[BUG] Max 5x gift card subscription silently deactivated — Invoice WBANGNQG-0001 — Stripe shows $0 payment, subscription record lost

Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Apr 14, 2026 by jeremychenycs Closed Apr 17, 2026

Preflight Checklist

  • [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
  • [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
  • [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

My Claude Max 5x subscription (purchased via official Anthropic gift card from claude.ai) was silently deactivated after approximately 18 days of normal use. The account was downgraded to Free tier without any notification, cancellation, or action on my part.
Account: [jeremychenycs@gmail.com](mailto:jeremychenycs@gmail.com) (only account, no others)
Invoice: WBANGNQG-0001
Receipt: 2349-7337-1419
Plan: Max plan - 5x
Service period: Mar 28 – Apr 28, 2026
Payment: Claude Max 5x Gift - 1 Month (100% off), official gift card
Usage: Personal only, single user, US-based IP, no VPN, no third-party tools
Root Cause Analysis
This appears to be the same Stripe proration bug documented in #41499 and #41581.
The key evidence is in the Stripe invoice itself: because the gift card is processed as a "100% off coupon," the actual payment amount is $0.00, and the Payment History section is completely empty — there is no real payment transaction recorded. This means the subscription has no payment anchor in Stripe's system.
When Stripe's proration or reconciliation logic runs, it evaluates subscriptions based on actual payment records. A subscription with $0 paid and no payment history is vulnerable to being silently cancelled or purged, even though a $100 gift card was legitimately redeemed.
In short: Stripe thinks no one paid for this subscription, because the gift card was treated as a discount rather than a payment.
Support Attempts (all failed)

Email to [support@anthropic.com](mailto:support@anthropic.com) — Fin AI Agent responded and explicitly acknowledged: "the documents you've provided clearly show a valid gift card redemption that should have provided you with service through April 28, 2026." Then closed the ticket without taking any action.
Second email thread — Fin AI Agent confirmed the refund request, acknowledged the subscription should exist, then said the system shows no paid plans for my email. Suggested I might be using a different email (I am not). Closed the ticket again.
In-app Get Help chat — Fin AI Agent explicitly stated: "I can't connect you to a human agent or access Stripe from here." Then looped back to asking me to verify my email for the third time.
No human agent has reviewed this case despite multiple escalation requests.

The Contradiction

Anthropic's own Stripe system generated Invoice WBANGNQG-0001, billed to [jeremychenycs@gmail.com](mailto:jeremychenycs@gmail.com)
Anthropic's own Stripe system generated Receipt 2349-7337-1419 for the same email
Anthropic's own AI support agent acknowledged the documents are valid
Yet Anthropic's system says there are no paid billing plans for [jeremychenycs@gmail.com](mailto:jeremychenycs@gmail.com)

These cannot all be true simultaneously. The subscription record was lost or deleted due to a system error.

What Should Happen?

My Max 5x subscription should remain active through April 28, 2026 as confirmed by the invoice issued by Anthropic's own billing system.
Evidence

Invoice PDF (WBANGNQG-0001) — confirms Max 5x, Mar 28–Apr 28, 2026, billed to [jeremychenycs@gmail.com](mailto:jeremychenycs@gmail.com)
Receipt PDF (2349-7337-1419) — confirms the same
Stripe billing page screenshot — shows $0.00 payment amount, empty Payment History
Account screenshot — shows [jeremychenycs@gmail.com](mailto:jeremychenycs@gmail.com) logged in with Free plan status

(Screenshots and PDFs attached below)

<img width="486" height="832" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/cf9ce482-6055-4737-931b-1a3298d680b7" />
<img width="500" height="766" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/4ff96675-4568-4e82-a8e3-5187a6c5c590" />
Receipt-2349-7337-1419.pdf
Invoice-WBANGNQG-0001.pdf

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Purchase an official Claude Max 5x gift card from claude.ai
Redeem the gift card on account [jeremychenycs@gmail.com](mailto:jeremychenycs@gmail.com)
Use the Max 5x subscription normally for 18 days
Subscription silently deactivates — account downgrades to Free tier without notification
Stripe invoice shows $0.00 payment and empty Payment History because gift card is processed as "100% off coupon"
Support system (Fin AI Agent) confirms documents are valid but cannot find subscription in system, cannot connect to human agent, and closes tickets without resolution

