Unexpected $17 Charge via Quick Eval – No Warning Displayed

Hi OpenAI Team,

I’m reaching out regarding an unexpected charge of $17 that occurred after I unintentionally triggered the Quick Eval feature using 61 prompts and 4 different models (GPT-4.1, o4-mini, mini, nano). This action resulted in 244 completions, and the usage appeared immediately in my account dashboard.

Here’s the issue:

  • I didn’t realize Quick Eval was a paid feature.
  • There was no clear warning or cost estimate before running the prompts.
  • English is not my native language, and I may have missed subtle cues — but nothing explicitly indicated that this would result in paid API usage.
  • I had only purchased a $10 credit, and this single action used up $17, going beyond what I expected or authorized.

I submitted a refund request two days ago through the support form, but I haven’t received any response yet. This feels like a UX flaw that could harm other users as well — there should be a visible cost preview or confirmation prompt before executing something that results in billing.

Could a moderator or someone from the OpenAI staff please escalate my case or at least provide a status update?

Thanks in advance.
Much appreciated.

I know this is probably not the answer you’d like to hear but…

But there are good news too, there is a chance that you are eligible for free eval if you share data with openai.

https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10306912-sharing-feedback-evaluation-and-fine-tuning-data-and-api-inputs-and-outputs-with-openai

Not sure if everyone has it, you need to check your data controls.

1 Like

Hi, can you share the eval_id for this eval?
You can just copy past the url when you visit the report page!

3 Likes

Hi, here is the eval report link you requested:

https://platform.openai.com/evaluations/eval_681acff692848190ade33cc2cc23ba3a

Please let me know if you need anything else. Thanks!