When does the salesforce Account ID change?

Question

A client just reported that his website to Salesforce integration is not working properly. It appeared that Account ID which is needed for executing REST queries has changed, so that I was using a non-existent Account ID.

I've had a look in the Account history log in SF, but nothing there said anything about any updates to it's ID. I am 99% sure I was using the correct Account ID before, as I always test all features before handing out the project. Any ideas how could this happen?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Account IDs do not change, ever*.

* unless they are deleted, either to be brought back later (Acct Id will be different) or merged into another account. It is also plausible (I have no idea about this one, I'm just spitballing) that they could change if your data are migrated to another instance (e.g. na10 -> na11)

That said, hardcoding IDs should be avoided if at all possible -- it's virtually always possible, and if it isn't it should be documented extensively and unambiguously -- because they will be different in the sandbox, where you are presumably doing your testing. You do test in the sandbox, right?