Terminating 365 account

Question

Hi im a bord member of Stichting CrossWiseWorks.

We have an MS 365 account wich we would like to terminate given that we are closing down our organisation.

Due to the fact that the account owner of the MS account has left our organisation and I do not have the account login detail i can't terminste our account via the beheerderportal. Could you please assist me in terminating our contract with MS.

Answer 1

Hi @Kramer, Sjoerd,

Based on your description, you will need to contact the Microsoft Data Protection team, as they are the only group authorized and equipped with the necessary tools and verification procedures to confirm your identity and restore administrator access. 

Please try to find the related hotline number to call the frontline and let them raise a ticket for you: Customer service phone numbers - Microsoft Support 

Carefully follow this instruction to ask for Microsoft Data Protection team support:   

Depending on your country or region. For some countries, when calling the support number, although there are about 30 seconds opening as something "you can visit the link...." But you can ignore this opening and wait until the option, then "1" as a business email user, "1" again for technical help.   

For some countries, it will be an automated conversation like:    

• First, when you call the hotline, it asks what kind of problem you are worried about.   
• Answered: account access.   
• A: What kind of product are you using?   
• B: Microsoft 365 for business.   
• A confirmation: education or company account?   
• B: For companies   
• A: Are you an administrator?   
• B: Yes.   
• A: Do you have the other admin in your organization?   
• B: No.   
• A: You need one.... Service request?   
• B: Yes   

Important note:

• When contacting frontline support, please follow the prompts carefully. This will allow you to bypass the AI chat and connect directly with a support agent. Avoid selecting any links until you reach the option to press 1 for Business Support, followed by 1 again for Technical Support.
• If calling the support line in your region is difficult, you may try another regional support number that offers service in your language, or contact the English support line if you’re comfortable speaking English.
• Be prepared for Microsoft support to ask for verification of your identity and administrative rights for the locked tenant.   
• You can also ask the Support team for assistance in terminating the account once you have established contact with them.
• If your subscription is from a partner or reseller, contact the reseller's support provider to help open a service request on behalf of you instead.   

Please understand 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.   

If you encounter any difficulties in contacting the frontline support, please feel free to let me know. Thank you and I wish you a great day!  

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Answer 2

Because the original account owner (Global Administrator) and their credentials are unavailable, terminating the Microsoft 365 business subscription directly in the admin portal is not possible from your side.

For business subscriptions, Microsoft requires a signed-in Global Administrator or billing account owner/contributor to:

1. Cancel the Microsoft 365 subscription in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
2. Delete or deprovision the subscription and tenant (organization) afterward.

Without access to that admin account, the practical options are:

1. Work through the original owner (if possible)
   • Ask the former account owner to either:
     • Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center and cancel the subscription, or
     • Add a current board member as a Global Administrator so that person can complete the cancellation and tenant deletion.
2. Cancel at the payment source
   • If the subscription is billed via credit card or bank account and the organization no longer has access to the Microsoft 365 admin account, cancel the recurring payment directly with the card issuer or bank.
   • This stops future charges even though the Microsoft 365 tenant itself remains in place until Microsoft deprovisions it after non-payment.
3. If/when admin access is restored Once a Global Administrator can sign in, the standard closure steps for a Microsoft 365 business account are:
   1. Back up any data that must be preserved.
   2. Delete all users except the Global Administrator.
   3. Cancel all active subscriptions in the Microsoft 365 admin center (or turn off recurring billing and wait for expiry, depending on billing account type).
   4. Disable multi-factor authentication for all accounts except the Global Administrator.
   5. Delete the Microsoft Entra ID tenant; this completes closure of the Microsoft business account.

If none of the above is possible, the only reliable way to stop charges is to work with the payment provider (bank/credit card) to block or dispute recurring Microsoft 365 charges, as Microsoft support cannot bypass account security to cancel a subscription without proof of account ownership.

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References:

• Close your Microsoft business account
• Delete a tenant in Microsoft Entra ID
• How to Cancel Microsoft 365 subscription if you do not have account info? Or get anyone to help? - Microsoft Q&A
• cancel subscription - Microsoft Q&A
• Cancellation - Microsoft Q&A