[Formal Feedback] Lack of Transparency in ChatGPT Plus Usage Limits

[yunsh1207]

[ChatGPT Plus Plan – Consumer Feedback & Review Summary]

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Title: Lack of Usage Transparency in a Paid Service – A Frustrating Consumer Experience

1. Background of the Issue
ChatGPT Plus is a paid subscription plan where users pay a monthly fee to access enhanced chat and image generation features. However, during usage, a message indicating “Plan usage limit reached” may appear. This raises several reasonable concerns:

• Why do usage limits exist despite being a paid service?
• How are these limits calculated and consumed?
• Why is the usage criteria not clearly disclosed to users?

2. Key Issues Summary

• Opaque usage criteria: There are no published numerical values for how chat sessions or image generations consume resources.
• No way to predict usage: Users cannot track how much they’ve used or how much remains—no real-time resource monitoring system is provided.
• No way to manage usage: While it’s said that consumption depends on resolution or conversation length, exact metrics are not available—making it hard for users to plan their usage.

3. Key Questions from a Consumer Perspective

“For example, how many points does a 512x512 image consume? Or one line of conversation? Shouldn’t this be disclosed so we can manage our usage?”

• No consumer wants to use a resource without knowing its unit value.
• Other paid digital services (e.g., cloud storage, streaming) clearly define usage metrics based on size, time, or volume.

4. Legal / Contractual Concerns

• The duty to disclose resource usage criteria is essential under consumer protection laws for paid services.
• If such information is not provided in advance and access is restricted mid-use due to usage limits, this may constitute an unfair contract or incomplete disclosure.
• If users suffer financial damage (e.g., inability to generate images during critical work), they may have grounds for compensation or refund claims.

5. Demands & Suggestions

• Clearly disclose resource usage metrics:

  • Example: Conversation = 2pts per session / Long conversation = up to 10pts
  • Example: Image generation = 20–60pts depending on resolution

• Real-time usage tracking:

  • Example: "Currently used 1340/2000pts"
  • Users should be able to monitor remaining resources and adjust usage accordingly

• Improve notifications regarding remaining limits:

  • For example, issue pre-usage warnings when less than 20% of resources remain

6. Conclusion
ChatGPT Plus is a powerful and useful tool, but paying users deserve a minimum level of transparency. The current lack of disclosure around resource usage is not merely inconvenient—it undermines service trust and may result in contractual shortcomings.

We urge OpenAI to improve policy and adopt more consumer-centric transparency in usage metrics.

This feedback is based on a real user’s experience and represents a formal consumer perspective.