I have been unwittingly paying for 2 Microsoft accounts EVERY month for possibly 2 years now

Question

Someone with more knowledge than me opened a second Microsoft account some time back. Unfortunately I have had major issues all the time ever since. I would like to simplify things, , possibly just close one of the accounts, but I can't figure out what to do. When I type in what seems like an organisational login email in order to cancel the account, am told by Microsoft that no such account exists! Obviously that can't be true as it very definitely does! However the other account, which is associated with my business email, when I try to use to to log into some products or one thing recently (can't remember what), it informed me that that account does not have administrator rights!!!! Well it belongs to me, so why the heck not????!!! I just don't know what to do, and this has been carrying on for such a long time now, i seriously can't remember when I WASN'T paying twice per month!!!!

It seems that I have two different microsoft account as I am being billed two separate times per month, once for around £5, and the second time for just over £10. I am running microsoft 365 and OneDrive, and am using word, excel, outlook for my business with one of them, and pretty much nothing except an AI admin team with the other. I run a not-for-profit shop and I can't afford to keep throwing away money that I don't need to. Please could you help me figure out what to do?

Answer 1

Good day Health,  

Thank you for sharing your concern.  

Based on the information you've shared, it looks like you may have two separate Microsoft accounts: 

A personal Microsoft account used for services like Microsoft 365 Personal or Family, OneDrive, Outlook.com, Microsoft Store, Skype, or Xbox. 

A work or school account used for Microsoft 365 Business services and managed by your organization. 

Since these accounts are completely separate, they have different sign in credentials, subscriptions and permissions. This may explain why one account isn't recognized when signing in, while the other can access business services but doesn't have administrator rights. 

To help identify which account is associated with the duplicate charges and determine which subscription can be canceled, please follow the steps below: 

Step 1: Identify which accounts you have 

Sign in to office.com using each account that you know or suspect may be associated with Microsoft services. 

After signing in, select your profile picture in the upper right corner > Choose View account. 

The page you are redirected to will help identify the account type: 

If it opens https://account.microsoft.com. This is a personal account. 

You can also identify a personal Microsoft account by the email address used to sign in, such as ******@gmail.com, ******@hotmail.com, ******@outlook.com, or ******@live.com. 

If it opens https://myaccount.microsoft.com. This is a business account. 

Business accounts typically use an email address provided by your organization, such as ******@company.com or ******@company.onmicrosoft.com

Note: If you attempt to use a personal account in a business portal, or a business account in a personal account portal, you may receive messages stating that the account doesn't exist. This is expected behavior because the two account types are managed separately. 

Step 2: Cancel your subscription 

Before canceling any subscription, I recommend first confirming which one you no longer need to avoid accidentally canceling a subscription that is still in use. 

Cancel a personal subscription: Sign in to https://account.microsoft.com > Select Subscriptions tab > Locate the subscription you no longer need > Select Manage > Choose Cancel subscription and follow the on screen instructions. 

Cancel a business subscription: Sign in to https://www.office.com > Select the App Launcher in the upper left corner > Select More apps > All Apps > Open Admin. 

Alternatively, you can sign in directly to the Microsoft 365 admin center using this link: https://admin.microsoft.com/#/homepage  

Go to Billing > Select Your Products > Locate the subscription > Select Cancel subscription and follow the prompts. 

Note: If you don't see the Admin option, or if you receive an error stating that you don't have permission to access the Microsoft 365 admin center, it means your business account doesn't have an administrator role assigned. In this case, you will need to contact your organization's Global Administrator for assistance. 

I hope this information is helpful. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out at any time. Also, if you're unable to cancel the subscription from either account, please let me know which account you're experiencing the issue with, and I'll be happy to guide you further. 

Thank you for your patience and understanding. 

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