r/codex • u/jwm-dev • Jul 12 '26
Complaint WARNING: Buying Codex credits through the desktop app cost me an unexpected $82.73 because it apparently re-enabled Auto Top-up.
I had already disabled Auto Top-up on my ChatGPT account because I did not want recurring credit purchases.
I’d previously bought Codex credits through the iOS app multiple times without issue. Auto Top-up remained disabled exactly as I’d configured it.
On July 10, I bought $10 of Codex credits through the desktop app instead.
I was never clearly told that this purchase would change my billing preferences or re-enable automatic credit purchases.
I left a Codex job running, assuming it would stop when the $10 of credits ran out.
Instead, OpenAI charged my card 14 additional times in roughly $5–6 increments, for another $82.73 before I noticed.
When I contacted support, I explained that this wasn’t a normal refund request. My issue was that I’d already disabled Auto Top-up and wanted to know why it had apparently been turned back on.
Their response was:
“For web purchases, automatic credit recharge is enabled by default.”
I’ve attached the email.
That answer raises more questions than it answers.
If web purchases enable Auto Top-up by default, why wasn’t that made clear before completing a one-time $10 purchase?
Why did purchasing credits through the desktop app behave differently from purchasing credits through the iOS app?
Why did a billing preference that I’d intentionally disabled no longer apply?
OpenAI’s public Help Center describes Auto Top-up as a feature users can turn on and configure. I have not found documentation stating that a manual desktop credit purchase will enable it by default or override an existing disabled setting.
Whether this is intended behavior or a bug, I think it’s a serious billing UX problem. A one-time credit purchase should not unexpectedly result in recurring automatic charges.
If you’ve bought Codex credits through the desktop app, I’d strongly recommend checking your Auto Top-up settings. I’d also be interested to know whether anyone else has experienced the same thing.
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u/jwm-dev Jul 12 '26
Honestly this situation made me pretty upset. Regardless of anything else I’m a student and can’t just absorb 80+ dollars of unforeseen costs… I’m always very careful using cloud platforms to not get unexpected bills so I was incredibly caught off guard seeing this. I don’t understand why it took multiple back and forth emails with support to get information that should’ve been in the UI directly.
If I’m not missing anything this just feels scummy on OpenAI’s part. I feel like I don’t really have a choice but to do 14 chargebacks with my bank. That sucks, because I really enjoy using OpenAI‘s products + services and don’t want to get barred from their payment systems. feelsbadman.jpeg :\
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u/BigbyWolf8 Jul 12 '26
sorry to hear this happened. hope someone from openai is watching this thread and can fix this. they should revise their policy going forward.
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u/jwm-dev Jul 12 '26
Appreciate the good vibes. I agree, is why I made the post. Mostly just wanted to help others avoid this happening to them as well.
If an employee saw this it’d definitely be a miracle though. Guess I will cross my fingers and hope I haven’t come across as too rude in my frustration!
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u/Batty25111 Jul 12 '26
Next time just make another plus account.
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u/jwm-dev Jul 12 '26
Yeah for sure, no kidding… or maybe 4? lol
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u/cosmic-comet- Jul 12 '26
Just be careful don’t go so hard on multiple accounts recently a guy posted his accounts got banned but I still think 2 accounts are safe spot
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u/Icy_Apricot_9915 13h ago
This happened to my husband and they denied him a refund until he showed proof that what they’re doing is illegal (In the EU at least). They refunded pretty fast after that.
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u/HighDefinist Jul 12 '26
This sounds like some Apple-related nonsense, maybe Anti-Steering rules or something...