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Comment on Tell HN: I accidentally ran up a $1000 Heroku billparent

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I'm actually surprised they didn't. Think of the goodwill a post reading "I messed up on Heroku, but they were cool about it" would have created.

After all, Heroku could have auto-detected idle instances easily and could have disabled them or alerted the user.

The whole 'dyno' concept without an automated scaling option is a bit strange. Why set an exact number of instances when web traffic is just about the most variable thing you could possibly want to measure. Even apache auto-scales the number of processes depending on how many workers it currently needs to serve your requests.

Auto-scaling and a web app hosting service go together like bread & butter.

It's a tricky line to walk. If there was a post saying how Heroku waived 1000 bucks, there could be a string of scammish people trying to pull the same move. And when Heroku turns them down, they will refer to this post and claim "discrimination".

I think the issue here may be more of tone. It seems from the post that Heroku just gave a cold "no". The user should really post the original exchanges. As a user, I feel a lot better psychologically when I know the other company tried its best--even if they could not help me.

Did Heroku try? I can't tell clearly from the post.

A scammer would be fairly easily distinguishable from someone making an honest mistake, the difference being that you've already made x* the turnover of the 'mistake' on the honest customer, and the scammer would actually be using those instances for something.

Scammers, as a rule don't go for solutions with a high up-front investment in their time, they'd be much better of using a few thousand stolen credit cards instead. Why bother asking for refunds on a real life ID when you can get away with someone else holding the bag...

Heroku should sidestep this question anyway and implement auto-scaling and notifications on certain thresholds asap.

I don't feel comfortable posting their messages without their permission, but it was a no-frills, direct answer to my request.

And how could this be a scam? They can easily see the traffic on the instances in question. The scam is that I only pay them $300 this month?

I don't feel comfortable posting their messages without their permission, but it was a no-frills, direct answer to my request.

They are a company. IMO posting their email is fair play. It's not an individual.

And how could this be a scam? They can easily see the traffic on the instances in question. The scam is that I only pay them $300 this month?

I never said you are a scammer. You're not. But this potentially sets a precedent for future users to be reckless and want the same favor granted to you.

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