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And deleting your AWS account will keep billing you [1] if you don’t delete all resources first. AWS is designed to extract dollars from big enterprise contrac

And deleting your AWS account will keep billing you [1] if you don’t delete all resources first. AWS is designed to extract dollars from big enterprise contracts. Also interesting from the article, this poor soul on StackOverflow was trying to figure out how to delete a bucket that would cost him $20,000 [2]. Can’t delete, can’t close. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/j5nh4w/ive_deleted_my_account_but_amazon_keeps_billing/ https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/j5nh4w/ive_deleted_my_... [2] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/54255990/cheapest-way-to-delete-2-billion-objects-from-s3-ia https://stackoverflow.com/questions/54255990/cheapest-way-to...

bluelu 5y ago
A long time ago, we deleted/disabled our aws account and I assumed that all my files on s3 would also get deleted. When we reactivated the account a few yearss later, we were retroactively billed for all the files in the s3 bucket. We got the money back though.
- koolba 5y ago
  That sounds like a great long term “shit hits the fan” backup idea: 1) Upload an encrypted blob to an S3 unique AWS account with a burner credit card. 2) Cancel the account. 3) If you ever need to restore the data, restore the account and pay the difference. Since uploads are free you just do this to a new account every so often and you’ll only need to pay the time difference of the most recent backup!
  - personjerry 5y ago
    This defeats the purpose of a backup because they could delete your data at any time.
    - jopsen 5y ago
      Yeah, but the idea of a backup service where you only pay when you need to restore isn't bad :)
  - Twirrim 5y ago
    Past performance does not guarantee future behaviour. Just because S3 did this at one stage means no guarantee they'll act that way in the future. That's not a bet you should be making with important data.
  - mywittyname 5y ago
    Glacier deep storage tier is 100x cheaper than standard tier and is guaranteed to work in a SHTF scenario.
- spicybright 5y ago
  Yikes. Do you mind giving a ballpark on how much you owed?
perlpimp 5y ago
Amazon has threatened via email to be sent to collections for 1$.... over s3 bucket I had no access to for 3 years.
- buildbot 5y ago
  Same! I’ve got an email a month saying they are going to close my account…
- FractalHQ 5y ago
  They did this to me for $0.02
  - philliphaydon 5y ago
    PayPal did this to me over like $1.50 But I had moved to Singapore. My PayPal account was in Australia. When trying to pay using my Singapore card it got flagged as fraud. I called and there was no way to pay. In the end I created a 2nd account in singapore. Added $2 credit to my account. Transferred it to the other account. Then closed both. Ive not used PayPal in about… 6 years now? Scam company with unhelpful support.
  - scrollaway 5y ago
    Given that they don’t even collect amounts below 1 USD, I’m having a hard time believing this.
- SteveNuts 5y ago
  they closed my retail amazon.com account because I (thought so at least) closed my AWS account and never received another bill. One day I just lost access to shop on amazon. It was an ordeal to get it back - I would have just written it off but I have TV and Movie purchases I didn't want to throw away. Scummy company
pattyj 5y ago
I've had to ask my credit card company to block AWS charging an account that I can't remember the login to. Amazon can keep trying to get blood from a stone...
- gruez 5y ago
  They can still theoretically send your bills to collections and ruin your credit
  - dTal 5y ago
    Why can't we bill them for wasted time and stolen money, send those bills to collection and ruin their credit? Something seems unfair about the power dynamic.
    - marcosdumay 5y ago
      Well, you can document your attempts to close the account and report it to the police. It's just a lot of work and you will only gain a document you can use to press your credit card issuer into rejecting the payments. Also, if they do send your debit to collectors, you can go to a court and ask for the debit to be dropped and for them to pay damages. That is a lot more work, but if they are clearly on the wrong will get you something.
      - hellbannedguy 5y ago
        Cops will tell you this is a civil matter. At least in the USA. Amazon knows this, a relies on people just paying. They know how difficult it is to dispute. I imagine they make millions just of people giving up, and paying? (I haven't used their servers, if I did it would be with a prepaid CC.
  - jrochkind1 5y ago
    Or take you to court. Theoretically. I don't know in what cases Amazon might do either of these things. If you're not in the US, that's certainly another layer of barrier. But yes, in the US anyway, whether you legally owe someone money or not and they can legally collect on it is not controlled by whether you've cancelled a credit card.
jrochkind1 5y ago
From the answers on the SO, it looks like there are several ways to delete 2 billion objects that will be free or cheap. I think? Not sure. Which is part of why I comment here, if anyone else is.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
danlugo92 5y ago
www.privacy.com

bluelu 5y ago

A long time ago, we deleted/disabled our aws account and I assumed that all my files on s3 would also get deleted. When we reactivated the account a few yearss later, we were retroactively billed for all the files in the s3 bucket. We got the money back though.

