Square Credit Card Reader Review by a Business Owner

square credit card processing logo
3.5/5
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How did they treat you? ▼

Company Overview

This article is focused on credit card processing using Square for established businesses and industries, such as retail, food service, and ecommerce. The article provides an in-depth review of Square's point of sale options and card readers, as well as an analysis of user reviews. It also examines common complaints and fees associated with Square's credit card processing, comparing them to traditional merchant services companies.

Square's Card Reader and POS

We will also provide an analysis of Square's card readers and point-of-sale options, including the Square Reader for contactless and chip as well the company's retail and restaurant POS. These hardware options are compatible with a range of mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, making them an attractive option for businesses that require a portable payment processing solution.

Square's Additional Features and Services

Additionally, we will cover various services provided by Square, such as its Kitchen Display System, Square Terminal, and Integrated Reservation and Waitlist Management. Readers who are interested in Square's specific services can find more detailed reviews through links provided in the article.

Square User Reviews

User reviews are a crucial factor to consider when choosing a credit card processing provider. This article provides an analysis of user reviews, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of Square's services as reported by actual customers. We also cover common complaints about Square's services, such as issues with customer support, funding holds, and account stability. By highlighting these complaints, we aim to help business owners understand potential pain points and make informed decisions about whether Square is the right provider for them.

Square's Fees

Fees are an essential consideration when choosing a credit card processing provider. This article provides an analysis of Square's fees, including transaction fees, chargeback fees, and hardware costs. We'll compare Square's fees to those of traditional merchant services companies, providing businesses with a valuable benchmark for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of Square's services.

Square Review Video Summary

Is Square Holding Your Funds Right Now?

Before we get started, thousands of merchants have reported payments frozen by Square. If you're one of the business owners that are using Square, then you might find the following resources helpful:

Started By The Original Twitter Founder

Square was founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey who also founded Twitter before it was bought by Elon Musk. The company grew rapidly and Square became a public company in 2015 under the “SQ” ticker. The Square corporation rebranded to “Block Inc” in 2021 but continues to operate it's payment processing services under the Square brand. Much of the company’s success can be attributed to its then unique take on smartphone credit card processing (See: Best Mobile Credit Card Processing Apps) and by being the first to market such technology to small businesses owners as well as everyday people.

Quick Sign-up and Intuitive Design

Signing up for Square's payment processing is simple: users simply visit Square's website to fill out a short form and await approval, which typically happens instantly. Once approved, users can choose from hardware options such as a card reader that connects to a phone or tablet via Bluetooth, or a from dedicated point-of-sale devices that can be used on a countertop or taken to the customer. Square has been so successful in the mobile credit card processing industry that it has inspired numerous competitors.

square for retails transaction rates
Square For Retail offers 3 tiers of fixed pricing.

Payment Processing Designed for Specific Industries

Square has placed particular attention on common industries with predictable sales patterns and low risk of fraud and chargebacks. Below are the business types that Square targets with its marketing.

Square for Restaurants and Bars

Square offers an extensive suite of services and products for the food and beverage industry, catering to various business types. Below, we explore Square's specialized features and solutions for quick-service restaurants, full-service restaurants, bars, food trucks, bakeries, and catering services. First we'll cover features that are found with all the industry specific POS options.

Staffing and Scheduling

Square's software solutions provide bars and restaurants with tools to manage their unique staffing needs more effectively. Time tracking and role-based permissions are two features that can help businesses manage their workforce more efficiently. Time tracking allows businesses to accurately track employee hours, manage payroll, and ensure compliance with labor laws. Role-based permissions allow businesses to assign different levels of access to employees based on their job responsibilities, ensuring that sensitive information is only accessible to those who need it.

Offline Payment Processing for Uninterrupted Operations

Square's offline mode is a valuable feature that ensures seamless payment processing even without an internet connection. This feature is particularly useful for businesses that operate in areas with limited connectivity or are prone to internet outages. With offline mode, businesses can continue to process transactions and accept payments without any interruption, reducing the risk of lost sales or dissatisfied customers. When an internet connection becomes available, Square will automatically sync all offline transactions and update the business's records. This feature provides businesses with peace of mind, knowing that they can continue to operate even in challenging environments. Overall, Square's offline mode is a useful tool that provides businesses with flexibility, reliability, and seamless payment processing.

Insights into Product Performance and Customer Preferences

Square's software solutions provide valuable reporting tools that can help restaurants gain insights into their product performance and customer preferences. By tracking sales data, restaurants can identify which menu items are most popular, track inventory levels, and make informed decisions about restocking and pricing strategies. This can help restaurants reduce waste, optimize their menu offerings, and improve their profitability.

In addition, Square's reporting features can provide restaurants with insights into customer preferences and purchasing behaviors. By analyzing sales data, restaurants can identify trends and patterns in customer behavior, such as peak ordering times or popular menu items. This can help restaurants tailor their offerings to better meet the needs of their customers and improve their overall dining experience.

Customizable Menu Options for Diverse Products

Square's software solutions offer customizable menu options and item modifiers that provide restaurant owners with the flexibility to manage a wide range of products with ease. These features allow restaurants to modify, add, or remove menu items quickly and efficiently, making it easy to keep menus up to date and to accommodate customer requests. With item modifiers, restaurants can add specific instructions or preferences to menu items, such as cooking preferences or dietary restrictions, improving the dining experience for customers.

Next, we'll cover features for specific food and beverage businesses.

Quick-Service Restaurants and Cafes:

Speedy Transactions for Fast-Paced Operations

Square Terminal and contactless payments are tools that can be beneficial for quick-service restaurants and cafes. Square Terminal is an all-in-one device that can process transactions, refunds, and print receipts. This device can help businesses save costs and streamline their checkout process. Contactless payments allow customers to pay quickly and securely without exchanging physical cards or handling cash. This not only speeds up the transaction process but also enhances the overall customer experience. Additionally, contactless payments can improve security and protect against fraud as sensitive payment information is encrypted and securely transmitted during the transaction process.

Mobile Ordering and Pickup Options

Square Online provides an option for quick-service restaurants and cafes to offer mobile ordering and pickup to their customers. This feature caters to the on-the-go nature of customers who want to quickly and easily order their food without having to wait in line or be physically present at the location. With Square Online, customers can place their orders remotely, and then pick up their orders at their convenience. This feature provides greater flexibility and convenience to customers, improving their overall experience with the business. For quick-service restaurants and cafes, this feature can help increase sales, reduce wait times, and improve operational efficiency.

Order Management with Kitchen Display System

The Square Kitchen Display System (KDS) is a tool that aims to help quick-service restaurants manage orders efficiently and provide fast service to customers. With the Square KDS, orders are displayed on a digital screen, allowing kitchen staff to prioritize and manage them in real-time. This helps to reduce wait times, increase order accuracy, and improve overall customer satisfaction. The Square KDS also provides features such as order tracking and timers, which can help staff manage their workload and ensure that orders are prepared and delivered in a timely manner. By streamlining the order management process, the Square KDS can help quick-service restaurants improve their operational efficiency, reduce errors, and provide a better experience for their customers.

Square Kitchen Display Example

Full-Service Restaurants:

Table and Floor Plan Management

Square provides a range of features and tools that enable quick-service restaurants to manage their dine-in services more efficiently. One of the key features of Square for restaurants is its comprehensive table and floor plan management tools. With these tools, restaurants can create and manage floor plans, assign tables to servers, and monitor table status in real-time. This allows staff to coordinate their services more effectively, ensuring that tables are assigned to servers efficiently and orders are taken and delivered promptly.

Pay-at-the-Table Functionality

Square Terminal's pay-at-the-table functionality allows customers to pay for their meals directly at the table with their credit cards. This feature reduces wait times and provides a more secure transaction process.

Integrated Reservation and Waitlist Management

Square's Integrated Reservation and Waitlist Management system provides quick-service restaurants with a useful tool to manage their reservation and waitlist processes. With this system, restaurants can manage their reservations and waitlists in one place, simplifying the process and reducing errors. Customers can easily make reservations online, and restaurants can manage them with real-time updates, reducing the risk of overbooking or other scheduling conflicts.

Bars and Nightclubs:

Inventory Management Features

Square's inventory management tools enable bars an nightclubs to track their alcohol and ingredient stock levels. This feature helps businesses monitor their inventory in real-time and ensures that they have enough supplies. Additionally, Square's inventory management tools provide insights into which items are popular and which ones need to be restocked, allowing bar owners to make informed decisions about their inventory management strategies.

Tab Management for Accurate Billing

Square's payment system simplifies opening and closing tabs, reducing billing errors and ensuring accurate charges. With features like tab management and easy payment processing, customers can quickly and easily start and close tabs without confusion or mistakes. This improves the customer experience and helps businesses avoid costly billing errors.

Food Trucks and Mobile Vendors:

Compact and Portable Hardware Solutions

Square Terminal offers a compact, portable solution for quick setup and teardown in mobile food and beverage businesses.

Location-Based Services

Integrate location-based services with Square Online to help customers find and order from mobile vendors.

Catering and Event Services:

Scheduling and Management with Square Appointments

Square Appointments simplifies scheduling and managing events and bookings for catering services.

Efficient Invoicing and Estimates Features

Square's invoicing and estimates features streamline billing and payment management for catering clients.

Square Restaurant POS Example

Learn more about Square's food and beverage POS here.

Square Credit Card Processing for Retail Businesses

Square offers a wide range of services and products tailored to the retail industry, accommodating various retail business types. Below, we delve into Square's specialized features and solutions for brick-and-mortar stores, online retailers, pop-up shops, and specialty retailers.

Brick-and-Mortar Retail Stores

Point-of-Sale System for In-Store Sales

Square for Retail offers a comprehensive POS system with inventory management, customer profiles, and employee management tools, streamlining in-store sales and operations.

Integrated Hardware Solutions

Square Register and Square Terminal provide seamless hardware integration, simplifying transactions and enhancing customer experience.

Advanced Reporting and Analytics

Square's reporting and analytics features deliver actionable insights into sales trends, inventory management, and customer behavior.

Online Retailers

Easy-to-Use E-commerce Platform

Square Online provides a user-friendly platform for creating customizable, professional online stores that integrate seamlessly with the Square POS system.

Shipping and Pickup Options

Square offer customers a variety of shipping and pickup options, including in-store pickup, curbside pickup, and shipping integration with major carriers.

Secure Payment Processing for Online Transactions

Square's focus on providing a secure payment processing system ensures safe and reliable online transactions for customers.

Learn more about Square's retail POS options here.

Other Square Services

Since the launch of the Square card reader and mobile app, the company has rolled out several other services for both business owners and personal use. Below are links to our specific Square reviews for these services.

  • Square Register is a point-of-sale (POS) device that is intended as an all-in-one payment terminal for retail businesses. The company has options tailored for retail POS, restaurant POS, food truck POS, coffee shop POS, as well as a few others.
  • Square Online Store is an Square's online store builder for selling products over the internet.  The platform is simple to use and quick to set up. The service has no monthly fees and the only cost is the card transaction fees from your sales.
  • Square for Retail is Square's point-of-sale system specifically designed for brick-and-mortar retailers. The service is similar to Square Register but includes a revamped checkout process as well as additional features such as enhanced inventory management, employee accounts, cost of goods sold, purchase orders, vendor lists, and more.
  • Square Cash is a direct peer-to-peer cash transfer service that is linked to a user's debit card. Cash sends payments via email and smartphone and allows for free transfers of funds between users. The service is not targeted at business owners, but they may use it to make payments outside of a business setting.
  • Square Capital is a Square's business loan program that can be activated from the dashboard in the Square Register. Square Capital allows merchants to receive a large upfront cash amount and then pay that total back over time with a fixed percentage of their daily credit card sales, similar to a merchant cash advance.
  • The company has also recently launched several other service including a virtual terminal that can be used on any device, an self-serve orders app called “Square Order,” an online invoicing feature called “Square Invoices,” an online scheduler called “Square Appointments,” and an offline processing mode that enables merchants to capture payments even when their internet is down.

Industries Square Does Not Serve: Prohibited Businesses

While Square offers an extensive suite of services and products catering to a wide range of industries, there are certain businesses that it does not serve due to legal, regulatory, or compliance reasons. This short section highlights industries and business types that are prohibited according to Square's list of restricted industries. Attempting to process payments with Square in the following business types will result in your funds being withheld and the termination of your account.

Regulated Products and Services

Square does not support businesses that deal in the sale or distribution of regulated products and services, such as narcotics, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, e-cigarettes, firearms, ammunition, and explosives. The company does, however, provide payment processing for CBD businesses (See: Best CBD Payment Processors)

Adult Content and Services

Businesses involved in adult entertainment, products, or services—including but not limited to pornography, escort services, and adult live chat features—are not supported by Square (See: Best Adult Industry Payment Processors).

Financial and Legal Services

Square does not cater to businesses offering certain financial and legal services, such as investment and credit services, bankruptcy attorneys, collection agencies, and payday loans (See: Best High-RIsk Merchant Account Providers).

Gambling and Betting

Businesses involved in gambling, lottery, or betting activities, including online gambling sites, sports forecasting, and odds-making, are not supported by Square (See: Best Merchant Accounts for Gambling Businesses).

Illicit or Unethical Activities

Square prohibits any business involved in illicit or unethical activities, including those that promote hate speech, harassment, discrimination, or that violate intellectual property rights.

High-Risk Products and Services

Businesses dealing with high-risk products or services, such as telecommunications equipment, prepaid phone cards, phone unlocking services, or those that pose a high risk of fraud or chargebacks, are not supported by Square (See: Best High Risk Payment Processors).

Pros & Cons
Pros: Cons:
Simple Pricing Poorly Rated Customer Support
Mobile, E-Commerce, and POS Doesn't Serve All Business Types
Versatile Expensive For High Volume Businesses
Easy to Use Numerous Customer Complaints

Square Customer Reviews

Here's What Their Clients Say

Customer Reviews Summary
Total Online Complaints 2,300+
Live Customer Support Active Merchants Only
Most Common Complaint Fund Holds
Lawsuits Yes

Square Alternatives

We recommend Helcim as the top alternative to Square. Both services offer an easy to use mobile payment processing device that works with most mobile devices and tablets. Helcim offers a month-to-month contract, no monthly or annual fees, customer support phone line, next-day funding, extremely low processing fees, and QuickBooks integration. Helcim has also been consistently reviewed as one of our top-rated processors since we first reviewed it almost ten years ago. We feel that the company provides all the functionality that Square offers with a much smoother customer experience. For more information please read our full Helcim Review. If you operate a “high-risk” business, please out list of high-risk credit card processors.

Where Square Falls Short

Another area that Square comes up short in this review is its customer service. Square has racked up a lot of complaints (more than 2,300 just in our comment section below). The majority of reviews complaint of virtually nonexistent phone support and funding holds. Additionally, the company has not been active in attempting to resolve online complaints.

Square / Block Lawsuits

The company has defended against several lawsuits:

  • In 2018, Square settled a class-action lawsuit filed against its food delivery service “Caviar”. The company was alleged to have withheld money from delivery workers left by customers as gratuities from 2012 to 2015 and agreed to pay $2.2 million dollars under the settlement.
  • We have found evidence of multiple other lawsuits from the last few years. In 2019 Square was accused of mishandling the way it dealt with information concerning payments for medical procedures. The suit was dismissed with prejudice later that year.
  • In another class-action suit, Square faces charges of holding large amounts of funds from merchant accounts that it deemed high risk. Square has received numerous complaints relating to these charges over the years, and this case is ongoing.
  • A 2021 class-action suit has been brought against Square and other major credit card processing companies over what the complainants call price-fixing over the use of the interchange fee.
  • A potentially major suit was brought against Square CEO Jack Dorsey in 2021, in which a Twitter shareholder claims that Twitter gives “broad access” to user data to advertisers and that Square, Dorsey’s other company, has “benefitted wildly from this disregard for privacy.” The suit has wide-ranging implications for Square if it succeeds, as it seeks to remove Dorsey from Twitter and force both companies to undergo major reforms.

Square Customer Support Options

The company appears to rely too heavily on customer service provided by email, its support forum, and social media. The company does have a customer support phone number that operates from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PDT (see How to Contact Square), but merchants and business owners must request and receive a code from the Square website in order to actually reach a representative.

Only Active Accounts Get Real-time Help

Phone support codes are only provided to active Square merchants, meaning that deactivated accounts will be unable to reach support. It is our position that deactivated accounts are the businesses who have the greatest need for phone support. Business owners who prefer to have access to full-time, in-house support staff are better off choosing a conventional merchant account provider.

Long Wait Times

Merchants are waiting up to several days for a response from Square, by phone or email. Many users also report that Square has not satisfactorily responded to their support requests. Many Square reviews report disbelief that a company as large as Square lacks direct phone support.

Beware Square Phishing Scams

At the time of a previous update, numerous non-Square users claimed to receive emails from Square regarding non-existent accounts. These emails stated that Square was having trouble depositing sales into the user’s account. It went on to instruct the to supply account details to receive their payment. These emails are very likely to be Square phishing scams. Such scams are designed to trick users into providing personal information. They do not have any connection to the actual company Square. If you receive a suspicious email regarding your Square account, forward it to [email protected].

Square Online Ratings

Here's How They Rate Online

Online Ratings Summary
Product & Service Complaints 3,626
Billing & Collection Complaints 1,115
Advertising & Sales Complaints 65
Guarantee & Warranty Complaints 18
Delivery Complaints 199

Note: We have adjusted this company’s BBB rating according to our own standards. To better understand why we adjust BBB ratings, please see our Rating Criteria.

Square’s BBB Complaints on the Rise

As of this update, the Better Business Bureau is reporting an “A+” rating for Square despite 5,023 complaints filed in the last 36 months. Square complaints have skyrocketed since we first published this review in April of 2011.

How the Complaints Break Down

Of the 5,023 total complaints, 3,626 are regarding problems with service, 1,115 with billing and collection, 199 with delivery problems, 65 with advertising and sales issues, and 18 due to guarantee or warranty issues. The BBB previously added a note stating that it has received many complaints regarding Square’s fund-withholding procedures. Square responded by quoting its Terms of Use policies and referring to the help section of its website. It does not seem to have made any tangible change to its fund-holding policy in response to this notice. Square has resolved 1,773 complaints while the remaining 3,250 either were resolved. It should be noted that fewer complaint appear to be getting resolved compared to previous updates.

What Merchants Say

Square has also received 381 informal reviews to its BBB profile, with only 6 positive in tone and 375 negative. The most recent review describes potentially fraudulent charges and a lack of customer service:

********************** took money from our new business account. A recent new startup business. They claimed it was from a different business that was closed long ago, that was in someone else’s name. It had nothing to do with us. We provided them with all the documentation they requested yet they kept trying to debit the account, costing us a lot of money in fees. We were eventually forced to close the account just to stop them from debiting. Fortunately the bank manager had been through this with customers who use ********************** before and sided with us. The ********************** “Customer Success” team was absolutely horrific. It literally took weeks to speak to a real person. They lied to us multiple times, on recorded calls. Even telling us, more than once, that the “Recovery Team” doesn’t have phones (yes, they actually said that)They have done nothing to resolve the costs they incurred us. They cannot give us any details of the supposed transaction(s), dates, company, customer or any other information on why they fraudulently (in my opinion) took money to begin with. We have, to date, spent over 40 hours trying to resolve this issue with **********************. Finally, after nearly two months a real person called. The end result was they still refuse to pay us back for what they cost us and still insist we owed them money. They offered to issue us a “******” for the amount!. The thing is, we DON’T owe them. Never have.

This merchant would be better served by one of our top-rated processors.

A “C” Performance

Due to the company’s high complaint count compared, we have adjusted the BBB’s rating to a “C” for the purposes of this review.

Square Fees, Rates & Costs

A Closer Look at The Contract

Cost & Fees Summary
Swiped Rate 2.60% + $0.10
Keyed-in Rate 3.5% + $0.15
E-Commerce Rate 2.90% + $0.30
Monthly Fees $0

Square’s Processing Fees are Simple

One of the most appealing aspects of Square for business owners is the lack of monthly or annual fees. In fact, there  are none of typical of the typical fees found with most other traditional merchant services providers, such as activation fees, monthly fees, gateway fees, PCI Compliance fees, downgrade fees, and early termination fees. Square has no additional monthly fees outside of transaction fees. This means that there are no costs incurred if a business owner doesn’t make any sales.

Fees by Transaction Type

Square used to offer a very competitively priced magnetic stripe card reader, but following the switch to chip cards in the U.S., users are encouraged to purchase the chip card reader at a still-low cost of only $49. The company offers a single processing fee option for all merchants using Square Reader or Square Register.

Square’s fees are:

  • 2.6% + $0.10 for swiped transactions
  • 3.5% + $0.15 for keyed-in transactions
  • 2.9% + $0.30 per sale through Square e-commerce

How Square’s Costs Compare

Square’s swipe rate is about 0.80% higher than what a business could achieve with a well-negotiated traditional merchant account. The keyed-in rate is about 1% higher for the same industries. If you are new business and looking for competitive rates, see our recommended credit card processors. If you are an established business looking for lower fees, consider our independent statement audit service to eliminate hidden processing costs.

High Volume Businesses, Heed Caution

Square does not verify the credit history of its prospective customers so it uses sophisticated systems to avoid fraud losses. The company states that there are no transaction limits, per sale or month. However, such marketing is misleading because numerous Square reviews report that large sales trigger funding holds. Additional, reviews also reports that a high number of sales over a short period can trigger a hold. The policies regarding such holds are not disclosed and no advance warning is given.

Square’s Previous Rolling Reserve Policy

Until November 2013, Square placed holds on funds of card-not-present sales if over $2,002 was charged within any seven-day period. This meant that if a merchant processed $2,100 in sales within seven days, the extra $98 would be held by Square for 30 days. This policy caused confusion among users because Square did not provide any warning before the $2,002 limit was reached. Square now says that merchants can process transactions of any type and size without worrying about a processing limit, but this is not entirely true.

Related: How to Stop Square From Holding Your Money

Square’s Current Fraud Triggers

Square’s current primary tactic to limit fraud is less transparent than its previous rolling reserve policy, which is why it has a low score in this section. Square seems to rely on undisclosed algorithmic “risk factors” to automatically hold business transactions that it considers suspicious. The payment processing system appears to flag many legitimate transactions, causing problems for some merchant accounts. Complaints have emerged that Square has randomly placed lengthy holds (over 30 days) on funds, even those swiped in person, without explanation or notification. When a transaction is flagged, Square will either contact the merchant for more information about the merchant or transaction, or deactivate the merchant’s account.

More Transparency Needed For Risky Transactions

This protocol lets Square publicly claim that it does not hold merchants’ funds because the withheld funds technically belong to “deactivated” Square merchants instead of “active” Square merchants. Square’s policies on fund holding and risk mitigation are very unclear and make the service risky for higher volume merchants. Square needs to do a better job of educating merchants about transactions that could lead to account deactivation. Steps the company could take include issuing a warning before processing transactions that will be held, immediately informing merchants when transactions have been held, and communicating with merchants throughout the hold process.

Some Minor Improvements Could Raise Square’s Rating

In most respects, Square has favorable pricing and contract terms for merchants. It has a simple signup process, affordable equipment costs, no monthly fees or long-term contracts, and easy-to-understand pricing. However, sudden account deactivation can greatly impact a merchant’s operations, so the grade for this section will not reach “A” until Square improves its risk mitigation procedure.

Square Employee Reviews & Sales Tacitcs

Should You Work For Them?

Jobs & Marketing Summary
Employs Independent Resellers No
Advertises Transparent Rates Yes
Discloses All Important Terms No
Telemarketing/Door-to-Door No

Working at Square, Employee Sentiment

We take into account a company’s employee sentiment as it can have a direct impact on the client experience. Overall, employee reviews of Square have been positive, with many employees praising the company’s innovative culture, talented colleagues, and commitment to diversity and inclusion. Many also appreciate the opportunities for career growth and development, as well as the company’s focus on work-life balance and employee well-being.

However, some reviews have also highlighted challenges such as long work hours and high expectations, as well as issues with communication and transparency. Additionally, some employees have raised concerns about pay and benefits, particularly for those in entry-level or support roles.

Overall, Square appears to be a highly regarded employer, with a strong focus on innovation, employee development, and diversity and inclusion. However, as with any workplace, there may be some areas for improvement, and individual experiences may vary.

