Unable to Submit Azure Refund Request – "Expedited Refund Limit Reached" for Free Tier VM Charges

Question

Hello everyone,

I'm reaching out for guidance regarding an issue I'm facing with Azure billing and refund requests.

I’ve been using a Standard_B1s VM, which is listed under Azure's Free Tier offer. Despite this, I have received recurring charges in my monthly invoices. For the first few months, I submitted refund requests through the Azure portal and they were approved—the amounts were credited back to my account.

However, I never received any explanation or communication clarifying why I was being charged for a service that should fall under the Free Tier.

Now, when I attempt to submit another refund request for this month, I receive the following message:

"Expedited refund limit reached. Submit a support request to get a refund."

Unfortunately, the Azure support/troubleshooting tools no longer allow me to initiate a new billing dispute or refund request. I also received an email from the AOCTAX team stating that they don’t support MCA/Azure-related cases and redirected me to other links that haven’t helped resolve my issue.

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My questions:

What is the correct way to contact Azure support directly to request a refund after reaching the expedited limit?

How can I get a proper explanation for the charges applied to what should be a Free Tier VM?

Is there a specific contact (email or support channel) for Microsoft Financial Services or Azure billing disputes for MCA accounts?

Any advice or steps would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Best regards, Nguyen

Answer 1

Hi Nguyen Tran

1.To request a refund or address any billing-related concerns after reaching the expedited support limit, the best way to proceed is by creating a support request directly through the Azure portal.

For billing and subscription-related issues, please follow these step by step to create a support request:

1. Go to the Azure Portal, click on Help + Support, and then select Create a support request.
2. In the Support + Troubleshooting pane on the right, type "Billing" in the search box, select Billing, and then click Next.

2.Select the subscription and click Next. You will be presented with some suggestions to resolve your issue. If none of these apply, please follow the steps below.

Scroll down through the suggestions, and you'll find an option to Contact Support. From there, select Create a support request.

If the solutions appear again, click on 'Return to support request'.

Click Next, and you will then be able to create the billing support ticket.

Hope this helps!
2. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cost-management-billing/manage/create-free-services#services-can-be-created-in-any-region
3.Please note that Microsoft does not provide a direct email or phone number for refund requests, so submitting a support ticket through the Azure portal ensures your case is reviewed by the appropriate team.

let us know if any help, we will always help as you needed.!

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