Cursor, the AI code editor built by Anysphere, billed a development team roughly $450 for a Teams plan seat that was added and deleted within seconds, with zero usage recorded. After multiple support escalations, Cursor refused to issue a refund, telling the team the charge was consistent with its billing policy.
The incident was posted to Hacker News by a user identified as "primex," who described accidentally adding a seat and removing it almost immediately. No confirmation dialog appeared before the charge processed. Cursor's billing system triggers a full annual charge the moment a seat is added, with no UI warning that money is about to leave the account. The team disputed the charge through support repeatedly and got nowhere. Primex said they were exploring legal options and reaching out to other teams that may have been hit by the same issue.
The pricing structure compounded the frustration. Cursor's Teams plan runs $40 per user per month, billed annually — around $450 per seat per year. Of that $40 monthly fee, only $20 goes toward AI usage credits. The other $20 covers "team features and administration." That breakdown wasn't surfaced clearly during the purchase flow, leaving customers who assumed they were paying for AI capacity surprised to find half their spend categorized differently.
Cursor has not publicly addressed the incident. The company's support team has not indicated whether it plans to change its billing behavior or introduce any grace period for seats removed without activity.