As I and others mentioned elsewhere in this discussion, there was at least a year of warning. At least I was aware of this for about a year out. Tape is cheaper but not free. A quick search[0] quotes it at ~few $ /TB/Yr. Even if we take it at $1 due to G scale, that’s still ~$250/Y to store the archives, roughly what the customer likely paid when it was stored on immediate access media.

I agree it would have been nicer of them to store an archive after they stop paying. I disagree that they reneged on their offer - despite being disappointed that the deal ended, would I expect it to be offered forever, especially given the potential for abuse? Of course not. Frankly I’m surprised it lasted this long.

From reading the thread, he got a year of warning about read only, which was fine by him, but far far less on the deletion.

I'm getting my information from here though. If you don't mind linking to the relevant part about him getting a year's warning about deletion...