How Square is Different from Traditional Merchant Account Providers

Square differs greatly from traditional credit card processors in how it markets its POS systems and sells its service. Most merchant account providers hire poorly trained outside independent agents.  These agents are trained to set high fees in exchange for big commissions. Square instead relies on online marketing and partnerships and does not hire outside sales agents. Nearly all of Square’s users sign up directly through the homepage of the company’s website. Square has also benefited from an enormous amount of online buzz and word-of-mouth promotion.

Beware of Processing Limitations

Square markets its pricing with a straightforward and easy-to-understand message. However. the company fails to mention anything about its fraud mitigation policies. These policies have caused significant problems for many businesses and some have complained of large financial losses. Numerous Square reviews accuse the company of misleading marketing. These complaints stem from the company’s fund holding policies and lack of warning on the type of transactions that can trigger holds. There are several industries, that can be found on this page,  deemed as “high-risk” that will find themselves at the mercy of Square’s underwriting and fraud prevention systems.  Such businesses would be better served by a high-risk merchant account.

Our Square Review Summary

Our Final Thoughts

Square is a great card processing option for entry level and low volume businesses. The company is definitely on the right track with providing an easy credit card processing solution with no long-term commitments and no monthly fees. However, several Square reviews from high volume merchants report murky fund holding policies and poor customer support. It appears that Square is best suited for individuals or small business owners who have an occasional need to accept a credit card payment, such as babysitters, flea market vendors, or small retail and restaurant businesses. The service does not appear to be a good fit for merchants that either have a high volume of credit card sales or that sell high-ticket items.

Learn even more about Square’s services here.

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Which is Most Important for You?

If you had to pick one, which quality would you say will be the most important with your next credit card processor? Tap or click your selection to register your vote:

  1. Low Transaction Fees
  2. No Monthly Fees
  3. No Contract
  4. Reliable Customer Support
  5. Quick Signup

Testimonials & Complaints

How Did Square Treat You?

2193 User Reviews

  • Deborah Billings

    The Firm Cryo Spa & Wellness Center

    DO NOT USE SQUARE – THEY ARE CROOKS!! I set up an account with Square to process payments specifically for Spa Finder Gift Cards. The account processes them seamlessly. I began in May 2023 and the funds never transferred to my account. I kept thinking I had something set up wrong and kept trying different settings and re-entering my account info. When I finally gave up and called them to ask for help setting up, they said they would have to refer me to another department higher up for review and they would email me. I instantly received an email stating my account has been deactivated. They stated that my funds will be released in February of 2024. (This was November 8, 2023). No explanation…nothing. Every time I call they say “the decision is final.” They will not forward me to a supervisor or anyone else… Always…the decision is final. I even had my banker call them and tell them the code and laws stating this is illegal to hold the funds for 10 months. I cannot speak with anyone and they only send generic email saying “account is deactivated”. They are holding over $5K of my money and I am a small, local business…this is literally my payroll. I do not know what else to do. How are they legally allowed to do this?

  • Karen O'Connor

    Square is horrible! I used them prior to covid, but my business hit a bump. This year, I was able to start back up and I used Square – and now they are not only charging me the fees, they decided for no reason to hold onto my funds (significant amount) for 3 months before they will release the money into my bank account.
    Now, I am basically screwed again. I tried calling Square, besides sitting on hold for so long – they said they could give me no information as to why they “deactivated” my account, but also they are holding onto over $20,000 of my client’s funds. I can’t hire an attorney, it is taking all my money to get my business started again. NEVER was I asked to give any information, in fact I continued getting information from Square stating to continue taking transactions. It wasn’t until after they accepted the transactions did they decide to ask for more information on my business. I supplied them with everything they needed. I went to transfer my money from the transactions into my bank but I got the surprising notice, “We are deactivating your account and holding your funds for 3 months”. This is outrageous. I even called my bank and they said they had never heard of a company allowed to hold funds for 3 months without any explanation at all. SCAM

  • Jo Carr

    The Gypsy's Farmhouse

    My Square system has been malfunctioning for over a year. I have been relentlessly trying to get resolution for a very VERY long time. Today I have told them I will hold all day to get to the bottom of my issues with Square. I am a small business owner who works 7 days a week. I know they are hoping I just go away and give up. I won’t. I had to purchase a new card reader for $50. They sent it to me. It did not work. I asked them to expedite a new one, they sent regular UPS. My system is now operating worse than it was before I tried to change out the card reader. I have lost thousands of dollars in sales from a glitch in their system. Merchandise that was “sold” to customers that we never received payment for, but I have had to pay my vendors. I have been sick over this and finally had a nice lady by the name of Maria tell me they would give me $3,000 in processing fees and I was so excited to get part of my money back. I am now being told I was misinformed. This is after months of promises that someone in management would call me back to help resolve issues. No one has ever called me back. Square is the absolute worst and I will be changing processing companies as soon as possible! BUYER BEWARE!

  • Tony

    QC CHARGE

    My comments are likely much that same as every other. Square is a mess.

    I started with them several years ago, but at the time, we were doing MILLIONS of dollars in business with PayPal. Heck, I borrowed over $500,000 from PayPal, with the click of a button. Super easy. But, like all good things, PayPal had a hiccup with us, so we started using our Square account.

    At first, things went quite smoothly, particularly for the middle of COVID in 2020. Then, fast forward to 2022, when we had a charge-back. Like every charge-back we have ever had, we lost, and the “customer” got all the money (and it was a sizable amount). This is shared by ALL the credit card companies… the customer will win 95% of the time.

    Then, we had a two other charge-backs, both from the same customer. Both disputed amounts were “thousands” of dollars. We also had a charge-back on our PayPal account, too.

    Square immediately cancelled our account. Here’s where is gets weird… we WON ALL THREE of these most recent charge-backs!!! Never in ten years of business have we EVER won a charge-back, and now we won three in a row.

    But, we are fighting with Square to release the money. Of course, they TAKE the money IMMEDIATELY, as soon as they get the charg-back. You, the merchant, is a criminal until proven innocent.

    And, even with a “win”, we will probably have to sue them to get our money. Then, I have no idea how we will collect it, WHEN we win.

    Block, Inc.
    Attn: Square Arbitration Provision
    PO Box 427069
    San Francisco, CA 94142

  • Joao Vieira

    harmonic Alpha LLC

    You report them to the attorney general ,if you can’t find an attorney to sue them , for violation of their advertising and antitrust laws, you complain to Attorney general, or State attorney.

  • Joao Vieira

    Harmonic Alpha LLC

    I am involving AG , they are engaging in deceitful advertising practices.

    They stopped my payment processing without any reason whatsoever, but I was getting pissed off this time, and they tried to save face.

    They scam people when they promise instant transfers, that they don’t deliver/process.. initially, when I was setting up my account, I gave them some slack…but, no longer.. now , they have my money.. I lost yesterday $1,000 because of them.

  • John Creo

    Creo Construction Services Inc

    They have been holding my money for months. I get no where with them when I call. They just keep telling me my account is under review and the will expedite it but nothing ever happens. I’m out over $100K not good!

  • Travis

    I use Weebly for my website and was forced into connecting with Square. I made one or two sales through Square before deleting my shop from my website. Then Square got hacked and my account was deactivated. Now I cannot log into Weebly or Square and there’s no method of contact for either. Today I received an email from Square stating they plan to take $488 from my personal bank account due to a dispute over sales made while my account was hacked. I did not even have an online shop when I was hacked! Now what??!

  • Mike

    Square is a totally rip off company. My wife is being denied her money. Someone should put this company out of business once and for all. Non US based terrible customer support. Next stop: Attorney General office in California.

  • P. Julian

    Unfortunately, we’ve also become a “victim” of squareup. They’re ‘blackmailing’ us with our own money for info that their rep told us they wouldn’t need. Our 1st charge went thru with no probs. Now, the 2nd and 3rd charges (the big $ ones) are being ‘held’ until we provide more info. They even did this info request in a shady way: they started it with 7 questions. We answered them, now they have 5 more. We specifically asked the sales rep if they would need bank statements and other financial data. We didn’t want to have to provide this info (too time consuming) and were excited when she said “no, just sign up and start accepting payments.” Technically, she didn’t lie. We didn’t have to provide any of this during the sign up. Morally, she lied her butt off. Once we signed up and had some charges in our acct, they slapped a hold on our pay outs. They’re not only asking for bank info, tax records, gov’t licenses; but they also want our customer info too. Including: names, addresses, email addrs, phone #s, etc. You might not think this is a big thing, but their terms make little provision for safeguarding this info. I’m not a lawyer, but I’ve read over the terms (general & payment) again and I see nothing that indicates they would or could do this. This is truly nothing short of blackmail except they have the money upfront. Now they want all of our company data to resell. Honestly, there’s no other reason they’d need this info. We have a physical card reader and service with another major worldwide company who didn’t require any of this. This is a scam of the first-degree! If you don’t mind having your funds held hostage and giving up all of your company info…by all means…sign up today. As a side note: the BBB isn’t much better so don’t use their A+ rating of this company to base your decision. They protect the company that pays them for the rating, not the consumer. If a company isn’t listed with the BBB, they’ll be all over them with bad press and a low rating. The San Fran BBB has 520 bad reviews on their website, but they give square an A+ rating. Can you smell the rotten fish???

  • Ralph Bevilacqua

    Patriot Coatings and Concrete Restoration

    this company is a scam do not trust them i have been trying for three weeks to get my 3,000 dollars and they keep giving me the run around this is a bad choice to do business with them they will keep saying you will get and email but it never comes well you Stoll from the wrong company and a city credit card im going to my governor to let them know that the city of Tallahassee should not use SQUARE any more and let the district manager for every one who sells SQUARE KNOW what i have been threw i have recordings of their bad customer service and they admit to not even being in this country.

  • MIKAEEL ABDUL-MALIK

    NYCT

    Make sure you get your refund before you deactivate. I signed up for this service. I was so excited about starting my online store. After about an hour of fiddling around with the service, I realized it was not good for me.That’s another story. Anyway in my confussion I for got to deactivate/cancle the account. Then I noticed they debited my bank account the folowing month. I immediatly deactivated the account. But when i attempted a refund, I could not get it because I am no longer allowed into my account even though I’m paid up for the month. I tried to call them, but if you can’t log in they won’t talk to you. This company has some shady business practices. I’m in the process of disputing it with my bank, but have to wait for the funds to clear. At that time I will let you know what happened.

  • Lorie Bridges

    Mae Ship Media

    I have recently been charged $440 by square for one of my client’s delinquencies. They have associated our accounts saying I own them both. I have sent all the paperwork they asked for – but they won’t accept any of it and will not tell me why. They just keep sending me the outline of what documents are acceptable. I would love to join a lawsuit against them. My business is helping others set up their business – and with that reasoning – they could declare me responsible for any and all client debt pertaining to that client’s square account. I am flabbergasted. They refuse to offer phone support. I never received a notice of funds due or owing until the day they withdrew those funds from my personal account. My account has never been in debt in all the years I have been with square. How can we get involved in a class action?

    • Dr. Tonia Renee Lee

      Lawton-Ft. Sill Graduate School of Theology

      I too have experienced a similar problem. Two customers charged $30.00 each for my services. Instead of crediting my account with the money, they deducted the $60.00 stating that I owed them $230.00 for a Lawn Care Service connected with my school. Thankfully, I did not have that much money in my business account, so unfortunately though it made me overdrawn by $172.00. I put a stop payment on it with my bank. They went as far as to say I owned the Lawn Care Service. I have never owned or had business with a lawn care service. It is frustrating! I had to send them the same legal papers. It is an insult to tell me I own something that I don’t and that I am going to have to pay the bill even though I don’t even own the Lawn Care Service. If you file a class action lawsuit, I will join it with you!

  • David Saunders

    Saunders Properties KC

    Square card processing service are actual thieves.

    I opened an account, received my first payment.

    Had to wait for account verification for a week. The day before the balance would of been transfered I get an email saying my account has been deactivated and I would receive my balance in 90 days.

    I replied asking why and was told they can’t tell me why and can’t send my balance for 90 days.

    I called customer support, and was also told they can’t tell me why the account was closed. I asked to escilate my call to a specialist and was told they can’t escilate calls from deactivated accounts. I asked for a phone number to their legal department and was told they can’t give out any information to calls from deactivated account and that she has to end the call…

    So your telling me,

    There is a problem,
    I can’t fix it, you can’t fix, I can’t tell you what it is, I can’t tell you who can fix it, I can’t tell you who can tell you about it, and I can’t tell you how to reach our legal department to explain why square is robbing you…

    This isn’t over….

  • Sam Land

    DLD

    Square’s customer service is terrible! Suddenly they have held our deposits for all transactions almost $25,000 without explanation. When we called we were told that 2 transactions needs to be refunded to our customer without any explanation even though they are legitimate transactions. We provided all the customer information along with invoices. They have not provided any response since. What is puzzling is why they’re holding all the transaction funds not just the 2 transactions in question. We’ve contacted them several times for details, none are provided. Even in the account where we log in, there is no information provided on charge backs if any. They sent us a no-reply email saying our funds will be held for another 15 days without any details.

    Looks like they don’t have enough money to run their operations and they’re holding all merchants money to use for their business.

    This is very frustrating and we are considering switching to another company.
    Even prior to this, the customer service never had answers on how to troubleshoot the software issues or provide any solutions. They’re not trained at all. This company is fradulent, they should be investigated by FCC, FTC and Bureau of Financial Protections.

  • Anthony Mediate

    We recently lost money because we charged on the magnetic strip of a card and that card had a chip. I inquired to Square and said that the consumer took our product, but was informed that any time that you use the magnetic strip when the card has a chip, the retailer is at risk. The consumer can take your product and deny payment to the card company because you did not use the chip. As a retailer, there is nothing you can do. I thought Square should have informed their customers. We have now switched to SumUp; they charge less per transaction and offer a chip reader for $20.

  • Mel Welch

    Nemadji

    We are a small, startup business which provide extraction services for botanicals – including hemp/CBD. My business also sells several CBD products. As the General Counsel for the company, I work to ensure that our products are compliant with FDA requirements – as well as standard regulatory requirements. Square is – soon was – our company for credit card processing.

    After working with them for several months, Square began withholding money from our transactions and claimed that we were non-compliant with regulatory requirements in statements made on our product website; I responded to their assertions and requests for information – but with every response, I received a proforma response asserting the same information. I was promised specific examples of the noncompliant parts of the website, along with screenshots, and a response within 24 hours – none of which I received. This has been repeating form now for over a week without any advancement, any accountability, and any evidence is support.

    After digging for a dozen hours, I was able to suss out that Square actually imposes a more restrictive requirement than the FDA relating to CBD therapeutic effects. The FDA does not allow companies manufacturing and selling CBD to make claims related to “structure and/or function” as to how CBD affects the body, however it does allow sales puffery. Square exceeds this requirement, disallowing any salesmanship in marketing which complies with the federal regulations but creatively markets the product. In doing so, Square asserts some plausibility behind its theft of its customer’s funds. This was made all the more difficult because Square says that the reviewing department actually cannot communicate with anyone via phone nor do they communicate via email – but only through the online form; couple that lack of communication with their refusal to identify the problem with specifics, and you can see that the department is designed to not actually fulfill its alleged function of “investigating” and correcting errors.

    If Square is going to have antipathy to CBD products, which are fully legal under Federal and State laws, it should advertise that it is not a Hemp/CBD-friendly business; instead it has caused our business to rely upon its assertions of speedy and responsive service while it has not provided the same. In doing so, it creates a risk to our business and to our employees who rely on our business. This is absolutely wrong.

    A phenomenally poor business, with poor customer service, poor communication, poor department structure, and an owner that is a tyrant. I’m currently looking at whether there are active class action lawsuits related to Square’s theft of its customer’s funds, noncompliance with its terms and conditions (i.e., breach of contract), unjust enrichment, or other bad business related actions. If anyone is familiar with one, I would be greatly appreciative if you would inform me at Nemadji.co

    • Stephanie

      LC

      Following. We were recently informed we are paying a 6% CBD related card processing rate although our restaurant does not sell any CBD related products. Do you think you can share with me the process for signing up to sell CBD products with Square? My bet is we were enrolled without our permission so they could charge 6% instead of what should have been .6% we are also a small woman owned, hispanic business on its first year and Square decides to do this. Delinquent behavior indeed

  • Sarah

    ACH is a nightmare with square but honestly my complaint is the complete lack of any customer support….3 weeks in and they still haven’t gotten back to my “respond within 24-48” email and there is NO OTHER WAY TO CONTACT them, the last 5 days I have sent an email everyday thinking that maybe that 1st email was lost but nothing. I have never had a problem with them before but we have switched everything in all 4 of my businesses away from square this week. I can’t be with a company that has NO CUSTOMER SUPPORT because when we need it…!
    The sad thing is this was a donation order for teens for “Fill Santa’s Sleigh” with gifts for foster kids. We are delivering today and tomorrow and we don’t have any donations for the teens because these funds didn’t come in. And no one pulls tags for teens, no one wants to shop for teens, its not “FUN” so we rely on our funds donations for these gifts! I am so frustrated, I am in tears!

  • Robert Maroulis

    Twisted Dish, LLC

    We are a new Food Truck business as of June 2021. We used Square without incident until 12/22/21 when we booked a large account/holiday party. The client paid for all of their employee’s meals in the amount of $3,450 via credit card. Square then came to us after using them all of this time to process credit cards without incident, asking us to verify our business. We supplied all of our business documents including all bank statements. Square then reviewed and sent an email stating they are unable to support our business needs right now and inactivated our account stating their decision is final and is now holding OUR money paid by OUR client without giving us a reason. This should NOT be legal and certainly does not seem ethical by any standards.

  • Scott Heintz

    LEGIT

    If you are looking to grow your business past only being able to process $100 tickets then DO NOT USE SQUARE they will take any large payment you process and freeze it while they audit you and request sensitive personal information from bank account statements to seeing all your invoices asking particulars about your clients. While you jump through all of these hoops just know that they are going to keep any money that you have had them process for a minimum of 90 days. On top of that no matter how much you comply THEY WILL CLOSE OUT YOUR ACCOUNT. NO MATTER WHAT. If you get to the point where they put a hold on your funds or they request any additional information know that there is no way to retain any of the money processed for 90 days and they will lock you out. All it takes is for you to have a customer pay you any large amount like $700 or $1,000. As soon as you run a high amount they seize it. EVERY TIME. They will not work with you, you can’t reason with them. I had all of my documentation down to videos of the project and they shut me down costing me OVER $4,700! Not to mention making my company look bad when they held the funds so that I couldn’t buy the material I needed for the job. After 3 days of waiting the customer backed out. If you want your company to lose thousands and look like a complete jack wad then sure use square if you actually want your buisness to get somewhere and grow USE ANY OTHER MERCHANT. Square doesnt even have live customer service!

  • Ed Lounds

    Broken Plow Farms

    I’m a new business as a vendor at a Farmers market each Saturday. We have missed some business because we don’t take cards. We’re small with limited weekly income at the market. Is there a card reader company that we can use that can service a small company like us?
    Thanks for all the info about Square and what to look for in other companies.
    ED

  • R a D

    Imbellishments

    Lost money with square. Over 50 hours no response to my emails. (855) 700-6000 everyone please note their phone number they do not provide anywhere. When they answer ask to be directed to the debit card or checking dept. And they will transfer you…. Debit card stops.working. no warning no message that anything is wrong no explanation just the usual push off, work ticket , someone will get back to you blah blah . Blessings, I had previously linked another bank account so I was able to transfer my funds away from them today after 50 hours they still.havent done a thing or communicated a thing to me. Report them to who? No federal regs on online banking services. BBB is only an advertising service for their pay to play customers. So report to who? Queen Elizabeth?

    • Rick Luppino

      Lead the way online

      I’ve been waiting over three month for $10000 they held, my only transaction and they said in 90 days I’d get it. The deactivated my account and now say another 30 said due to resent charge backs and this was my only transaction and they held it and deactivated so how are there charge backs. Total availability, affiliate awfully customer service, can’t get in touch wth them, they won’t answer an email. No one should use them.

  • Dan B.

    ABSOLUT SPORT INC.

    We went through the onboarding process and we used the services. We were able to use the card processing services but Square had been holding our funds. They said Square needed more financial documents to authorize the transaction. We provided the documents but no response for a week..

    Later, we got a note they could not support our business needs and they will deposit the funds into our account within 2 business days, probably because we are a tour operator and the pandemic places us in a high-risk business. Why they did tell us that before?? Customer service rating is 0. The account rep was clueless.

    Then they sent us another note a week later saying our funds will be held for 90 days with no explanation. This is not a 5* star company and we moved on to Stripe. Square has terrible customer service and poor crisis management. I wish we had never contacted this bad company. If you choose them be AWARE at your own risk they might hold your funds with no plausible reason .

    ABSOLUT SPORT INC.

  • Jennife

    Square is awful. I had them for over a year, then all of a sudden they had to verify my company. I sent in all my documents, tax ID, and everything they asked for. I waited the two days for them to process it, just for them to deny me and hold all my money for 90 days. When I called customer service they did not help me at all and were very rude. DO NOT USE THEM!!

  • James F Fleming

    There are some major things wrong with Square Inc. Please see below for where to complain and a few notes about my experience.

    California Department of Businesss Oversite
    https://dfpi.ca.gov/file-a-complaint/

    FTC:
    1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357), or use the complaint form at
    AND
    https://www.ftc.gov/policy/public-comments

    California Attorney General:
    https://oag.ca.gov/contact/consumer-complaint-against-business-or-company

    ADA- How to file a complaint:
    https://www.ada.gov/filing_complaint.htm

    To file a complaint with the BBB:
    https://www.bbb.org/file-a-complaint

    There’s something very, very wrong at Square. They are abusing their Business customers, withholding funds for unreasonable amounts of time, unfairly closing accounts and all without warning or reason. They have people calling you and using their name to invest money. Have a questionable stranglehold on the market. In bed with Facebook to the point of Censorship.
    Discrimination built into their verification process. No help for the disabled anf Refusal to accommodate the disabled.
    Square is also in violation of the Credit Reporting Act or the Fair Credit Billing Act.

    If you look, thousands of citizen consumers are all having these issues.
    It seems Square thinks it’s all powerful and can do this en mass now.

    And when someone needs assistance and complains, there is purposely no way to get ahold of anyone.

    Some one should do something about this. Probably time for someone to look into a class action lawsuit.

  • ANONYMUS

    anonymus

    Beware…..if you want your money do not i repeat do not use square or square up
    Company business practices should be investigated……..class action lawsuit should be
    made

    Beware beware beware

  • Elijah

    Doesn't matter. I probably have to shut my business down now

    Same as everyone else. They have witheld funds multiple times. But today in the middle of 3 projects I’m starting they froze the payments I took and the money in the square account and I was on E about 50 miles from home. I couldn’t pay my workers and I couldn’t finish buying supplies. This might actually ruin my business and reputation that I worked hard to build. They are withholding over $9k from me. Today was the last strand with them. I am beyond upset and tired of their bad business practice. I’m not sure if I’ll get the funds back. Just when I finally got ahead of things I probably have to refund these owners and still will owe my workers. Square ruins your business, it doesn’t help it. They should seriously be sued and shut down.

  • graham mueller

    holistic human hemp

    Square is hiding in the bushes waiting to rip businesses off just when they get some momentum; they hold funds for no reason, don’t have customer service and turn a blind eye to small business. Square is bad for small business.

  • Paradise

    Jumoke planned it

    Square has took money from my business, and refuses to tell me what account they have sent my funds too! They won’t even acknowledge that they have charged me a fee to instant deposit and still haven’t given
    Me my funds,

  • Dr. John W. Radke M.S. PhD.

    Buffalo Valley Counseling Center

    Square is a bad company. They took money out of my customers Credit Card $805.00 and put it my Bank. Then I had to refund the money and they charged me a transfer fee for their mistake. I emailed them 20 times and they never answered. I called them with a customer code and they said it was not vallid. What a rip off Company. If your thinking about them forget it. Go with Pay pal.

  • Thomas McEniry

    All Pro Roadside

    Square took money from our new business…
    Square took money from our new business account. A recent new startup business. They claimed it was from a different business that was closed long ago, that was in someone else’s name. It had nothing to do with us. We provided them with all the documentation they requested yet they kept trying to debit the account, costing us a lot of money in fees. We were eventually forced to close the account just to stop them from attempting to debit it. Fortunately the bank manager had been through this with customers who use Square before and sided with us.

