Cancel subscription

Question

How do I cancel a subscription to 365 when I do not know how to log on to the microsoft account linked to the subscription as employee has left

Answer 1

Dear @Anthony Evans,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Based on your description, you wonder how to cancel a Microsoft 365 subscription when the account it’s linked to was created by a former employee and you no longer know how to sign in.

In this situation, if you were the one who purchased Microsoft 365 subscription directly from Microsoft. I recommend you contact to Microsoft Support team, and provide some information to prove ownership such as:

Invoice number (if available)

Last 4 digits of the credit card being charged

Company name and billing address

Domain associated with the subscription (for example: company.com)

The agent will collect your information and redirect you to appropriate team as Billing team who will help you regain your access to account.

To contact Microsoft Support team, you can use this link to find the appropriate contact number: Global Customer Service phone numbers - Microsoft Support   

In case you cannot submit ticket during the call, I recommend you create a temporary tenant to submit a support ticket.

Visit Office 365 E3 - Enterprise Collabora

Select any plan and click Try for free.    

Complete the setup to create a new tenant.    

Ticket support: In the Microsoft 365 admin center>support>help & support. You can create a support ticket: https://admin.microsoft.com/#/support/requests     

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

I hope information above meet your expectations, let me know if you have any other questions.

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Answer 2

For a Microsoft 365 subscription, cancellation normally requires access to the Microsoft account or the Microsoft 365 admin center that owns the subscription. If the subscription is tied to an employee’s personal Microsoft account that is no longer accessible, there is no supported way to cancel it directly through Microsoft without account ownership, because account security prevents taking action on accounts that cannot be authenticated.

In this situation, the practical options are:

1. If the subscription is a business/organizational Microsoft 365 subscription:
   • Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center with an admin account that still exists.
   • Go to Billing → Your products (or Subscriptions in Simplified view).
   • Select the subscription and choose Cancel subscription or turn off recurring billing, depending on what is available for the billing account type.
   • Follow the prompts to complete cancellation.
2. If the subscription is on an individual Microsoft account that belonged to the departed employee and cannot be accessed:
   • Follow the legal/ownership process if applicable (for example, when the account holder has died) to claim control of the account, then cancel from there.
   • Or, if the organization is paying via a corporate credit card or bank account and cannot gain access to the Microsoft account, cancel the recurring charge directly with the card issuer or bank. This is the recommended route when account credentials cannot be recovered.

Once the payment method stops honoring the charge, the subscription will eventually expire and be disabled. Be aware that when a Microsoft 365 for business subscription is canceled or expires, users lose access to data after the retention period, so any needed OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online data should be exported or backed up before cancellation when possible.

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References:

• Cancel your subscription in the Microsoft 365 admin center
• Cancel a Microsoft 365 subscription
• How to get a refund on a Microsoft subscription
• How to Cancel Microsoft 365 subscription if you do not have account info? Or get anyone to help? - Microsoft Q&A