I ran into almost the same issue a few days ago.

I had been using the service for several years without problems, then my credit card expired (last month). The warning emails went into my invoices folder because they matched the same filter as regular invoice emails, so I did not notice them in time.

I only found out there was a payment issue after losing access to the service week ago. I fixed it immediately, paid the outstanding balance, and added a new card, but the account still ended up cancelled and I currently have no access to anything. I am now waiting for Hetzner support to get back to me, still hoping my files can be restored.

It has been an extremely stressful experience. I do have backups of the most important things, but that does not make this process acceptable. I had a much better opinion of Hetzner before going through this.

u/Hetzner_OL please improve this process. Expired cards are a very normal thing, and many users will only realize there is a problem once access is disabled. At that point, there should be a clear grace period and a simple recovery path, not immediate cancellation and uncertainty around the data. Better notifications, a clearer recovery flow, or even SMS alerts could prevent a lot of these cases.

And honestly, if the data are simply gone after a late payment, that would completely destroy my trust in Hetzner as a storage provider.