Escalation Failure
Customer question: "How do I reach a human?" / "The agent didn't escalate my issue."
Short answer: Your UpSmith agent automatically escalates to a person when it detects something it shouldn't resolve on its own. If it hasn't, you can request a human yourself at any time. Here's how both work.
How automatic escalation works
As your agent handles a conversation, it watches for signals that need a person — a frustrated customer, a complaint about a technician or service, a request outside what the agent can do, or the same issue raised repeatedly without resolution.
When it detects one, it stops handling the thread on its own, flags it, and hands it to the UpSmith team and your designated contact.
You can see escalations in the Conversations tab — filter for escalations, or open an individual escalation within a single conversation. You're also emailed when an escalation is created.
How to take over a conversation from the agent
If you're reviewing a conversation and want to step in yourself — the agent missed something, replied but didn't recognize the situation needed a person, or you just want to handle it directly — you can disable the AI on that conversation and take over.
Open the conversation in the Conversations tab.
Click Disable AI on this conversation.
Optionally pick a reason for taking over. This is how we track when and why operators step in — you can disable the AI without selecting one.
Confirm with Disable AI. The agent stops replying on that thread and it's yours to handle.
What happens next: The agent goes quiet on that conversation and you own the thread. To hand it back, re-enable the AI on the conversation.