    The Square “Customer Success” team was absolutely horrific. It literally took weeks to speak to a real person. They lied to us multiple times, on recorded calls. Even telling us, more than once, that the “Recovery Team” doesn’t have phones (yes, they actually said that) So, were have never been allowed to talk to anyone who knows why they are taking money.

    We have, to date, spent over 40 hours trying to resolve this issue with Square. Finally, after nearly two months a real person called. He, even said that the “Recovery Team” doesn’t have phones. Ridiculous!
    The end result of the conversation was they still refuse to pay us back what they cost us and still insist we somehow owe them money, but they’d give us a credit and forgive us our debt.
    The thing is, we DON’T owe them. Never have. Quite the opposite.

    Square refuses to square up with us.

  • J dynak

    Justin tyme

    Have had square for years and had fraudulent charges on my account and they knew about them and they still let it happen and now they said sorry your out the money

  • Victoria

    Closing soon after square messed my money up

    Square is a rip off I’ve been selling mask and now more apparel. They freez my account 2 weeks now. Unlock it 5 hrs. Then freeze it because of a 200 sale. Money is missing from my account. Dont use them!!! No way to call in without there fake code that doesn’t exist…

  • Mohammad zakzok

    S & M Towing, LLC

    The worst processor I’ve ever used in my life. It seems like they just want to make quick money off of their customers and then kick you to the curb and hold your money for months after working with them for years.

  • Claudette Pagano

    Square have been the most misleading, professional and illusive company that I have ever attempted to work with. Against my better judgement I gave them an opportunity and I sincerely regret it. Unacceptable and unethical business practices.

  • Amanda

    Sold a car to a lady. $2500. Square is holding my funds. I’ve submitted everything they ask me for and they keep coming back saying they need more info. So I submit it and 2 days later they can’t verify the Info. What they can’t verify the xustomers address. Bull crap. Don’t use them. They will just take your money

  • Jeff N

    Let’s be frank. When one business has another business handling > 90% of its revenue processing, it’s a business partnership. More-so when it’s been on-going for more than two years.
    For one of the partners to declare, without any warning or advance notice, that the business relationship is immediately ended, no further discussion permitted, our decision is final, is scurrilous behavior. The Small Business Community shouldn’t tolerate it. It’s unacceptable.

    During the 30-months or so I used Square for processing credit card payments to my small business, I received frequent e-mail and phone call solicitations from other payment processors. “Let’s talk!” they’d say. “We can save you money.”
    “No, Thanks.” I’d always reply. “I’m happy with Square.”

    Then, on April 20th, I was taking payment from a customer who had already received our service. I couldn’t get the card reader work. I tried again, and noticed the app was asking for my business address and banking info – as if I was just starting with Square. This was how I learned Square had deactivated my account. I still don’t know why.

    Square Customer Service says “Refer to the email we sent to the business email address on file with Square.” I looked in every folder of that email address. I was never sent an email regarding a violation of terms or deactivation of my account.
    The abrupt halt to my company’s ability to accept card payments has caused real, but probably short term, harm to my small business. Shame on you, Square. You should be ashamed.

  • Virginia Quade

    We are a brand new business and Square has held our funds on our first transaction for over 2 weeks! We are an active account ( I assume since they accepted the payment from our customer), but I cannot get a customer code to contact support! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. How do I get this resolved?

  • loannroe

    I have a terrible time trying to file sales tax for 2 years. The numbers does not match. Sales tax percent does not match. And customer service doesn’t know either. I have a hard time proving my numbers to the IRS because it is all wrong. Does anyone have this problem.?

  • Brian

    Signed up with Square thinking it was a simple and less costly option than my traditional card processor. The virtual terminal looked simple and first transaction when as expected – funds transferred to bank account just fine. The very next day processed $700 of charges – bad news as I was informed our account was disabled and funds would be held for a minimum of 90 days. It’s a hopeless situation as they don’t have customer service. I hope I get the funds after the 90 days, but after reading the reviews, I don’t know. I guess I’ll contact my representatives and senators to alert them of the bad business behavior of this company. Don’t be lured by the simplicity, and simple fees – DO NOT USE SQUARE FOR YOUR CREDIT CARD PROCESSING!

  • ROCKY ALAN BURGESS

    Square got me. I used them for years and now they want info they already process and keep asking for it over and over. Holding nearly 4k. They are thieves. I called 855-700-600 put in my customer code( a problem in itself) and was put through to account services only to be insulted and accused of being a possible criminal. If you have them leave now. Your turn is coming. This company is a ripoff. Time for a class action.

  • Bill

    Back in October I enabled Square Payments on my Big Commerce website. Everything was fine the 1st two months, then in December I sold an item to someone who used Square Pay (mind you, this is THEIR OWN application). Before I had a chance to pack and ship it out I got an email from Square requesting all sorts of verification information…

    Hello William,

    Our system noticed some unusual activity on your Square account. To make sure we’re keeping Square a safe and transparent payment system for everyone—buyers and sellers alike—we’re suspending transfers to your bank account until we can confirm some of your information.

    1. Please provide a copy of the customer(s) credit card processed for the transaction listed below:
    • $96.50 MasterCard 2352 on 12/9/20, 12:10 pm

    2. Please provide your customer’s state or government-issued identification. We’re able to accept these types of IDs: Driver’s License, Passport, Passport Card, State-issued Identification Card
    • $96.50 MasterCard 2352 on 12/9/20, 12:10 pm

    Again, this was an ONLINE sale, on my own website, using Square’s plug-in app for the Big Commerce platform… how would I have access to any of this information?!  I emailed with someone from support named “Paris” but they never responded to my email after answering thier questions.

    I sent them a follow-up email a few days later:

    Hello Paris,

    Due to this experience I have disabled Square as a payment method on our website. I may re-enable it, it depends upon the outcome of this horrible ordeal. Why did Square approve the transaction, then act like I am the one doing something wrong? It was a website payment for a toy using the Square integration with Big Commerce. I’ve never had anything like this happen with PayPal, whom we’ve been using for 15 years!  Invoice is attached, it is now 8 DAYS OLD!!

    I never received a response, but the next day I got this email from “Joseph”:

    Hi William,

    Your account is currently under review due to some changes in your activity. While under review, we place a temporary hold on your Square funds to ensure that everything is safe. To release this hold, we’ll just need you to confirm a few account details for us.

    They wanted the same 2 pieces of information that I do not have access to as it is an eCommerce website!

    My response:

    Hello Joseph,

    This is RIDICULOUS!   It was a website order, therefore I do not have a copy of the customer’s credit card or identification!  I’ve submitted the invoice online and also via email yesterday to ‘Paris’. WHY is Square harassing me about a transaction approved and authorized via the Square integration for my Big Commerce website?!  I have been using PayPal on our website for 15 years without one single problem.  I enable Square a couple of months ago, and now my funds are frozen!!!!

    His response:

    Hi William,

    Thank you for taking the time to reply my email. We are more than happy to help!

    Unfortunately, we weren’t able to fully confirm your account details with the information you provided. Until we receive a completed request form from you, we cannot transfer funds to your linked bank account.

    That was on Dec. 18th with no further communication either way.

      

    I received this email today:

    Hello William,

    We’re sorry to inform you that we’ve had to deactivate your account. Based on the information you provided about your business, we’re not able to support your business needs right now. You won’t be able to process payments with Square. Unfortunately, this decision is final.

    Is this some sort of sick joke?! 

    I disabled your platform over 3 months ago, and now you’re dropping me? As the owner of a physical retail store and a successful eCommerce website, I had already determined that your system cannot be trusted. LMAO

  • Everett L WALLER

    We have been square customers for over 6 years and today they cancelled or service without any notice. The email they sent at 9am this morning said we were not compliant with section 3 and some other section. We tried to call them and find out what we did or what we can do we couldn’t even get connected. As soon as you enter your customer code they tell you your account has been deactivated. This has got to be the worse company I have ever dealt with. I advise no one to do business with them . Now we are having to scramble to find a vendor so we can continue to operate. If I had the money to spare I would sue the hell out of them.

  • Hazel C. Andrews

    DON’T USE SQUARE,

    AFTER PROCESSING WITH SQUARE FOR SOMETIME – MY ACCOUNT WAS DEACTIVATED, AN EMAIL WAS SENT STATING THAT THEY WONT BE ABLE TO SUPPORT MY ACCOUNT ANY FURTHER. AT THAT POINT I HAD A LITTLE OVER 2,500.00 IN MY SQUARE ACCOUNT. THEY NEEDED 90DAYS TO VERIFY CHARGEBACKS. THE 90DAYS WAS TODAY, I GOT AN EMAIL FROM THEM STATING THAT THEY WILL NEED AN ADDITIONAL 45DAYS TO RELEASE THE FUNDS DUE TO THE CHARGE BACKS. I HAVE NEVER HAD A CHARGE BACK, AS THE CLIENTS THAT INITIALLY PAID FOR THE SERVICE HAS CONTINUED WITH OUR SERVICE. THE RECORD ALSO DOES NOT REFLECT NEITHER WAS I MADE AWARE FROM SQUARE THAT ANY CUSTOMER HAS REQUESTED TO A REFUND, OR BANK RETURN. IF YOU ARE WANTING TO LOSE MONEY DURING THIS TIME AND HAVE A COMPANY TURN YOU OFF AND HOLD ON TO WHAT IS YOURS, GO FOR IT – OTHERWISE SEEK ANOTHER PAYMENT GATEWAY.

  • Elizabeth

    Square is the WORST credit card processor. I would not walk but run far away from them. After processing around 10-20K/month for 6+ months and purchasing their POS system, they placed a rolling reserve on our account at 20% of our processed sales for 120 days and a payment processing limit of 20K – so not only are they holding 8K worth of our sales for 4 months, we cannot process anymore credit cards this month. This was with ZERO chargebacks and submitting all the supporting docts for their review which was approved. We are a storefront retail business, and not on their prohibited list either. When I called their support line, their response was literally to find another processor which is what we did. Square is a complete scam and should be held accountable for the strangehold they are placing on small businesses during a pandemic.

  • Keith Thomas

    Today I received a email telling me we were not in compliance with section 3 of there terms of service. Also telling us they were terminating our service. We have been with Square for 6 years and really enjoyed working with them. Never a problem. They terminated my service on a Friday without warning leaving my company I one hell of a mess. The mental anguish was the most difficult to swallow because we have been operating our business the same way for 6 years. And….you can’t call them and ask questions about their reasoning. One of the worst days of my life…..thanks Square!

  • Ruth

    They have kept our first sale from October 26, 2020. They initially said they would release the funds after January 25, 2021. Now they came up with another excuse not to release the funds. I am in the process of reporting them to every governing site available. It really sucks because the customer received the goods but we have not been able to receive our payment.

  • Darren McKee

    Let’s get a class action suit against square foe unfair processing fees and holding money for 120 days. They are only holing cash to increase their cash on hand for shareholders! I’ve attempted to close my account and get my money out and they refuse. They are holding over 10k of my money and not even paying interest!!

  • Michael woods

    This company is the worst they steal money from your account took a card payment they Rev the charges then I get a email saying it came out in my favor and would be putting it back in my account well that’s been a month and they just keep changing the release date. In the mean time they closed my account said they couldn’t handle my business to many large card payment. This is after being a customer for 5 years with no complaints or refund.

  • Mukul Agarwal

    Square issue funds to an unauthorize activity without any consent from card holder. Merchant make hand entry to system and gets the funds based on fraudulent invoice. No driver license verification. I am surprised to see this crime is happening every day and Square is participating.

  • AMM

    Square allowed a customer to charge back $700 a month after service render. The customer Gregory Jackson a REal estate broker in cobb county ga. Hired movers for 12 hrs. A month later. Submit a charge back to square and said they had no knowledge of charge…. And guess what. After 3 months of dispute…. Square send a email saying the customer bank award them the money. $700. How . This company allow customer to take your hard earn money and DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO FIGHT. EVEN WHEN CUSTOMER SIGN ON SQUARE APP. THEY DO NOT BACK THEIR OWN APP AS PROOF. THEY ALLOWED SEVERAL OF MY CUSTOMER WHO PAID WITH AMEX TO COMMIT FRAUD AND DO CHARGE BACK. MAKE UP AMY BS AND THEY WILL GIVE THEM THEIR MONEY BACK. NO MATTER WHAT PROOF YOU SUBMIT.

  • Charles

    All I can say is RUN, RUN AND RUN FAR AWAY! This company is a joke. In fact, they should be shut down IMMEDIATLEY! They shut my account down for NO REASON! And they have held my $2,000.00 for 4 months now. And the worst part is, you can not speak to a live person about it. I really believe this company may be ran by one guy out of his basement. I will be taking my issue with them to the attorney general.

  • terry Sipes

    SQ, squareup a Jack Dorsey company is a business support company let down in biblical proportions. Don’t just take my word for it…you can read 10’s of thousands of complaints. The BBB of San Fran only list 1 out of 8 complaints on SQUARE and are more than a month behind , lawsuits are filed, the SEC is looking into a fintech Interpol of sorts… I am working on day 253 of held funds by SQ…I have a landscape construction business in Denver, Co …never had a issue until “We need more information”, then deactivated my business account, never had a complaint on any of my business practices, until SQ. I’ll take a trade for every $38.00 of my money (SQ stock price on day of seizure) Ill take a share (per $38.00) at today’s market price of $218.00…that return works for me…the rest is just a joke, JD your not God, nor do you play one (false god) on TV or in the movies…ATS-Denver

  • Greg R

    For all those who use the Square device for payment systems

    !!! BEWARE !!!

    I am now looking for another payment solution as Square no longer works on any of my phones!!!

    Having used Square devices for several years, they have now stopped working on all phones.

    Square have told me that my devices are not compatible. Hmmm.

    Having worked for several years if I choose to use this payment system into the future I have to upgrade all three of my phones.

    Most likely a software update by Square has stopped the app from connecting to my device – Square won’t be trying to solve the problem, leaving me without a payment system!

    Outrageous!!

    Be very careful if you choose to purchase this device, if it is not on the compatibility list it may stop working unexpectedly if they change their software.

    Don’t expect any support to solve the problem from Square either.

    Disgraceful customer service and problem solving.

  • Paul

    WORST customer service ever….especially during these COVID times when people need online services (AND SUPPORT) now more than ever.

    Signed up to Square this year, did one (ONE) transaction. They have now held my $230 since Aug 27th and will not allow it to be transfered to my bank. I have gone through multiple attempts to resolve this, via their chat system (terrible) and on phone with at least two reps who tried to help. It ends up I need to work with their account service department (who you cannot contact via phone, only email). I finally got this yesterday…..actual words. WTF?

    “Upon review of your account there were ref flags that appeared to be fraud activity, and so the account was closed. Square will hold any funds debited for a period of 60 days from the time we stop facilitating your account. If you’d like to receive the funds sooner, please reach out to your financial institution for their funds return policy.”

  • Mim Jorrison

    He’s right they do suck…I used to work there…we would hold your money so we get a free loan off you, make a quick market buy, stall on paying…..A real Piece of S**t business, and the people that work there know it, .

  • Leslie Yankaway

    this is the worst service i have ever had they held my money and would not release it because i had all of my money being instantly deposited into my bank, then when i asked could i use my square card to get the funds off i was told no the blocked card to because they put under review, now its my money and i couldn’t even get my own money i will never use square again

  • Ruth Lucero

    I was sent an email saying that I requested $1000 refund to a customer with the card ending in numbers that were 7772 I thought it was a scam the next day I see that my bank account has been deducted $964 with the charge of over $35 all was only viewed in my checking account never did it show up in my transactions on Square I spoke to square today but did not realize that my bank account had been deducted I am now at a negative balance.

  • lee

    Will never ever deal with square again.. costumer service is the worse. I called and try to explain to some dude and he straight up said dude if u don’t shut up im gone hang the phone up on u out of nowhere..

  • Floridian

    WORST COMPANY EVER! They will steal your money. They are a bunch of scammers. They will put your account on hold for a fraud review and then lock you out without having access to your funds. They need to be SUED

  • Scott

    I had a simple misunderstanding, or I suppose problem, with the square app on my phone. For some reason, somehow same day deposit was turned on, even though I was sure it was turned off. When I got a large payment this week, to my surprise not only did I have my processing fee removed but there is an extra large fee removed because of the same day deposit.

    I got on a chat with customer support to see if I could get that fee reversed, due to the issue with the app. I found absolutely no assistance their customer service. And a lot of hot air.

    I’m very disappointed with this company solely because of the customer service. Instead of refunding the misunderstanding, a small amount of money in comparison to my sales fees.. I have now decided to steer most of my sales to a different and more reliable company.

    Moral of the story here. It would have cost them a small amount make the customer happy if they had done that they would have been earning thousands of more dollars, that they are now loosing.

  • Ernest Bustos

    I had a Square account for over 6 years without any complaints or issues, on Friday I received an email informing me that my account was deactivated claiming transactions prohibited by “Section 35 of the Payment Terms” which are vague to say the lest. With no customer it was impossible to find out why transactions that have been approved over the last 6 years have now been deemed prohibited. The email states that I will no longer be able to process transactions using square, it appears that my account has been closed without notice or explanation…. for this I would rate them as an “F”       

  • C. Susan Keen, Esq.

    I had Square for two years. Sudddnly, they intercepted a payment of a deposit and I found the experience a nightmare trying to get them to pay me. I think they hsve changed drasically to become a predatoy financial service. I have filed a Complaint with the Office of Business Oversight in Cslifornia for their unscrupulous conduct. Square plans to move into banking next. Heaven help us if they are approved by the FDIC.

  • Michael Mann

    I own a recording studio/online retailer and used Square as my credit card processor briefly. Some of the products I sell are digital downloadable software serial numbers. The customer purchases a serial number ONLY which is displayed immediately after the transaction completes. They use this serial to unlock software which is downloaded from the manufacturer. There is NO chance to catch fraudulent purchases before it is too late. These are not physical goods.

    Only problem is Square allowed multiple fraudulent purchases to clear for software serials. When I called about the disputes I got, ‘Well, we cannot verify the identity of the cardholder. You need to take additional steps to verify proper credit card usage.’ So… What am I paying for then? Exactly how the f@ck am I supposed to do that via eCommerce? What Earthly good as a company are you if you can’t do the ONE THING I NEED YOU TO DO? I mean, I can close my eyes and pray every eCommerce transaction is legit cheaper than it costs me to pay Square to do it. How is it the merchant is responsible for this fraud? I’ve built the marketplace, advertised it, provide customer support, and maintain it. Might as well make verifying credit card payments my job, too? What am I paying for? This business model may be legal, but it is NOT RIGHT.

    Now I’m stuck paying for Aashir Stokes (lives in Manhattan – @shiirsoul Twitter & Instagram profiles if you’re curious to know what a criminal looks like) to use 2 pieces of software to ‘make sick beats bro’ on my dime because Square couldn’t protect me and offers ZERO fraud protection. Not only that, but they couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t happen again. Of course they couldn’t. How could they? They don’t even know what happened this time.

    Customer service rep (took 45 minutes) got noticeably less helpful after I told him I wouldn’t be using Square any longer. Also, don’t believe Square will fight for the merchant. THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU. They simply remit your dispute evidence to the customer’s bank and wipe their hands of it. It’s not worth your time to even think about it. You’d be better off spending your energies getting a prostate exam. Same results but at least you’d feel the touch of a human during the procedure instead of the cold imagery of a multi-million dollar company using the same rules to govern transactions from a small business as they would for CostCo or Home Depot.

    I looked into it and I think Stripe offers fraud/chargeback protection for .4% + $.02 per transaction on top of the standard 2.9% + $.30 per transaction. If that’s true, I’ll be going with them. I’ll pay the extra to never worry about this happening again.

    Here’s a direct quote from Stripe’s website “Defend your business from the unpredictability of disputes. With Chargeback Protection, Stripe will cover both the disputed amount and any dispute fees—no evidence submission required.”

    Sounds too good to be true, but then again all credit card processors are criminals as far as I’m concerned anyway.

  • David

    Square took my money and has been saying they are “ reviewing” my account for more than 2 weeks but keep making excuses as why they haven’t done or completed the review, I would never do business with square, I currently have to wait for who knows how ling to continue my business until it is completed but never will I do business with square

  • Jason woods

    This company has no support for it’s clients whatsoever. You WILL NOT be able to speak to a person about your money or your acct. I’ve been trying for 6 months to get my money after a dispute was ruled in my favor, they are still holding my money for no apparent reason. I am So frustrated with this company I almost want to tell them to keep my $1000!!

  • Andrea Nochez

    I just want to say that we use this service for several things within our company and that system is kind of coos as you get to know it. The problem is customer services. There hasn’t been a time where I call in and I don’t get super upset. they never answer the phone, they are rude, they have no willingness to help and it’s overall just a pain in the *** to call. HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE.


    This post will help: Best Payment Processors for Great Customer Service

  • Amanda

    THIS COMPANY DISGUSTS ME!!!! THEY SHUT DOWN MY ACCOUNT WITHOUT EVEN GIVING ME A REASON WHY!!! Then to top it all off they claimed my money would be paid out according to the normal pay schedule and yet 78 days have gone by now and my money is still being held. I’m a single mother of 2 and this put a big hurt on my family for the first few weeks as I was unable to even provide anything. They say in the phone recordings to reply to the email with any questions and that your funds will be released in the date specified in said email and yet there is not date in the email, responses to the email get ignored, phone support is completely blocked, and here we are after 78 days with me now filing suit against them as I have ben advised to do for the full amount PLUS interest as what they have done is illegal. I sell jewelry ffs how is any of that a “liability” enough for them to hold my money?!? It isn’t!


    This post will help: Best Jewelry Merchant Accounts

    -Phillip

    • Kimberly

      It’s been 5 years for me.
      Bankrupted business of 20+ years
      You can not sue them.
      You meditate 1st (per contract)
      It’s a nightmare and I’ve lost EVERYTHING

      I’m considered a THIEF now, and in 2014 NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON believed this was happening, not ONE. I called every newspaper, television station, 20/20, Good Morning America, FBI, FTC you think of it I tried it.

      SPENCER SOPER, BLOOMBERG NEWS
      Spoke with me (2014/15) wanted to do a story about Square holding funds. I really thought he would be on the consumer’s side but the article, in my opinion, was bias.

      Good luck – I gave up after 5 years, it was consuming my entire life.

      • Alexandra

        Honey you can’t give up…. Darkness, tiredness, name it mean you will win. You can’t give up darling. Be a business person take time and all your strength on your body yo build one and see some people just take all that away. Even if your last dollar you will have to spend to win the fight you have to keep pushing. Sometimes those companies and maybe the judges getting pay to back off. But you know what there won’t be a greedy judge/lawyer because there is still some good people out there who have sympathy for others situation.
        I wanted to be a judge, but rather to be a judge you must be a lawyer. I wasn’t afraid because I feel like I can do it, it’s just naturally in me but couldn’t go for it after I was a law magnet student see is not a joke, but it’s not because is hard I didn’t go after my heart desired for. I didn’t do it because at the time didn’t speak enough English. I speak it better but haven’t problem with my grammar and sometimes struggle with pronunciations.
        Dear I am soon to be a nurse and just now going to launch my website soon.
        I’m glad I happen to read lots of review for me to back off, but your situation really touch my heart. And I do believe the same way it touch me will be the same way some lawyers/judge will touch them as well.

  • Barbara Bachmeier

    I have spent five hours today trying to speak with somebody in customer service or sales at Square. I waited 20 minutes on hold at 11:30 a.m. this morning and at 4:30 p.m. I am still waiting to speak to somebody. I leave my call back number and when it is my turn I wait on hold again until I am prompted to leave my call back number AGAIN! What kind of stupid company is this? A fraudulent one? It seems that way to me.


    This post will help: How to Contact Square

  • Saian Tirado

    I received a letter from the IRS in July 2019, stating that I had an additional $44k in unreported income for the 2017 tax year through a Square account that I never even heard of. The IRS was able to show that I received all these deposits from Square over the course of that year.

    As Square’s phone number is useless, I’ve resorted to Twitter DMs and Emails to get responses. The ultimate run around! They continue to bounce around providing any sort of supporting documents to let the IRS know this was not me. After 2 months, Square said I needed to file a FTC report and police report just for them to continue on with my case!

    I’ve filed Identity Theft w/ the IRS, and they’re case came back inconclusive.

    Square is useless! All I need is for them to show proof of these accounts and deposits, but they refuse to share it!


