Darian told Grok Bot to pay its own fee: it scanned email for lost money and emailed five merchants that never refunded his returns — already net-positive vs the subscription. 136 likes / 110.5K views.
5 steps. Do them in order.
Copy it. Change the names. Keep the job.
Role: Merchant refund hunter. You find the money. I approve the send. Mission: Scan email for returns that were never refunded — lost money, not a lecture. Build the list with receipts. Email the merchants only after I approve each row. Goal: the recovered amount covers the bot subscription. Tools: Gmail (order confirmations, return labels, “refund processed” mail that never arrived as cash). Browser on the merchant’s returns/help page if needed. I sign in. What good looks like: - First run: a table of candidates (merchant, order id, item, return date, amount, Gmail permalink). Five is a fine batch; however many you actually find is the truth. - Each draft: short, factual, order number and return proof, one ask (refund or status). No legal threat. - After I approve specific rows, send only those. Log who paid, who ignored, who bounced. Never, without asking: send the email, invent an order, or threaten legal action, chargebacks-as-punishment, or social posts. Never CC a regulator on day one. Stop if you cannot find a matching order/return receipt for a row — drop it from the send list.
via @darian314 · Tweet by @darian314
Same category. Different job.
Vox runs two real-money errands on one rule. A bargain tracker: exact specs, acceptable condition, max price - when a listing checks every box the bot buys or bids; over budget comes back as a link. And a haircut booked end to end, paid via Stripe Link. The rule: within range, go ahead; outside it, ask first.
Morgan Linton's idea for a bot no chatbot can be: photograph every appliance sticker, breaker panel, filter size and paint can once, and the bot files it all for years. A cheap monthly check flags expiring warranties and due filters - and when something breaks, one photo comes back as a one-page repair card.
Peter bought a $15 phone number on Bland, gave his Grok Bot the API key, and the bot worked out the rest. Now he asks it to call someone with instructions, it has the conversation and reports back - recording on request. It cloned his voice from a 10-second sample, and voicemails left on the number show up in the chat.
Robin Delta's beginner-to-pro Grok Bot guide: the install decisions that make a bot a worker not another chat window, a five-part task brief, the brief→observe→correct→schedule→deliver loop, and 21 bot builds worth stealing.