I feel scammed: paid $1,600 in OpenAI API credits, just $0.28 used, then gone. The expiry was never communicated to me at any point

API
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I’m deeply disappointed in OpenAI, both by how paid API credit expiration was communicated to me and by how my concerns were handled afterward.

I run NotNoise, a small music tech startup based in Spain. Between April and June 2025, I purchased $1,600 in OpenAI API credits while we were building and prototyping our product. We intended to use those credits once the product was ready.

When we were ready to use them, the balance was gone.

At no point during my purchases it was disclosed that the money I was paying would become unusable after one year. Had that deadline been made unmistakably clear to me, I would have bought a smaller amount or planned our usage differently.

The invoice views I reviewed contain no expiration date. I wasn’t aware of receiving an advance expiration warning. The usage dashboard shows only $0.28 of spend between April 2025 and September 2026, although support has not provided the exact breakdown of the unused balance that expired.

I understand now that the expiration policy exists (or, actually, it’s hidden) inside the terms. But a condition that can wipe out a customer’s paid balance should be prominent and easy to understand when they purchase, not something they discover after the balance disappears..

To me, accepting upfront payment without making that deadline unmistakable, then pointing to the terms when almost all of the paid value is lost, feels shady and misleading. It has seriously damaged my trust in OpenAI.

I contacted support repeatedly. I wasn’t asking for a cash refund. I asked for replacement credits equal to the verified unused balance, with a clearly communicated 12-month deadline. After escalation, support declined both reinstatements, giving me what looked like an AI-automated response.

We’re a very small startup, just starting and $1,500 is a meaningful loss. We prepaid because we intended to build with OpenAI. I feel let down by the way this has been handled.

I’m sharing this experience so other developers can make an informed decision before prepaying. Please check the expiration deadline before buying credits, especially if you are still developing your product. And don’t rely on OpenAI customer service, it’s one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had with Customer Service. They definitely don’t care about customers at all.

What I would expect from a company like this:

  • Make the expiration deadline prominent before payment.

  • Include the expiration date in purchase confirmations and invoices.

  • Show upcoming expirations clearly alongside the credit balance.

  • Send advance reminders before paid credits expire.

That’s all. I can imagine this probably happened to others, but just wanted to share my experience, so nobody else goes through this.

Cheers,

Ezequiel.-

2

I can’t say that @OpenAI_Support has to give a solution as you requested. I bet they could.

But there might be an even better solution.

OpenAI has just recently added this here:

You can register and when you are accepted your users can use their ChatGPT subscription with tokens usage on your service.

I hope that helps.

3

Hi @ezdlp, we understand how disappointing it is to lose an unused balance, especially when you had set it aside for your startup.

As outlined in our prepaid API billing article, purchased API credits expire after one year, and their expiration date cannot be extended.

We hear your feedback about making that deadline more prominent at purchase, including it in confirmations, and providing advance reminders. We can’t resolve the account-specific billing issue here, but we appreciate you explaining where the communication fell short for you.

-GS