    This post will help: How to Contact Square

  • emily catherine marks

    In July I discovered that Square submitted 5 years of 1099’s totaling over 100k of income that was not mine leaving me liable for IRS taxes and putting a hault on my healthcare. I contacted them to let them know and to correct immediately. I discovered that an organization I used to work for used my social for their square ticket sales.

    Square said there was nothing they can do until the org corrected this. I contacted the organization and notified them and they immediately corrected the situation providing square with bank records to prove the account was not mine. Square said once they had this they would immediately report to the IRS

    As of yesterday, the IRS is still reporting that square has not corrected this information.
    My Marketplace healthcare can not be reinstated until this is corrected!!!! This is really serious as I need my healthcare.

    The way this has been handled is shameful and has the potential to cost me thousands of dollars in legal fees.
    I have spent hours trying to rectify a mistake They have caused.

    I contacted them again and they keep sending me form reponses with instructions that I already completed.
    NO way to get anyone on a phone to give me info because the account is not mine and I don’t have access to it.
    When a person does contact me via email there is no follow up and they keep repeating things that were already done. I am so frustrated.


    This post will help: How to Contact Square

  • Paul

    Horrible company canceled my account and several friends accounts with no warning for mystery violations? Reported me on match list now unable to get processing. They have no one to talk to no customer service and impossible to appeal thier horrible policies!!!! Do not use have official complaint in with BBB!! still no resolution after 5 months.


    This post will help: Best MATCH Merchant Accounts

    -Phillip

  • Eric

    Well, I think this review going to go in line with a lot that are already posted. This one pertains to taxes and a levy. If you have a levy against your funds, you have 21 days to resolve the levy in order to have your funds returned or paid to the IRS. Square conveniently, makes it impossible to resolve this. They don’t have a phone number for the tax specialists, they only email brief sentences, and want nothing to do with actually helping you. This kind of response to a tax issue should have civil consequences at a minimum. The regular cs reps do not know anything, and after one or two times, supervisors will ignore your requests. It is a very frustrating situation and is unacceptable. So, this review is warning of sorts for people that might have a tax issue, erroneous or not, Square will do everything in it’s power to not speak with you or the IRS about it. I had to demand for almost 6 days a copy of the levy. My levy is erroneous, but I have funds that are being held because of it and the IRS cannot even speak with them. Think about that for a second. Hope no one has to deal with what I have had to deal with.


    This post will help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money

  • burning light

    These guys sell themselves as easy to use. I signed up, verified myself, verified my bank account, issued an invoice for $2,500, which got paid, released the product. A couple of days later these shocks tell me that not only will they not release the funds to me, they also want to refund to the buyer! If you use these fly-by-night cowboys and get robbed, then you are not real clever.


    This post will help: How to Make Square Release Your Money

  • Kenneth

    I’ve been using Square for a long time with my business I will no longer be using Square the communication with Square is ridiculous I have all my paperwork my contracts my completion sheets and we do work for some customers and we do the work at the time of the sale every now and then we run into a nutcase And they want to get their money back and Square gives them my money no communication with Square I think if you’re using Square you need to quit and find someone else I have no respect for this company I do not like this company and I will be hiring a lawyer to sue this company. I hope Square loses every dime they have


    This post will help: Best Mobile Payment Processors

  • Jessica Myers

    I am a simple Tupperware consultant and new to accepting cards! I collected 502.00 in orders and placed these orders on Tupperware with my personal funds while waiting on the deposit. I received a message stating a verification was needed! I sent in everything requested including government ID, bank statements, tupperware ordered placed from those sales and more! I just received a message stating it was not approved and account is being closed. What? Makes no sense when a lot of the chicks on my team run the same business using square! These orders are placed and already on their way to customers found on Facebook. Yet it seems square is holding the funds for 90 days!? What 502.00 is a lot of money why would they not do a verification process first if they didn’t want to issue the funds to the business? Why would they accept 502.00 in payments and then decide after to refund customers or hold the funds! Their items are already mailed and now I have no access to the funds which is completely nuts! Really 90 days that is a bit overboard, especially when proof of there orders was in the verification. There is no excuse for the issue at hand or to close my account without warning not to count holding the funds after the orders are already sent. I can understand a verification process and I actually appreciate it as a customer but really if consultants aren’t allowed to use square then why not complete a verification process before taking the payments to confirm the business is allowed to use their service! Not to count to close someone’s account with that much money in there and refuse any type of phone communication is 100 times more nuts. Absolutely not allowed to speak with a representative to ask simple questions wow. What type of business is this obvious something is very wrong here! How do I speak to a rep if the code for my account refuses to allow me to contact anyone by phone? Why would you offer services and the list of businesses not allowed to use it is not only every kind of business out there? Apparently they pick who to do this to and it’s crazy so how do I get the funds released sooner to pay myself back the money spent on the customers orders!!??!! As a new business this is a huge hit? I started Tupperware to make up for losing my job so when they say the deposit is instant I expect that it is especially with the proof of the orders plainly provided. The worst part is I’m just out 502 dollars with out any customer service to speak to or a way to get answers. That’s not only unprofessional it should Be illegal

  • Daniel You

    Terrible merchant service. Our company account has deactivated after submitting a required statement and the supporting documents, but they permanently deactivate my account. Square up also do not provide a fair chance to explain. They will not talk to you in person. Very unfair and insincere. I would not recommend this company.


    This post will help: Best Mobile Payment Processing Apps

  • Michael Summers

    I’m a agent for one of the largest processors in the World and I was looking for something for my wife to process because she loves selling items. So rather than setting up an account through me I found square and set up her account. The first transaction for 2250.00 went through with no problems. The next (The nightmare) the transaction was for 6400.00 it was actually from a very good friend of ours no illegal products. They immediately deactivated the account. So I asked them through emails of course just refund back to customer. They said all transactions are deactivated. The money will be held for 120 days then released to us. My buddy in Georgia feels so bad about the situation he says I wish I would of just sent a check.. But that being said everybody gripes about square the processor. One they are not the processor they are a hardware division that uses one of four platforms in the US to process the cards. The key is find the platform and squeeze them that will put the hurt on square. I’m getting with some friends from our platform and have them do some searching and when I find it I will plaster it here. I have a good Idea who it is. *****d*t*.


    This post will help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money

  • Wilene C Dunn

    I’m not sure how they have a B rating. Square can hold your money with zero explanation, question your account at any time, I’ve asked for the corporate contact for legal and they will provide no information. They can hold your money and keep you completely in the dark. A client paid on June 28 and it’s July 11 and they still have not released fund and still cannot tell me why and won’t give me any contact that can tell me why. I agree with all the reviews that say there should be a class action against this company.


    This post will help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money

  • Joe Marsh

    Square “deauthorized” my account. After several days of futile phone calls and emails, Square finally responded that they classified my business as either illegal, fraudulent, or banned. After reading the terms of service, I learned that insurance is a banned industry. No explanation as to why and I’ve given up trying to reach a human on their phones. Lousy customer support.


    This post will help: Best Merchant Accounts for Insurance Agencies

  • Marc Chomel

    Square has misrouted $2400. of my business receipts to the wrong bank account and failed to diligently assist the bank in doing a timely search. They failed to follow up with my pleas for help and now I have lost the money. I will be joining them with the Bank of America in an upcoming lawsuit. Beware they’ll make money on every one of your transactions but fail to help you when they send it to the wrong account.


    This post will help: Best Merchant Accounts for Great Customer Service

  • Charles Brittain

    Square took my information and I started doing business. After my first day using square and making a few transactions square froze my account and then deactivated because of high risk activity. Why did they approve me in the first place then? Of course you cant call and talk to support as they don’t actually have customer support just ai so they now have all the money that i made and are holding it ransom for 90 days. ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS
    Why approve people and businesses your just going to screw?


    This post will help: How to Avoid Fund Holds With Square

  • Matthew Kern

    I began using Square because of their multi-faceted product offerings which seemed ideally suited for a small business such as mine (www.thegrowthfactory.org). I used Stripe with little incident in the past and was attracted to Square because they integrated payroll, insurance, payments, benefits and tax forms in a single app that has proven extremely user-friendly. If this review were concerning their program, app, web platform, ease of use and net efficiency, I would rate them 5 stars with no hesitation. Their digital product is easily the highest quality on the market.

    If their customer service and account “specialists” matched their digital products quality by 50%, Square would join the ranks of multi-billion dollar empires and become a household name overnight. Unfortunately, this is not the case. After processing the first 3 payments, a restriction was placed on my account pending additional verification via document upload. I uploaded a total of 1.3 GB of data including my state filing documents, IRS tax forms, Texas Workforce Comission data, internal operating guides, terms and conditions, property lease agreements, personal identity documents for myself and assistant (Drivers license and passports for both) along with statements and invoices from that customers who had made payments. I also provided them with social media links (25,000+ followers on our verified Instagram and Facebook accounts), advertisements and an interview series we did with CBS recently and have continued providing them updated documentation as we went along. The hold was lifted after about 6 days (during which time they requested the same documents they already marked as received which proves their reviews are 100% algorithm based) and I was assured that these reviews only occur once. I had no problems for 3 months, no disputes or complaints or rejected/returned payments and the highest security rating possible.

    Two days ago, my account was restricted again pending review of “how we do business” and requested the same documents I had been providing unprompted. Those documents were received by them and there is a green check mark verifying their receipt. I submitted the documents again and the system informed me that they had what they needed and would get back to me after review. I spoke to a customer service person today who told me that I should learn how to read and look through the terms and conditions and understand that they reserve the right to suspend an account at any time, for any reason. I asked what the metrics where in determining this review process and was told that she has no control over the process and that there isnt any way for me to continue providing them with data to ensure that my account not be restricted again in the future. Her attitude was beyond condesending and was told that “you need to face the fact that (The Growth Factory) is a small company that isnt very relevant to us from a business relationship standpoint” and that Square has little interest in the efficiency of our operations.

    To summarize, I have been forthcoming with all documents requested and many that were not. I have never had a chargeback, complaint or issue with any payments (we average around $15,000 per month) and have volunteered on many occasions to provide them with additional data but was told (on a recorded phone call on my end) that my organization’s business relationship with them wasn’t a priority for them and to expect more account restrictions in the future. They have collected a total $2,500 in processing fees over a 45 day period and seem to make an extra effort to be as rude, condescending, and unhelpful as possible. If you ask them what you can do to ensure a smooth relationship moving forward, their response is “nothing, you’re not that important to us.”


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    • Craig

      I had noticed that my square app was missing from my screen, so I reinstalled it. The new version wanted access to my location, all of my data as well as access to my camera. This alone set me off, then I noticed my account was suspended just like yours. This taking hostage of your information is not worth the risk. They claim they are protecting your information? By asking for access to everything? Way too fishy for me. I’m deleting the app.


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  • Keavan

    There was a dispute to my account through Square in June 2018, even though the dispute it was based erroneously on an unrecognized charge, because it was a chip card and I only had a stripe reader it was automatically an EMV dispute and immediately found in their favor. Funds were taken from my Square account funded by my credit union, shortly thereafter the client realized the mistake end canceled the dispute before the funds were deposited back in their account. The bank that received the refund then reversed it and transfered it back to Squares bank. However, Square denied any evidence of the refund, the bank sent documentation and Square claimed it wasnt what was required. Then the bankcalled Square directly, but they were unable to convince Square of the reversal or aquire a statement of what they DID need from them. I was finally told i needed a letter from the bank, which i sent email, that wasn’t good enough, they needed tangible affirmation that the dispute was canceled and required I phisically go to a branch of the bank and retrieve a printed letter stating reversal. I did that also, then they said I would see the funds 5-7 business days later. After 2 weeks I contacted Square again, now I would have to wait up to 4 months for the reversal. I waited 9, months and contacted Square yet again, only to start from scratch again.
    After several dozens of frustrating emails claiming they had received nothing from the bank, and blatant disregard for the documents I submitted again, I was able to get them to acknowledge the info I sent, denied it was what they previously accepted as proof, yet couldn’t tel me what it WAS, saying. I was told that Square and their aquiring,bank were waiting for return of funds from the bank. They told me I had to wait until they got the funds back. It’s been almost a full year since the bank assures me the funds were sent to Square, so clearly unless I can make headway in this debacle, I will never be refunded. ANY insight would be greatly appreciated.

    The bank provided me with a screenshot of the reversal of dspute ahas to dnthenfclaimed to have returned the funds to squares acquiring Bank this was after 2 months of exhausting running back and forth and physically having to go to several Banks to acquire actual pieces of paper with information on them to prove to square even though the bank had called Square directly and told them that the entire thing of the canceled but I needed physical proof which I provided in July of 2018 still going back and forth I finally got supposedly the correct information they needed in the correct format they needed and I was told 5 to 7 business days and I would receive my money after 2 weeks and no money I contacted Square the story changed to it could take up to four months I waited nine. Ambien contacting them again which turned into more back and forth between for financial institutions none of who would help me in any way the bank that return the funds it’s still sticking to and confirming that they return the funds October of 2018 get square claims there is no record of Return of funds and I have to wait until that funds appear yet there is nothing to imply that anything is going to change at this point because the bank get paid as far as they’re concerned they did so October 2018 and the issue is over the bank that was supposed to receive those funds claims they have not yet clearly they are not going to the square will do nothing to help me despite the fact that I write or call every single day for the last 2 and 1/2 months I don’t know who to turn to at this point the two Banks involved will not speak to me directly because this is not about anything any account that belongs to me they all say that square has to handle it and square claims they can’t


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    -Phillip

  • Katy Goodman

    After using square who I thought was a great investment to my business until today I am thinking is also a scammer, I would never image that they would take money from a small business instead of helping them make money, but today I have come to that conclusion, or make me out wrong by removing the freeze off of my bank account and giving me a good phone# to call you about your false accusations that you accused me of, of which all my clients denied that they accused me of: 2523473258 please consider your reputation and good name and do the right thing contact me and stop robbing poor small businesses.


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  • Katey Rene de Cotret

    I was very much enjoying my square reader. It came free with a small amount of processing fees, but it made it so at the one small convention I sell artwork at, I could accept a few more sales I normally couldn’t have gotten.
    Which means I’ve used it probably less than 10 times.
    So it was baffling to me, mid convention, when they decided to deactivate my account and after “comprehensive review,” made their decision final. They cited sections 11 and 12 of their general Terms of Service, which basically say they can terminate your account at any given time as long as they give you notice.
    Which I did not receive by the by. I had to bother them on twitter for an answer.

    If you have an alternative, use that. I’m not the only one this has happened to


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  • Nicole Adamson

    I had a problem setting up my square account I rang the customer support line and spoke to a very helpful woman who not only helped with my problem but also waited on the line to make sure I could access my account. I could not have asked for better customer service, if only every company had such wonderful after sales assistance!

  • Jeremy ward

    This company is a joke I started a new business , month ago they have held my money on ever transaction I have made the last one was for 1700 dollars ,the company that I done work the forman that payed with card with company name on it and his name he had same last name as me ,I am no kin to him ,so they held money said couldn’t transfer funds from family or your self ,I have had enough with this company ,I work hard for my money ,to let them hold it over stupid crap.


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  • Renea

    Out of the blue I got an email from square stating that I owed them money and the case is closed and they will not speak with me over the phone .
    I had no idea what they were talking about or what happened .
    The recovery team was extremely rude and took over 1000.00 finally stating that, ( over weeks and weeks) I owed because I knew someone in 2014 who owed them money so that made me responsible, according to some article 15 or some sort . The majority of my clients prepaid for services which put me in a bad spot, so I requested refunds .
    I have copies where square stayed they would receive them within 10 days, but that never happened.
    They will not return the money for services never rendered, they were extremely rude , refused to listen to anything and laughed about it.
    This is fraud I am devastated and embarrassed because I know it puts doubts in my clients minds of my integrity .
    It is outright stealing and unlawful.
    Why are they getting away with it? Any other human being would be in jail right now and i f our laws let companies STEAL fraudently what does that say about our system? It IS NOT okay for anyone to steal. What can I do? I am beyond hurt, embarrassed and it set me back . I am
    Not paying someone else’s debt, that’s ridiculous.:(


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  • Angela

    I will never use Square up again! Worse company ever! They are crooks, just like the Crooked Buyers that they protect. They don’t protect their Merchants at all! We are out $1600 now and we are out our merchandise! Tried calling and using text support and they are worthless! Worst company for Merchants ever! Period! Don’t use them or you will lose your money! And your merchandise! Crooks! All of you! Small businesses need to just stay away!


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  • Erin

    To the Management team of Square Up,

    From one manager to a next, I can say wholeheartedly say that this was the worst customer service one of my companies has ever had to deal with. I am not sure who is in charge of actioning quality control at Square but it needs serious review. The service was so bad that the executive decision was made to never have it used in any of our companies ever again.

    Tony, our accounting officer, called Square Up to verify our account – as we received an email from a representative stating that any other transactions such as this overseas would be deactivated. When Tony called, he stated to the representative on the phone that the person who received the emails at our company and was in charge of handling this issue was present with him since she had the basic understanding of what transpired, and the representative immediately said we would not be able to speak as she was present, even though Tony who is the holder of the account was on the phone. All we needed from Square was clarification to why our accounts are on hold and he could not answer because of the additional person who was handling the issue being present on the phone. The call ended where the issue was not resolved because Tony did not know what all the requests were without having our point person present. We finally sent in the documents and over a week now, we have not heard of any response from Square Up. This has been happening since December 2018 and we only just got received our money from Square min March 2019 which by the way they kept over $300 dollars of our money as it was over $900 we made and Square only give us back over $600 and some change.

    Business owners who ask if they should go with Square, we will be sure to advise that its a definite no and to go with PayPal or another source.


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  • John Gill

    Due to the necessity of developing my website thru Godaddy, I was required to use square for my credit card processing. After establishing their payment portal on my site and after getting connected for 30+ days, square while accepting my transactions – stopped depositing my payments. Credit card payments (luckily) are a small part of my business. It took me 60 days to notice this. Payments in excess of two thousand were withheld. It took Two service calls to determine the issue. The issue was some bogus two part question about the nature of my business. Square never reached out to me to attempt to resolve this. Their CS department is a joke. If you can find an alternative – use them.


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  • Alton Earle

    Horrible. After six years of flawless service, they decided to stop depositing our funds. We switched to the German company with a sort of same name in the amount of time it took them to “review” my account (which hadn’t had a problem is six years). We’d used their Square Capital services a number of times, yet suddenly, with NO change in our business or transaction levels, they made an offer, promised a deposit in 1-2 days, and after 14 days declined the offer.

    Fortunately, there are alternatives and they’ve lost a significant chunk of business.


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  • Melissa Phipps

    Do not use Square products. Once you insert your chip it is very easy for thieves to steal your money and you will never see it again. I will find the taxi driver who stole my money and shame on Squaree for allowing this with their equipment. It will come back to haunt you. I never knew this equipment existed but reading the reviews I can easily see I am not the only victim of their loop holes. Beware of Square and do not use!!! Absolutely no integrity.


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  • Gaea's Blaze

    This was ridiculous… Square inc. refused to honor a valid charge for three thousand dollars for the purchase of furniture. I was forced to refund the monies and try to get a check after the furniture was delivered. They arbitrarily decided that it was a fraudulent charge and even when it was explained to them what the purchase was for they simple refused to process. All they kept stating was they do not accept that prepaid cards, gift cards, or own credit card. None of these were the case.


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  • Al Robinson

    Beware!!!
    Square was recommended to me as an excellent resource to process debit/credit cards for my small business. My experience has been an absolute nightmare.
    Lack of response with every inquiry
    Making changes as they go resulting in holds and ultimately closure of my account
    I PROCESSED ONE TRANSACTION that in my error did not label the setup of my business instead my name and the customer placed a chargeback. Square shut my account off.
    That One chargeback that was found in my favor by the customers bank and they released my funds to square
    HOWEVER Square decided they were going to hold these funds for 90 days
    90 days passed, I received on the 90th day NOT MY FUNDS BUT an e-mail they decided to hold funds for another 30 days with NO EXPLANATION. After 5 or more emails I received a response they are sorry For my experience and was forwarding to the right department. Still waiting 5 days later and two more emails sent. BEWARE of the unethical business practices. Save yourself the aggravation and find another company


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  • Krysta Lynne Murnane

    The Square has been Holding Over $42,000. Forty two thousand dollars. since September of last year 2018 The Square shut my account down and were going to hold the money with the balance of $42,000 and some change,In an email from the square supposedly until December 11th 2018. Well its sad but true we’ve had no Charge Backs Since September 2018 but the square has not released a dollar worth of our money yet. Its been over 6 months and now they won’t even respond via email to us. this has been a total nightmare. My company has since had to hire an Attorney but why should we have had to, is the point.The square is Criminal in. what they are doing to thousands of Businesses. !!!!!!!!!!!! the head quarters is over seas and the phone numbers are all automated so you can’t get any live person on the phone. the Square is 100% the worst credit card processor on earth id put money on it. If you have a successful business don’t allow these criminals the opportunity of steeling your assets because they will. They are not legitimate at all.


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  • V

    I am a bookkeeper for a local small restaurant who uses square. On the restaurant side I am sure it is wonderful, fulfilling all it promises to do. However, on the bookkeeping side it couldn’t be worse! It is completely useless. You cannot print a report or customize them to provide useful information. The reports don’t even export properly so you can create a report yourself. You literally have take information from multiple reports and manually enter them into a spreadsheet to get useful information (i.e. Taxable sales and sales tax, cash vs credit card…etc.) These things matter…you can’t just lump them all together. Entering things manually, going from one screen to another is a time consuming disaster that creates a greater risk for errors. I would never use Square or recommend it.


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  • Arty the Artist

    I was told Square could be a great alternative for digital artists such as myself but my account was deactivated and funds withheld within one week of making it. One transaction was flagged as “suspicious” so I asked they look into it and their response was to deactivate my account. They did not provide a reason. I sent a very polite email to customer support(as both the forums and the call center are unavailable to deactivated accounts), requesting to know why this occurred. Their response was that they determined that they could not support my business and deactivated my account. When I asked again for a reason, they repeated this without giving me a specific reason. I refunded all my customers and will be returning to my previous method of payment. What absolute bollocks.


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  • Pam Jenni

    I’ve been trying to find out if it’s just me or what. But I’ve had square for a few years. I only use it for a few days a year, I sell pepper plants at the local herb fairs, 5 per year. No matter what, if I’m lucky the first one or two customers, the reader will take the card. The rest of the day every single card has to be keyed in. I charge the card the night before. When I’ve check the card at home it works fine. I’m so frustrated I’m looking at other options.


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  • Ed Henry

    We have been using Square for 5 years now. We are a sit down restaurant with approximately $275,000 in credit card receipts. I just recently switched to Square Timecards and Payroll since the POS worked so well. I have been sold a product that does not work and they really don’t care that they have customers who bought their lie. They advertised multiple wages for individual employees, which the time cards accomplish. What they have neglected to do is allow the import of that data to Payroll. When Payroll imports it adds all the hours worked and places it on the first wage entered. Thus creating more work for me now because I have to manually correct each entry. Total lie…. Do not get suckered into Square Payroll. It is cheap and useless.


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  • Geoff Breitling

    I opened an acct with Square, gave them my passport, banking and other info to verify the acct. My 1st payment was $2500 from a client and they immediately locked my acct with no explanation. Bc my acct was locked, I could not get a code they required to get support, so it was as if I had no acct at all. Meanwhile, my $2500 was locked for up to 90 days.

    Stripe would not even talk to me.

    The only way I got around it was I was thankfully able to refund the payment to my client and she paid me through paypal. If I did not have a great relationship w her or it were a payment for goods or something I would have been screwed.

    Obvs, I think Square is a crap company with sucky customer service and I would never, ever consider using them for anything whatsoever at any time in the future.

