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---
title: Suspending or terminating a service in WHMCS
panel: WHMCS
symptoms:
  - asked to stop a service
  - abuse on a site
  - service needs switching off
  - service needs switching back on
  - please terminate this service
  - suspend the service for now
  - turn the service back on
  - cancel this one service not the whole account
  - the site is being abused
---

# Suspending or terminating a service in WHMCS

## 1. Establish which of the three is being asked for

**Why:** suspend, terminate and cancel are three different states with
three different consequences. Suspend stops the service and keeps the
account. Terminate ends the service and starts the account's data
retention clock down. Cancel is the customer's own request and it has
its own notice period. Choosing the wrong one is expensive to undo.

**In WHMCS:** the service record shows its current status and what each
status means for the account.

**In the terminal:** the API call `getclientsproducts` returns the
status and the expiry and cancellation dates for each service.

**Care:** this only reads.

- https://developers.whmcs.com/api-reference/getclientsproducts/

## 2. Suspend first when there is abuse, investigate second

**Why:** if a site is sending spam, is defaced, or is the subject of an
abuse complaint, suspend it before you investigate. It stops the harm
continuing and it stops your server's IP reputation taking the damage,
which affects every other customer on the same server. A suspended
service keeps its files and its mail.

**In WHMCS:** the service's suspend button.

**In the terminal:** the API call `modulesuspend`.

**Care:** the customer's site goes offline the moment you do this. Say
so, and say why.

- https://developers.whmcs.com/api-reference/modulesuspend/

## 3. Unsuspend only once the cause is gone

**Why:** unsuspending a site that is still sending spam puts it straight
back into the same complaint, and by then the IP has taken more damage.
Check what caused it, fix it, and only then put it back.

**In WHMCS:** the service's unsuspend button.

**In the terminal:** the API call `moduleunsuspend`.

**Care:** this puts the service back in front of the public. Make sure
the reason is actually fixed first.

- https://developers.whmcs.com/api-reference/moduleunsuspend/

## 4. Terminate only when the account is genuinely finished

**Why:** termination ends the service and the account's data follows the
notice period. Terminating to solve a problem that a suspension solves
loses the customer's data and creates a complaint that is much harder to
resolve than the original fault.

**In WHMCS:** the service's terminate button.

**In the terminal:** the API call `moduleterminate`.

**Care:** this is the least reversible action in the area. Say what it
does to the data, and get the customer's agreement in the ticket before
you do it.

- https://developers.whmcs.com/api-reference/moduleterminate/

## 5. Record the reason on the ticket every time

**Why:** every suspension and every termination needs a note with the
reason and the date. It is the difference between an action you can
explain to the customer next week and one you cannot, and it is what
stops the same decision being made twice by two people who both think
the other one did it.

**In WHMCS:** add a note to the ticket.

**In the terminal:** the API call `addticketnote`.

**Care:** notes are internal, but they are also the record you will be
quoting from later. Write them for whoever reads them in six weeks.

- https://developers.whmcs.com/api-reference/addticketnote/