auto Response chat permission. | Ask your account admin. |
| The Bot Response switch | Your user needs permission to change the number’s settings. | Ask your account admin. |
| The agent identity on Agent Knowledge | Your user needs permission to see it. | Ask your account admin. |
Still stuck?
Section titled “Still stuck?”Contact support and tell us:
- the number the customer wrote to;
- what the customer sent, and when;
- what the bot replied (a screenshot of the chat helps);
- the name of your AI bot.