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  • natascha snellman

    As pissed as I am, I am sharing my experience so that other small businesses don’t get screwed like i did. I’m a mom and a small business owner. After a year of using paypal to accept my payments I decided to branch out to credit cards. Everything went well with square to begin with….until I needed to contact them. It’s not easy, it involves research and jumping through hoops. I received a large order and was excited, but I also decided to be smart and reach out to AMEX to make sure the card was legit. Amex told me because I didn’t have the full credit card number they could not check on their end and i should contact square to get the information needed. When I finally figured out how to get square on the phone and spoke to them they told me they can’t see the credit card number either and they can’t confirm with AMEX, but they assured me that there were no red flags on their end and that if the billing and shipping match there shouldn’t be a problem and they also let me know if anything did go wrong it was on me. Ummmm, ok why am I paying them if they can’t even protect me I wondered. I mailed the merchandise and made sure to get tracking and signature. A few months later I get an email from Square saying that a bank reached out to them and that this sale was under investigation and the client said they had not made the purchase. I was so pissed. So square said I could provide evidence and challenge the bank. Luckily I had all of the evidence needed….matching billing and shipping, email correspondence and proof of shipment and delivery signature. I got an email yesterday that the bank sided with their own customer….(why am i not surprised) and that I need to pay square back in full. I emailed requesting a payment plan, they responded giving me some options and then debited my account the full amount. Thanks for protecting a small business owner and thanks for taking funds out with no time wasted and putting me at negative. I’ll never work with them again. That’s not taking care of your customer.

    From The Editor
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  • Julia Collins

    Square deactivated the business I work for’s account (an Acupuncture clinic) within 3 hours of us receiving an email that we are a “high risk merchant“. High risk? We are a wellness clinic! There was absolutely no contact in person (we tried for several hours to get someone on the phone) and we still have yet to receive any kind of communication. We have been using square for more than a year and our business depends on it. Seems that Square has gotten too big to look out for the small businesses and is absolutely no longer looking our for our best interest. There have been thousands of other complaints just like this one.. if you are a small business who is thinking about using Square, think again. They can deactivate your account, tie up your funds, and give you absolutely no explanation within a matter of hours. I am completely bewildered how Square can do this to so many people and families who are depending on their services and software to make a living.

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  • Kenneth Wildenstein

    When I went to set up my square account, I somehow entered the wrong account number for my deposits. I figured this would be an easy fix for square as I am certain I am not the only one who has ever made a typo.
    However, I was concerned that the bank verification was made because my EIN and name on the account were obviously different than the number I provided Square.
    Square had told me that they only verify that the bank account is in fact open and valid. Not that the names match on the account, which is what led to this fight I am in right now.
    I contacted my bank, because of new Federal Laws, the bank is not allowed to remove the money from the wrong account and re-route to mine. The duty falls on Square because Square initiated the ACH. However, I have been calling Square 2-3 times a week, because their customer service is lacking service and I receive no return phone calls. I have been fighting this now for almost a month and everyone at Square I talk to is repetitive at best, puts me on hold for great lengths, and says the same thing, ‘it’s not our issue, we can’t do anything about it. Talk to your bank” even though Federally it is Square’s responsibility.
    So I am now out $1800+ with no way of seeing that money.
    Square is ok if you dont make a typo, but their customer service needs a complete overhaul. I at once would have recommended Square, but now, I will warn others to be wary when you need assistance. And dont make any human errors. They wont be able to help.
    This may be something that has to escalate beyond Square’s incompetent customer service team.

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  • David Hsu

    Used by scammers. Was scammed using square by account SQ*JACKSON NARVAEZ CAR S. Added extra to the limo fee. I have disputed charge with Chase, but they seem indifferent. They are overcharging passengers out of LaGuardia Airport, issuing handwritten receipts using other legitimate limo companies’ names. No way to contact square to report fraud unless you are registered as a Square customer. Square is fundamentally insecure and will be used by small time scammers like the limo pickups at the airport.

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  • Melinda

    This is the worst company I have ever dealt with. If can’t get anyone on the phone they deactivate your account and keep your money for 90 days!!! Ridiculous!! It doesn’t take that long to deposit your money! Do not use this company.. Look at their reports on bbb website.. Stay away from these people.

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  • kerry foster

    I thought it would be a good idea to have another option for credit card processing
    So I ordered a square
    I downloaded their app as instructed
    Linked my bank account as instructed
    Began processing two payments from my customers
    I total of $1625
    Then I found out there’s a hold on my phones
    Until I’ve answered endless questions
    After doing so I find out my account has been permanently deactivated and email would be sent to me with a correspondence link

    I received a no reply email with no information about how to retrieve my funds I’ve been searching and Leslie for phone numbers to call this company
    And as a endless loop of phone prompts with no human being available to talk to
    Their chat system will not recognize my responses
    I highly recommend anyone thinking about getting this device not to do so

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  • Christian McFarland

    I have tried to get a square account for my business. However, square has been unable to link my bank account on four separate occasions. When I tried to get in touch with square, it refuses to give me a customer code. So, I can’t get in touch with anyone. When I tried email, no response either. But, when I tried to deactivate my account, it refused to let me do so because my bank link was denied. I would give square a 1 or 2 out of 5 because of their inability to have a support system that works.

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  • Russell lloyd

    I took out an account with square just three weeks ago and all I can say is what an absolute disaster.
    Two days after starting with them they send me an email saying my account is on hold pending information. I send page after page of information to them and finally they continue processing. I told them how much I process by card every year and they stated it was fine. I had a call with them just yesterday regarding charges due to the high volume I put through. They requested a I send in information from Worldpay to confirm the spend. So far so good. This morning I have an email stating my account has been deactivated. What an absolute joke. No warning no notice just bam and your out. They clearly cannot handle the volume. I also noticed every call
    Made to them when they eventually answered the phone it was always the same
    Person. Seems to me a two bit company. Looking at the reviews it’s not good. Stay well clear many far better processing companies out there.

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  • William bates

    They have stolen thousands from me and I will and never will use them. They continue to take money from my account and I have never used them and no one answered the phone to find out why. I have to close my accounts now to stop them. Don’t ever trust them

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    • bud francis

      I have used Square for 4-5 years. My account was hacked and people started calling me saying they had a charge on their card from my company. The money did not go into my account and I never charged them. I tried to contact Square but couldn’t talk to anybody without a code # I could not get into my Sq. account because it had been hacked so I couldn’t get a code. I sent them a message on Facebook every day to get them to contact me but they never did.They sent me a message saying they would get back with me shortly. In the meantime more and more people were being charged on their credit cards and the funds must have been diverted to somebody else’s account. It went on and on and Square never got back with me until one day they tried to take $2200 out of my account to cover the customer’s disputed charges, which never ever went into my account to start with. My bank caught this and made Sq. put the money back into my account. The very next day they tried to take another $1400 from my account which my bank made them put it back in. They have still never contacted me and I have since had to change my account to keep them out and I still have not been able to contact Sq. to close my account. They have blacklisted me with other credit card companies so I can’t accept cards anymore. Luckily I have had a credit card company for my office credit card for 17 years and they kept me. This Sq. company is the worst company I have ever dealt with in my 37 years in business. I would stay as far from them as possible. Get your card reader and service elsewhere where you can actually talk to somebody when you have a problem.

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  • Michael D

    I had a square account set up through my business I never had issues until recently .Once all the appliances and materials arrived to the client’s house and the first day of work begin she came home demanded. Receipts to the appliances and materials I informed her once the job was complete she will get all the receipts and invoices showing paid in full… 20 minutes later she returned with three of her India friends in a hilarious attempt to intimidate me. They demanded the full deposit be refunded meanwhile all the appliances and materials are still on her property. She made threats to have me trespassed then ask me to come back and get everything and refund the money I said I would not be returning for fear of being trespassed that she purchased them with the deposit she gave to my company and I will provide her the invoices for those amounts.. My National Distributor ( Ewing) sent her the invoices showing paid in full she then try to say they falcified documents and invoices and even went as far as saying she never got the appliances or materials…
    She tried to claim that Ewing charged her card and she wants her money back when that didn’t work she tried to get a credit back and keep the appliances and materials through Square and my bank. Through Legal advice I blocked that and was informed this is a civil matter. I showed all the text messages verifying she had the product and pictures from her own phone showing the product on her back porch. She lied to get a credit which basically means she keeps product and not pay for it.. Square refunded the money to the client just recently after months a of silence and zero communication with me which essentially is allowing the client to steal products ,not pay for them and get awarded her deposit back. Square emailed me yesterday an invoice saying my account is negative $5,0000?!..I unblocked her phone number and I Immediately received a text saying I have 2 days to get the appliances and materials off her property or she will take that as Im uninterested. Square has now helped her commit fraud…. She is now listed with Hillsborough county with possession of stolen property with intent to sell.. I have registered the outdoor kitchen serial numbers as wellvas stolen.It appears Square will side with client everytime for fear of a ” Client” review.Square clearly is not there to help businesses even after showing proof with pictures..emails and text messages..they allowed her to keep product and made no attempt to get product back or help… Theives amongst Theives..

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  • Y.R.

    I really hope this review helps someone who went through the same incident as myself. This review is for people who had three (small or big) cash transactions taken out of their checking accounts. I am not a merchant. I do not have the Square Up app, nor the Square Cash app on my phone. I deal with many merchants that use Square Up. I paid a merchant that uses Square Up. I swiped my card, and signed. The purchase was done on a Saturday.
    I checked my checking account on Monday and right after that point of sale transaction there were 3 $10 cash debits totaling $30 from Square Cash. I transferred all of my money out of my checking account into another account. I called my bank, canceled my debit card, & was informed I would be credited back the $30 and any fees occurred from me empting my account. My bank informed me that due to the small amount there would be no investigation by my bank or Visa.
    If you are not a merchant there is no telephone number that you can call to contact Square Up or Square Cash. I emailed Square Up informing them of what happened. I received an email informing me to contact Square Cash. I emailed them again informing them I cannot contact anyone in Square Cash because I am not a merchant nor do I have the app. I received the exact same email response but at the bottom of the email it had my first email and a case number. I have received no assistance regarding what happened. This happened over a period of three days.
    I contacted the District attorney’s office of where I live, & I was able to speak with the investigator. He informed me because the amount was small my police report might not even be accepted. He did say what occurred to me was identity theft. He told me what I needed to do. All 3 of my credit reports were already locked, and frozen because of what happened with Equifax a few years ago. I contacted TransUnion online and informed them I was a victim of identity theft. This information was documented on my credit report and TransUnion forwarded that information to Experian, and Equifax.
    I contacted the Fair Trade Commission online and filed a complaint for identity theft. The entire process took approximately 15 minutes. They will ask for your checking account number and routing number. After what happened I’m a little paranoid so I gave my routing number but not my checking account number. I do believe the more info you give the more they have to go on, but I gave all other information that was requested. You need to give a statement, and you only get a certain amount of letters. I went straight to the point and gave the info that I believed was most important. They ask if you want to set up an account at the end of the process, and I opted to just in case something else happens.
    Many merchants still use Square Up, and unfortunately this company is still active. One of the merchants I deal with requires me to use a credit/debit card to reserve an appointment. I’ve done this every time since January 2018, but a few months ago it saved my card info. I honestly can’t remember if it asked me or if it automatically did it. I allowed it, because it was convenient to not have to enter my card info each time. There’s my debit card info sitting available right in Square Up’s system.
    After this incident I removed that card (which was already canceled), but the merchant I deal with requires a card to reserve an appointment. I know there are many people out here who do not believe in using credit cards and prefer cash or debit, but the protection we have can be limited. There are many credit cards that have zero fraud liability. So whether the thieves take $5 or $25,000 you are not liable, and it’s not your cash they are stealing. I have opted to using a credit card, especially if it’s a merchant with Square. This time it did ask me if I wanted to save my card on file, I opted not to.
    I truly believe if more and more people file reports with the Federal Trade Commission, they eventually have to investigate this company. Hopefully, this will also call attention to how Square is conducting business with the merchants that have entrusted Square with handling their transactions. I know this review was long, but I want to give details that might help someone, or keep someone from having to go through this.

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  • Julia

    I wish I would of seen all these complaints years ago only they probably wouldn’t have been there since I started with square from the beginning. I’m a small business in the St. Louis area of all places (where square originated) . I’ve been in business for 30 yrs , I’m an honest rational thinking woman owning a business from grass roots of no loans scrapping by and raising a child on my own. Who has grown up to be a honest hard working young man. My salon is in a small town . Square has given me approximately 4 capital loans to grow my business and I’ve never had an issue with this till now . Square gave me a capital loan 3 weeks ago with an agreement to pay back in 18 mos with a 600.00 fee etc … a week later they deactivated my account on a Friday night with only an explanation of section 3 and or section 4 . I was so upset and had no idea why or what was going on. I left 3 frantic emails of what happened and why can’t I talk to someone etc . I had been setting up an online store thru wix.com for Cbd products and was told by so many companies and officials it’s legal in 50 states . I had the toxicology reports the whole shabang .Spent money on a Domain name etc. I never ordered any except to myself to see how to do shipping which I never got the product it was just to test our shipping. When I saw this deactivation sect 3 is about paraphernalia , this is the only thing I can come to a conclusion of this deactivation . Since then Missouri laws are so confusing and there’s so much gray area that I deactivated my online store and forgot the dream of helping so many of my clients crushed. But I don’t care my business is more important to me and I don’t want to do anything illegal. I pleaded with square to understand and take me back. Now they’re stating I need to pay back the loan in 6 mos which would be over 800 dollars a month. I cannot do this I can’t afford it. They said get back with them in 3 days if not we will take out this every month from my checking account . What the heck are we suppose to do they don’t let anyone try to work things out . I’m so upset and my moms in the hospital at the same. I’m afraid when I see squares emails. Good luck everyone .

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  • Joe Kerr

    Square will refund up to $250 per month on chargebacks but only when the purchase is less than $250. So, since I was selling something that is more than $250 through Square, I get nothing when someone does a chargeback. Why protect the people who sell small things but not your better customers who sell tens of thousands of dollars worth of stuff through you? I’m going back to PayPal.

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  • Dee bishop

    This company is terrible. I cancelled a charge on my cc that I didn’t recognize. When I found out the name of the company I notified my cc to pay the merchant which they did. The problem? Square was fast in taking the money out of the merchants bank…without notice! . The invoice was sent through by my cc. Within a few days. It has been over 1 month and the merchant still has not received his money. They have the money and have had it for over the month. I would never recommend this company for any thing. This is totally inappropriate and needs to be reported to the merchants lawyer. So now square is making money on the interest that should have been given to the merchant a month ago. He has called several times which is a pain in and of itself with the passwords delay and no one to actually speak to. Still he has not been paid. They’re excuse was they couldn’t see that money! Or they couldn’t pay it . No customer service. I have my cc giving time and date of payment to square. It was run through just like the original bill. Poor business and unacceptable response. Do not get this business.

  • Dusty Abrahamson

    TERRIBLE!!!! We gave this POS (more like piece of you know what) system two tries and had both accounts deactivated after taking out first payment on both. Then we jumped through all their stupid hoops and provided all the information they requested only for them to deactivate the accounts. You cannot speak to anyone on the phone and it takes DAYS!!! For a response. When you get a response it is very generic and all they do is refer you to their policies without explaining what violation/ if any you have committed. Then they freeze your account and hold all your money ransom. Or you can refund you payment back to the customer and track them down to see if they can pay you using a different method. This pos is a fricken joke. STAY AWAY FROM IT!

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  • paul

    I opened a merchant account –linked my bank account and debit card as such was confirmed buy Square

    Taking 1st payment the reader did nit word on the phone so customer car was entered manually– Day number 4 ; the deposit show pending and to be released each day!
    Paid extra 1% for instant deposit–did not deposit instantly

    I messaged customer service and then received an email that payment can be accepted; however deposit put on suspension wtf !!!

    Then. I received an email to complete a verification form
    I completed said form–still pending !!!

    My customer has the product— I had to text customer and then I issued a refund– customer agreed to pay me via paypal!!
    GUESS WHAT REFUND PENDING

    I’LL FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE FTC ONLINE NOW

    ONE COMPLAINT WON’T WORK; BUT 1000’S WILL

    SO FILE A COMPLAINT

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  • Rob

    Customer disputed a charge several months after making payment. Square’s dispute resolution team could not get the “dashboard” to work. Despite being assured they would only place a hold on the funds in question they seized them anyway without explanation. They refuse to respond to email and refuse to provide a phone number. When initially asked for a contact for their legal team I bogus address was provided.

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  • S

    After several electronic invoices from a long time customer who happens to have my same last name, they closed my account with no warning, no opportunity to provide an explanation or evidence of shipments of product delivered, customer website displaying products etc. Nothing, just a form letter accusing me of a pattern of charging my own card or some such bs. Had never done that. And of course when your account is closed you can’t even reach a representative! Square is absolutely ridiculous. Leaves a bad feeling. Every time I see one of their stupid registers I pay with cash and when possible mention my experience to the business owner. Screw them!

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  • Tiffany Bentley

    DO NOT USE!! They will not give me my money. I have used Square’s credit card processing service before. I accepted a credit card payment for $833 for a service through square’s processing services. I called Square’s customer support line to find out when the money would be deposited in the bank on Friday 09/21/18 and they informed me I would have to wait until Monday, 09/24/18 to receive the deposit. I had setup my account to receive instant direct deposit of funds from Square whenever processing a credit card, so I was upset. The first customer service representative I spoke to said they could not do anything, I could not have my deposit until Monday. I asked to speak to someone like a manager, or someone in charge, not just a customer service representative. i was given a manager to speak to, and I did continue to argue with the manager demanding my money. The continued response was I would have to wait until Monday. I researched the internet for a phone number to their corporate office and I could only find a number that directed me back to their customer service number, and I would not be able to speak to customer service until I got onto their website and got some number through going through a very long process. So, now it’s Monday 09/24/18, I am expecting my money that Square is holding. There was no deposit in my bank account. Not until Monday morning did I receive some sort of email requesting my personal information. I had used this service many times before. I sent them my personal information. Later in the day I went through the long process of trying to speak to a human being, to which I finally was directed to one, who informed me it would take 2-3 business days for them to process my personal information. So, now they have been holding my money for 4 days, and have come up with a reason to hold my money for 3 more days. I explained to the customer service representative that I was told on Friday I would receive my deposit on Monday. It is now Monday, and I want my money. You cannot just hold people’s money. She just kept saying I would have to wait another 3 days to get my money, making the total number of days 6, when I have my account setup for instant deposit. So, I requested to speak to a manager, and was denied that request. I asked for the corporate phone number, which I was denied. So, they are just allowed to hold my money and I am angry. I tried to call their corporate office and all that happened is the automatic system sent me back to customer service. And, because they are holding my money that I earned, I am angry and expressed my anger. They now have blocked me from being able to contact the company at all. How can a money processing system have no way to speak to someone besides the customer service representative, and then block the consumer from calling at all? This is not the way to run a money processing business. I find it gross neglect of handling other people’s money.

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  • Jr

    Do not use this app, Square makes promises that do not ever hold up, the company will not hear complaints or return emails, the managers are there to receive a paycheck that you worked hard for and will not care if your money is missing or stolen, the representatives are disrespectful and will not take the time to fix any issues related to a complaint. Please use another way to receive payments Square is not the only one who does this method of payments, so I found out

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  • Chris

    ***Gun shop owners beware*** I purchased square on 6/29 from Amazon. I followed all directions in setting up my account information and did a test transaction and all was good. About 2 weeks later, I get an email notification stating that square could not communicate with my bank and to please contact my bank for my information. I went ahead and contacted my bank to make sure nothing was wrong and they assured me that my business account was ready to go and start accepting payments from square. This happened at least 6x and still getting the runaround from square, stating that my bank is the problem and not them. I come to find out that square is not a gun friendly company and most likely have not been sending the link request to link my account and then lying that they could not communicate with my bank. I have since moved on to a much better credit card processing unit and will never support square due to there intolerance of law abiding gun ownership. they should be ashamed of themselves but I will take a little responsibility in this as well because I should have researched who owns square and his political affiliation. Better l;ate than never I guess


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  • Robert Ferrera

    I’m the co owner of a growing children’s theater company that has been unfortunately handling our transactions with square. Our business brings in a steady stream that naturally fluctuates from day to day, and we recently had a very good day, probably one of our best. This was over a week ago now and square has yet to deposit our money. We have been told it’s “under review“, no details. They tell us we can’t discuss the account information over the phone inexplicably, but that instead we have to email about it. We have sent email after email to them with no response.

    They have essentially stolen our money and are as crooked a financial business as I’ve come across. I’ve read a lot of other reviews and this but this company is begging for a class action lawsuit as it seems they’ve defrauded many small businesses like ours.


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  • Jerry C

    Yea i don’t recommend them for any online transaction i had one customer i did all the work for them and i made sure the customer was happy but at the last min customer regrets the purchase and 6 months later disputes the charges and square couldn’t do anything for me and i lost $4,000 they said they couldn’t help me much i felt this was bad i was hoping they would fight back and help me solve this issue i would not do business with square because your pretty much on your own


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  • Katie Short

    I sell meat at farmers markets and depend heavily on Square. A month ago, it just quit working. I’ve tried everything to reconnect. No luck. Nobody to talk to. No way to get the so-called code for support. What beats me is that Square’s losing money while my account is down, so why don’t they help me get it back up and running? I’m done with them.


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  • Ivo

    Square is by far one of the biggest joke companies on the US market today. Terrible customer service, can not resolve any issues, can not get hold of live person, can not get any explanation on any issue. If you are in process opening a new business or trying to get merchant processing company, Square is not the one for you. Guarantee 2- 3 months later you will regrade. Consider different payment processing company for your business.


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  • Spurdy

    Square worked fine for my small business for over 5 years. Then all of a sudden, a month ago, they held all of my deposits. When I investigated why, I found a form online that said I needed to “verify” my business account. I filled it out but it kept saying I needed to provide more “documentation”. The instructions are not clear as to what exactly this is. I provided a tax code-but still no deposits. I emailed many many times and got auto responses every time. I tried to phone many times but you can not speak with a representative without a “code”. I couldn’t get a “code” because I needed to “verify” my account. And round in circles as naseum. The one time I did get a response back from one of my many emails, “Fred” finally gave me a “code”! However it was “invalid” when I tried to use it to speak with someone about my account. This was by far the most frustrating and possibly the most illegal business practice I have ever witnessed. I know I signed “agreements” with Square when I started with them, but I never would have imagined that they could keep a months deposits from me and that there was not one live person to help me with the issue. I would discourage every business owner I encounter that is looking for a system such as this, to never ever ever ever ever do business with Square. It was convenient, but very over priced compared to other systems, and worst of all there was absolutely no customer service at all. None. Zero. In fact I am still wondering if there are actually any live people that work for Square, or if it is just a “completely computer run” system ??? Do not use Square when there are so many others with actual customer service, to choose from.


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  • Amaris Bailey

    Horrible & Unreliable service. Cash App/Square Inc. took $700 from me & my husband account 7 weeks ago, & it’s still Unresolved. Please Note, neither me or my husband authorized a transaction at all. Square couls not explain how this happened. Not one person has contacted us, & the emails from Square, Inc (aka Cash App) that promised to get put our money back, stopped a week ago. Both our banks advised us never to use this app because of these problems from many others. This should be illegal, but we will be included in a lawsuit that comes from this.


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  • Lasonja Brown

    Did two transactions thriough Cash/Square those transactions were supposedly refunded…my bank has no records of the refunds I have been trying to get my refunds back since June 14 I have written numerous emails with all the information that had been asked by them of me still no response back no money no anything I will never use them again And I advise you to do the same


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  • Sheila Dumas

    Square is used by the ER Electronics store in Leesburg, FL. On May 22, this store sold me a reconditioned iPhone (which had to be ordered) for $493.69. The charge went immediately onto my credit card. On May 26 the store could not obtain the iPhone and they gave me a receipt matching the sales receipt of 4 days earlier, but with a minus sign on amount. From 5/26 to present, 7/2, the ER store said they notified Square of the return and told me the amount would be taken off my credit card. This has not happened. Each time I contacted the store I was told that Square would remove the charge. Poor service.

  • Elyse Ellinger

    Someone hacked my account and I can no longer log in. I can therefore not reach customer support because you have to log in to get a code so you can call support. The only other way is to send them an email, which I did, but apparently they will answer in up to 24 hours. Meanwhile, i’m freaking out about who’s using my account and what they’ doing with it. Unacceptable!

  • Steve

    Unfortunately the support team at square is very poor. They make assumptions and recommendations based upon those assumptions. Such as they assume you have not followed suggestions for resolutions. Sent me for a software upgrade I already had, assuming I had an older version. Unfortunately I have received no help from square at all. To call you need a code and they run you in circles, no code.
    The support is for the simplest of issues and no real help if you have an issue that requires more than basic operation. I used to recommend square but can no longer do so in good conscience. Use square at your own risk!

  • Brian

    Called the day before to verify maximum transaction amount, was told $50,000.00 as they have posted, the transaction was $7650.00 they deactivated my account without completing the transaction held the money and charged the $210.00 for the transaction they chose not to complete. They need a class action suit for deceptive and misleading practices, all in favor👍


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      • justen

        Hey we are in process of filing suit now against them.

