Hey Tim thank you for writing this up. I do think that it is very important to point out that there is nothing you can do in AWS to have an actual hard spending limit. You made a note about turning some things off as a reaction to passing a threshold but there is nothing that you can really do in terms of having your bill completely stop or account completely stop once you hit a certain amount of money.
The use of automated billing places the onus on users to thwart unethical billing practices such as what AWS and many online ventures now practice. AWS is only one of many. who offer free trials for period of time, and also require a credit card for obtaining a free trial. Many users do not realize they will automatically be billed at the end of the free trial unless they opt out. Many users do not read (if there is a statement) they will be billed at the end of the free trial. Cancellation of free trials can be difficult and are not easily found on vendor's web website. Frequently I have to "Google" how to cancel the account. The most ethical way would be to. require actively subscribing at the end of a free trial. Also if it is a free trial, why the credit card requirement. This practice is already becoming a standard in the industry. The practice should be examined and perhaps regulated by the FTC or other regulatory body. My bank will allow me to report these events as fraud, and will credit my account for these actions. It may require my debit card or credit card to be cancelled and a new one issued. i suggest to never use an ACH or direct debit from the accout. Obviously the banks are aware of this issue and strongly favor the card holder. My bank investigates each occurence and examines the web commerce disclosures. In three years I have never had my bank refuse my request to reverse the charges. Another suggestion is to set a cap on the amount anyone can charge on your account. The onus to avoid this should not be on the buyer. Ii ran into this problem with AWS several years ago and it took quite an effort to have it reversed, and the account cancelled. In fact I could not cancel the AWS account unless I paid the bill. I never did use the AWS account, and will never use AWS again.
Hey Tim thank you for writing this up. I do think that it is very important to point out that there is nothing you can do in AWS to have an actual hard spending limit. You made a note about turning some things off as a reaction to passing a threshold but there is nothing that you can really do in terms of having your bill completely stop or account completely stop once you hit a certain amount of money.
The use of automated billing places the onus on users to thwart unethical billing practices such as what AWS and many online ventures now practice. AWS is only one of many. who offer free trials for period of time, and also require a credit card for obtaining a free trial. Many users do not realize they will automatically be billed at the end of the free trial unless they opt out. Many users do not read (if there is a statement) they will be billed at the end of the free trial. Cancellation of free trials can be difficult and are not easily found on vendor's web website. Frequently I have to "Google" how to cancel the account. The most ethical way would be to. require actively subscribing at the end of a free trial. Also if it is a free trial, why the credit card requirement. This practice is already becoming a standard in the industry. The practice should be examined and perhaps regulated by the FTC or other regulatory body. My bank will allow me to report these events as fraud, and will credit my account for these actions. It may require my debit card or credit card to be cancelled and a new one issued. i suggest to never use an ACH or direct debit from the accout. Obviously the banks are aware of this issue and strongly favor the card holder. My bank investigates each occurence and examines the web commerce disclosures. In three years I have never had my bank refuse my request to reverse the charges. Another suggestion is to set a cap on the amount anyone can charge on your account. The onus to avoid this should not be on the buyer. Ii ran into this problem with AWS several years ago and it took quite an effort to have it reversed, and the account cancelled. In fact I could not cancel the AWS account unless I paid the bill. I never did use the AWS account, and will never use AWS again.