AI-based chatbots are increasingly being used by businesses. One potential use of this tool is in the complaint reporting and handling process. For the successful implementation of AI chatbots in complaint handling processes, it’s essential to understand customer opinions about this solution. This article aims to determine whether and how customer reactions and perceptions differ depending on whether an AI chatbot or a human-operated chatbot is used in the complaint handling process. An online experiment with a cross-group design was adopted as the research method. It was found that the type of interaction during the complaint submission process did not differentiate customer reactions or the level of satisfaction with their complaint needs. However, whether the customer interacted with an AI chatbot or a human significantly impacted the length of the interaction and perceived service satisfaction. Interactions with an AI chatbot were significantly shorter and associated with lower service satisfaction.