        I had a fireworks stand & used their pos system for 21 days. At the end my figures show I should of had close to 65000 in sales square reported 21000 & when we contacted them we was 1st told to upload a ledger & it would be fixed we did that. & then they said funds are being held & now I can’t get a hold of them


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      • Shawn

        If you start a class action lawsuit, I’m in at [email protected]. They took money from me claiming that my account was connected to another business. It isn’t! My husband and I shared the same bank account about a year ago and for about a week until he got his own business account, his business listed our bank account as his verified bank account. We switched hat over a year ago,and he’s had his own business bank account. About a month ago he got a chargeback from a client that was fraudent but the bank of the customer rulednin their favor. So this month I get paid from a client, Square holds my money and then says because I have a connected account, they are charging me for the chargeback since my connected account is underfunded? What? It’s not even my Square business account and my bank is not attached to his Square account. How can they do that and it be legal and they tell me investigation closed?


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  • Elizabeth Drury

    We have tried to work with Square to get our account corrected. So far, they have yet to return our customer’s money and we have yet to receive it. In other words, they have our money! You cannot reach them by phone. I was considering using this form of payment versus VISA for our business (lawn/landscape/tree business) but after this trouble, forget it. I am happy to pay the 2.75%. At least the credit card companies are not thieves.

  • dennean baker

    i purchased ice cream and said i didn’t want a receipt. my sister calls me and said she received a email with my purchase. how is my sister receiving my receipt. why did they send it to her. we dont share email address. what if my information went to someone else. the store manager or owner didnt care. it was baked bear in bethesda. so upset.

      • Rena Van Steele

        Exactly the same for me. I send a receipt for a transaction. That person does not receive the receipt. A different strange person calls me furious that I have sent them a receipt and they have had no charge card what so ever for 5 years,…and now they are receiving a receipt for someone else card and someone else transaction. Lots of wasted time, energy and frustration and lots and lots of back and forth to figure out. Finally a rep said,..” oh sometimes that happens and disregard.” Grrrrrrrrr


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  • Keith Chemlen

    Square is the worst company ever. If you own a company, and are looking to process credit card payments, be careful of this company! They allowed me to set up an account, and once i collected my first payment from a customer, Square held the funds and requested all sorts of hard to get documents to verify that i was a legit company. I am easily verifiable by a simple google search, which clearly indicates hat i am a Corporation, fully licensed, etc. These practices hurt my operations and almost put me out of business.

  • Manny

    Beware, this app is a scam it sucks,unprotected. I sent money to an individual and they literally told me they weren’t going to send me my product,and there’s nothing I can do about it I contacted square they said there’s nothing they can do it’s unprotected once you send your money it’s over the seller does not have to refund your money does not have to send any product and you’re out of X amount of money this app is terrible, this company Is terrible. It’s a scam and there’s no protection stick with PayPal at least your money is safe.

  • C Miksicek

    Earlier this month (May 2018) I was a victim of fraudulent charges using Square accounts. I have been in contact with Square for two weeks now by email and have yet to get a satisfactory response from them (I can’t find a phone number anywhere). They don’t seem to understand payers are customers too. I see 19.2 Million results on Google for fraud + Square, so I don’t seem to be the only one experiencing this problem.

  • John Baumberger

    I’ve been doing business with Square over 5 years and apparently they put my money in the wrong account and are holding saying I need to fill out form I put my federal ID # but they want an EIN # which I have no idea what that even is. Please call me 812 454-8812. why up till now have you made my deposits but now you can hold it. This is outrageous!!!

  • Hayley

    I too am having problems and I don’t have a business. All I wanted to do was get my information fixed. Whenever I purchase something through a vendor using square it offers someone else’s phone number and email for the receipt. This concerns me but I can’t get a required code to talk to customer service because I’m not a merchant. I’m asked to sign up for an account, tell them about the business I’m supposed to have and answer personal questions about myself like phone and email. I spoke to my credit card company and they don’t know why another name is associated with purchases from square. I hate companies like this! It’s like trying to get something fixed with Apple and you can’t unless you schedule a phone discussion so they can validate your complaint before helping you because you can’t actually have a legitimate problem unless they agree you do and verify you’re worthy of talking to someone that can fix it. I’m sure after reading all of these negative reviews it’s really a poor ran company. Overlook the cool app and flexibility of taking payments and see the flawed business practices people. Stop using square.

  • Joel

    Square is not user friendly at all. I had to search for their phone number on the forums as it is impossible to find it on their website. Finally talked to someone set up a meeting, changed around schedule and never got that phone call. Waited 1.5 weeks for someone to email me back after countless efforts to try calling them (which you require a code but only if you are a client). Ended up going with another company just because of that reason.

  • Marcia Anderson

    Everything was going along just fine until squared suddenly determined that our transactions were high risk. They permanently deactivated our account and put a 90 day hold on the funds we had. No customer service. Had to refund the money back to the customers and use another service to get our money after 45 days of no help at all.

  • Penelle Skinner

    I agree with other complaints. This ap is now run by techies who think we are all techies too and don’t need some real help getting answers by at least Chat if not by PHONE! The site keeps saying I am in Canada, which I am not. It will not show my “code” no matter how many titles I pour through. No one will take a call without a call, and I wanted to purchase one of its programs. My dashboard won’t register anything, so Forget it! SQUARE management is forgetting that as slick as they get technologically speaking, a competitor will be better at it!! Without the ‘personal’ touch and human response, why would I stay with SQUARE??? No purchase from me today. Horrible company breathing too much San Francisco high end air.

  • Peggy Pettigrew Stewart

    HORRIBLE service! Cannot get a phone number to call to get help. I just signed up with them a month ago. They withdrew $1500 from my account, no explanation. I emailed, and they said it was a chargeback from 2010. They emailed me this answer, and said case was closed. However, I never had an account with them previously! And I cannot reach anyone to help me. I have emailed over and over. AND can’t get a phone number and “code” to call into ask for help. Horrible company!

  • Donna Pantelides

    Square is not a friendly place to do business at all. They held and hold alot of peoples money for 30 to 90 days depending on what the issue is. There should be a law against companies like Square as they dont help businesses, they hinder them.

    • Roxanne Scrivens

      I agree 100% that Square may not be for everyone. They are holding $776 of my funds for 90 days because I forgot to change my Debit card number associated with my account after I completed a transaction with my client..

      I had not realized the mistake I made until after I completed the transaction. So I put the correct info, but they would not transfer the funds to my account. It should not have been a problem since they have all banking info.

      The client sent me a deposit towards a purchase, she was not presence so I sent her an invoice for the deposit..

      I contacted square and they offered a chance to explain via email. I sent them my ID, bank statement, and my business LLC information. I also gave them contact info for the client transaction.

      But to them that was not good enough, so they deactivated my account and sent an email 10 days after they keep telling me to check my email for instructions about them keeping my funds for 90 to 120 days.

      I always question what they are doing behind our backs with the money that they hold.

      I can assure you that the money is not just sitting there waiting for them to send to you in 90 days. The money is being used to benefit them.
      At the very least common sense will tell you they collect interest on it.
      If you dig deeper you will find that they are hiding information form the public about the money they get to keep for extended amount of time. They do not tell the truth. They tell you what they want you to know.

      Until someone questions them or sue them, then they will pay attention. Im one of those people who will challenge and ask the questions.

      We have rights… For that reason I will leave you with this.

      There are many things in the seller agreement which can be considered “illegal”. Holding money for so long does violate banking laws, however, it is a grey area that needs to be cleared up in court.

      There are many lawsuits currently for companies who use these practices of holding your money. Unfortunately, most settle, and usually the results are kept confidential.

      Im going to exercise my rights

  • Sónia

    It’s a scam! Got the account twice, they cancelled them with lame excuses, once cancelled you can’t reach them by phone anymore only email and if you have money on the app, good luck! They will refund it maybe in 6 months unless you cancel the transaction and they refund your client! Biggest SCAM around! Be aware

  • Desiree

    I would not recommend anyone with a business use square they will hold your funds and keep asking for Documents about your clients or customers. I have sent over everything they have asked for a million times but like always they want more and more info I will not be using square again they are giving my business a bad name with all this holding funds and some customers I refund them back and they give me a check or cash because of square don’t use them they don’t deserve our business.

  • chris

    what a useless bunch of idiots these people are! I signed up to get the reader and talked to them in person and was assured I could put the account on my website through godaddy. Not the case, they wasted my time and now I have to wait to get a payment device from another company that actually knows what they are doing. There tech people are the most useless idiots i ever dealt with!

  • Paul Beach

    Square is a very simple, very easy to use system that provides quality point of sale but very limited inventory control and accounting system integration support. If you only have a few items for sale or are not tracking inventory it is ideal. Fast up. Easy. Low cost. Low fees.

    If you have a lot of inventory items or SKU’s … it can be problematic. Also the service and support is …poor. The contactless and chip reader tools are convenient, but break … which is odd for tools with no moving parts …. they are only covered for 30 days and in order to get any support you have to remember to keep your email from square from your initial purchase (regardless of how long ago it was) because without it they can not confirm or track your purchase.

    They are nice, but essentially useless in the support area. It is honestly cheaper to just buy new hardware than it is to waste … hours of time on the phone with support to be told that they can’t confirm your $46 equipment purchase so wont replace the unit.

  • John V

    I had a Square Credit Card Processing Account that I used 3 years ago while working for a company called iCracked. Suddenly, I began receiving collections calls from Square Capital saying that I took out a loan and never paid it back. They have the another email address for a different independent contractor and a different name as the authorized user. They refuse to even verify the Tax ID or SSN that the credit was issued under. Their records are completely inaccurate and it sounds like fraud on the part of Square Capital and/or iCracked.

  • Gregory Harnett

    Years ago I had a Square account. Then medical issues and unemployment hit me bad. Last week I re-established a Square account. I got a sale for $971 to teaching some insurance agents for securities exams. Later that day it was cancelled and I issued a refund request.
    However, 2 – 3 years ago I had an unpaid refund and owed Square more than the $951. They denied the refund to my client, a Regional Office of a Major Insurance Company, and placed two demands so far on my bank account. Twice they sent me an email to make arrangements to pay the past balance and twice I responded with offer to clear up the debt based on their selection of terms. Payment monthly was offered first time, same as well as 50% of any sales coming in.
    I got an email back saying the refund was denied to my client of this week, and that I should pay him back with cash or a check of mine.
    They confiscated the funds and have bounced now twice on my checking account. The first demand they put in the full amount as well as had my new customer’s money in their hands. I never received one penny from the new customer. It was never sent to my bank, just absorbed by Square.
    I have an inquiry in to a consumer rights lawyer to determine if they broke policy or law confiscating the money from my new customer which should be refunded.
    Why would a company tell me through customer service they are processing the refund and then the same day go after my bank and absorb the new customer’s money to satisfy my obligation?
    I just lost a major client and income stream thanks to that action by Square.

  • William S

    I had been a customer of Square for 3+ years and no problems, no chargebacks, only happy customers. I own a small convenience store and also make sales at local flea markets. I mainly sell novelty items, food, spices and knives. I was doing fine until I added the knives to my website then BOOM, Square terminated my account without any notice and no appeals. I have been without credit card system for now without a week.

  • Bradley Martin

    Could not be more displeased with Square. Do NOT purchase! The hardware goes out as often as you have to replace a car charger. When your whole business is down because you cannot process sales, they make you purchase new equipment from a 3rd party vendor. Once you’ve spent another $400 they send you a warranty claim so that you can send your stuff back, before sending new hardware. All the while you’re left with nothing.

  • Chisselle Sanchez

    We processed a $16,745.38 transaction with Square, Square then informed they couldn’t support the amount, therefore, a refund was issue but, that did not stop Square from withdrawing the funds from the client’s account. That was 13 days ago as of today Square has yet to deposit the funds in our account or refund the client. They are holding $16,745.38! There has been no email responds nor is there a number to contact. This is the worst situation our business has ever been involved in all thanks to Square.

  • Ernest Travold

    Received an email receipt from square for a POS purchase. I did not provide an email, my credit card company does not provide any personal information. This is unauthorized use of personal information

    Contact info VERY difficult to locate on website, phone number is useless–msg goes in circles “Check our website…”. Website requires an account (I don’t have–and they are NOT getting my personal info). This is as close to a scam as one can get while staying on the inside of law.

  • Michael

    F- Joined Square in Decembar 2017 company bank account was verified by Square in December, received my Square strip reader in early January. Processed my first transaction on January 24th by entering the card info into the computer payment accepted, everything seemed fine but amount never transferred into company bank account. Waited a week as clients money needed to pay for products they ordered. Payment never received contacted Square and they replied account deactivated. As such could not call(deactivated) to find out why as this was my first transaction. Square Email response was after through review deactivation stands(still no reason why?). Was able to get refund back to very unhappy client who wanted to know why and I still don’t know why. Dealing with Square is very Kafkaesque when most you need to talk to them there is no response only you are deactivated.. Funny thing my other store uses Square and have had no problems, but I would stay away. Something is wrong with their business model.

  • Rodney Mitchell

    DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT USING SQUARE!!!! LOOK AT THE COMPLAINTS!!!! GOOGLE WHAT THEY DO TO PEOPLE!!!!

    I own a small handyman business and my transactions vary from anywhere around $10 to $500, yeah thats it. I’ve been using the square app on my iPhone to process these transactions and now they’re holding a little over $500 of my money and wont process the transactions. They have already had me refund one transaction that was o$500 because they wouldn’t pay it so now I look like an idiot and unprofessional to the customers because I had to explain to them why I refunded their money to their perfectly good credit card and I have to ask for a check or cash. Nobody uses the either anymore and they now look like well if you can’t get your credit card acceptance right why would I trust you with my cash. I painted a ladys house who was nice enough after me explaining that Square needed this gave me a copy of her ID, and a copy of her credit card (front and back) and told me to have them call her to verify the transaction. I provided all this to Square. Including everything in the world that I can muster. I can’t get my money but more importantly my business that relies on word of mouth because I am really really small maybe two or three jobs a month small. Squareup.com(Square) advertises that there is no dollar amount limit to swiped transactions and that they will have the money deposited within 24 hours. This is a LIE!!!!! Here is their reply to one of my emails to them:

    For payments that haven’t been deposited (generally in the last few days), you may consider having your customer pay you by another method (cash, check, etc.) and refunding the payment(s) back to the original payment card(s). The full payment amount will be returned to your customer. Refunds can be issued within 120 days of the original payment date. To learn more about issuing refunds, please visit here.

    We apologize for this inconvenience, but our decision is final.

    So I requested Square refund MY money to the customer. Even though I already painted her house so somewhere between here and 4 months she may get it back. Then she may pay me in another method after that. But she will never use me again and she will never recommend me to anyone else. This is just so damaging to my business. Before I got this lovely response from them they had me fill out a lot of useless information, from invoices to ads I placed. I gave them copies of my ID and bank statements and just basically sitting somewhere on this company’s computer is my entire life story. I sent them so much information. My question is this… Why would I have to split transactions if there is no limit to swiped tranactions? And why don’t they have a number for customer support? It’s like pulling teeth trying to get a response through email from them because they aren’t in any hurry at all!! Save yourself the stress, headache, business loss and anxiety!!! DON’T USE SQUARE!! This company is RIPPING EVERYONE OFF!!! Please read the reviews Google Square and look at what people are saying. I wish I would have.

    Also they toute am A+ rating with the BBB. But I filed a complaint with the BBB and I am looking to file with the California AG about the BBB who gives them an A+ rating with 94% Negative reviews and over 1600 un resolved complaints? Who does that. Now I dont trust the BBB anymore!

  • Earl Coobs

    I have been waiting 3 weeks to get money back from a merchant who failed to deliver my product in a timely manner. I put in a dispute with square card and they are not responding to VISA or the merchant who says his funds are on hold. The funds seem to be in limbo. No support or customer service seem to be standard at square card. Why it takes them weeks to settle a charge back is beyond belief. Especially when the merchant agrees he owes you the money.

  • Dee

    Square appointments is going from bad to worse their time zones is all messed up causing double booking. It has been a month that I have reported, on March 13 the online booking calendar changes from PST to PDT not only is it causing my clients to book an appointment and then it shows on my dash broad as an hr earlier. pulse recurring appointment aren’t showing as booked causing double booking.

    • Rena Van Steele

      Yes, Square has really left a major gap in accuracy here. The site directs me to go to the Canadian site. I do. I specifically went to two representatives to get my end of day time exactly how I set it up. That being two very complete discussions and both never took the time difference from US to Canadian causing so many problems as with time differences. I ask I ask I ask why are our numbers not balancing out. Finally after 4 reps,….one knew what they were doing and pointed out the time difference. I am on the Canadian site which it directed me. Why is this so difficult and why do one of 4 reps knowledgeable about the different time changes. Daaaaaaa


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  • Dr H

    If you are looking for a cheap payroll company, Square is one of the cheapest. You get what you pay for! They messed up my taxes and would not take responsibility! They told me to file amendments because that wasn’t part of the service! They are difficult to communicate with. There is very poor customer service. You can’t get a straight answer because none of the employees really understand payroll or taxes. They have an automated system. Press the wrong button and you are screwed! Their platform has a lot of bugs in it and I had 3 major issues during the 6 months I used them. Overall, I would pay more for a more legitimate payroll service. They suck!

  • Travis

    I was recently contacted by a stranger that let me know for about 2 years he has been getting my receipts sent to his phone. After 2 years he was able to track me down and let me know. I have tried to contact square to get this resolved and there is no way to contact them? no phone and I am not a customer of theirs. I buy things and my information is sent ot some random person!!!!

  • Ari Lieberman

    After a year of successful use of Square we ran into our first issue with their equipment after a Square update. It has taken over 10 days and we have had zero solution. All I get from the technical department is a run-a-round. When they finally agreed to send us new printers they sent then ground so I had to wait a week to get them. When they did arrive they too did not work. This is not surprising since we knew the issue wasn’t with the equipment but with the app after it upgraded. Square has continued to charge me for every credit card processed and has offered no concrete solutions. One of the things that surprised me most was when a technical support person told me that they are not able to send anything overnight. So if you sign up with square and something breaks, plan to wait at least a week to get a replacement part and chances are that won’t be the fix. If you are contemplating getting square, contact me first. I am now looking for a new service provider and POS option.

  • Brian Travinski

    VERY Poor company! For absolutely no reason they “Deactivated” my account! And there is nobody to talk to, no customer service to call..they don’t have ANY phone number on their website then I Googled their # and got a recording that says you need to go back to the website to ask for a “CODE” to talk to someone ( who puts their “Customers” through this crap?!?) so I do this, and the website says “Your account isn’t “eligible” for a code”! I’m like “REALLY?!?!?”
    So, in short, they screw your account up buy deactivating it THEN hide when you try to call! Yeah, business people don’t need this kind of service. Will give my business to their competitors. This company is TERRIBLE!

  • Mike M

    Terrible Customer service, boiler plate response, always blaming our equipment. No real person to talk to asked the same question in 10 emails never got the right answer.I had recommended this app to the person paying me and even she is totally upset with them. Nothing but bad reviews. Looking for people who had a bad experience with Square and maybe even lost money or caused grief in your life for a class action lawsuit. You can contact me by replying.
    They are a terrible company that needs to find out about customer service and how to treat people. They have lost a lot of business because I deal with business people everyday and would have referred them easily… if they had any idea what helping your customers meant.

    • cheri

      If you are a small business owner and are looking for a point of sale system to accept credit cards. do NOT use square. I was at a market and all but one of the credit card payments I accepted that day NEVER showed up on my sales report. When I called square they said they did not see any such transactions and if I had indeed taken those payments, which they had no proof, I would have to call each customer (are you kidding me) and have them re run their cards. So if my clients were charged then square kept the money. If they weren’t then I gave my products away for free thanks to square and was told that 90% of the time it is user error because the user submitted it as cash. So they also called me a liar because I was the one processing the payments and was told I entered it in as cash not credit card even though I did it the same way for all transactions that day and only one charge processed. I wonder how many times they have kept my money in the past and I didn’t notice it. DO NOT USE SQUARE UNLESS YOU DONT MIND IF THEY KEEP YOUR MONEY
      I would join a class action suit except the only proof i have is the word of me and my mother as they have no record of the transactions. Isn’t that convenient.

  • Cynthia Foy

    I ordered a Caviar gift card for my daughter-in-law for Christmas and she didn’t receive an email from them to redeem it. I am frustrated because I am only able to communicate with them by email and I need to talk to them. I have tried to straighten it out multiple times over email, as has my daughter-in-law, but it is now February and it still isn’t resolved. The customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

  • Matt Cracas

    Square is continuing to bill me automatically after I have canceled my service with them, and i can’t reach them to resolve the situation because i am no longer a customer with a customer code!!!!!!!!!

  • Sam

    They deactivated my account by email, with $35,000 frozen. No reason no phone number no nothing. Please anyone outthere help me out and tell me what I should do. Thank you all. The biggest SPAM please people don’t use SQUARE

    • KIMBERLY PACK

      Sam,
      I am so sorry to hear about your problem with Square. My business was bankrupted in 2013 due to them doing the same thing to me. The Ohio AG didn’t even help me because I was the business owner, but they were available to file felony charges against me due to my clients not receiving their products. I couldn’t even get Square to return their money. The emails back and forth were exhausting. When I signed up I gave them all of my info. When I demanded a phone number to call regarding them deactivating my account, they suddenly said they offer all complants via email only, but if they could call me I had to give them a telephone number and EXACT time to call. So I did, I sent an email with 123-456-7890 . Now to anyone that had any sense at all they would know that was not a good number, I thought I would play their game. About ten minutes later I get another email stating “Kimberly, we aren’t able to get that number to work” – I knew right then I had been had. Wishing you the best in getting your money.

  • joyce A. Pagán Nieves

    HORRIBLE SERVICE NO ONE TO TALK
    For more than 3 days I had try to comunicate with square by phone and by email, to clarify this issue of a suspended deposit of my payment and it has been imposible. I am very dissapointed with your bad service. No number to call, no person to talk, no chat, no nothing. It is very frustraiting that you have my payment and you dont act fast. And there is no service at all. Horrible Service its not reliable!

  • Barbara

    I bought something from someone using square and never received my item. I try finding a way of getting my money back but they don’t have a place for me to do that. That’s not fair they get paid and we don’t get out product. I will do paypal from now on square s**ks.

  • Michael Malloy

    Square reader has to be the worst company for customer support. If you need help you have to log in and request a customer number just to talk to someone. Not only are they not open on weekends, they can’t seem to get there accounting right. I gave them my account number for my business and they deposit into my personal account. How did they get that information I don’t know? Square reader is the worst! Do not pay for instant deposits if your a member of a credit Union. Everytime I paid for instant deposits they never came instant. My credit Union don’t recognize them. I use U of M credit Union.

  • John Madden

    California’s Song Beverly Act forbids requiring an email address to get a receipt for a sales purchase. I made a cash payment, requested a receipt and was required by local business to give my email address which they gave to Square who sent me a receipt. Square has no phone service and I want them to remove my info from their database.

  • Sally Henderson

    My boyfriend decided about a year ago to sign up to process rental payments through Square. Up until this past month he’s had no problem getting his money deposited into his bank account. However, this has changed. Square starting withholding all payments processed in the month of December. We have made many, many attempts to get this problem resolved. There is no phone number to call. We have sent a total of 9 emails to no avail. This is the worst customer service that I have ever experienced in my life.
    I would not recommend this service to my worst enemy.

  • Jessicah Hayes

    Square is awful. They decided to permanently deactivate my account because more than 2 comsumers used gift cards. They deactivated it on Thursday. I missed ALL SALES CHRISTMAS WEEKEND!!! I am all online, this is my busiest weekend of the year!! I am going to have to close my business. I tried to withdraw my money but they are not letting me. I am a single widowed mom with a daughter in college and one in high school. No one has responded to my emails and they said I don’t have access to call. When I call the 800 number they ask for a code, which I do not have so they hang up. I am not even allowed to post on the community threads. I needed my money for Christmas, I am in the negative at my bank and getting charged more everyday. Who has a number I can call? Why is this happening?

