$17,493 in Undisclosed Marketplace Charges with No Cost Visibility, No Recourse, No Accountability
I'm a co-founder of a 13-person startup in the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub program. I'm posting here because after two months of support tickets, calls, and emails across both Microsoft and Anthropic, I have been unable to get anyone with decision-making authority to address this issue. I'm hoping this reaches someone at Microsoft who can help, and that other affected founders in the program will share their experiences. What happened: In February 2026, we deployed Claude Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6 through Azure AI Foundry as part of a migration of our AI infrastructure. We are active users of our Azure sponsorship credits and assumed, as anyone would, that these models were covered the same way Azure OpenAI models are. There was no indication otherwise during deployment. In early March, we received our first invoice: $1,078.07 (invoice G144899694, billing period 02/01–02/28). We were shocked, but we paid it immediately and removed all Anthropic model deployments from our account to prevent further charges. It didn't matter. On April 9, we received a second invoice: $16,414.94 (invoice G151890529, billing period 03/01–03/31). Despite removing the deployments in mid-March, charges had already accumulated for the first half of the month. We are unable to pay this invoice. Our total exposure across both invoices is $17,493.01. Why we had no way to prevent this: No billing distinction at deployment. Azure AI Foundry presents all models (Microsoft-native and third-party) in the same unified interface. There is no warning, label, or confirmation step indicating that certain models are excluded from sponsorship credits. No cost visibility whatsoever. The Azure AI Foundry monitoring dashboard has an "Estimated Cost" section that is completely blank for these models, with a disclaimer: "Cost monitoring is available for Foundry Models sold directly by Azure only." We could see token counts but had zero visibility into what we were being charged. Token counts that don't explain the charges. The dashboards show our Claude Opus 4.6 deployment used 63.4M tokens and our Sonnet 4.6 deployments used roughly 170M tokens combined. At published rates, that should be in the low thousands, not $17,500. My analysis shows the dashboard hides billions of cached tokens (prompt caching reads and writes) that are invisible in the monitoring UI but account for the vast majority of the bill. There is no view in Azure that provides a breakdown of these charges by token type. No alerts or notifications. There were no cost alerts, no threshold warnings, and no notifications at any point. No indication in any Azure portal that charges were hitting our credit card. There was no line item, no pending charge, no Marketplace spend summary - nothing anywhere in the Azure ecosystem that showed dollars accumulating against our payment method for these deployments. What happened when we asked for help: Azure Support (TrackingID#2603090040002936): After a month-long wait, a support engineer told us Microsoft cannot issue credits for Marketplace charges and directed us to Anthropic. The first version of the response email referenced "Azure DDoS Protection Standard" instead of our actual issue, suggesting the volume of similar cases in the queue. Anthropic: Their AI support bot responded within one minute with a blanket statement and closed the ticket four hours later. I escalated, but have still not received a response over a month later. Microsoft for Startups Team (TrackingID#2604070040009778): Told us they cannot apply Marketplace charges against sponsorship credits and referred us to a Marketplace billing contact. Azure Marketplace billing contact: Pending response. The pattern is clear: Microsoft directs us to Anthropic. Anthropic directs us to Microsoft. The Microsoft for Startups team directs us to Azure Marketplace billing. No one takes responsibility. What I'm asking for: A full refund of $17,493.01 across invoices G144899694 and G151890529 That Microsoft implement clear billing warnings in Azure AI Foundry before deploying models that are excluded from sponsorship credits. That Microsoft provide actual cost visibility in the monitoring dashboard for all models deployed through AI Foundry, not just first-party models. To other founders in the program: If you have experienced this same issue, please reply to this thread. I know I'm not alone because this has been covered by The Register, InfoWorld, and Computerworld, and at least 20 founders have signed a Change.org petition about it. The more founders who come forward with specific amounts and case numbers, the harder this is to ignore. We joined Microsoft for Startups because the program was supposed to help early-stage companies manage infrastructure costs during the most financially vulnerable period of our growth. Instead, the program's own platform generated charges within 2 weeks that exceed the total sponsorship credits we've consumed over the past year, with no visibility, no warning, and no path to resolution. With Further Inc. | Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub Azure Support TrackingID #2603090040002936 Startup Support TrackingID #2604070040009778
Founders Hub Account Inaccessible — LinkedIn SSO Locked, Two Tickets Open With No Response
Hi everyone, I'm a Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub member based in Nigeria and I've hit a frustrating wall I can't get past through normal support channels. The Problem: My Founders Hub account was registered via LinkedIn SSO. My LinkedIn account is now permanently locked and inaccessible. I cannot recover it because: LinkedIn's ID verification does not accept the Nigerian NIN slip format Phone OTP recovery is not working — SMS codes never arrive on my number LinkedIn's account recovery flow has not resolved the issue This means I am completely locked out of my Founders Hub account despite having an active Azure subscription and active credits. What I Need: I need my Founders Hub account transferred from the locked LinkedIn SSO to my email address: mailto:email address removed for privacy reasons Support Tickets Filed: I have raised two support tickets through the Azure portal but have received zero human response: Case ID: 31af6335-8101cfc1-7de21bf0-e3e9-4880-95da-1279aa4af091 Tracking number: 2609250050003463 Is there anyone from the Founders Hub team or a founder who has resolved a similar LinkedIn SSO issue who can help or escalate this?
