As someone who's passionate about cloud computing and always looking to learn new things, I signed up for an AWS Free Tier account to practice deploying web applications and experimenting with services like EC2, RDS,…. Everything was going well - until one day, I received a bill I wasn't expecting.

😨 The Shock: A $39 Bill from AWS

I had completely forgotten to stop some of the services I was testing, particularly Amazon RDS and VPC components. At the end of the month, I was charged $39.42, even though I thought I was still within the Free Tier limits.

As a student on a tight budget, this was quite a surprise - and honestly, a little stressful.

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📞 Reaching Out to AWS Support

I didn't panic (well, maybe a little). I went to the AWS Support Center and created a billing support case. Here's what I did:

1. Choose the button "Create Case"

2. Selected "Account and Billing"

Select options question: Service, Category, and Severity

  • Service: Billing
  • Category: Other Billing Question
  • Severity: General Question

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3. The next step is to type Subject, Description, and information about the invoice.

  • Subject: Request for Refund Due to Unintended Usage Beyond Free Tier
  • Description: 
Dear AWS Support Team,

I hope this message finds you well.

I am a student using AWS for educational and practice purposes under the Free Tier. Recently, I received an invoice (Invoice #xxx) for $39.42 for the period March 1 – March 31, 2025. It appears I forgot to stop some services (Amazon RDS and VPC), which caused these unexpected charges.

I was not aware that these services were still running and did not intend to exceed the Free Tier usage. I have now stopped the services to avoid further charges.

As this is my first time experiencing this issue and I'm using AWS primarily for learning purposes, I kindly request your assistance in waiving the charges.

Thank you very much for your understanding and support.

Best regards,

Note: There are some recommended fields below, which should update the information in this.

4. After that, choose Next Step and select the support options. I choose Chat options, and choose Submit.

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Immediately, AWS opens a new Windows chat. Within a few minutes, I received a friendly response from the AWS team.

They will give me instructions to turn off the services that are charging money.

They told me they had forwarded my request to the billing adjustment team, and that I just needed to wait about 24 hours for a final decision.

✨ The Result: Full Waiver and Credit!

The next day, I received an email with great news:

  • The entire March invoice was waived.
  • I was also given a $33.22 credit toward my April usage.
  • The credit appeared in my Billing Console and will automatically be applied to future charges.

I checked my Credits page, and sure enough - there it was, untouched and ready to go!

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🔐 Lessons Learned (the Hard Way)

Here are a few important lessons I took away from this experience:

  • Always double-check your running resources, especially databases, VPCs, and anything that runs 24/7.
  • Set up billing alarms in CloudWatch to get notified when charges go beyond a threshold. It's super easy and can save you a lot of money.
  • Don't hesitate to contact AWS Support - they're helpful and understanding, especially for first-time mistakes and learning scenarios.

💬 Final Thoughts

This experience was a wake-up call, but also a good reminder that learning in the cloud comes with real-world responsibilities (and costs!). Thankfully, AWS was supportive and fair, and now I'm much more careful with my resource usage.

If you're learning AWS and using the Free Tier, don't be afraid to make mistakes, but do be proactive in monitoring your resources.

Have you had a similar experience with cloud billing? Feel free to share it - I'd love to hear how you handled it!