[BUG] Billing: chargeback on old subscription cancelled separately paid active Pro subscription
Update 20 Aug 2026:
A chargeback concerning €34.55 from the old €214.20 subscription caused my separately paid active Pro subscription from 9 Aug 2026 (€21.42) to be cancelled. Anthropic Support confirmed in writing that the cancellation was “very likely” triggered by the chargeback. These are separate transactions.
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?
What's wrong?
An account credit of €34.55 resulting from a plan change was never applied to my account and cannot be accessed or used. Support has confirmed it is unresolved but states it has no tooling to fix it.
Timeline
7 July 2026 — Switched from annual Claude Pro to Max 5x. Invoice 2ULK5QFW-0010 shows: unused Pro time €119.03, minus Max 5x charge €90.00, subtotal -€29.03, total -€34.55 including VAT. Recorded as "Applied balance €34.55".
The €34.55 was never refunded to my card and never appeared as a usable balance in Settings > Billing.
9 August 2026 — Resubscribed to Claude Pro. Charged €21.42 to my Mastercard. The credit was not applied.
Support ticket opened. First automated reply incorrectly stated my organization was on the Free plan, while my billing page showed an active Pro subscription. Ticket was closed without human review.
Second ticket opened. The AI agent first offered a €34.55 refund, then two minutes later retracted it and instead offered to refund my current €21.42 subscription charge and cancel my active subscription — which I declined.
Final response: the agent stated it cannot add a credit balance or refund the €34.55 with the tools available to it, and suggested I check for another account. There is no other account.
Expected behaviour
A credit balance generated by a plan change should either remain visible and usable in Settings > Billing, or be refunded to the original payment method. It should not silently disappear.
Requested resolution
Refund of €34.55 to the original payment method, or reinstatement as a usable account credit.
References
Invoice 2ULK5QFW-0010, Receipt 2006-8401-8705
Conversation IDs 215475416510207 and 215475416504613
Note
This is an Anthropic billing-system bug affecting account credit and subscription state. Filing here because billing issues appear to be routed through this repo — see #23674, #45662, #56338, which describe the same pattern of account credits disappearing after plan changes or renewals.
EU consumer (Germany).
What Should Happen?
A credit balance generated by a plan change should remain visible and usable in Settings > Billing, or be refunded to the original payment method. It should not silently disappear.
Error Messages/Logs
Steps to Reproduce
- Hold an annual Claude Pro subscription.
- Switch to the Max 5x plan mid-term. The invoice credits the unused Pro time and deducts the Max charge, leaving a positive balance in the customer's favour.
- Later cancel and resubscribe to Claude Pro.
- The remaining credit is not applied to the new subscription charge and is not visible in Settings > Billing.
Claude Model
None
Is this a regression?
No, this never worked
Last Working Version
_No response_
Claude Code Version
n/a
Platform
Anthropic API
Operating System
Windows
Terminal/Shell
Other
Additional Information
Anthropic billing-system issue; no Claude Code version is applicable. Filed here because billing reports appear to be routed through this repo (see #23674, #45662, #56338, which document the same pattern).
3 Comments
This was auto-labelled invalid by a bot within minutes. No human has looked at it.
That is the entire point of this report. Anthropic operates no working billing dispute channel for consumers:
The email support agent is an AI. Over one thread it stated my account was on the Free plan while my billing page showed an active Pro subscription; offered a €34.55 refund and asked me to confirm; retracted that offer two minutes after I confirmed; then proposed instead to refund my current €21.42 charge and cancel my active subscription; and finally stated it has no tooling to issue the €34.55 at all.
The first ticket was closed without human review.
This repo, which is where #23674, #45662 and #56338 show billing reports being routed, auto-closes them as invalid.
So the money is acknowledged as owed by Anthropic's own invoice, acknowledged as unresolved by Anthropic's own support, and there is no channel through which a human at Anthropic will act on it.
I am an EU consumer. Under EU consumer law a trader must provide an accessible means of redress. An automated loop that acknowledges a debt and then has no mechanism to pay it is not one.
Requested: €34.55 refunded to the original payment method, or reinstated as usable account credit. Invoice 2ULK5QFW-0010, conversation IDs 215475416510207 and 215475416504613.
Failing that, I will pursue this as a card chargeback and a formal consumer complaint, and this thread will stand as the record of why that was necessary.
Update: filed as a card chargeback today, since no human at Anthropic has reviewed this. Leaving the issue open as a record.
The "bug" label was automatically removed and replaced with "invalid" without human review. Given the new cross-transaction cancellation described above, please reconsider the "invalid" classification and restore the "bug" label.