Hey everyone,

I wanted to share my experience with Google Cloud / Vertex AI to warn others about a serious issue I believe borders on deceptive billing.

Like many others, I received an email inviting me to try Vertex AI with $300 in free credits and a promise of no automatic charges. The sign-up page clearly states: • “No automatic charges” • “You only start paying if you manually activate pay-as-you-go”

I believed this and proceeded with the trial, entering my card details only for identity verification, as required.

💸 What Happened

To my shock, I was billed $80 a few days later — without any clear warning or notification that I had crossed a threshold or activated any billable service.

After disputing the charge, Google Support reduced it to $42 but refused a full waiver, claiming their internal team reviewed it and stood by the charge.

I know others have been silently charged, thinking they were safe under the “free trial” banner.

I subscribed to Google AI Pro, intending to try it out and potentially continue using the service. The subscription screen clearly stated "1-month free trial" and "$0 USD for 1 month." However, immediately after applying for the subscription, I was charged for one month's fee, for which I then requested a refund.

This refund process involved significant difficulty and waiting. I had to navigate through multiple web pages to process the refund, and it took three days for the refund to be completed. Furthermore, I was subsequently blocked from utilizing the Google AI Pro free trial.

In such a scenario, one has to wonder who can truly trust Google's handling of such matters, or who would want to use this subscription service.

I noticed getting a Pixel 10 phone now do not provide Google AI Pro anymore (When it was available 2 days ago)

*Even though it still stated on their website "Get 1 year of Google AI Pro on us ($239 value), plus additional premium Google services with any unlocked or carrier phone".

Did they cancel it? Thanks