Need to reactivate development store without paying for subscription

I have a developer account with two development stores in it. I was using these to get familiar with Shopify theme and app development for a client.

Somehow, one of the stores has become deactivated.

I can’t reactivate this store without choosing a plan and paying at least $39/month. This is not how development stores are supposed to work! I can’t even delete it, or rename it, or anything, without paying as if it’s a live store. It is not supposed to be a live store, and we are not supposed to be paying for development stores.

The help bot is refusing connections, so I can’t ask there.

What am I supposed to do here? Thanks.

Your best shot is to contact support. Only they can revert the store back into a dev store.