Cannot purge deleted Azure Managed HSM because subscription is disabled - billing exceeded $1000

Question

Cannot purge deleted Azure Managed HSM because subscription is disabled - billing exceeded $1000

Neerajdattu Dudam 0

I accidentally created an Azure Key Vault Managed HSM (test-vault) on July 21 while learning Azure. I deleted it on July 23. Purge Protection was disabled, and the retention period is 30 days.

Even though the HSM is deleted, it still appears under Deleted HSMs with a purge date of August 22. I attempted to purge it multiple times, but the purge operation fails every time.

Shortly after deletion, my Visual Studio subscription credits were exhausted and the subscription became disabled. I believe the purge is failing because purge operations require an active subscription, and Azure blocks write operations when a subscription is disabled.

Because the HSM is not purged, it continues billing at full Managed HSM rates, even though the subscription is disabled. My bill has now reached over $1000, and I cannot stop the charges myself.

I opened a support ticket on July 24 (ID: 2607240040011710), but it disappeared from the portal, and I have not received any response for 10 days. I opened another ticket today on August 3 (ID: 2608030040003273).

Any help would be appreciated.

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2 answers

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Answer 1

Hello Neerajdattu Dudam,

Greetings! Thanks for raising this question in the Q&A forum.

Your understanding of the mechanism is correct, and this is a genuine platform deadlock rather than something you're doing wrong. When a subscription is disabled, Azure blocks all PUT, PATCH, and POST operations on it, while still permitting GET and plain DELETE. The purge operation on a Managed HSM is implemented as a POST action rather than a simple DELETE, so it gets blocked even though the original delete (which put the HSM into its soft-deleted state) succeeded. Meanwhile, Managed HSM reserves and bills for its underlying hardware for as long as the resource sits in the soft-deleted state, independent of whether your subscription is enabled or disabled, which is why the charges have kept accruing even though you can't manage anything else in the subscription.

This means there is no self-service action available to you right now. Neither the Azure portal, CLI, nor PowerShell can purge the HSM while the subscription is in the disabled state, since that operation is blocked at the platform level regardless of role or permission. This has to be resolved by Microsoft, either by having the HSM purged from the backend directly, or by briefly reactivating the subscription specifically to allow the purge to go through.

Given the financial impact and that your first ticket (2607240040011710) went 10 days without a response and disappeared from the portal, please escalate rather than wait on the normal queue for your second ticket (2608030040003273):

Call Azure Support directly instead of only using the portal Billing issues involving accruing, disputed charges qualify for phone-based support even on subscriptions without a paid support plan. Go to https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/create-ticket/ and select Billing as the issue type, then look for the call me or phone contact option rather than only submitting a web ticket, since billing disputes involving active financial harm are typically handled faster by phone.

When you reach a support engineer, ask for two specific actions, not just "help"

Request that they either purge test-vault from the backend directly, or temporarily lift the write restriction on the subscription so you can purge it yourself.
- Separately, request a billing adjustment/credit for the charges accrued while the HSM was undeletable due to the disabled subscription blocking the purge, since this is a platform-level limitation rather than a usage decision on your part.
Reference both prior case numbers explicitly Mention 2607240040011710 in your new request so the engineer can see it disappeared without resolution, since Microsoft can usually pull the original case history even if it's no longer visible in your own portal view. Confirm the actual current cost so far Go to Cost Management + Billing > Cost analysis, filter by resource name (test-vault), and note the exact accrued amount to quote when you speak with support, since having the precise figure ready speeds up the billing adjustment conversation.

If this answer helps you kindly accept the answer which will help others who have similar questions.

Best Regards,

Jerald Felix.

Answer 2

Hi @Jerald Felix , thank you for the detailed explanation — it really helped me understand the deadlock clearly.

I’m trying to follow your guidance, but I’m stuck because my Visual Studio Enterprise subscription is tied to my work email. When I try to reach Billing support by phone, the automated system disconnects and tells me to go to aka.ms/charge. When I try to open a support request from the portal, it shows the message:

“You’re signed in to a work or school account. Please contact your system admin.”

But my company admin cannot access or manage my Visual Studio subscription, and they cannot open a billing dispute for it. This subscription is personal, even though the license is assigned through my work account.

I already submitted two Billing tickets:

2607240040011710 — disappeared after 10 days
2608030040003273 — still no response

I also tried creating a new Billing dispute from the public support page, but it keeps redirecting me to documentation instead of giving me a “Call me” option.

So right now I’m stuck in a loop:

Phone support disconnects
Portal blocks me because it’s a work account
Billing tickets are not being handled
Charges are still increasing because the HSM cannot be purged

If there is any alternative escalation path for Visual Studio subscriptions tied to work accounts, or any way Microsoft can directly route this to Billing/Engineering, I would really appreciate guidance. The financial impact is continuing to grow while the subscription remains disabled.

Thank you again for your help.