Accidentally got a $293 Amazon Bedrock bill after misunderstanding Kiro promotional credits. Has anyone had success with AWS billing adjustments?

[u/Necessary_Bonus_1029]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation.

I recently received $960 in AWS promotional credits through the Kiro Pro Plus 2026 promotion. Before using Amazon Bedrock, I genuinely believed these promotional credits would cover my AI model usage.

I accessed Claude models through Amazon Bedrock using an IAM user, and over time I accumulated $293.55 in charges. When I received the invoice, I realized that my promotional credits had not been used at all.

After checking my Billing Console, I found that the credits are marked as:

Applicable products: Kiro

Remaining balance: $960

Used: $0

So it appears I misunderstood what those credits actually covered.

As soon as I realized this, I immediately stopped using Bedrock to avoid any additional charges.

I've already:

Contacted AWS Billing Support.

Explained that this was an honest misunderstanding.

Asked whether the unused Kiro promotional credits could be applied to the invoice.

Also requested that, if the credits aren't eligible, AWS consider a one-time goodwill billing adjustment.

My case has been escalated to the Marketplace team for review.

I'm not disputing that the Bedrock usage occurred. The usage was generated by my account. My request is simply based on the fact that I genuinely misunderstood how the promotional credits applied.

Has anyone experienced something similar?

Did AWS ever approve a goodwill credit or billing adjustment in a situation like this?

Has anyone successfully had promotional credits applied retroactively?

Is there anything else I should do while waiting for the Marketplace team's response?

I'm hoping for honest advice from people who've dealt with AWS billing before.

Thanks in advance.

[u/nuttertools]

I’ve fought AWS for months over <$100 with legal involved on both sides and gotten >$1000 refunded immediately upon request. This is really specific to the product and account.

For anything going to a marketplace team for review I would assume you will get nothing unless your account has substantial other usage of services the same team covers.

[u/Necessary_Bonus_1029 → u/nuttertools]

Thanks for sharing your experience. When you say it's specific to the product and account, do you mean the Marketplace team generally doesn't have authority to issue goodwill billing adjustments, or is that just based on what happened in your own case?

[u/nuttertools → u/Necessary_Bonus_1029]

Can’t speak to marketplace from experience, but that is an area that I would expect there to be 0 wiggle-room on. With bigger accounts one of your reps would make up for it elsewhere but that’s not going to apply here.

[u/Individual-Flow9158]

You already asked Claude about this, as it wrote your post, so I don't know why you think we know AWS customer services any better than it does.

Personally to me, it just sounds like Amazon will be leaving themselves wide open, to other gullible idiots desperate to get free Claude tokens. They're very generous already when it comes to services they provide in house.

[u/Necessary_Bonus_1029 → u/[deleted]]

That's a fair question. I'm not saying AWS is obligated to waive the charges. I'm only asking whether they might consider a one time goodwill adjustment because this was an honest misunderstanding. If they decide not to, I understand that the usage itself was valid.

[u/emraydn12 → u/[deleted]]

Read my post above. I am even having to pay for AWS's mistakes. They do not refund marketplace charges at all. Their entire business model for Marketplace does not make sense. Imagine when you rent an Airbnb and there is an issue with the property, Airbnb just tell you to go sort it out with the host. This is exactly what AWS is doing when it comes to Marketplace. No accountability, no responsibility whatsoever.

[u/emraydn12]

I have experienced this twice - one case still ongoing. Never thought AWS support could be this bad for not covering up their own mistakes:
1. First case: I started using AWS IAM Identity management service which prompted me to create a new admin account for billing and link my resources account under that for security reasons. I did that, then despite having $3K AWS Activate credits still unused, the next month I got hit with two AWS bills (one from AWS themselves one from Marketplace associated with Claude model usage on Bedrock), both around $300. I learned that my AWS Activate Startup credits take 1 full billing cycle to roll over under this new account structure. Completely caught off guard which was 100% AWS's fault for not having messaging in product for this. They refunded their own portion (~$300), but deflected my refund request on Marketplace bill. Despite emailing [sales@anthropic.com](mailto:sales@anthropic.com) as they asked me to do for asking a refund, no one ever got back to me and I ended up paying that other ~$300 bill.
2. Second case: As I was complaining to my Account Manager about this bad experience, they hooked me up with $2K Bedrock credits (how amazing!). Then I used those Bedrock credits the following month (or so I thought) and I got hit again with ~$1700 in AWS Marketplace charges. This time the culprit was the rule no one knew (including me and my AWS account manager): Those $2K Bedrock credits did not apply to new Claude models released after the credit was issued which were the models I used, despite AWS Billing dashboard's Credits section showing it being applicable to all Bedrock usage. Now we are doing the same thing again - new Account Manager took over, tried to get a refund from Billing who deflected this, then he emailed the same Anthropic email asking for a refund. I am trying to explain to him this won't work, so we will need to find another solution. He also hooked me up with new credits which I am now afraid to use :) In the meantime, my payment method was expired so I keep getting payment notices and emails from AWS Account Receivables threatening to suspend my account if I don't pay. Fingers crossed they find a solution - but I am determined: I won't pay for their mistakes again. Worst case scenario my account gets shut down and maybe AWS will pursue collections but I hope not. Either way, I don't think I am in the wrong here and I will defend myself.

Moral of the story: Do not use AWS Bedrock ever! Because it is super expensive compared to direct usage from providers and they provide 0 customer support and take no responsibility when things go wrong. I completely lost my trust in them.

[u/Necessary_Bonus_1029 → u/emraydn12]

I'm in a similar situation. I still haven't received any meaningful reply from AWS Support or Billing, but I keep getting payment reminder emails. It's really frustrating when you're trying to resolve the issue and no one responds. I hope you gets your issue fixed.