koolba 5y ago
That sounds like a great long term “shit hits the fan” backup idea: 1) Upload an encrypted blob to an S3 unique AWS account with a burner credit card. 2) Cancel the account. 3) If you ever need to restore the data, restore the account and pay the difference. Since uploads are free you just do this to a new account every so often and you’ll only need to pay the time difference of the most recent backup!
- personjerry 5y ago
  This defeats the purpose of a backup because they could delete your data at any time.
  - jopsen 5y ago
    Yeah, but the idea of a backup service where you only pay when you need to restore isn't bad :)
- Twirrim 5y ago
  Past performance does not guarantee future behaviour. Just because S3 did this at one stage means no guarantee they'll act that way in the future. That's not a bet you should be making with important data.
- mywittyname 5y ago
  Glacier deep storage tier is 100x cheaper than standard tier and is guaranteed to work in a SHTF scenario.
spicybright 5y ago
Yikes. Do you mind giving a ballpark on how much you owed?

perlpimp 5y ago

Amazon has threatened via email to be sent to collections for 1$.... over s3 bucket I had no access to for 3 years.

buildbot 5y ago
Same! I’ve got an email a month saying they are going to close my account…
FractalHQ 5y ago
They did this to me for $0.02
- philliphaydon 5y ago
  PayPal did this to me over like $1.50 But I had moved to Singapore. My PayPal account was in Australia. When trying to pay using my Singapore card it got flagged as fraud. I called and there was no way to pay. In the end I created a 2nd account in singapore. Added $2 credit to my account. Transferred it to the other account. Then closed both. Ive not used PayPal in about… 6 years now? Scam company with unhelpful support.
- scrollaway 5y ago
  Given that they don’t even collect amounts below 1 USD, I’m having a hard time believing this.
SteveNuts 5y ago
they closed my retail amazon.com account because I (thought so at least) closed my AWS account and never received another bill. One day I just lost access to shop on amazon. It was an ordeal to get it back - I would have just written it off but I have TV and Movie purchases I didn't want to throw away. Scummy company

pattyj 5y ago

I've had to ask my credit card company to block AWS charging an account that I can't remember the login to. Amazon can keep trying to get blood from a stone...

gruez 5y ago
They can still theoretically send your bills to collections and ruin your credit
- dTal 5y ago
  Why can't we bill them for wasted time and stolen money, send those bills to collection and ruin their credit? Something seems unfair about the power dynamic.
  - marcosdumay 5y ago
    Well, you can document your attempts to close the account and report it to the police. It's just a lot of work and you will only gain a document you can use to press your credit card issuer into rejecting the payments. Also, if they do send your debit to collectors, you can go to a court and ask for the debit to be dropped and for them to pay damages. That is a lot more work, but if they are clearly on the wrong will get you something.
    - hellbannedguy 5y ago
      Cops will tell you this is a civil matter. At least in the USA. Amazon knows this, a relies on people just paying. They know how difficult it is to dispute. I imagine they make millions just of people giving up, and paying? (I haven't used their servers, if I did it would be with a prepaid CC.
- jrochkind1 5y ago
  Or take you to court. Theoretically. I don't know in what cases Amazon might do either of these things. If you're not in the US, that's certainly another layer of barrier. But yes, in the US anyway, whether you legally owe someone money or not and they can legally collect on it is not controlled by whether you've cancelled a credit card.

jrochkind1 5y ago

From the answers on the SO, it looks like there are several ways to delete 2 billion objects that will be free or cheap. I think? Not sure. Which is part of why I comment here, if anyone else is.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

danlugo92 5y ago