AI Credits Missing or Not Deducting

AI Credits power every Cloud AI feature on Foto Master -- background removal, AI headshot, Draw Me, SMS, and more. When credits look wrong on your dashboard, possible causes include a sync delay after a purchase, an unexpected charge paid from credits, a coupon-driven credit grant that has not been activated yet, or a balance discrepancy that needs investigation. Unused credits do not expire when a subscription ends. This article covers these scenarios and how to investigate them.

Quick Diagnostics

1. Check your current balance in Cloud > Billing (the Cloud dashboard is the source of truth, not the FMX app).
2. Refresh the page once -- the balance does not always update in real time after a purchase or AI use.
3. Compare your remembered balance against the Usage History to see which deductions actually happened.
4. If a balance jumped down by exactly the amount of a recent subscription charge, that is almost certainly the known "subscription paid from credits" sync issue described below.

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Common Issues

How to Check Your Current Credit Balance

Problem: You want to verify how many credits you currently have.

Cause: Customers sometimes look in the wrong place and assume the balance is missing.

Solution:

1. Log in to cloud.fotomaster.com.
2. Go to Billing (or Dashboard > Credits, depending on your account view).
3. The number displayed there is your authoritative balance. The FMX app shows a cached copy and can lag behind by a few minutes.
4. To see how the balance got to its current value, open Usage History -- every AI run, SMS send, and credit purchase is itemized with a timestamp.

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"I Bought Credits But They're Not Showing"

Problem: You purchased additional credits and the balance has not increased.

Cause: Most often a brief sync delay between the payment processor and the Cloud account. Less commonly, the purchase did not complete due to a card decline that the user did not notice.

Solution:

1. Wait 2-5 minutes and refresh Cloud > Billing.
2. Check your email for a credit purchase receipt. If you have a receipt but no credits after 10 minutes, the purchase succeeded on the payment side but did not reach the credit ledger -- this needs support.
3. If there is no receipt, the purchase did not complete. Try the purchase again with a different card, or check Billing > Payment Methods to confirm your card is still valid.
4. Contact support@fotomaster.com with the receipt and your account email if credits are still missing after 10 minutes.

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"Credits Were Deducted But the AI Feature Did Not Work"

Problem: You ran an AI feature, the credits were charged, but no AI photo or output was delivered.

Cause: The AI processing started, hit an error, and did not complete -- but the credit deduction had already been written. This is rare but does happen on transient Cloud or network errors.

Solution:

1. Check Cloud > Usage History and find the failed entry.
2. Email support@fotomaster.com with the timestamp, the AI feature you used, and your account email.
3. Support will verify the failed run and refund the credits to your account. Failed-job credit refunds are routinely processed when a Cloud-side error caused the failure, in line with the Foto Master Terms of Service and Refund Policy.

Tip: Always make sure your booth has a stable internet connection during AI processing -- 5 Mbps minimum upload and download. "Credits charged but no result" can occur when the booth loses connectivity mid-job. See Cloud & AI Troubleshooting for connectivity steps.

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"My Balance Went Down Without Using Any AI"

Problem: Your credit balance dropped (sometimes by a large amount like $50) but you did not run any AI features.

Cause: A Basic Monthly subscription renewal can be paid out of your AI credit balance if the auto-renewal feature is set to charge credits before falling back to the card on file. For example, a $50 Basic-plan renewal can be drawn from credits rather than the card -- the charge is correct, but it can be unexpected if you assumed the card would be used.

Solution:

1. Open Cloud > Usage History and look at the timestamp of the deduction.
2. If the deduction matches your subscription renewal date and amount, the charge came out of your credits as designed.
3. To prevent this in the future, go to Billing > Payment Methods and make sure your card is set as the primary payment method, with credits used only for AI features.
4. If you believe the deduction was incorrect (no matching renewal, no AI use, and no manual purchase), email support@fotomaster.com. Support will pull the credit ledger and confirm with the Cloud Manager. Credits can be restored when the deduction is confirmed to be in error.

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Bonus Credits From a Coupon Did Not Appear

Problem: You upgraded with Basic2Credits, Basic2Free, or Pro4Free but the bonus credits never landed in your balance.

Cause: The discount portion of these codes applies automatically, but the bonus credit grant requires a manual activation step on our side.

Solution:

1. Confirm the coupon was actually accepted -- check your subscription confirmation email.
2. Wait 10 minutes and refresh Cloud > Billing.
3. If the bonus credits still are not showing, email support@fotomaster.com with your account email, the coupon code used, and the subscription date. Support routes this to Roman (Cloud Operations) for manual credit activation.

See Coupon Code Not Working for full coupon troubleshooting.

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Credits Disappeared After Subscription Expired

Problem: Your subscription lapsed and your available AI Credit balance appears lower or missing.

Cause: Subscription expiration, cancellation, suspension, or the end of a grace period does not itself remove credits. All unused AI Credits remain while the account exists. If the account still exists and the balance is wrong, Support needs to check the balance and transaction history; the loss should not be explained as normal credit expiry.

Solution:

1. Confirm that you are viewing the correct Cloud account and refresh the balance.
2. Review the available transaction history for purchases and usage that explain the balance.
3. If the balance is still unexplained, contact support@fotomaster.com with your account email, the expected and displayed balances, and the approximate date of the discrepancy. Ask Support to verify whether the account itself was deleted or whether the existing account has a balance issue.

Tip: You do not need to downgrade to PAYG just to prevent credits from expiring. PAYG has separate eligibility, feature, and event-data deletion consequences; review Managing Your Cloud Plan before requesting it.

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When Are Credits Permanently Deleted?

Problem: You want to know when credits truly go away for good.

Cause: Customers want clear rules so they can plan.

Solution:

Unused AI Credits are permanently removed only when the account itself is deleted. Until then, they remain available for eligible usage and do not expire or reset. This applies to purchased, auto-recharged, plan-included, bonus, and promotional credits already added to the account.

Unused credits are not removed merely because:

• A billing cycle ends.
• You upgrade, downgrade, or move to PAYG.
• You cancel renewal or let the paid subscription expire.
• A payment fails, the subscription is suspended, or a grace period ends.
• You stop using AI for a while.

Using credits reduces the balance. Account deletion permanently removes whatever unused balance remains. Subscription status and account deletion are separate; do not delete an account if you want to keep its credits.

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How to Dispute a Credit Issue

Problem: You believe your balance is wrong and your usage history does not explain it.

Cause: Disputes need supporting detail to resolve quickly.

Solution:

When you write to support@fotomaster.com, include:

• Your account email
• The expected balance and the actual balance shown on the dashboard
• The approximate date you noticed the discrepancy
• Any relevant entries from Usage History (timestamps and amounts)
• A screenshot of the current balance if possible

Support will pull the credit ledger and coordinate with the Cloud Manager. Most disputes are resolved within 1-2 business days.

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When to Contact Support

Email support@fotomaster.com if:

• A credit purchase succeeded but the credits did not arrive after 10 minutes.
• An AI run failed but credits were still deducted.
• A coupon-driven bonus credit grant did not activate.
• Your credit balance appears missing or incorrect after a subscription expires, even though the account still exists.
• Your usage history does not account for the current balance.

Always include your account email so we can pull your record on the first reply.

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