FAQ — The Customer Says They Replied but I Don’t See It
The reply usually exists — it just landed somewhere other than the conversation you’re looking at. Search by the customer’s email address first: the most common cause is that their reply created a new conversation instead of threading onto the existing one.
Did it land on a different conversation?
Atender threads email replies only when two checks match: the email must have a conversation key, and the sender must be either the contact on that conversation or a participant listed in CC. If a customer forwarded the thread from another address, or an assistant replied without being a listed CC participant, Atender may keep that message from attaching to the original conversation.
Search the conversation list by the sender’s email address. If you still do not see the reply, check the merge or similarity review surface for inbound_sender_gate candidates — the message may be waiting there because Atender recognized the conversation key but could not confirm that the sender belonged on the thread.
Was it flagged as spam by the channel?
The channel provider (email, especially) may have intercepted the reply. Check the channel’s spam/quarantine on the provider side, or check the customer’s contact in CRM for any delivery flags.
Is it on a related contact?
If the customer has multiple contact records (different emails, merged duplicates), the reply might be on a sibling record. Search the contact’s name, not just the specific email.
Still can’t find it?
If the whole conversation — not just the reply — seems missing, work through I can’t find a conversation. If customer messages are disappearing silently with none of the above explanations, that’s an Atender bug: capture the conversation ID and reach out to your account contact.