Authors:AbstractYu Zhang,Yue YuanAfter-sales service is the fundamental obligation of e-commerce merchants to address post-purchase issues. Chatbot service failures undermine this responsibility, prompting third-party complaints. A subsequent quantitative analysis of 501 valid questionnaires established that competence deficits directly increased complaints, whereas both deficit categories drove complaints via perceived corporate hypocrisy and a chain of frustration and hypocrisy. The perceived availability of human recovery mitigated the negative influence of these failures on the two mediators. This study offers guidance to prevent chatbot misuse in e-commerce, improve AI-enabled after-sales service, and reduce third-party complaints.