On July 15, 2026, I received an official Google Cloud welcome email stating that I had 30 days to try Gemini Enterprise Business at no cost, with up to five licenses. I signed up only to explore the product, and there was a single actual user.

On July 26, eleven days into the advertised free-trial period, Google Cloud charged my card USD 100.

I opened Billing Support case #73733543. On July 27, Google Cloud Support confirmed in writing that it had processed a USD 100 refund to my original payment method and that it would appear within two to three business days.

The money never arrived. On August 5, Google Payments notified me that an attempted refund of USD 98.81 had failed. Google never explained why the attempted amount was USD 98.81 rather than the promised USD 100.

Instead of retrying the refund or asking for an alternative payment method, Google later stated that the failed refund had been converted into internal service credit and applied to disputed Google charges.…