If Fred & Bob are talking and 'he told him x and he responded with y" then that is also unclear. This is not a problem that is unique to the word ‘they’.
Of course, in either case, the answer to use phrase it so that you remove any ambiguity and communicate clearly: “Sam told them x and the board responded with y.”, “Bob told him x and Fred responded with y”.
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Copper Age woman survived two skull surgeries up to 4,500 years ago (www.livescience.com)
Thousands of years ago, a woman underwent two surgeries to her head — and survived both procedures, her skull reveals....