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Good news! AWS === FML refund!

Last month I wrote a post about an unexpected AWS charge of $1,102.

PRO TIP: Understand how AWS alarms work and set them!

After an extensive back-and-forth, I'm happy to report that AWS refunded 83% of that bill.

Here's the ticket I submitted:

Hi - I have an alarm for when my bill exceeds $20, and I thought that would keep me safe from high costs.

I got an alert this morning that my $20 bill was actually $1,102.

As you might imagine, I was stunned that these expenses went over so quickly - I didn't have a chance to interrupt whatever's costing so much at $20 or $50 or $100. Had I known, I would have shut down whatever it is long ago.

I'm currently building a CRON service I hope to launch in the next month, but this could ruin that. I hate to throw myself on the mercy of the court, but I'm unemployed, etc. This is really going to complicate things.

Is there any way to:

A) figure out what's so expensive, and
B) get some sort of reduction on this bill?

Now that I mention it, C) Get alerted sooner so this doesn't happen again? This really kind of screws me :/

Thanks for your understanding,

Michael

I started to feel embarrassed with each reply I received, since each one included my subject line of "Shockingly high bill." I started to feel a bit whiny but I WAS shocked! I just realize that $1,102 isn't very "high" for lots of AWS customers.

I digress... but I wanted to include a couple of notable points in that conversation. First, a representative named Aman:

I understand that you're concerned about the unexpected charge and I'll be happy to look into the possible billing adjustment for you. However, before we proceed with the possible billing adjustment, it is important for you to know why the charge has incurred and terminate the services and take necessary steps to avoid this in going forward.

... and

Rest assured, I am committed to work with you on this issue until it is resolved from your viewpoint.

Please do not worry, I am holding on to your case, closely monitoring it and awaiting for your reply.

Phew! Man, it felt good to read that. I was seriously worried, but that set me at ease and felt like great customer service.

Then I started hearing from Harshita. She explained which service incurred most of the costs (CloudWatch) and said,

I really hope my service met your expectations and if by any chance you need further assistance please let me know so that I can further look into this and help resolve.

Notice there's no mention of the "billing adjustment."

I don't accuse anyone at AWS for ignoring that initial request, but I'd also guess they're not super motivated to give refunds. They may even be discouraged from doing so (but I have no idea).

The important point is this fork in the road. I could:

A) Say "Thanks so much!" and let the ticket resolve itself.

B) Gently remind them that I was hoping for a refund.

On any given day, I might feel assertive or I might feel non-confrontational. Lots of you can probably relate, and for the more shy among us, it's much easier and less emotionally taxing to say, "Ah, screw it, I'll just pay" rather than push for an outcome, when to do so feels so uncomfortable.

I followed up with,

Early in this thread, Aman said

"I understand that you're concerned about the unexpected charge and I'll be happy to look into the possible billing adjustment for you. However, before we proceed with the possible billing adjustment, it is important for you to know why the charge has incurred and terminate the services and take necessary steps to avoid this in going forward."

I've disabled (or greatly reduced) the CloudWatch logs, and that was the main cost.

Now is it possible to get a billing adjustment?

Thank you,

Michael

Easy peasy!

2 days later, Gladys P replied,

I'm happy to inform you that we’ve approved a billing adjustment of $912.62 for the CloudWatch charges on your April bill, which has been applied as a refund to your credit card. Please note that the refund processing time will depend on your payment method type and can vary according to your Financial Institution.

nice.

It took 2 weeks, but the main point I'd like to make is that

You have to ask.

Not just for refunds, but for anything you want. You have to ask. You have to be willing to hear "No."

It may take you outside of your comfort zone, but that's a good thing -- for your personal growth AND for your entrepreneurship.

P.S. I gave 5 stars, glowing praise, compliments... make sure you show appreciation when someone throws you a bone.

P.P.S.

GET MONEY

  1. 3

    Yeah AWS is pretty good about this.

    Back when I was in uni and had no money I left some EC2 instances running and got charged around $300NZD. I got refunded for that, then I got charged for the underlying EBS volumes I had attached. I hadn't used anything for months so obviously they did it, the third time I had to email them (not sure what it was, I think EBS in another region again) I felt very stupid.

    Also, at my first job out of uni I burned $40,000 worth of AWS credits over a weekend when I a performance testing harness running... My founders were not happy about that

    1. 1

      @alex_portabella WOW. $40K?!?

      Thanks for giving me some perspective ;)

      1. 1

        Haha yeah, was not a good day at work let me tell you

  2. 3

    get money.
    ... keep money.

  3. 2

    Hey Michael, I know this pain really well, and literally built a product to solve this for startups: anomaly detection for AWS spend. It's free for your size of bill if you want peace of mind going forward. Here's a quick demo of how it works: https://taloflow.wistia.com/medias/ph1uehcd37

    1. 1

      That looks great, @cloudfalcon - very nice work.

      My to-do list is substantial at the moment, but I am interested, and will put "Set up Taloflow" on there :)

      1. 1

        Awesome! Glad we piqued your interest :)

  4. 2

    I do not use AWS myself as the service is a bit expensive for my needs when I compare it with other providers in the segment. But I'm happy to hear this. You probably seem to be a valuable customer for them and that's great. Hopefully, it won't happen again.

    1. 2

      Thanks, @ckissi - what do you use instead?

      1. 2

        Various VPS providers like Ramnode, DO, BuyVM and Hetzner.

  5. 2

    Good to hear and I like your conclusion: it's true that - and maybe it is a cultural thing - I'd kind of feel bad or embarrassed just for asking. But you were totally right in doing so, and I believe it is a good trait to have for someone who wants to build a business.

    Maybe you were lucky on this one, or maybe AWS support is generally good (I've heard they tend to be more customer-focused than Azure or GCP but not from enough people to be statistically relevant :-)).

    It's probably also reassuring to a lot of people here who use their services, services that can often be fairly nebulous in their pricing model or how much is being spent. Not to mention the general monitoring aspect tends to have a bad rep; there is a reason why an entire industry has been built around monitoring AWS with tools not built by Amazon...

    1. 1

      Definitely, @Raziel - your last point about AWS monitoring outside of AWS is really interesting. Surprise bills are certainly a pain point for companies (and a risk for early-stage companies who can't afford it).

      As for the cultural part of asking, I think you're probably right, though Americans often have the reputation of being loud (or "outspoken" if you're feeling generous).

      Beyond cultural differences, I know that women in particular have written a lot about being talked over in meetings, or feeling reluctant to speak up and draw attention to themselves. It's so important to remember that you don't get what you don't ask for, as uncomfortable as it may be to ask.

      [Insert Wayne Gretzky quote]

  6. 2

    This is brilliant! I'm glad that despite the back-and-forth, they refunded you.

    1. 1

      No doubt; it was a huge relief. How's cfnbuddy, @jeshan25?

      1. 2

        we'll discuss that soon via email/chat!

  7. 2

    AWS is well known for refunding accidental charges. The cost of losing a potential bigger customer over a couple thousand bucks is not worth it to them.

  8. 1

    AWS once did this for us for $10k in CloudFront charges when someone was abusing our system. Pretty awesome of them.

    1. 2

      That's great; must have been a relief

  9. 1

    This comment was deleted a year ago.

    1. 1

      Oh, dang - good to know. I much prefer the GCP UI but not if their support is crappy.

      1. 1

        This comment was deleted a year ago.

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