I completely understand your frustration with the unexpected $659 charge. This appears related to the recent change where Turbo build machines became the default for Pro accounts.

To prevent future charges:

• Switch to Standard build machines in Team Settings Build & Deployment
• Enable Spend Management with alerts at Team Settings Billing
• Consider setting a hard cap to automatically pause deployments at your spend limit

I agree this should have required explicit opt-in. Your feedback about better notification for billable features is valuable and I'll make sure it reaches the product team.

Thanks for the quick response, @pawlean, and for passing the feedback along to the product team — that’s genuinely appreciated.

I do want to follow up on the refund/waiver though, since it wasn’t addressed in your reply. The situation is that we were charged for a feature we never knowingly turned on, with no notification that it was active or accumulating costs. When we reached out to support, the automated system declined the refund purely because the amount exceeded its threshold — not on the merits of the case itself.

We’ve already made the changes going forward (switched to Standard machines, will set up a hard cap), but those don’t really help with the $659.72 that was charged due to a default we had no visibility into.

Is there any way you could help get this in front of the billing team for a review? Invoice #2SKVV2FR-0005. A goodwill resolution here would go a long way.

If you've already opened a support case, that's the fastest path to a refund. You can open a refund request for help from the billing specialists even if the amount is above the automatic refund threshold. I would issue the refund myself, but the account info and payment systems have very limited access. Happy to check on the status is you have an case number though.

I'd also recommend using the spend management features to make sure you never get an unexpected high bill in the future.

Thanks @amyegan — really appreciate you stepping in and clarifying the path forward.

Good to know the billing specialists can handle cases above the automatic threshold. When we initially contacted support, it hit the automated system and was declined purely on the amount — we didn’t realise there was a path beyond that.

We’ve now raised a formal support case (Case #01080470) and referenced invoice #2SKVV2FR-0005. If you’re able to flag it on your end as well, that would be really appreciated.

And for anyone else who lands on this thread: the charge stemmed from Turbo build machines becoming the default for Pro accounts with no opt-in or notification. If you’re on a Pro plan, worth checking Team Settings → Build & Deployment to confirm you’re on Standard machines unless you’ve intentionally chosen Turbo.

Will update here once there’s a resolution.

I asked the specialists for help and I anticipate you'll hear back from them very soon.

Thank you for being so patient. I know it's not easy when that much money is involved.

I've also shared your feedback about the support form to make sure no one else runs into a dead end asking for help.

The support team let me know that they sent you an update with more info about what's been done to solve this. Check your notifications for some good news!

Please don't forget to update your spend management settings if you haven't already. That'll make sure you never have a surprise bill again

Just wanted to close the loop here — thank you so much @amyegan (and the Vercel billing team) for stepping in and getting this resolved. We've confirmed the $659.72 credit has been applied to invoice #2SKVV2FR-0005, exactly as promised.

Really appreciate the goodwill and the patience throughout this whole process.

We'll take care of the remaining balance and make sure spend management is properly configured going forward.

Thanks again!

Solution summary

To resolve this and prevent future charges, navigate to Team Settings > Build & Deployment and switch the build machine type from Turbo back to Standard. It is also recommended to configure Spend Management in Team Settings > Billing to set alerts or a hard cap on usage-based costs. For existing unexpected charges, submit a manual support request at vercel.com/help for a billing review, as automated systems may decline high-value refund requests.

Coming here to chime in, I also just ran into this issue. When chatting with the Vercel bot, they asked me to post this in the community forum. I think it’s a horrible experience to have this turned on by default without any warning that you are racking up these bills. I was on the hobby plan and never paid for build minutes. I then upgraded to pro, and when I was adjusting some other settings, I noticed I had over $140 in build minute charges this cycle without any warning or notice. This is not all right to have that turned on to turbo by default and to charge that fee. This should be an opt-in.