Our adminstrator has left the company and his credit card has been cancelled. No-one else has admin rights and we need to set up a new administrator

Question

The administrator for our account was made redundant at very short notice and their credit card has been cancelled. There are no other admins. I have tried ringing the support line, but the the automated service does not understand "Our administrator has left and we need to appoint a new one". I can't access the support site as I have not got admin rights. Meanwhile, the monthly credit card payment has been rejected as the card has been cancelled.

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Moved from: Microsoft 365 and Office | Other

Answer 1

Hello @Sonia Whitehead,  

Thank you for reaching out to the Q&A forum! 

After carefully reviewing your situation, I hope you understand that as a community moderator, I unfortunately do not have access to Microsoft’s internal Data Protection team, so I’m unable to directly restore new admin access for your organization. 

That said, based on my experience handling similar cases, I can guide you in the right direction.   

I truly appreciate your effort in trying to call Microsoft Support; I understand how inconvenient it is when the automated system cannot understand your request. 

However, if possible, you can try once more; I will share a few tips to help you reach a real support agent instead of the automated voice system.  

You can try contacting our global customer service by phone through: Customer service phone numbers - Microsoft Support  

Here are some tips and an example of a prompt to help you use the IVR system more effectively: 

Important: When using an automated voice system, you make sure to clearly say "Commercial Account and Billing Support". This is the keyword for forwarding your call to a human agent.       

In some countries, it's an automated conversation like: When you call the hotline, you'll first be asked the following:          

IVR: What is the problem?          

You: Lost admin access. The only admin left the company 

IVR: What product do you use?          

You: Office 365 Business.          

IVR Confirmation: Education or Corporate Account          

You: For companies          

IVR: Are you an administrator?          

You: Yes.          

IVR: Is there another administrator in your organization?          

You: No.          

IVR: Do you need a service request?          

You: Yes.

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Another option: Create a New Tenant to Submit Support Request: (Recommended)    

1.Set up a new trial tenant (Trial subscription):             

If you still can't reach the agent, there's a solution. You can sign up for a new trial tenant by subscribing to a business trial using this link: Microsoft 365 Business Plans and Pricing | Microsoft 365

You can follow the guided setup process to create a new account for a new trial tenant.        

2.Access the Admin Console for new tenants to request privacy support for a previous tenant:

• Once you've signed up for the new Microsoft 365 trial and created the tenant, sign in to the: Microsoft 365 Admin Center with your new tenant's credentials.               
• Please follow this article: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn   
• On the right bottom corner, click on "Help & support"

           

• In the ticket description, you clearly state that you're trying to regain access to your previous tenant and want to be connected to the Data Protection team for assistance. You can infer this sample:

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“Hello,   

The only IT administrator in our company has left, and we are now completely unable to access our original Microsoft 365 tenant or any of the admin portals. 

For this reason, I have created this new temporary tenant solely to request assistance from Microsoft Support. 

I kindly request to be connected with the Data Protection team, as we need help regaining administrative access to our previous tenant and assigning a new Global Admin for our organization. 

In addition, I also need to speak with the Billing team so they can help us update the payment method. Our previous admin’s credit card was cancelled, and the monthly subscription charges are now failing. 

Below are details of the original tenant to verify my identity: “

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Note: Please remember to cancel the trial subscription once your issue is resolved to avoid any unintended charges.           

Once again, thank you again for raising this issue; it’s helped broaden my understanding. I hope you understand that I want to help as much as I can within the scope of this forum.         

I truly hope you’ll be assisted soon by our dedicated technical team. And if you receive any updates or insights, please feel free to reply here.               

Looking forward to hearing from you! 

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Answer 2

If your only administrator has left the company and there are no other admins with access, you will need to follow specific steps to regain administrative access. Here’s what you can do:

1. Check for Global Admins: If there are no Global admins left in your account, you will need to take further action.
2. Submit a Support Request: Go to portal.azure.com and sign in with your work account. Then, navigate to Help + Support in the left menu and create a New Support request. Select Technical Issue and provide the necessary details regarding your situation.
3. Administrator Takeover: If you have completely lost access, you may need to follow the steps for an Administrator Takeover to regain control of your Microsoft Entra ID.
4. Update Payment Information: Since the credit card has been cancelled, you will also need to update the payment method to avoid service interruptions. You can manage your payment methods through the appropriate billing settings once you regain access.

If you cannot access the support site due to lack of admin rights, following the support request process through Azure may be your best option.

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References:

• What to do if your only admin has left the company
• Troubleshoot a declined card