Azure budget alerts go berserk after Microsoft account migration misfire
(2025/09/01)
- Reference: 1756730708
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/09/01/microsoft_azure_migration_misfire/
- Source link:
Some Microsoft Azure customers have had a worrying few days after a problematic account migration caused forecast costs for the cloud service to skyrocket, triggering budget alerts.
An alarmed Register reader got in touch after receiving warnings from Azure's automated systems that they had significantly exceeded their budgets, and a glance at Microsoft's [1]support forums indicates their issue was not isolated.
The problem was that costs had suddenly ramped up. One user, with a budget threshold of £63 ($85), received an automated alert indicating that their spend was forecast to reach £758.71 ($1,027). Another said: "We're actively seeing the same issue, costs have blown up by a crazy amount. No official notice or announcement from Microsoft either, it's appalling."
[2]
Suggestions from Microsoft that users should contact the support team did little to assuage concerns. A user (their caps) said: "AND I CANNOT CONTACT THE SUPPORT ANYHOW... Just automated 'do this, do that'."
[3]
[4]
According to messages seen by The Register , troubles appear to have stemmed from accounts being migrated from the Microsoft Online Subscription Program (MOSP) to the [5]Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) . The transition triggered incorrect cost calculations and, in some cases, resulted in retroactive charges affecting multiple customers.
[6]Pentagon ends Microsoft's use of China-based support staff for DoD cloud
[7]Cloud computing has become so normal, it's invisible
[8]The intruder is in the house: Storm-0501 attacked Azure, stole data, demanded payment via Teams
[9]Azure apparatchik shows custom silicon keeping everything locked down
Microsoft's engineering team swung into action amid the cries of alarm, and a spokesperson told us: "We have addressed the underlying issue and impacted customers should now see the correct values in their portal."
The Register understands that invoices and billing shouldn't have been affected. However, that is likely of little comfort to administrators sent into a panic by an official alert from Microsoft warning that cloud forecasts were much higher than usual. We'd recommend keeping an eye on the portal and submitting a support request if the figures have gone awry.
One user reported that their comments in the support forum were being deleted. While Microsoft has a lengthy [10]Code of Conduct , it wasn't clear precisely what was causing comments to vanish. The user suggested that perhaps it was related to the words "customer" and "care."
[11]
We asked Microsoft if this was possible, and whether an automated moderation system was responsible, but the megacorp has not responded. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5534853/less-20-month-budget-has-been-backdated-to-over-40?page=2&source=docs#answers
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aLXDFr6Z1kHBdbAQgqwm8wAAAMs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aLXDFr6Z1kHBdbAQgqwm8wAAAMs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aLXDFr6Z1kHBdbAQgqwm8wAAAMs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/how-to-buy/microsoft-customer-agreement
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/29/pentagon_ends_microsofts_use_of/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/29/cloud_computing/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/27/storm0501_ransomware_azure_teams/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/26/microsoft_silicon_security/
[10] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/answers/support/code-of-conduct
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aLXDFr6Z1kHBdbAQgqwm8wAAAMs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
An alarmed Register reader got in touch after receiving warnings from Azure's automated systems that they had significantly exceeded their budgets, and a glance at Microsoft's [1]support forums indicates their issue was not isolated.
The problem was that costs had suddenly ramped up. One user, with a budget threshold of £63 ($85), received an automated alert indicating that their spend was forecast to reach £758.71 ($1,027). Another said: "We're actively seeing the same issue, costs have blown up by a crazy amount. No official notice or announcement from Microsoft either, it's appalling."
[2]
Suggestions from Microsoft that users should contact the support team did little to assuage concerns. A user (their caps) said: "AND I CANNOT CONTACT THE SUPPORT ANYHOW... Just automated 'do this, do that'."
[3]
[4]
According to messages seen by The Register , troubles appear to have stemmed from accounts being migrated from the Microsoft Online Subscription Program (MOSP) to the [5]Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) . The transition triggered incorrect cost calculations and, in some cases, resulted in retroactive charges affecting multiple customers.
[6]Pentagon ends Microsoft's use of China-based support staff for DoD cloud
[7]Cloud computing has become so normal, it's invisible
[8]The intruder is in the house: Storm-0501 attacked Azure, stole data, demanded payment via Teams
[9]Azure apparatchik shows custom silicon keeping everything locked down
Microsoft's engineering team swung into action amid the cries of alarm, and a spokesperson told us: "We have addressed the underlying issue and impacted customers should now see the correct values in their portal."
The Register understands that invoices and billing shouldn't have been affected. However, that is likely of little comfort to administrators sent into a panic by an official alert from Microsoft warning that cloud forecasts were much higher than usual. We'd recommend keeping an eye on the portal and submitting a support request if the figures have gone awry.
One user reported that their comments in the support forum were being deleted. While Microsoft has a lengthy [10]Code of Conduct , it wasn't clear precisely what was causing comments to vanish. The user suggested that perhaps it was related to the words "customer" and "care."
[11]
We asked Microsoft if this was possible, and whether an automated moderation system was responsible, but the megacorp has not responded. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5534853/less-20-month-budget-has-been-backdated-to-over-40?page=2&source=docs#answers
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aLXDFr6Z1kHBdbAQgqwm8wAAAMs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aLXDFr6Z1kHBdbAQgqwm8wAAAMs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aLXDFr6Z1kHBdbAQgqwm8wAAAMs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/how-to-buy/microsoft-customer-agreement
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/29/pentagon_ends_microsofts_use_of/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/29/cloud_computing/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/27/storm0501_ransomware_azure_teams/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/26/microsoft_silicon_security/
[10] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/answers/support/code-of-conduct
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aLXDFr6Z1kHBdbAQgqwm8wAAAMs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
m4r35n357
The customers? No, they just keep paying up.
b0llchit
Squeeze(t) = baseFortune + steepIncrease * t 5
customerCare = 0
Customer + Squeeze(t) + customerCare = Profit
ThatOne
> Suggestions from Microsoft that users should contact the support team did little
Of course: "Contact the support team" is the polite version of "go ... yourself".
Besides, Microsoft doesn't have a Quality Control team, why should they bother with a Support team? (Billing clients for 24/7 support isn't a reason to have one)
As with real clouds
Anonymous Coward
The downpour can be longer and harder than forecast.
In this case, a lot more expensive and MS being the usual dickheads about it.
Lee1ms
SackYa Nadella will deploy a custom ai agent to resolve.
Forum Hater Culling
ThatOne
> One user reported that their comments in the support forum were being deleted.
Of course, you can't have all that negativity in our happy happy shiny customer forums...
(To be honest, deleting any comment less than ecstatic is standard procedure in a lot of corporate user forums. Usually you don't notice it, it only becomes visible when the excrement hits the fan and the forums start boiling with numerous very short-lived posts...)
Customer = victim. Care = ? (do they care?)