The EU institution I work for acquired 400$ worth of credits in late 2023. We’ve been creating a number of notebooks to teach the students how to use ChatGPT in their research. One day the API requests stopped working and it’s only after some search that I was able to find out the credits had expired. I’ve learnt the hard way as I have to reimburse my institution the entire amount.
Now I know, there’s a paragraph in the policy that concerns the expiration but it’s appalling you don’t even notify users by email or else about the expiration date. The customer service offered only AI-generated platitudes about how they value me and how transparent they are. I don’t know of a single service provider which wouldn’t inform about upcoming expiration date or so relentless in refusing any assistance. It’s really disconcerting and unjust.
I’m sorry but what’s the freebie you’re talking about? You mean the 400$ I paid for the Open AI services? Don’t you think that it’d be nice a gesture to inform people about expiring credits? The bar for this service is set quite low.
I’m not saying it’s not. It’s imply poorly communicated and frankly quite astonishing:
Every service provider I know would inform you about expiring credits, even more so if it’s hundreds of dollars.
It took me a few hours to understand why my calls are refused, I was so sure to have the credits.
Usually, service providers would be less rigid and the client service would do anything to assist you in transferring a part or extending the period. OpenAI doesn’t and it’s frustrating.
I think the lesson to be learnt here, regardless whether this remains OpenAI practice is, don’t buy loads up-front. It’s not like it is scarce! They will quite happily take another $100 in the future!
Yeah, I’m just venting my utter shock. The lack of any expiration notification really shows it’s not about the client. What I’m sure I won’t be teaching using ChatGPT API any time soon. Not that they care.
Yeah, it would be nice if they sent an email above a certain threshold, something like “hey buddy, you’ve got $300 you aren’t using and this will expire end of next month”
Thanks. And you were certainly right about the policy etc. It’s just, first, we’re used to be notified about expiring services; and, second, well-established services usually have a level of complacency towards their user. OpenAI doesn’t seem to. Again, thank you for your assistance.
I would reach out to help.openai.com and use the support system icon in the lower right corner and inform the system, by clicking on account related and then other, that this has happened.
This is the first thing I did. The answer (see below) was, let’s say, not very helpful. By the way, even the OpenAI guys don’t know where to find the credit policy as they send you an incorrect link.
Hello,
Thank you for reaching out to OpenAI Support.
We truly appreciate your dedication to long-term research, and we understand how valuable these credits are to your work. We also recognize the importance of your request and are here to provide clarity.
While we’re unable to offer refunds for API prepaid credits due to our current policy, we want to be transparent and supportive. As outlined in our Service Credit Terms, purchased credits are valid for one year from the date of issue and are non-refundable. We encourage users to use their credits within that timeframe to get the most value from them.
That said, we really appreciate your understanding, and we’re always here to support you however we can moving forward.
If there’s anything else you need or if you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Warm regards,
XY
OpenAI Support
I think 1 year is a bit too short, I bought some on Anthropic and it expires in 18 months IIRC.
I’ve seem other users have their credits “renewed” for an extra year as courtesy, but the best would be to give a longer expiration date. I believe this will probably be how they will handle your case.
After all, buying pre-paid credits and not using them is like lending money with no interests.