  • Alix Curry

    NO Customer service. Square shut down our account with no notice, no explanation and is holding onto our clients money. This is FRAUD. If you are closing the account in spite of us following every directive to the letter then have a PERSON available to explain why. Square is apparently allowed to keep our clients money and get away with theft!!!! Our clients think that they have paid us. I will not go on and on as plenty of people before me have had the same experience. This is not a good company and I am surprised they are allowed to get away with what they do. If I stole people’s money I would be charged and sent to jail. Square is allowed to hang onto other people’s money and apparently does not feel compelled to explain themselves. We followed Square’s instructions, did all that was asked of us, (and more) had our account shut down and our clients money has been seized. We cannot run our business with no payment, Square should be held legally liable for fraud. BEWARE OF SQUARE.

  • andy

    $5 billion company. No one to talk to.
    I have 30 years experience running a retail point of sale and dealing with banks and merchants. I have never seen a company that takes in 100’s of millions in revenue and has no phone support or decent client customer service. After using Square for 1 year without any issues, no charge-backs and no complaints, they suddenly shut down my account. When trying to obtain the reason for closing the account, they sent an email that reads:
    — “Thanks for following up. We understand that this can be a frustrating experience.
    Unfortunately, our decision to deactivate your account is final. Due to the obligations of our agreements with card networks and other financial institutions, we cannot reverse this decision and are unable to provide additional details. For further information about our policies, you can review the Square Terms of Service on our website. Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”—
    So there is no explanation and no reason given as to why the account is suddenly shut down.
    Square inc. is a PUBLIC company and it is traded at NYSE under the stock symbol SQ with a recent valuation of 5.4 Billion Dollars. A Company at that size should be held liable for making the life of small business owner a living nightmare, deactivation of account and holding funds with no reason could be devastating to some business owners, specially when the payment was for service, not a tangible product. With so many complaints, it is time to file a class action lawsuit against Square inc.
    Such lawsuit is likely to end with a large payout to all victims of sudden deactivation and funds withholding.

  • Gary Hughes

    Very hard to get a fast response from square, processed a charge 6 days ago …. no money , every day when checking get message “sending that day” day keeps changing. Have to loose these scum bags. Costing me money.. not helping my business.

  • ssk

    After many years 100% problem free, out of the blue Square falsely accused our business of running personal cash advances and summarily deactivated our account. We attempted to resolve the issue numerous times. Their responses were boiler plate if they responded at all. They lock you out of customer service and their forum too. Enough to make your blood boil!

    Don’t trust Square. They really don’t care about their customers.

  • Arden

    The negative reviews for Square surprised me. I’ve been using square for a professional services business for several years and would give them a solid “A” rating, perhaps even “A+”
    They are in my view significantly better than all other options I’ve explored to receive cc payments. I’ve tried another cc processor w/out monthly fees that charged more per transaction and put several day holds on my funds. With square I have ALWAYS received funds promptly. I also have been courted by other credit card processors (calling, emailing, etc.) but everytime I compare the annual costs (their monthly fees, some with terminal requirements and most charge a premium to accept Amex) Square costs me less to process.
    Now I offer professional services in a brick & mortar location, don’t do any funny business and probably am “low risk” in terms of cc transactions. I wouldn’t at all hesitate to recommend Square to others in my line of work and in fact do!

    • Marie Gourdet

      I guess that’s your own luck. They are holding onto my customer’s money for 4 months, with no explanation. I ordered the products for my customer using my own debit card. Those thieves called squareup are holding onto my money for no reason. I did everything that they asked, even sent them a copy of my driver license. They stink, their odor is riding up their custmers’ nose…

  • Susan Oster

    Things you can do:
    1. File a small claims lawsuit and let Square know you’ve done so (you can do a bigger one but it’s a big hassle and much more expensive) Do it in your area so they have to come to you. Their legal counsel is Hillary B Smith. This can usually be done on line quite easily.
    2.File a complaint on line with the Federal Trade Commission. Holding Funds without notification of a non-client is Bad Faith Breach of Contract and it is my contention that they are using these funds for their own profit/interest…etc. When you are a publicly held company, this is a big no-no as it could affect their year end earnings report.
    3. Call or write a reporter. I wrote a bunch yesterday and have an interview Monday morning. Make noise.
    4. Let Square know you have done all this. I can’t promise you’ll get a response but boy, I sure did.
    5. If you didn’t know this, you can return funds from your deactivated dashboard to your client’s cards immediately without a hold. They won’t tell you this until you get ugly.
    6. Remember you do have power and collectively we have more. Have a good holiday and let’s make change together for a better 2018.

    • Jessicah Hayes

      Thank you Susan, I am following your advice. I am beyond shocked how many people this is happening to. Square has permanently deactivated my account because more than 2 consumers used gift cards. They deactivated it on Thursday. I missed ALL SALES CHRISTMAS WEEKEND!!! I tried to withdraw my money but they are not letting me. Everyone is going to know about this. Class action lawsuit for sure.

    • Jake Eissinger

      the thing is i was notified i could refund customers however the customers have already got the merchandise they ordered and all items are being used by said customers. they shouldn’t have to return items because we send our products all brand new, and square refuses to give our money after providing tracking for all our customers

    • Justin

      Susan do you have an address for the small claims lawsuit for square? They shut me down yesterday and from what I’m reading I need to get on this quickly and be prepared if my funds aren’t given to me.

      • Susan Oster

        It turned out that they have a CT company here in California that is there legal representative. I had to serve them instead of Hilary Smith. I had to call the court after trying in vain to file against someone in San Francisco. I don’t know where you live, but call your local courthouse and find out who the rep is for Square. They had a stack of paperwork against them here and the clerk had to wade through it. Don’t forget to get proof of service – I hired a company to do that. My question – under what circumstances would they have given the money to me after the 90 day hold? Presumably none. By waiting, I would have been out merchandise and money. Since I’m deactivated I’m technically not their client, but I have proof of payment to them over months..so, nice client service, there, Square. Second question; Are they making interest on held funds? And do they report that in their year end report? Third question: why not just decline the purchase since you have the power to do so? If the sale is questionable, they should question the sale. Fund holding is NOT in the terms. Stop referring us to terms in which your own actions are not listed. Lastly, I’d like to refer everyone to Authorize.net with whom I have built a great relationship and whose customer service is top drawer. I am thrilled with them, and if you are looking for an alternative check them out.

    • Jamaica

      We used square for the first time today for a rather large deposit. I received the verification email and sent all requested documents, but now I’m wondering if I should just issue a refund and be done with it. I’ve read that it can take 60 days for the refund to reach the customer. How can I do it immediately like you did?

      • George

        I have been in the retail automobile business for 35 years and never encountered the utter nonsense that those clowns perpetrated upon my company. it almost cost me my job. The held up 69k for three vehicles for 30 days. I was under intense pressure to get the money. They deactivated my account refused to speak to me, said my only way to communicate with them is by email but never responded. We finally received our money but Square is anathema to me now. The biggest joke of all was after we received our money yesterday I received an email from a woman telling me my account has been permanently deactivated which is hysterical if they ever thought I would do business with such an unscrupulous company again. I closed my reply to that womans email with ” I feel sorry for you to be working for such a bunch of thieves go be a stripper it has more dignity.” With my apologies to strippers.

  • Susan Oster

    Square is not a bank. I, and probably many of the other merchants here, are verified by their banks already. My bankers went through a rigorous verification process with me and so I had no idea that a processing platform would even have the right to HOLD funds after deactivating me. Either work with me or don’t, your choice, but if you are not working with me, you can’t hold my customer’s money. That is theft, plain and simple. Do I think they are making interest on this money? Yes, I do. Leave verification to the bank. Do your job and move on. I’ve taken legal action, and BTW, this part of the plan is nowhere in their agreement.

  • John

    I had the unfortunate problem of being affected by a server bottleneck with Square. During a recent small event where there were a few [8] merchants selling their wares we all started having issues with cards being processed. Transactions were timing out. This was not a WiFi or Internet issue as other apps and web pages worked very well. During one transaction at the point the customer began to sign for their sale the screen went back to the register. Since the transaction was approved and the customer began the signing process it was apparent that everything likely worked out well. While the customer wanted to be sure and checked her bank app, I tried to view the transaction summary on the Square App – it timed out, repeatedly. Seeing that the transaction was pending with the customer we agreed that it did go through. Being in a tricky situation where I could greatly upset a customer and others around me which would be disastrous, we rested upon trusting her bank. As it turns out the transaction was cancelled by Square so I immediately reached out to them to report this issue and attempt to salvage this sale. They took 9 days to respond with a very pedestrian first level tech support answer and did not address any of the information provided. In fact the response was far off topic. I immediately replied and 8 days later I received another tech support response, at least on topic but not directly related to the specifics. I again immediately responded and a day later received an email telling me to contact the customer. Now, I would have done this by now if I was allowed to see the customer’s information. You have to pay for their marketing services to be able to see customer information, I use another service. Responding with that detail I received a response some days later telling me the customer was contacted and I may expect a response. Well, no word from the customer and giving them 30 days to respond I decided to follow up with Square and stress the point that this was a system failure on their part and can be documented by others to validate. All I received was an automated response that the case was closed and I need to open a new case. Square likes to blame the end user for their limitations and failures. They refuse to be cooperative and helpful. I am no trusting their chip readers any longer as the failures seem to be more related that device. To continue to use their services I am at risk of more transactions going unpaid and presenting a very unprofessional image to customers by having to question their cards. Square took too long to respond and did nothing but point fingers at me in place of jumping to action to help. I am out money and time dealing with them and feel that they don’t care. I feel that these situations need to be made public and Square should be required to track and report publicly system integrity issues as they happen. All of this is not small business friendly!

    • Rena Van Steele

      OMG!!!! I have lost so much money in sales that magically disappeared. Just terrible. Square is not concerned. Hank, the customer service manager,…(can you believe it) does not care. He was so busy trying to get me off the phone he offered me to refund the 60 for the piece of garbage chip reader. Also 2000. in fees to compensate. Now, somehow, miraculously,…that credit has disappeared with an (noreply email) saying,…….”It is now in sales (that being $50. compensation when I was led to believe it was 2000. in fees. Big difference. Mr wonderful Hank. Did not want to answer my calls, did not answer my email,..and just shoved the issues of…………….where are my sales and why are they not registering when I am getting prompted to enter the card, get pin and signature,…complete sale…..only to find it was not recorded. Tech letter I was sent said, “all sales were captured”. What a bunch of morons,…it was not the sales it captured that is the issue,……it is the sales that disappeared when I followed all the prompts to signature and pin and done. This is a major financial company and …………they do not care,…sorry,…and “move on”. with no answers. But when I was told to,….”move on”,..twice by customer service reps,..I just about fell over. Still no answers and point the finger at me. I lost thousands in sales that have disappeared. So much time, effort, frustration and anger. This is how a customer service manager deals with a very uncomfortable situation. Terrible!!!!!!


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  • Melanie B

    On September 3, 2017 I used my bank issued debit card at a store and got distracted and accidentally left my card in the card reader. When I realized it, the store was closed. The next day I checked my account and there was a Square One transaction for $300. I called the store to ask if my card was there and was told that it had been turned in to the office by the cashier who checked me out at the register the day before. An employee there who has a business on the side and is a Square One merchant swiped my card and transferred $300 from my account to hers. I filed a police report and the employee was fired from the store. I printed a copy of the receipt that has her name, address and phone number. It also shows where she forged my name. I have spent hours searching Square One’s website to get information on how to report her. Since she committed fraud using her Square One account, she should be deactivated. I just want to make a report but it is impossible to get any information on their website as to how to report a merchant for fraud. It seems that you can only speak to a customer service representative if you are a merchant.

    • Jeff

      You need to contact your bank and explain the detail of this fraudulent transaction. Square generally won’t be able to help you, but your bank should be able to backcharge the fraudulent merchant.

  • Lisa

    Square was really great for a while, and then all of the sudden they stopped releasing my money! For over two months I have been trying to get released over $4,000 in sales (30 transactions) and there is no way to call anyone, I just get e-mail replies that there is something wrong with one transaction, they won’t tell me which one!! I can not even get an address to serve them for small claims court! They are the worst!

  • Orlando

    Like almost everything, they started very well … now it’s a very bad company.
    I have an animal rental company for parties.
    One of my clients, after I made the event, reported that he had not done the event. We provide all the documents that certified the realization of the party.
    Square, withdrew the funds from my business account and informed me that they were in hold (the funds were withdrawn) after two months I was informed that the customer’s bank had given the reason to his client and therefore my company lost the complain .
    They’re really nothing professional. I will cancel the account

  • John Zawacki

    Square is a good service until you need support
    Almost Impossible to get any one on the phone.
    You are required to login to get support. But if your issue is a problem with logging in, you are SOL. If you do manage to get any kind of response its an email days later asking for additional information

  • Jody Wood

    Square is hold on to my funds. My first two transaction was fine. Now after my third sale, my funds is pending. I received a email stating my account is under review. And my funds will be on hold or suspended until my account is verified.

    I would be happy to supply normal verification documents e.g. licence, abn numbers etc but they are also saying they need a bank statement showing transactions and a copy of my customers invoices, links to my social media and name and contact details of my customer and they are effectively holding my earnings as ransom until I comply.
    I own and operate two companies and I’ve never heard of such request. I wouldn’t recommend using square for business. Especially after this huge inconvenience.

  • William

    I opened my account in June of 1016 and was quite excited.We are an excavation contractor and this account would allow me to tap in to a customer base I had yet to tap. I have one builder that we work for who only wants to pay with a credit card plus any private home owner wanting to do some work around there property who didn’t have the money in the bank up front. Sounded great. However, it did not go smoothly. Out of the 6 transactions that we made using Square the deposits were usually held up because they needed more info on the the customer and more info on the our company. it’s always the same builder that paid with the card. We had 6 transactions all from the same guy. The last transaction went smoothly and I was thinking finally, but a few day later our account was permanently disabled. I contact customer service by email because that is the way they do it and I was told by email that my account was disabled because I broke a rule in the user agreement. They apparently decided I was the customer charging to my self as a cash advance. This is despite that fact there are bank records and I even gave them the phone and address of the customer but I was told sorry for the inconvenience but our account is permanently disabled. I would not recommend the service as it was completely a waist of time and effort.

  • thomas caddy

    I found out that my samsung s8 note with not work with any of the readers. Even though they say they work with the dongle plugged into the end of my phone either the chip reader or the swipe reader to not work. Please update your customer support to reflect this. Also, their bluetooth stand alone reader won’t work.. Don’t spend the money if you have this phone.

  • Eireen Diokno Bernardo

    Is there a legal option we could take to go after SQUARE.com? Based on so many complains and hold sales proceeds, no way to communicate to Square, no explanation why, isn’t it SQUARE can be considered as an online scammer victimizing small entrepreneurs like us?

    Out of so many hold funds they are keeping, I believe they are plundering using their policies to appear it is legitimate for them to hold our money. I think there should be a recourse we can take to hold them criminal liable for using our sales proceed as their own funds. I think they should have civil liability to us for disrupting our business flow, they should not only return of our sales proceed but also for pay damages for cost our money there are using.

    SQUARE deactivated my account and hold $1200 sales proceed last April 26 2017. I did so many follow-ups with them, asking why and how in the last 6 months. I waited patiently for zero answer until now.

    Good thing I have other merchants., I was able to stay afloat. I only tried them with a few transactions. Yet despite of what Square.com did to us, we still delivered to all our clients who paid via Square. We did not made what SQUARE holding on to their payments as an excuse not to deliver. We did not allowed our clients to be affected and absorb the cost of products and delivery.

    Therefore what SQUARE is holding as our sales proceed is a legitimate hard earned money due to be remitted to us based on our user merchant agreement, I think based on law, and based on what is ethical business practice.

    I am exploring legal option, I want my money back, and I want them to stop victimizing unsuspecting small scale businesses. I want all the small merchant’s money returned with compensation for civil damages. Maybe a class action lawsuit will be more damming, maybe they will stop their unlawful practice, allowing an account to be open, accept significant number of our payments then DEACTIVATE. I think it is their MO and the internet world should know.

    Anyone who would like to come together and go after SQUARE for our money hold with them, please get in touched with me, I am now coordinating with a lawyer. My own claim $1200 is very small, if we can come together and share with a lawyer’s fee, talk to many bloggers to call other attention, then perhaps our odds against this financial giant would be better.

    I am Eireen Diokno Bernardo – please google me for contact.

    • Susan Oster

      They are holding a LOT of money in my case and they are not even a bank. I have a merchant ID from my bank and these were bonafide purchases. Same story as the rest of you. I filed a claim with LA county courthouse. You can only do small claims or arbitration according to the contract you “sign” when you use Square, but I’m doing it for the principle. Furious! What are they doing with all this money? Seems like adding to their bottom line for the fiscal year end, earning interest, etc. I’m calling business reporters today as well. These holds are just absurd. Return the funds to either my buyers or to me – if you drop me, you have no right to the money for any length of time.

      • Marie Gourdet

        So in agreement with you, I am going through them, they are holding my money since November. I provided all the info they requested and 2 days later, they deactivate my account and told me that they will release my money after March 18, 2018. Now, to me, this absurd, I never heard of any nonsense like this.

  • Robin Allen

    Square is hold on to my funds. My first two transaction was fine. Now after my third sale, my funds is pending. I received a email stating my account is under review. And my funds will be on hold or suspended until my account is verified.

    I submitted document required, such as EIN number and last invoice of transaction, I did that, and my funds is still pending with no response from several emails I sent. Now there saying they need a bank statement and a copy of receipt from my supplier.
    I’ve never heard of such request. I wouldn’t recommend using square for business. Especially after this huge inconvenience. Now I’m unable to order from supplier, due to my funds being held. Again no one has yet to respond to numerous emails. Nor can I contact them to speak with a team member.

    • Susan Oster

      I have filed a lawsuit. In their terms, however, it says you can only do arbitration or small claims, which are so easy to do and you can do it on line in two seconds. File the case in your zip code so they have to come to you. I would also contact the Federal Trade Commission and let them know the pervasive nature of these holds, and the fact that Square does not let you know, by any form of communication, that you can actually return these funds to your clients and ask for another form of payment. I found this out last night after telling Square that I had filed suit, contacted the FTC and that I have an interview with a reporter on Monday regarding this issue. If they are reporting earnings with the funds held or even just the interest on it, it could be a staggering sum, changing their year end earning number and altering their stock price. This would be of interest to the FTC. Since the terms disallow class action, we must all file small claims and kill them will a million little arrows. Please file, write them and let them know you have done so. Also, let your web design company know so they are aware of the problem.

  • Vicki

    The worst and most complicated software to reconcile your books at the end of the month. I don’t know how they came up with such a complicated system.. Does my head in every time. Hours and Hours of work just to reconcile one month’s sales. What The….? Have to find something else. Shame…because the reader works quite well. Can’t believe I’ve waste my money on this system. Frustrated and Crying….:(

  • Kristi Schmidt

    Ripped me off $462 of my disability money. I sent two transaction which they told me went through successfully. Days went by neither account received their money. So I signed onto my Square account and they had deactivated my account for no reason. This money is my social security income!

  • Jane

    I’m someone with a small business who would love to begin offering card payment. I wish I could use Square– but the thousands of complaints have put me completely off doing so. It’s very telling that no one from Square has bothered to come here to attempt any sort of damage-control, at all. Even more suspicious, is that the USA BBB gives this company an “A+” rating in the face of so many disputes & complaints? I’d be looking to see what connection the people at Square have with the BBB. Something is very fishy there….

  • Mary Garden

    This is an incredibly unprofessional and frustrating organization to deal with abd we’ve cancelled our account. We were a new user of their online payment processing service and experienced some customer issues with getting the correct information input to process their orders. The Square service people tried to work with us to figure out why our custoners were getting cards declined but in the interim another department slapped us with a verification demand that asked for financial information disclosure that was invasive and inappropriate. Trying to get the two departments within Square to talk to each other and address the problem was impossible. They have a disfunctional organizational structure, customer is wrong attitude and supervisors who are hiding from customers. We are taking our business elsewhere because there are options even though they may be more costly. We do not recommend anyone use this company’s services.

  • Rose Steinmetz

    10 stars for this amazing product. I have a small quilt shop and occasionally participate in quilt shows and sell fabric. I ordered the Square chip reader just prior to a show. The instructions are simple and I used it immediately after taking it out of the box. It was already charged. I had no problems and couldn’t have been happier. I highly recommend this product.

    • Bre

      I’ve gone through hundreds of negative comments about this company and then i came across yours. Obviously, u just got lucky.
      This company is a nightmare!
      They are still holding 3,000 and they also deactivated my account without notice. It’s impossible to talk to an actual human being!! Oh, But rest assured, I will not stop fighting. I will get my money back, even if I have to get ugly.

  • Capone De Leon

    DO NOT USE THIS APP, square is quite possibly the WORST way to take orders online. I had a huge job come in $4,500 for a photography/videography job for a wedding and I took the credit card over the phone. The charge was held up for over a week for a “verification process” where they had me jump through hoops to get them the information about my business they were asking for. I did and got them everything they asked and after week 2 days before the wedding, they finally came back and said they “BELIEVED” it was “POSSIBLY” a stolen credit card. I called and asked them if it was actually reported stolen or if this was just a guess, they said they couldn’t give me any more information. So I refunded the order with them and almost lost the job. They I sent a PayPal invoice and the customer paid it online, and PRESTO, the payment was made, no problems, it was not a stolen credit card everything went through just fine. They really put me in a pickle and I lost money having to make last minute travel reservations after I got paid since they played this verification game with me for over a week. The sad thing is that I have been with square for over 4 years. NEVER AGAIN!

  • Lesley Rice

    I liked using Square at first, but it turned out to be a disaster. I was happy with the way they deducted their portion from each day’s deposit, instead of being hit with a huge withdrawal for fees on the first of the month, as with our other processor. Square had cool features I was considering trying, like employee timekeeping and payroll. Then I had a couple of chargebacks and Square immediately closed my account, would not let me log onto the dashboard to dispute the chargebacks (which were bogus) and would not go to bat for me about the chargebacks. There is no way to contact them by phone if you are not a customer with an open account. I had some funds due from credit cards run the day they closed the account, and they never deposited that money in my account. A month after they closed my account, they sent me an email saying I had won a chargeback dispute, but they are holding the money in my account, and it will never be accessible to me. If I win on the other chargeback dispute, the same thing is going to happen, and they will be holding about $3,000 of my money. They claimed that they would hold any money for 120 days, but it has been longer than that already. I would strongly recommend any business from using Square. There are other convenient apps available. Also, I did not realize that the high cost of our bank-based card processing company provided a much-needed level of fund security that apps like Square don’t provide.

  • Onil Chibas

    I am in the middle of the same complaint everyone on this page is having with Square and that is you can’t get to customer service. I was for no reason “deactivated” after just having signed up. Of course they waited until I had a transaction occur for $3953 that they said they would put into my linked bank account even though I had be deactivated and it would take 1-3 business days. Shortly after I was told that they would be paying I received this letter:

    Hello Onil,
    One of your Square accounts is underfunded due to failed chargeback-related debits associated with another Square account. Your balance owed on the underfunded account is $ (5,775.93). As a result, these funds have been debited from your Square Account to recover the disputed amount.
    Square’s Payment Terms allow Square to offset any obligation you owe us against the balance of any connected Square account see Article 16 here. As such, we’ve exercised our rights to offset your liability for chargeback-related debits from the available funds in the connected account.
    We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.
    Regards,
    Joanna
    Square Recovery

    I have never had another Square account and have never had but the one transaction. They not only took the $3953 but still say I owe them over $1900 more. I have tried to contact someone to alert them that this must be fraud but no response from Square. All I receive are form letters saying that someone will get back to me within 1-3 business days. This all feels very shady. What I don’t understand is how do you let me download their app and use it for a transaction before reviewing my credentials? In my case I provided them bank statements and government documents that legitimized my business (a private chef and events company) and then for no reason they deactivate me. To me this is like being approved for a mortgage, moving into your new house and then being kicked out a few days later because the bank decides your credit isn’t worthy. It’s a little confused and ass backwards,.

    Now what to do? Feeling very desperate and without options.

  • Allison Phillips

    WORST COMPANY EVER!!! They withdrew $5000 from my account for a complaint that they had from 2015! I didn’t own a company in 2015!! Nobody there can answer one of my questions and I have called 3 times! They keep switching me from person to person! And when I finally get someone they say “I don’t see what you see” Huh? So in the meantime they pull $5000 out a day and I have to call my bank and prove that they are pulling for a dispute that can’t possible be mine! So frustrating!!!!!!