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

N/A - this is a billing/subscription issue, not a code issue

Claude Code Version

N/A - billing issue

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

PowerShell

Additional Information

Preflight Checklist

I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?
My Claude Max 5x subscription (purchased via official Anthropic gift card from claude.ai) was silently deactivated after approximately 18 days of normal use. The account was downgraded to Free tier without any notification, cancellation, or action on my part.
Account: [jeremychenycs@gmail.com](mailto:jeremychenycs@gmail.com) (only account, no others)
Invoice: WBANGNQG-0001
Receipt: 2349-7337-1419
Plan: Max plan - 5x
Service period: Mar 28 – Apr 28, 2026
Payment: Claude Max 5x Gift - 1 Month (100% off), official gift card
Usage: Personal only, single user, US-based IP, no VPN, no third-party tools
Root Cause Analysis
This appears to be the same Stripe proration bug documented in #41499 and #41581.
The key evidence is in the Stripe invoice itself: because the gift card is processed as a "100% off coupon," the actual payment amount is $0.00, and the Payment History section is completely empty — there is no real payment transaction recorded. This means the subscription has no payment anchor in Stripe's system.
When Stripe's proration or reconciliation logic runs, it evaluates subscriptions based on actual payment records. A subscription with $0 paid and no payment history is vulnerable to being silently cancelled or purged, even though a $100 gift card was legitimately redeemed.
In short: Stripe thinks no one paid for this subscription, because the gift card was treated as a discount rather than a payment.
Support Attempts (all failed)

Email to [support@anthropic.com](mailto:support@anthropic.com) — Fin AI Agent responded and explicitly acknowledged: "the documents you've provided clearly show a valid gift card redemption that should have provided you with service through April 28, 2026." Then closed the ticket without taking any action.
Second email thread — Fin AI Agent confirmed the refund request, acknowledged the subscription should exist, then said the system shows no paid plans for my email. Suggested I might be using a different email (I am not). Closed the ticket again.
In-app Get Help chat — Fin AI Agent explicitly stated: "I can't connect you to a human agent or access Stripe from here." Then looped back to asking me to verify my email for the third time.
No human agent has reviewed this case despite multiple escalation requests.

The Contradiction

Anthropic's own Stripe system generated Invoice WBANGNQG-0001, billed to [jeremychenycs@gmail.com](mailto:jeremychenycs@gmail.com)
Anthropic's own Stripe system generated Receipt 2349-7337-1419 for the same email
Anthropic's own AI support agent acknowledged the documents are valid
Yet Anthropic's system says there are no paid billing plans for [jeremychenycs@gmail.com](mailto:jeremychenycs@gmail.com)

These cannot all be true simultaneously. The subscription record was lost or deleted due to a system error.
What I Expected
My Max 5x subscription should remain active through April 28, 2026 as confirmed by the invoice issued by Anthropic's own billing system.
Evidence

Invoice PDF (WBANGNQG-0001) — confirms Max 5x, Mar 28–Apr 28, 2026, billed to [jeremychenycs@gmail.com](mailto:jeremychenycs@gmail.com)
Receipt PDF (2349-7337-1419) — confirms the same
Stripe billing page screenshot — shows $0.00 payment amount, empty Payment History
Account screenshot — shows [jeremychenycs@gmail.com](mailto:jeremychenycs@gmail.com) logged in with Free plan status

(Screenshots and PDFs attached below)
Request

Restore my Max 5x access through April 28, 2026, with extension to compensate for the 17+ days of service already lost
If restoration is not possible, refund the full $100 gift card value
Investigate the root cause — the gift-card-as-coupon mechanism in Stripe is causing subscriptions to be silently purged for gift card users

<img width="486" height="832" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7c2731bc-b0e0-4ce8-86ed-8e1b3681912b" />
<img width="500" height="766" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/d9664405-f2e5-4ca6-979b-5637cb25ca8e" />
Receipt-2349-7337-1419.pdf
Invoice-WBANGNQG-0001.pdf

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