The countdown and the due date disagree

They measure different things. On any request you have paused they will not match, and both are correct.

What each one is

The due date is a calendar date. It is what you tell the requester, and it moves later when a clock is paused or extended.

The countdown is how much of your allowed time is still left. It runs only while the clock is running, and it stops while the clock is paused.

How to see why they differ

1. Open the request.
2. Read SLA Details in the right rail.
3. Click Time ledger.
4. Read the periods listed under each clock. Each shows whether the clock was running or paused, which status the request was in, and when that period started and ended.

Those paused periods are the whole of the difference. Your due date absorbed them. Your countdown did not.

Which one to quote

Quote the due date to a requester, because it is a date they can act on.

Use the countdown for your own planning, because it tells you how much working time you actually have left. A request showing a comfortable date and very little remaining time is one to start today.

A deadline is missed on time used, not on the date

You are in breach when time used passes your allowed window, not simply when the date arrives.

So a request you paused for a week can be past its original date and still be fully compliant. The reverse also holds: where your window is short and the working time is gone, a request can breach while the date on screen still looks reassuring.