  • Frederick

    I give this company a F-. I have never signed up for an account with them but I received an unrequested email from them to confirm linking of an email address for a website I administer which I never signed up for or requested. I marked the email as junk and blocked the sender.

  • Melissa Co,e

    I didn’t even get a chance to use my square before I found out I had been deactivated. I signed up about a year ago and my checking account was verified. I have several jobs that made having one of these seem like a good idea. I buy storage units and sell the items at various places, I have a dog walking/pet sitting business and I am also starting to do essential oil classes and vendor events. It was during one of the essential oil classes yesterday when I found out I was no longer active. I swiped the card and I was told to sign up. I tried several times finally had to have the customer write me a check. When I was able to get to a PC and sign in I saw a pop-up that said my account was deactivated. I tried to post on the community boards but it tells me to pick a board but doesn’t allow me to do so. Can’t call them when I emailed all I got was a generic thank you for writing us response. If you’re going to deactivate people maybe you should give them an idea of why and the ability to remedy the situation.

  • Andrew

    We got the square reader for our business and it was problematic from the word go. The chip/swipe card reader is flimsy and difficult to use when inserting/swiping cards. It’s fiddly to get the card just right and the slots get dirty and can’t read the cards. It needs constant charging to get any functionality out of it but ridiculously has to be unplugged from the device to charge. Meaning you have to plug it back in each time a customer needs to use eftpos which creates delays and frustration. All in all a pretty useless. DON’T use this product.

  • Cindy Kellis

    after Ipad update my passwords were wiped and in the middle of a craft show I couldn’t sign in. I tried to reset my password and couldn’t remember security question. I THINK IT SUCKS that you can NOT GET A HUMAN on the phone without a code. CAN’T GET A CODE unless you can SIGN IN!!!! I emailed support and it says 1-3 days before someone will contact me. What kind of business is this? Makes me want to stop using this. I had to turn away customers for 2 hours until i just signed up with new email to use it.

  • Dalton

    Just by looking at all the negative reviews, you get the gist of how this terrible company is run.
    After three days, they arbitrarily deactivated my account, I had sold less than 1k and no disputes. They stated that what I sold was against their terms, which, as I told them, is a lie. I went through their prohibited item list and there is absolutely nothing remotely close to what I sell.
    Stay away. This company cannot be trusted.

    • Jeff

      Glad I found these reviews. I just signed up today. I need a reliable service for my business. I’ve had a merchant account for 7 years with no issues. Won’t switch to square after reading this page.

  • Christina

    There capital has fallen way short in my book they just started lending businesses tons of money loan after loan then one day out of the blue they begin lying to business owners with bogus emails about being denyed new loans after they have paid off several already with bogus things like you have to many accounts, you have business liens, and the more crap I read the scary part is at this point is my customers information at risk with all the scamming going on with the square capital! They have lied to millions of businesses with bogus reports about them and why can’t they just be honest there is no more money to lend folks! SCAMMING is bad business. Face the reality I think square is in for big trouble! They can’t know liens and to many accounts and stuff like that they don’t even require a ss number to process these loans! Stupid on there part yup but sad for the business who trusted square! So sad to think I trusted them with everything from loans, payrol, taxes, credit card acceptance, advertising, gift cards!!! Everything and to think I loved the company now with so many doubts!

  • Thomas

    Once you have enough money or dealt with one of their untrained support monkeys who decided they want to cancel your account (with ZERO reason), no way to contact them, no way to get your money that may still be in their dirty hands, well.. at that time you will change your mind. They are unreliable, not trustworthy, arrogant POS providers (piece of s.. is what it stands for).
    While the app works nicely, why would you trust a company with such a shady practice as described in thousands of complaints? Just because Millions of flies eat shlt does not make it any tasty…

  • JOSHUA TAYLOR

    my account is ALWAYS in review and I have lost countless customers for not being able to get supplies for their order in time. Instant deposit never works and even if they say that same day deposit is available, it’s a lie. Because of square and my trusting square, we are stuck right now and can’t leave to get supplies because we were told we would have our funds at 5pm today, instead I get an email to verify my account FOR THE 5TH TIME… And now I have to wait AGAIN for the funds to post to my account. DO NOT USE SQUARE.

  • Derek Moody

    My company has been set up with Square for several years. I sell parts in the manufactured home business. I don’t use Square often but do need this type of card service. The problem is i opened s new bank account and closed my old account. I can’t get Square to help me set up a new bank account. I need to actually talk with a person on the phone.

  • Diana

    I am a wedding planner and am planning a destination Anniversary, the groom made a payment of 3,000 to go to the venue, Square has placed it on hold and won’t explain why, They requested many things from me like contract with Groom, my ID and they also requested three months of statements, although I sent them all the info requested, they say I have to wait for the review which has taken 4 days and they are still telling me that it is in review. There are no Supervisors on the floor or managers, customer service is rude and they hang up on you. They stated that if they return the payment it will take ten days. I ended up loosing an account due to not paying the venue on time and the couple loosing the room. I recommend that no one uses the service, since you can’t even get ahold of them over the phone unless you pull up a code from their website. I was using this service to help my clients make payment with ease not stress. Bad Company to deal with.

  • Ella Sarkisyan

    I am small business owner. My customer wanted to pay by credit card,i used Square,this company asked me to send my bank information,my bank statements,cardholder’s authorization form and etc…I sent all information,they don’t answer the phone,they sent me letter,the same letter which they are sending to 1000 of people .Here is the letter:
    Hello Ella,
    We’re sorry to inform you that we are deactivating your account. Our Account Services team reviewed your account and found a pattern of transactions associated with high-risk activity.
    For further information about our policies, you can review section 36 of the Square Payment Terms.
    We regret that, starting today, you will no longer be able to process transactions using Square. Any funds currently in your account will be held for 90 days before being released to your linked bank account.
    If you’d prefer to receive funds more quickly, you should consider refunding the payments back to the original cards and seeking alternate forms of payment. (Please note that we will refund all the fees, too.)
    Refunds are available within 120 days of the original payment. To process a refund, log in to the Square dashboard.
    There is nobody who is responsible for Square transaction,they are scam! They charged $5,925 from credit card and since june 20,2017 holding it for no reason.Refund process as they said will take 120 days!!!!! I am going to hire an attorney! People,beware of Square!

  • Maureen Flannery

    I believe this is a sam agency as I could not reach anyone by phone. I noted a charge only CC, simply listed as Books and Greetings, square up.com /receipts.
    Normally, when a person sees something not really all that familiar, one can call and verify the action. They actually force one to register a customer code on line.
    I don’t want to be their customer, I do not even think they should be in business.
    Square up.com does not permit that, there is no way to speak to a human and such a business or site is simply open to fraud. Companies should not be allowed to function w/o any way of verifying who they are. It should be illegal, hence I consider Squareup and illegal, risky business enterprise.

  • Radhika

    Horrible experience. I am a small business owner who makes handmade scarves. I only sell at these big sustainable events. I was at the Green Festival event in New York. A customer, named Maria came in when it was shutting down, negotiated hard with me and brought a bunch of scarves, The amount came to $250.41. She disputed the charge. I have a SIGNED RECEIPT. Square is supposed to cover me for $250. The didn’t. They said because the transaction went over by .41 cents, they cannot cover part payment. The customer planned this of course. I have a signature and she disputed it. What kind of a bank does refuse a signature receipt??? Please stay away from Square. Pretty pathetic customer service too.

  • Ivaylo

    Square closed our account without any notice. Completely non-existent phone support to find out what happened. Now they owe us thousands and are ignoring our requests to find out when we can get our money. Completely unprofessional and borderline criminal behavior.

  • George Evans

    Absolutely the worst company in the world to do business with if you have an issue that is outside your control. Meaning, Square discontinued my service without any explanation. I have no idea why my account was permanently discontinued. I am a legal entity and have been in business for over 20 years. I switched to Square because of the mobility capabilities. All Square provided me was a copy of their terms sheet….I think they do this in case you decide to try and file a class action suit. Per the term sheet, you cannot be a part of this type of suit. Basically, per their terms sheet, you can’t take any action against them.

    BTW, I think I am more upset over the fact that our government allows this type of legal bullying against the little guy. Also, I don’t understand how BBB can rate them A+ when they have close to 1400 complaints….BBB should be ashamed….

    Having same all that, what is that famous quote? “He who has the MONEY has the POWER and Rights the Rules”…..This is the world we have created and right now, Square has the Money and Power….

    I would encourage any business looking for a mobility solution to look elsewhere….Square is not worth the headache…….

  • Ian Dimitri

    I used Square in 2012 when I started a small business. Using it to process payments while traveling was very useful and I was satisfied with the service. Where the company really falls down is if you have anything go wrong and need to fix it. The customer service the company provides is horrible. Were you to have an issue with your Square account and wanted to try and resolve it or get help from the company, things will quickly go poorly. All support is offered by email. Don’t believe me? Try and find a phone number or someone to talk with, you won’t be able to find anyone. All of your customer service will be provided over email and with a new person almost every time. This was my experience anyway. To make a long story short, I left my company to my business partner and went my separate way. There was a mix up and my social security number was not replace with the business tax ID by my partner. Three years later, I get a note from the IRS saying I owe back taxes for a 1099 generated by Square to me that was never sent to me. It was taxes owed by my old company. At this point I have tried for about three months, over email, to fix the issue and Square has been terrible. I have provided all manner of business and bank records and they have still not issued a corrected 1099. I am going to have to end up going to tax court. I had to get a tax attorney to help me. I will never do business with them again and if you think you will ever need support or help by using a payment processing product, I would look somewhere else.

    Ian

  • Gloria Goodroad

    I had a very bad experience with them, I set up my account and I had a customer pay me, then they came back saying that my account was deactivated after my customer had made a purchase. They held my money, and they’re saying that they won’t deposit it until 90 days later. That is riduculous, I reported them to the bbb.

  • Michael Murphey

    With the multitude of small business owners fuming over the unethical business practices of Square. Here is your chance to do something about it. Please sign the petition link below with the WhiteHouse.Gov and let’s get this company to pay attention! It will take ton’s of people signing this to get action, here’s our chance!

    Business owner in Atlanta, Ga.

  • David Cohavi

    In 30+ years of business experience, Square is the most horrible service experience I have ever had. Upon first transaction and verification process, they decided to deactivate me and hold large funds for 90 days! worse yet is you can’t reach anyone to discuss reasons or release of funds. All I get is automated email messages and I’m helpless. I don’t wish that for any business. Beware!!
    I wish someone had an advice how to handle.

    • Dwight

      Square is horrible. The customer service is the worst that I have ever seen and their funds withholding policy is very shady. I personally spoke to a representative at Square and informed them that I had an EXTREMELY large transaction to process, $30,000 to be exact. The representative assured me that the transaction is not unusual for them and that there would be no holds placed on it. After that reassurance from Square I processed the transaction and less than an hour later I received an email stating that my account has been permanently deactivated and that they could’t give me any details as to why. In addition they said that they are going to hold my $30,000 for 90 days with no explanation. I immediately tried to call customer service only to find out that my customer code had been revoked and my only way to communicate with them is through email. It has been 24 hours and I still haven’t heard anything back from them yet. This is borderline criminal and needs to be addressed immediately. For a small business owner like myself this is extremely detrimental to my business.

    • George Cortes

      These people are unscrupulous. Try running two transactions for 60k for equipment and then being deactivated. All the same as other posts no one to call and once they deactivate they refuse to even allow you to speak to them. I work for a small business and i’ll figure it out by having my customers decline charges and pay me in another manner but what a cluster f*** ! I don’t know how they have gotten away with this for so long. we are talking a lot of money holding onto peoples money..the interest must be staggering if you hold several million for 30 days. If you read any positive reviews it is because they wrote it. Bunch of as we used to say scum bags. The owner who probably has a pious attitude at the country club is a dirt bag POS. We will be sueing

  • Steve

    Square is a great concept and when it works it really works well. HOWEVER they hold money for what amounts to ransom. They make demands that you must responds to after they have YOUR money. Can’t call them, as they control that too. Can’t complain as that falls on deaf ears even if you can finally reach them. Can’t expect an answer to your email if you email them, as you will only receive an automated response. I’ve processed more than a million dollars with them in the past two years using six different accounts ( email addresses ) and for the most part, it worked. However over the last two years I had to watch the account(s) every day. That is right. I had to create multiple accounts. Every time they held funds ( they put the account on hold ) I created a new account. The longest I ever had to wait for my money was six months. SIX MONTHS for thousands of dollars that they had. One day I actually got a call from someone who said they were my new Representative. Ha Ha, I said. However this person got the long held funds released. Then he disappeared. I have multiple fixed location companies and they are long established, so the risk is minimal to square. On a moments notice they can hold everything. You can do nothing. That means for most companies the difference from staying in business and going out of business. If you have to use square, attach a debit card to your account, and for 1% more, transfer the money multiple times per day to your account. That limits the damage done to you if they place a random hold. However if you have a choice look for another flat rate company to process your transactions. Flat rate is simple and really does not cost you more. For decades I used traditional processors, with “low qualified rates”. Problem was that most cards don’t fall into the low rate category. Needless to say I don’t have time to review a 21 page monthly statement from the processor either. That’s why I tried square. Final thought. Until Square has real defined policies and customer service, avoid using them at all costs. Rated on a scale of 1-10 = Zero for customer service. 10 for a great concept.
    Lots of choices out there. Try more than one at a time. Don’t keep all of your eggs in one basket. Steve

  • Phyllis

    I too am one of the many frustrated people that have been mislead by Square Up. The business practices that Square has implemented board line on illegal.
    From the requirements to establish an account to deactivating once a card has been processed and not withstanding the salt in the wound of it takes 90 days
    to receive the money. I have reached out for 25 plus days trying to resolve a deposit not being credited to no avail. Customer service is a joke with no chance of talking with a live person.
    I would like to know, who governs this type of business? Their practices need serious review.
    I can tell you one thing Square, if I ran my business like you do I would be OUT OF BUSINESS and not requiring your companies headaches!!!

  • Freddie Sanchez

    This is my complaint I sent to BBB – Better Busimess Bureau.

    I do not know how this company still in business. I started using Square like a moth ago, the first week I did 3 transactions for 3 new customers, they locked my account and put it under review and send me an email asking to upload some documents to verify my business so I did, they lifted the hold on my account saying that was a one time thing. The week after I did 2 more transactions “2 new customers” they did the exact same thing. So I did provided them with all documents needed to fix the problem. Couple of days later I did 1 transaction for a new customer, next day no deposit… So I called them they said that it was a mistake that they will contact that department to take the hold off, a couple of minutes later I was in my account and tried to contact them to see if everything was ok and they blocked my call option. No way to contact them, only via email but this was on July 11, 2017 and no email or explanation from them, and they are holding $6k+ of my money. This needs to stop, somebody needs to hear us and take action… The collected their fees, the have their money and hold ours for no reason at all. Square can’t be playing around with honest and hard working people’s money like that. Scam, White collar thieves!

    • David Cohavi

      My experience is similarly bad. they deactivated me after my first transaction of $2,500 without any explanation and blocked my calls and I can’t reach anyone. I agree this has to stop. did you look into what we can do as violated consumers??
      Reporting to BBB is a good idea and I’m going to do it. What else?

  • Freddie

    This is my complaint I sent to BBB – Better Busimess Bureau.

    I do not know how this company still in business. I started using Square like a moth ago, the first week I did 3 transactions for 3 new customers, they locked my account and put it under review and send me an email asking to upload some documents to verify my business so I did, they lifted the hold on my account saying that was a one time thing. The week after I did 2 more transactions “2 new customers” they did the exact same thing. So I did provided them with all documents needed to fix the problem. Couple of days later I did 1 transaction for a new customer, next day no deposit… So I called them they said that it was a mistake that they will contact that department to take the hold off, a couple of minutes later I was in my account and tried to contact them to see if everything was ok and they blocked my call option. No way to contact them, only via email but this was on July 11, 2017 and no email or explanation from them, and they are holding $6k+ of my money. This needs to stop, somebody needs to hear us and take action… The collected their fees, the have their money and hold ours for no reason at all. Square can’t be playing around with honest and hard working people’s money like that. Scam, White collar thieves!

  • Gary

    Very simple, made a sale on my Big Commerce Store, an hour later got a restriction and investigation notice asking for many things. I uploaded all requested explanations and documents and sent. Next day I called and was told everything looked in order. Two hours late I received a deactivation notice with no explanation and no appeal, final decision. Amazing did nothing wrong and nobody to talk to and discuss. They even deactivated their telephone number on my Big Commerce Dashboard once I received the email. You need a support number which did not appear either after the deactivation email. Very bad service and a reminder that anyone can be out of business in a matter of seconds with the flip of a switch. Scary.

  • Ed Eastridge

    I have just spent the last hour beating my head against the wall trying to get my money from SQUARE. It seems to be impossible. Can you please pay me in any other form. Cash, Check, Paypal. This is the worst app I’ve ever encountered and it has been agonizing.

    My account said I had $180 which i assume is all from you for 6 lessons. When I tried to transfer it to my bank or my card it said my card # was wrong. It was actually correct and when I reentered it said I had no money and no activity. i tried calling them and was told by the robot I need a customer number. When I entered that it said it was wrong and I could retrieve that from there website under Customer Number. That did not work either.

  • Ian Ramage

    Square has held over $15,000 of mine for over 90 days. I believe this is borderline criminal. I do not recommend them to anyone. $15,000 to a small business is a lot of money and they have no right to do what they have done to me. I would never use them again for credit card processing.

  • Debbie Brown

    I had a square acct for 9 mths, been in business 30 yrs. using a chase cc adapter. I sold a $9,500 ring & recd confirmation the sale went through, never cking my bank acct. Square put my funds in a holding area w/o notification to me. I found out 3 wks later when a ck i wrote toward the sale bounced. I called square (which means 40-55 min wait time) & explained i recd email conf of my phone call prior to sale confirming my account was fine for ring sale. Square said I need to supply several pieces of documentation…cust address, receipt & DBA for my business & i would receive a notice within 2 days if the transaction would clear. I also requested to speak to a supervisor & they said they do not have the ability to refer calls to anyone!!! FIVE days later I recd note they would NOT honor my sale. I had to go to an already difficult customer & return his $ & ask for diff payment. Customer already rec’d a custom made ring, making this a risky business transaction! I DONT UNDERSTAND HOW SQUARE CAN SEND NOTICES ALMOST DAILY PROMOTING THEIR LATEST UPDATES & SERVICES ON POINT OF SALE APP, BUT COULD NOT SEND ME A NOTE TO EXPLAIN MY FUNDS DIDNT CLEAR! They kept my $9,500 for a month, then denied the sale!

  • Maignan

    Actually square is stilling money from his customer. Allow me to say it like that , I used square to collect a payment of $4992.60 since May 18 2017 from one of my client for a project , the money was withdraw from my customer account , but square never deposited the money to my account. Square does not have a Customer service , horrible customer service.

  • Randy

    The worst customer service in the history of customer service. Set this account up middle of May 2017 , haven’t been able to process payment as requested, took several bad reviews online to get customer support on gaining our customer code, even after getting a customer code to call the support # they are still unable to correct the issue for processing. This experience seems to be common with Square. I would not recommend a single soul on using this to process credit/debit cards.

  • Amy Usher

    Square could possibly be the worst company I have ever worked with in my history of owning multiple businesses. From the implementation, the entire thing was a disaster. Promises of simple solutions quickly flew out the window as soon as we signed up and began working with one of the multitude of millenials that square employs. The wrong equipment was sent twice which left us to pay for extra equipment to be able to have a functional POS for our opening. The “implementation specialist” that we worked with could not complete the implementation and actually told us at 8 PM at night that she had to go because she had a meeting to go to. Left us flat with a non working system the day of our opening.

    After one year of being the sole communication point with Square from signing the papers to implementation (and after 30 minutes on hold yet again), I was just told that , the owner of the business, am not an authorized user on my account! Laughable and pathetic. Surprise! Square did not set us up correctly in the first place!

    This company uses the “screw up first, apologize later” method of big corporate placating. The phrase “I do apologize for the inconvenience” is repeated like a broken record. It is almost condescending.

    If you want to save yourself a mountain of aggravation, a load of empty apologies, lies, and from being patronized like a 4th grader AVOID SQUARE AT ALL COSTS!

  • Deborah Rainford

    I used my Square chip reader one day and the next weekend I tried to use it, it wouldn’t read a single card. I had to enter each card number by hand. More money for Square and less for me. I want a new chip reader but don’t know how to get in touch with anyone to get it replaced! I need this to work for my business.

  • Dustin

    Square up refuses to accept valid credit card information. There is no functional method of contacting customer support outside of signing up for an account. This method is a joke, their customer service is non-existent, and in the future i will no longer use businesses that utilize them as a method of payment.

  • Keith G

    Square is horrible. Out of nowhere and with 2 calls and emails to their customer service, no explanation (yes, literally an “I don’t know what’s happening”) as to why payments to my account are failing, and then for some reason they are blaming the 4 individuals trying to pay me stating that 4 instances of payments to me from people who make recurring payments to me all must have insufficient funds. Uh, no. The likelihood that 4 people who have paid me using Square each month for over a year would suddenly all have insufficient funds is low. The process for customer service is a giant headache headache as well – they force you to log in online, get a customer code by preselecting an issue through several steps online, then you call in, and are still put on hold until an automated message forces you to hang up and let them call you back after providing your number. There isn’t even an option for staying on the line – great customer service! Hold up to thousands of dollars with no explanation, and then make calling in to inquire about an incredible headache – nicely done! I’ll recommend you to a total of 0 people and ensure they run like a squirrel on hot asphalt in july from you.

  • John D

    TERRIBLE! I

    I understand sending folks to an expanded style FAQ section for answers before talking with customers, but their service and practices are what is HORRIFIC about Square.

    I run a remodeling business where obviously higher-end kitchens and bathrooms run 20K. After receiving a customer’s funds for a new project, Square decided to deactivate my account without notice and only by sending an email. I woke up mortified and was unable to withdraw the funds, but also not easily return them either.

    Once your account is deactivated it is irreversible AND you no longer have ANY phone privileges. To talk to a rep, you have to have an account setup and a code, after deactivation you no longer are able to reach customer support over the phone. UM….You think that would be THE MOST IMPORTANT TIME to reach someone and find out the situation. NOPE. They send you into looping automated messages.

    This basically stopped by business for a week and lost roughly 5K in profit because of this ordeal. SCREW SQUARE. It wasn’t until all of this happened that they are NOTORIOUS for issues related to deactivations, customer support, etc.

    IF YOU ARE READING THIS RUN! Use Paypal, Intuit, ANYTHING BUT SQUARE.

    • Square Sucks

      First off, Merrell and everyone that has used Square or any other processing company for large funds, especially when starting out. You sit there and b*tch and complain how they lock your account for no reason. It might not be your reason why, but have you ever considered that its the customer is the reason why they do it. Banks advertise left and right for buyer’s to deliberately file disputes against sellers and they go about it saying oh your 100% protected. Buyers are the biggest scam artists when it comes to online purchases. So immediately they say, oh the only thing I can do is buy something get it for free and the only thing I have to do is make a chargeback? So the person files a chargeback who do you think the buyer’s credit card takes the money away from? Use common sense. And PayPal or Square or whomever is suck with a $4k $50k debt because of something you brought onto them. It was your item that was being scammed, it was your product that is being scammed, and whatever you did wrong was the reason why it turned into a scam. Now what procedures do you have to prevent you from being scammed. We listen to some sellers cry about being scammed, and then when we find out what they didnt do to protect themselves, like send a $1000 item without tracking or ship something to nigeria without using their brains or knowing anything about the precautions to take? So someone else should pay for a person’s moron mistakes and thinking?

      Yeah Square does things that are way overboard. And what they do make them pure axxxholes. They are so interested in open your account that they know and dont bother to do the necessary steps to ensure that no one gets scammed. The only thing they validate is the zip code of a buyer’s credit card. Ok so ship an item to a PO Box address with the same zip code and then file a chargeback saying I didnt get it. Well the postal service only uses the zip code to validate, so they open the seller. Square is just as bad as Stripe if not worse.

      They should put people on on a limit on how much they can process for a time period and lift those limits based on a person’s history nothing more. But Square is so concerned about seeing how many people they can get that they don’t care about anyone whether they are legit or not. Square operates exactly in the same scumbag fashion of these little wanna be payment services that are popping up all over the place.

    • Marckinson Charles

      There are no ISOs, