Credit Expired Without Notification

[Rowan_Ju]

I purchased $200 worth of credit in April 2024 and only used a small portion of it. Recently, when I tried to build something using the remaining balance, I was surprised to find that my credit had expired and the balance was gone.

After reaching out to the support team, I was informed that the credit expires after one year, as stated in the usage terms. However, I never received any reminders or alerts about the upcoming expiration. I went back and checked the purchase page—there is indeed a line mentioning the expiration, but it’s written in very small text that is easy to miss. In my opinion, this borders on fraudulent concealment.

There are two simple ways this could have been handled more transparently and user-friendly:

1. Clearly display the expiration policy during purchase, in a noticeable and readable format.
2. Send reminders as the expiration date approaches.

Although the support team apologized, I believe it is OpenAI’s responsibility to communicate these policies more openly. If I am unable to recover the expired funds, I will consider escalating this issue further.

[OnceAndTwice]

Yes. They were hoping you wouldn’t notice.

Small Claims may be an option for you.

[Haitian_Liu]

Totally get you—losing credit without any heads-up feels lousy. The expiry note is buried in tiny text, and no reminder emails? Come on. A big, bold notice at checkout and a quick reminder before it runs out is the least they could do. Really hope OpenAI sorts this and gives your balance back.

[oneezy]

yep! i had the same issue but i actually gave proof of them not having the disclaimer using the wayback machine archive (they didnt have the clause when i purchased).

here’s the full email i had with OpenAI support and them never responding:

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Subject: OpenAI Credits from 2022 Disappeared

Me:
I noticed my old OpenAI credits from 2022 are gone and showing a $0 balance. Reached out to support to see what’s up.

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Kevin @ OpenAI Support (Dec 2, 2024):
Hi Justin,
Thank you for reaching out to OpenAI Support.

I understand that you’re inquiring about credits purchased in 2022 and that you’re now seeing a message indicating that your credit balance is zero.

To clarify, purchased credits expire one year after the date of purchase if they are not used. This is likely why you’re seeing the message in question.

To continue using the service, you’ll need to purchase more credits. We recommend considering prepaid billing and setting up Auto-Recharge to avoid running into this issue in the future. Auto-Recharge allows you to set a threshold for your account, and when your balance falls below this threshold, a preset amount of credits will be automatically added to your account.

For more details about these features, I’ve included a link to a Help Center article that explains them further:

• What is prepaid billing? | OpenAI Help Center

If you have any other questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re happy to assist you further.

Thank you!

Kevin V.
OpenAI Support

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Me:
Kevin,
Yeah that would explain it. Why is it setup this was?

It never stated anywhere that there was a time limit. This is akin to having money in the bank and the bank taking it because I didn’t spend it on time.

I literally didn’t even go through a dollar of that so is it right that OpenAI just pockets it? I either want my credits restored or refund.

I’m a paying ChatGPT plus member and have been a huge supporter of OpenAI since 2022.
I trust that you guys will make this right.

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Coco @ OpenAI Support (Dec 3, 2024):
We understand your frustration, but we can’t reinstate expired credits. Credits expire 1 year after purchase unless otherwise specified at the time of purchase. Here’s a link to our Service Credit Terms.

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Me:
Thanks, but that policy link you sent was published in Sept 2023 — I bought the credits in 2022.

Here’s an archive link proving that.

I understand policies change, but this deserves a second look based on timing. Can you escalate this to someone higher up?

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Me: (Dec 6, 2024)
hello?

(never responded back)

[Reinjing]

Can’t really believe many people favorite AI company are degrading this much ever since late december up until now, lol. There are just a lot of issue that makes me and perhaps other people to change platform instead.

[caydennormanton]

Just to add to the thread, others and I have also had credits mysteriously expire a month or two after purchasing, sometimes with the expiry listed as before the purchase date or well before the 1 year expiry.

This would be a relatively small bump in the road if customer support was functional, but that doesn’t seem to be the case—unless weeks to months is considered a reasonable time to even respond (no guarantee that you are even speaking to someone, let alone someone capable of doing anything about the situation).

[Rowan_Ju]

Thanks for sharing. Your situation sounds really unfair—worse than mine. I got a similar response, official but useless. What happened after that? We need a real solution from them.

[OpenAI_Support]

Hello! Unfortunately, OpenAI API credits expire 1 year after they are issued, as per our current policy.

You can find more details in our Help Center articles:

What is prepaid billing

Can I extend my credits

[_j]

Just to note, “expires in 1 year” is a typical but not a universal truth. It is what is supposed to be delivered by a cash money purchase.

Note where the “input” and “output breakage” year are the same.

Also: OpenAI should put back the actual “received” date. Having the presentation of accounting data altered by up to 30 days makes the record-keeping look less trustworthy.