Returns and refunds

How do we run returns and refunds from any channel with one return policy deciding, the label issued, and the refund written to the order management system?

Let one policy decide, whatever the channel. When a customer wants to return, Callvu identifies them and prefills the order (the items, the delivery date, the payment method, the product types, any prior returns), classifies the return against the one policy (the return window from delivery, the eligible items and conditions, the reason and its treatment, the refund method and timing, the fees and the exceptions for final sale, hygiene and custom items), issues the label or the drop-off code by rule where the policy allows, routes an exception (outside the window, a high-value or serial returner, a condition dispute, a missing proof) to the returns desk in the Decision Desk with only the allowed outcomes, tracks the return to receipt and inspection, and writes the refund to the original method and the return to the order management system, the system of record, with the customer told each step.

In scopeComplex: multi-party handoffsCallvu moves: classify, decide, write back

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Last updated November 7, 2026.

The problem today

The store took the return the website had refused, and the customer learned the policy depended on who they asked.

Today, without Callvu

Returns are a policy applied by many hands: the website's self-service rules, the contact center's script, the store's discretion, the marketplace's rules. The same return is accepted in one channel and refused in another; the refund timing differs; the customer learns to ask twice. The return rate and the fraud rise, and the regulators ask whether the disclosed policy is the one applied.

The return policy is a set of rules on data the order holds: the delivery date and the window, the item's type and its exceptions, the reason and its treatment (a defect versus a change of mind), the refund method and the timing, the fees. Applied as rules, the policy gives the same answer in every channel and leaves a record; the exceptions are a person's decision with the evidence. The consumer protection acts require the disclosed policy to be the one honored.

One return policy, applied by rule in every channel, is both the fair outcome and the defensible one.

How it runs

From the requestto the system of record.

A customer starts a return in the app, on the website, in a store, by chat, by phone or through an AI assistant. Callvu identifies them and opens the return.

Customer: Selects the items and the reason, uploads photos where asked, ships or drops off, and receives the refund.
Returns desk: Decides exceptions in the Decision Desk.
Warehouse or store: Receives and inspects the return and records the condition.
Callvu: Prefills, classifies against the policy, issues the label, routes, tracks and writes.

Prefill and classify
The order with the items, the delivery date, the payment method, the product types and the customer's return history is prefilled from the order management system; the customer selects the items and the reason; the policy classifies each item: inside the window from delivery, eligible or excepted (final sale, hygiene, custom, digital), the reason's treatment (a defect or a wrong item follows the damaged item process with free return; a change of mind follows the standard terms with any fee), the refund method and timing, and any proof required (a photo for a condition claim).
Decide
A return within the policy is approved by rule with the label or the drop-off code issued and the instructions sent; an exception (outside the window, an excepted item, a high-value item, a customer above the return-rate threshold, a condition the customer disputes, missing proof) goes to the returns desk in the Decision Desk with the order and the history and only the allowed outcomes (approve, approve with a fee or a store credit, require proof, or decline with the reason).
Chase and verify the return
The return is tracked from the label's first scan to the warehouse's or the store's receipt; the inspection records the condition against the reason given (and the photos where supplied); a return not shipped within the policy's period is chased with a reminder and then closed; a condition mismatch goes back to the returns desk.
Write back
The refund is issued to the original payment method (or the store credit where the policy or the customer chose it) within the policy's timing from receipt or from the carrier's scan where the policy refunds early, the return and the inspection result are written to the order management system, the system of record, the inventory is updated, and the customer is told at each step: approved, received, refunded.

Where it ends: The return was decided by the one policy in whatever channel it started, the exceptions by a person with the history, the goods tracked to inspection, and the refund written to the order management system on the policy's timing. The Decision Trace shows the classification and any decision; the Audit Trace shows the request, the label, the receipt, the inspection and the refund with time.

Runtime enforcement

What is enforcedwhile the work runs.

The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.

Regulations

FTC: The FTC Act Section 5 treats a return or refund policy that is not honored as disclosed, or that is not disclosed where the law requires, as a deceptive practice; the FTC's Mail, Internet or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule requires prompt refunds where the seller cannot ship; the FTC also expects refund timing and method to match what was represented at sale.
State consumer protection: The state consumer protection acts and the state return policy disclosure laws (for example California's requirement to post a return policy conspicuously where it limits refunds, New York's requirement to disclose the policy at purchase, and the state laws on refund timing) require the policy to be disclosed before purchase and honored as disclosed; a policy applied differently by channel breaches them.
Card network refund rules and the consumer credit rules (the networks' refund-to-original-method and timing rules; Reg Z on credit card credits): A refund to a card goes to the original card within the network's period, a credit to a credit card account must be posted promptly under Reg Z, and a store credit instead of a refund requires the disclosed policy or the customer's choice; the refund step applies these.

Company policies

One return policy, as rules, decides in every channel; the store, the website and the contact center give the same answer.
Exceptions are decided by the returns desk with the order and the customer's history, never by channel discretion.
The refund is issued on the policy's timing from receipt or the scan, to the original method unless the policy or the customer chooses credit.
The order management system is the system of record for the return, the inspection and the refund.

Controls

Order prefill with return history.
Policy classification per item and reason.
Rule-based approval with label issue.
Decision Desk for exceptions with required outcomes.
Return tracking, receipt and inspection recording.
Refund issue, order management write and customer notices.

Clocks and deadlines

Return window: The policy's days from delivery, checked at the request.
Ship-back period: The policy's days from approval to ship, chased and then closed.
Refund timing: The policy's days from receipt (or the carrier scan where the policy refunds early), inside the state rules.

Documents and checks

The order and the return request with the reason
The classification and the label
Any decision
The receipt and the inspection
The refund and the order management record

In the Decision Trace

The policy rules applied per item.
Any decision and the person.
The inspection against the reason.

In the Audit Trace

The request with channel and time.
The label and the scans.
The receipt, the inspection and the refund with time.

The handoff

Between the front doorand the back office.

The front door

The app, the website, a store, chat, phone or an AI assistant; the customer selects, uploads and ships from their phone.

The back office

The returns desk decides only exceptions; the warehouse inspects and records; finance sees refunds posted from the record.

The Decision Desk

A return outside the window, an excepted or high-value item, a customer above the return-rate threshold, a condition dispute or missing proof goes to the returns desk in the Decision Desk with the history and only approve, approve with a fee or credit, require proof, or decline with reason.

Proof

In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.

The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.

More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.

Across Callvu customers

Callvu classifies each request into a unit of work (work type, skill, effort, due date) the moment it lands.

HND-02 · Self-asserted · verified 2026-11-02

When a person must decide, the case goes to the right reviewer in the Decision Desk, with only the allowed choices, and the run waits for the decision.

CAP-07 · Self-asserted · verified 2026-11-02

Every run produces a Decision Trace (why each AI action was allowed) and every workflow execution an Audit Trace (the chronological governance record).

ENF-03 · Self-asserted · verified 2026-11-02

Questions

What buyers ask next,answered plainly.

Is the policy the same in the store and online?

Yes. One policy as rules decides every return in every channel, and only the returns desk decides exceptions, with the order and the customer's history.

When is the refund issued?

On the policy's timing from the warehouse's receipt, or from the carrier's first scan where the policy refunds early, to the original payment method unless the policy or the customer chooses store credit.

What happens with a serial returner?

A customer above the return-rate threshold is an exception the returns desk decides with the history, within the disclosed policy.

Related processes

Damaged or wrong item claim Order changes and cancellations Refund to a different payment method Order modification across channels Compared with the alternatives Try it in the sandbox All travel and ecommerce processes

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