If you’re just not getting what you want to out of Skype, and/or want to see what a different program like Skype has to offer, you may want to delete your account. Unfortunately, they don’t exactly make getting rid of your account an easy affair. There are two things that you should do if you want to cancel your account: delete your personal information on Skype (which is optional, but useful), and contact Skype’s customer service department (which is mandatory).
To delete your Skype information:
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Log into your Skype program.
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Click the Skype menu, and then click My Account.
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Under “Settings and Preferences”, click Edit Profile.
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Beside “Personal Information”, click Edit.
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Delete your information from the form, or replace it with gibberish and random selections.
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Click Save.
To delete your Skype account:
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Log into your account.
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Choose Deleting an Account as your help topic, and Deleting an Account as your related problem. Then click Next.
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Click Text Chat Support.
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Click Start Chat.
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Tell Skype’s technical support team that you want to delete your account.
Simple, right? Or perhaps a bit too simple? Okay, we hear you. We’ve outlined both processes in more depth below, including screenshots that will give you an idea of where everything you need to click is.
Detailed instructions on how to remove your personal information from Skype
You don’t necessarily have to remove your personal information on Skype in order to cancel your account, but it does make you more difficult to find while you’re waiting for its customer service department to close your account.
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Open your Skype desktop program and log in.
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Click the Skype menu at the top of the screen, and then select My Account.
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You will be taken to your account page on Skype’s website. Scroll to the bottom of the screen, and under “Account Details (Settings and Preferences)”, click Edit Profile.
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In the top-right corner of the window that says “Personal Information”, click Edit.
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There are certain information fields that Skype won’t save if they’re blank, so just click in the text boxes and write gibberish, and click the drop-down menus and select random options. Then click Save.
Detailed instructions on how to get Skype customer service to delete your account
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Go to Skype’s support request page at https://support.skype.com/support_selection.
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You may be asked to log in again. Click in the boxes highlighted in the screenshot below and type in your Skype name and password, respectively. Then click Sign Me In.
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Click the drop-down menu labelled “Choose a Help Topic” and select Deleting an Account. Then, click the drop-down menu labelled “Choose a Related Problem”, and select Deleting an Account again. Then click Next.
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When asked for a contact method, click Text Chat Support.
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When you’re ready to chat with a representative, click Start Chat.
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Now, all you have to do is tell the representative that you want to permanently close your account and have your Skype name removed from its directory. They will probably ask you some questions in order to walk you through the process, so answer them as honestly as you can.
Notes about closing your account
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It can take up to about a month for Skype to close your account. During that time, people can still find and contact you on Skype (though this will be more difficult if you followed the steps above to delete your personal information).
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Though deleting your account will remove your Skype name from the directory, it will not remove it from the contact lists of people who have added you as a contact, unless they choose to remove it themselves. However, those people will still be unable to contact you through Skype.
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All Skype Credit and subscriptions you currently have will be lost when your account is closed, so be sure to use as much of them as you can before that happens!
Hopefully, all will go well, and your Skype account will be permanently gone! Just make sure to use up as many of your credits and subscriptions as you can before deleting your account, because you can’t get them back!
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