Microsoft 365 E5 DOOM Loop - cannot cancel Microsoft subscription, money taken for years

Question

I’m locked out of my Microsoft 365 tenant and can’t access the admin centre to manage billing. I need tenant admin recovery and billing cancellation. I have my tenant domain is and the Tenant ID domain ID.

The subscription is Business Assist for Microsoft 365 and it auto-renewed today (or: “it’s set to auto-renew and I need it stopped immediately”).”

I’m being told to ‘contact your admin’ — I am the admin, but the sign-in says the account can’t be found / passkey sign-in fails.

I have rang and messaged asking Microsoft to recover/restore a Global Admin on this tenant (tenant lockout process) OR disable recurring billing/cancel the subscription on your side

Whenever I finally get through to someone they stop talking, then hang up.

I get emails to my billing/personal outlook.com email address, including renewal notification. I've tried multiple times, I guess I will just be paying Microsoft forever with no way to stopping.

Move from: Microsoft 365 and Office | Other

Answer 1

Hello @Paul Lynch

Welcome to Q&A forum!

I’m really sorry to hear that you’ve ended up in such a difficult situation because you lost access to your admin account.

In this situation, because you are the only global admin of this tenant, you can try step 1 and 2 to get support from Data Protection Team. 

After you regain access to your account, you can cancel the subscription yourself, or you can ask Microsoft Engineering Support to guide you through the process.

Since this is a complex issue related to your account and may require assistance from our backend engineering team, please be patient and carefully follow the steps I’ve provided.

1. Contacting Microsoft Data Protection team by phone support

(I know you’ve already tried contacting support, but it hasn’t been effective so far. I just want to share an additional script that many other users have tried successfully, in case it could help you as well)

In this situation, the Microsoft Data Protection team has tools and processes in place to verify identity and regain access to administrator accounts.     

Please note that forum moderators have no control over user accounts, especially when it comes to logging in to your account, resetting your password, changing your access, etc.

Therefore, if you are the only administrator in your organization, then you need to involve Microsoft data protection team. Please try to find the related hotline number to call the frontline let them raise a ticket for you: Customer service phone numbers - Microsoft Support

(Important Note: Depending on your country or region, when you call the support number, you may hear an introduction of about 30 seconds such as "you can visit the link...". You can ignore this introduction and wait until you are presented with the options. Then press "1" as a business email user, and again "1" for technical help.)

In some countries, this is an automated conversation: First, when you call the hotline, they will ask you what kind of problem you are struggling with.

Answer: Authenticator.

A: What products do you use?

B: Office 365 for business.

Verification: Education or company account?

B: For companies

A: Are you an administrator?

B: Yes.

A: Are there any other administrators in your organization?

B: No.

A: I need one.... Service request?

B: Yes  

If your organization's Office 365 Business subscription is from a partner or reseller, and the global administrator is unable to open a service request on your end, contact the reseller's support provider to help open a service request on behalf of you instead.

Please try 2 or 3 times until you can reach out to an agent.

2. Another work around

If you still cannot reach to agent, there is still a workaround, you might consider registering for a new tenant by signing up for a trial subscription. This would allow you to create a new tenant following the prompts provided. Once set up, you can access the admin console of the new tenant and submit a support ticket requesting to speak with the Data Protection team on behalf of your previous tenant.   

For detailed guidance, to set up a new tenant, please follow these steps:    

• Visit this following link and choose any plan and click try for free to start a free trial: Microsoft 365 Business Plans and Pricing | Microsoft 365
• Follow the guided setup process to create a new account for a new tenant.

Once your tenant is created, you should be able to access the support portal and submit your ticket without further issues 

Ticket Support: In the Microsoft 365 Admin Center->Support->Help & Support. You can raise support ticket In Microsoft Admin Center by this link:

https://admin.microsoft.com/#/support/request

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

Finally, if you’ve already submitted a ticket, please share the ticket ID with us so we can check its status and keep you updated.

I highly appreciate your valuable time and your cooperation during this process

Hopefully, you can resolve this issue soon!

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Answer 2

If you are locked out of your Microsoft 365 tenant and cannot access the admin center, your options for recovery and cancellation may be limited. Here are some steps you can consider:

1. Tenant Admin Recovery: Since you are unable to sign in as the admin, you may need to follow the tenant lockout process to recover your global admin account. This typically involves verifying your identity and may require support from Microsoft.
2. Contact Microsoft Support: If you have already tried contacting Microsoft support without success, consider reaching out again and clearly stating your situation. Make sure to provide them with your tenant ID and any relevant details about your account. You can also ask them to escalate your issue if you are not getting the help you need.
3. Cancel Subscription via Billing: If you cannot access the admin center to turn off recurring billing, you may need to ask Microsoft support to cancel the subscription on your behalf. Explain that you are the admin and that you are locked out of the account.
4. Billing Information: Since you receive billing notifications to your personal Outlook.com email, ensure that you mention this to support as it may help in verifying your identity and ownership of the account.
5. Credit Card Issuer: As a last resort, if you cannot resolve the issue with Microsoft, you might consider contacting your credit card issuer to dispute the charges or to stop payments for the subscription.

It's important to keep trying to reach Microsoft support, as they are the only ones who can assist with account recovery and subscription cancellation directly.

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References:

• Cancel your subscription in the Microsoft 365 admin center
• Determine your cancellation option