> Nobody wants a customer who values a service like that at $2.

I agree.

But...

Reading the OPs post in the most favourable light, it sounds like what he'd like would be the existing "free" service, but to have a wait to pay for it in an attempt to ensure it'll still be worthwhile for the company to keep it running long term.

They say 'the cost for an "active but lightly used database" is somewhere between $1 and $2.5 per month.' so it's at least the right order of magnitude.

But one single support call to an entitled "paying customer" blows away any benefit here, so you're probably right that it's a bad idea.