How can a Microsoft for Startups user escalate unexpected Claude Marketplace billing?
I have approximately ₹9.49 lakh of Microsoft for Startups Azure credits remaining. I deployed Anthropic Claude through Microsoft Foundry and later received invoice G183537293 for ₹70,716.76 because the Claude Marketplace usage was not covered by the sponsorship credits. I understand the eligibility rule now. My question is about escalation. Azure Billing has told me Marketplace adjustments are handled by the publisher. Anthropic has told me Azure Marketplace billing is processed through Microsoft. I have therefore been redirected between both parties. I also found a previous Microsoft for Startups case involving similar unintended Claude/Foundry usage where the customer reported receiving a $1,000 special-exception credit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5728641/azure-ai-foundry-presents-third-party-ai-models-as?utm_source=chatgpt.com Is there a Microsoft for Startups, Marketplace billing, or Foundry escalation team authorized to review a one-time goodwill credit in this situation? I am specifically looking for the correct escalation path, not asking the Q&A community to access or modify my invoice.
Unexpected ₹147K Claude charges despite active Microsoft for Startups sponsorship
Hi Microsoft for Startups team and community, I am a Microsoft for Startups participant using an Azure Sponsorship subscription. I recently discovered unexpected charges from Anthropic Claude through Microsoft Foundry. The Claude usage was billed as Marketplace/SaaS charges instead of being deducted from my Microsoft for Startups Azure sponsorship credits. My Azure Sponsorship credit is still active and has a substantial unused balance. However, my Azure Cost Analysis currently shows approximately ₹491K in September charges, with approximately ₹475K categorized as SaaS, primarily related to Claude. I currently have an invoice amount of approximately ₹147K due. I stopped the Claude deployments as soon as I discovered the charges to prevent further usage. I contacted Azure Billing Support multiple times, but the requests were closed with a message saying that the issue falls outside Billing and Subscription Support because it involves Marketplace/third-party services. I was directed to Marketplace refund resources instead. I also tried to contact Microsoft for Startups support. I was previously instructed by the Microsoft for Startups team to use the Founders Hub support portal, but my account now redirects to the newer Microsoft for Startups experience in Azure, where I cannot find the documented startup program support option. I need help getting this escalated to the appropriate Microsoft for Startups or Marketplace team for an actual review. Specifically, I would like to know: What is the correct support channel for this situation? Can Microsoft review the unexpected Claude charges? Is a discretionary credit, refund, or billing adjustment possible given the circumstances? I can provide screenshots showing my active sponsorship, remaining Azure credits, Claude charges, and invoice privately if required. Thank you.
Microsoft Contacts
I am located in Australia and have just had my initial founders application instantly declined. I would really like to discuss my application with a Microsoft employee but cant seem to find any contacts anywhere. Ive located a person in Linked In but cant seem to get into contact with them. There whole process so far for me has been quite frustrating. How do we proceed from here? Thanks ToddAzure Startup Credit Issue
Hi, I've been trying to verify my LinkedIn account to unlock $1,000 in Azure startup credits for over a week. Every time the OAuth callback hits error and, I get: {"error":{"code":"BadRequest","message":"BadRequest (Conflict)"}}. I've revoked all LinkedIn app permissions on both LinkedIn and Microsoft sides. I suspect that the issue is an orphaned LinkedIn identity record in your backend from a previous failed attempt. My support ticket has gone unanswered for over a week now and I also created a post in the learn community that went unanswered for days now. Could you point me to the right person? Happy to provide any account details needed.Cannot access startup verification flow
I signed up for Azure startup credits (self-service path, no investor code) approximately 83 days ago and received my initial $1,000 in credits on an Azure Sponsorship subscription. My 90-day business verification window to unlock the additional $4,000 closes within the next week. I'm writing in hope that either someone from Microsoft can get me in touch with the right team, or a fellow founder has located a viable workflow that I didn't. What I've tried: Founders Hub portal (portal.startups.microsoft.com): Redirects to azure portal. Azure portal home: Shows a "Build your startup" page with an "Unlock $1,000 in Azure credits — Verify with LinkedIn" prompt. This is the initial $1,000 onboarding step, which I already completed months ago. The portal does not recognize that I am already enrolled. Clicking "Verify with LinkedIn" returns a {"error":{"code":"BadRequest","message":"BadRequest (Conflict)"}} response from startupsweb.production.portalrp.azure.com/api/auth/linkedin/callback. Azure support ticket: Filed a ticket under Benefits - Offers / Entitlement check (ticket #2606240010000362). The T1 agent is not reading the content of my messages and keeps directing me back to the Founders Hub portal and the same broken links. He is attempting to close the ticket without resolution. email address removed for privacy reasons: Received an auto-reply that this is an unmonitored inbox directing me to submit a ticket through the Founders Hub portal — which redirects to the aforementioned dead end workflow. I believe this is related to the program experience migration that went live May 29, 2026. My account was created before this date, so per Microsoft's own documentation I should be on the pre-migration portal experience, but neither the old nor new experience is functional for my account. It seems like those of us with in-progress states are just getting lost in the shuffle of the migration.
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