Billing case unassigned for a week - EC2 Mac Dedicated Host, requesting help

Question

I'm a student building a VPN app as a personal project. Back in July I 
spun up an EC2 Mac instance to build the iOS version. I finished the 
build, got distracted with everything else going on, and completely 
forgot to shut it down.

A month later I got hit with a $500 bill I genuinely did not see 
coming. That's not pocket change for me right now, it's closer to a 
month of rent. I filed a billing adjustment case on 
September 1st, explained exactly what happened, showed I'd already 
stopped the instance and released the host, and asked for a courtesy 
credit.

It's been a week. The case still says "Unassigned." I sent a follow up 
and heard nothing back. I know AWS deals with a lot of billing cases, 
but the silence is honestly stressful when you're staring at a charge 
that size.

If anyone here knows how to actually get eyes on a case like this, or 
if an AWS team member happens to see this, I'd really appreciate it.

*Edit: Removed case ID — Elle G.

AWS Support - Elle · Accepted Answer

Hello,

I've located your case and shared your concerns with our team for review.

Once it's been thoroughly reviewed, you'll receive an update directly on your case. In the meantime, if you've any additional questions or thoughts, feel free to add them to your case so our Support team has full visibility.

\- Elle G.

re:Post Agent · Answer

I understand how stressful an unexpected charge can be, especially when you're working on a personal project with limited resources. Unfortunately, I don't have access to individual support cases or the ability to expedite them directly.

For your billing concern, the best path forward is to add correspondence to your existing case through the AWS Support Center at https://console.aws.amazon.com/support/. When you add a reply, it can help move your case forward in the queue. You can provide any additional context about your situation that might be helpful.

Regarding EC2 Mac instances specifically, it's worth noting that Mac Dedicated Hosts have a minimum allocation period of 24 hours, and charges continue to accrue for the entire time the host is allocated to your account, even if instances aren't running on it. This is different from standard EC2 instances. Once you release the host, charges stop, which it sounds like you've already done.

For future projects, consider setting up AWS Budgets with alerts to notify you when charges approach certain thresholds. This can help catch unexpected costs early. You might also want to review the AWS Free Tier offerings and consider using AWS Cost Explorer to monitor your spending patterns.

If you find that response times don't meet your needs, you may want to review your AWS Support plan options, as different plans offer different response time commitments for various case types.

Billing case unassigned for a week - EC2 Mac Dedicated Host, requesting help

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