sfghjerReviews 4

I tried signing up for Oracle Cloud Free Tier today (March 1,2026) and the experience was extremely frustrating and unprofessional.

The official FAQ clearly states: We accept credit cards and debit cards that function like credit cards(https://www.oracle.com/cloud/free/faq/). My bank issued Visa Debit card meets this description exactly (no PIN required for online/international purchases, accepts authorization holds). However, chat support repeatedly insisted debit cards are "not eligible" and required a physical credit card instead. This direct contradiction with the FAQ caused multiple verification failures, which then triggered the "Forbidden The number of requests has been exceeded" rate limit error.

The representative advised waiting 4-6 hours for the block to lift, even though other users report shorter waits (e.g., 40 minutes in similar cases). No escalation was offered, and the rep refused to acknowledge the policy discrepancy.

I also called support (*******921 and *******690). The automated phone system looped endlessly, transferred me incorrectly, and eventually hung up on me mid process. No resolution was reached.

This is not acceptable for a company of Oracle's size. The conflicting information from support, combined with a broken phone IVR and punitive rate limiting, wasted hours of my time on a free-tier signup. Others considering Oracle Cloud should be aware that free-tier support appears poorly trained and inconsistent with their own published policy.

I have screenshots of the chat transcript and error messages if anyone needs proof.

Loved this experience. Everything was interactive and all the art was beautiful, peaceful and fun. Don't miss your chance!