# Deactivate or delete a customer

> For the administrator: when to deactivate and when to delete a customer, what each option erases or keeps and why the deletion may be refused.

Source: https://vendria.com/en/ajuda/desativar-ou-excluir-um-cliente

## Where to find it

In the menu, under **Customers**. On each customer's row, the **Status** column has the
switch that **deactivates** and **activates** the customer, and the **Actions** column has the trash can
that **deletes**. On a phone, the switch sits in the corner of the card. Only the administrator
sees the switch and the trash can: for the seller the column shows only **Active** or
**Inactive**.

## Deactivate or delete: which to use

- **Deactivate** is reversible and keeps everything: registration, buyers, branches,
  quotes and orders. It is the way for a customer who stopped buying, is
  blocked or was absorbed by another.
- **Delete** erases the customer for good, and is only accepted for a customer who has **never
  bought**. It is the way for a duplicate registration or one created by mistake.

When in doubt, deactivate.

## How to deactivate a customer

1. In **Customers**, find the customer.
2. Click the switch in the **Status** column. The text beside it changes from **Active** to
   **Inactive** and the row turns faded.

To reactivate, click the switch again. The change takes effect immediately.

## What changes when the customer is inactive

- That customer's **buyers** no longer have its stores in the catalog.
- Whoever writes on WhatsApp as a buyer of that customer receives **"Hi! Your buyer
  account is temporarily deactivated. Contact your seller
  for more information."**, and Dri does not build an order.
- The customer is no longer offered in customer searches: when building a quote and
  in the seller's portfolio over WhatsApp.
- Existing quotes and orders **do not change**: they stay in the **Quotes**
  list, with their history.

Nothing is erased. Reactivating brings everything back as it was.

⚠️ A customer import by spreadsheet without the **Status** column reactivates the
customers it updates. See [Import customers by spreadsheet](/en/ajuda/importar-clientes-por-planilha).

## How to delete a customer

1. In **Customers**, click the trash can (**Delete**) on the row.
2. The **Remove Buyer Company** window asks for confirmation and says how many
   buyers are linked to the customer.
3. Click **Remove**. The message **Buyer company removed** confirms it.

## What deletion erases along with it

Deleting takes with it, with no way back:

- the customer's **branches**;
- the **buyers'** links to the customer (the people's accounts keep
  existing, but they stop buying through it);
- the per-store access, the price table and the customer's discounts;
- ⚠️ the **quotes that never became an order**: drafts, pending,
  awaiting the customer, expired and rejected ones of that customer are erased with it.

If there is a proposal in progress you want to keep, do not delete: deactivate.

## When deletion is refused

If the customer has any document that became a purchase (**Confirmed**, **Exported**
or **Cancelled**), deletion is refused with **Could not delete** and the
reason: **Company has N document(s) that became orders (status: …). Handle
those documents before deleting.** Nothing is erased.

This is on purpose: sales history is not erased through this door. For that
customer, the way is to **deactivate**. Erasing anyway, taking the order history
along, only a platform administrator can do: the screen itself says
so.

## Common questions

- **I deleted a customer registered twice and its quotes disappeared.** The
  quotes that were not yet orders are erased with the customer. To avoid losing them,
  link those quotes to the right customer before deleting the duplicate.
- **What about the buyer of an inactive customer?** Their account keeps existing, but
  that customer's stores no longer apply to them; if they are also a buyer
  of another active customer, they keep buying through that other one.
- **I deactivated it and the customer is still in the list.** That is expected: the inactive one stays in the
  **Customers** list, faded, so it can be reactivated.
- **Can the seller delete?** No. Deactivating and deleting belong to the administrator.