Triage warranty claims and issue RMAs with OpenAI, Shopify, Airtable, Slack and Gmail

Quick Overview

This workflow collects warranty claims via an n8n form, uses OpenAI to triage the issue, looks up the order in Shopify, logs the claim in Airtable, and then either auto-approves and notifies via Gmail and Slack or routes the claim to Slack for human review.

How it works

1. Receives a warranty claim submission through an n8n Form trigger (including customer details, order number, issue description, and an optional photo).
2. Normalizes the submitted fields, generates a unique claim ID, and uses OpenAI to classify the claim (category, severity, summary, and recommended resolution) with safe fallbacks if the AI response fails.
3. Retrieves orders from Shopify and matches them to the submitted order number, emailing the customer via Gmail if no matching order is found.
4. Calculates warranty eligibility and auto-approval status based on the Shopify order date, claim value, and policy thresholds defined in workflow settings.
5. If the claim qualifies for auto-approval, assigns an RMA number, creates an “Auto-Approved” record in Airtable, emails the customer the approval and RMA details via Gmail, and posts a log message to the Slack ops channel.
6. If the claim needs review, creates a “Pending Review” record in Airtable, sends a Slack message with a decision form to the approvals channel and waits for a reviewer’s Replace/Refund/Repair/Reject decision.
7. Updates the Airtable record based on the reviewer decision and emails the customer either the approval with RMA details or a rejection notice via Gmail.

Setup

1. Add credentials for OpenAI, Shopify (Admin access token), Airtable, Gmail, and Slack.
2. Create (or choose) an Airtable base and table for your RMA log with fields that match the workflow’s writes (for example: Claim ID, Status, RMA Number, Resolution, Customer Name, Email, Product, Order Number, In Warranty, Claim Value, and AI Summary).
3. Update the Workflow settings values (Airtable base ID/table name, Slack ops and approvals channel names, warranty window days, auto-approve max value, and allowed auto-approve severities).
4. Ensure the Slack channels referenced in settings exist and that Slack approvals are enabled so the workflow can send a “send and wait” decision form.
5. Activate the workflow and share the form URL (path: /warranty-claim) with customers as your warranty claim intake form.