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AWS won't discuss my bill, suspended my account, took $1,600, still no human

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Re: AWS won't discuss my bill, suspended my account, took $1,600, still no human

#41

Post by jimmydddd »

theginger wrote: post #35

It's not impossible that the Aws charges were wrong, it's pretty unheard of. I don't understand why the details of the charges aren't mentioned in the post. If you think it's unlikely you could have a $1500 bill because you 'barely use' it then that's just wrong. In the cloud single unoptimised choices can cost thousands if you don't keep an eye on your costs, you need to look at the charges.

I think folks are mis-interpreting the story. To me it sounds like AWS was doing everything fine (and OP agrees), but he wanted to re-negotiate the $1500/month fee because of his under usage (maybe a cheaper tier?), so he sent an email. They didn't respond, so he stopped paying to get their attention and entice them to respond. But, intead of responding, they just terminated his account.

Re: AWS won't discuss my bill, suspended my account, took $1,600, still no human

#42

Post by anonzzzies »

bdangubic wrote: post #37
loloquwowndueo wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sometimes surprised at how easy it is to do a chargeback in the US. So much so that a lot of folks just click that button instead of reaching out to the vendor first. In here (not the US) a chargeback is such a chore that I would only do that as a very last resort.

credit card company’s primary purpose is to protect me, I am making them a ton of money. hence, they should ablige to my every request (stop payment being number one on the list). insane they won’t help you without a ceremony. I never talked to the vendor first, the first thing I do is stop payments through my credit card and then I reach out to vendor.

Not sure if making a company a ton of money has anything to do with obliging anything. Many companies I ship money to (this post for AWS for instance) won't do anything for you at all, except, hopefully mostly, provide the service you paid for. If the credit card company (or it's AI) has any reason to not help you, they won't, guaranteed.

Re: AWS won't discuss my bill, suspended my account, took $1,600, still no human

#43

Post by wahnfrieden »

eek2121 wrote: post #13
throwaway2037 wrote: post #3

After 30 days, file a petition with in your local small claims court. Your amount is well within the limit for all 50 US states. They are probably tons of blog posts and YouTube videos that explain how to self-service in your state. Also, write a letter to your state district attorney to explain your situation. As an alternative strategy, continue to post on X about your incident in hopes that AWS will be "embarassed…

OP did say PER MONTH. They implied $18,000 total. I'd start with doing a full chargeback for all months, and provide as much documentation. Additionally, I'd reach out to folks like Ars Technica, after ensuring such an issue was not a result of my own error. One big red flag with this story is that OP seemingly did not notice $1,500/mo coming out of his account. That is most certainly something that anyone would have…

It seems likely they provisioned resources, didn't use them, and expected to not be charged for them without understanding that most AWS resources don't "scale to zero" when left at rest.

Re: AWS won't discuss my bill, suspended my account, took $1,600, still no human

#44

Post by bdangubic »

anonzzzies wrote: post #42
bdangubic wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

credit card company’s primary purpose is to protect me, I am making them a ton of money. hence, they should ablige to my every request (stop payment being number one on the list). insane they won’t help you without a ceremony. I never talked to the vendor first, the first thing I do is stop payments through my credit card and then I reach out to vendor.

Not sure if making a company a ton of money has anything to do with obliging anything. Many companies I ship money to (this post for AWS for instance) won't do anything for you at all, except, hopefully mostly, provide the service you paid for. If the credit card company (or it's AI) has any reason to not help you, they won't, guaranteed.

the credit card company makes money each time I tap my card. there has never been a time when they did not oblige to my request (and I was wrong before several times with legit transactions me (or my wife) made and did not recognize).

Re: AWS won't discuss my bill, suspended my account, took $1,600, still no human

#45

Post by kstrauser »

jimmydddd wrote: post #41
theginger wrote: post #35

It's not impossible that the Aws charges were wrong, it's pretty unheard of. I don't understand why the details of the charges aren't mentioned in the post. If you think it's unlikely you could have a $1500 bill because you 'barely use' it then that's just wrong. In the cloud single unoptimised choices can cost thousands if you don't keep an eye on your costs, you need to look at the charges.

I think folks are mis-interpreting the story. To me it sounds like AWS was doing everything fine (and OP agrees), but he wanted to re-negotiate the $1500/month fee because of his under usage (maybe a cheaper tier?), so he sent an email. They didn't respond, so he stopped paying to get their attention and entice them to respond. But, intead of responding, they just terminated his account.

I read it otherwise. This is the smoking gun, to me:

> So I stopped paying. Why keep paying charges I believe are wrong when the company won't discuss them?

That sounds to me like he thought they were mis-billing him, to the tune of $18K per year, not that they were billing him correctly but he wanted a better price.

Re: AWS won't discuss my bill, suspended my account, took $1,600, still no human

#48

Post by Linkd »

amelius wrote: post #2

Credit card chargeback, simple. Only way to make companies listen.

The only way to get your account shutdown faster than waiting the 60+ days for unpaid invoices.

It sounds like OP provisioned services, didn't use it, ignored it, and is now paying the price.

Re: AWS won't discuss my bill, suspended my account, took $1,600, still no human

#49

Post by dizhn »

Stephen304 wrote: post #40
delduca wrote: post #14

Next time use Hetzner.

Hmm funny to see Hetzner mentioned - I tried to rent a dedicated server from them and placed the order and gave payment details, about 6 hours later I got an email that they have decided to deactivate my account and cancel all products and orders because of "some concerns". Email support can't give me any reason because the info was anonymized and couldn't give me any information on how to avoid having my account ran…

I was just thinking about this. Their operations are so opaque that if they were refusing service to people with green eyes we wouldn't even know.

Re: AWS won't discuss my bill, suspended my account, took $1,600, still no human

#50

Post by AdelaideSimone »

causal wrote: post #5
throwaway2037 wrote: post #3

After 30 days, file a petition with in your local small claims court. Your amount is well within the limit for all 50 US states. They are probably tons of blog posts and YouTube videos that explain how to self-service in your state. Also, write a letter to your state district attorney to explain your situation. As an alternative strategy, continue to post on X about your incident in hopes that AWS will be "embarassed…

Doesn't AWS make you agree to arbitration? Unsure how Small Claims Courts plays with that.

Contract law is rather a mess, but, IIRC, one the main, generic exceptions to contract clause enforcement is if is illegal, unconscionable, or violates public policy.

Many states have codified tort laws as being in the interest of public policy (e.g. most consumer protection acts). If this person were to sue under such a statute, it allows courts discretion in nullifying clauses like this arbitration clause.

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