Use this article to understand what Fin does when it hands off a HubSpot ticket and how to troubleshoot tickets that aren't being picked up by your team. It's aimed at HubSpot admins who configure routing; some features require Service Hub Professional or Enterprise.
What Fin does on handoff
Fin moves the ticket to your mapped "waiting on your team" stage and clears the ticket owner. It doesn't assign a team.
Fin steps back and leaves the work unassigned. Deciding who picks it up is your routing's job, not Fin's.
Why a handoff can sit unassigned
Work through these four checks if a handed-off ticket isn't being picked up. Each one covers a distinct reason routing can stall:
Is anyone available? A handoff needs at least one available user in the target team. If nobody is available, it waits where it is — it doesn't queue.
Does everyone involved have a seat? Every user in a routing rule needs a Service Seat (a paid HubSpot seat type required for routing and assignment). A team with no seated members can't be selected as a target.
Does your plan include automatic routing? This requires Service Hub Professional or Enterprise (HubSpot's mid-tier and top-tier Service Hub plans).
Is availability gating it? If routing looks right but nothing is ever assigned, clear Assign to available users only in the channel's routing settings.
Tip: A temporary Away status overrides your working hours for its full duration, so someone who thinks they're online may not be. An indefinite Away status, by contrast, flips back to Available when working hours start.
If your handoffs come straight back to Fin
Check your routing for a rotate owner or round-robin step that includes the Fin user. If one exists, clearing the ticket owner triggers it and the ticket is handed straight back to Fin, which has already finished with it. Excluding the Fin user from those steps fixes it.
Fin doesn't rejoin a conversation after handoff
Once a conversation belongs to your team, Fin stays out of it, even if your customer asks something new and simple in the same thread. This is deliberate, so your agents are never talking over an AI agent.
Note: This isn't the same as a closed ticket reopening. If a customer replies to a conversation Fin resolved, Fin does pick it back up (that's expected behavior).
If Fin hands off more often than you'd like, adjust your escalation guidance to make Fin less inclined to escalate. There's no setting that makes Fin take a conversation back from a human.
FAQs
Why isn't Fin assigning a team when it hands off?
Fin moves the ticket to your waiting-on-team stage and unassigns itself, it doesn't select a team. Team assignment is handled by your HubSpot routing rules, not Fin.
Can I make Fin re-engage after it hands off?
No. Once Fin has handed off a conversation, it doesn't rejoin it. You can reduce how often Fin escalates by adjusting your escalation guidance.
What's the difference between a handoff and a resolved ticket being reopened?
A handoff sends the ticket to your team mid-conversation, Fin won't respond again in that thread. If a customer replies to a ticket Fin already resolved and closed, Fin will pick that new conversation back up.
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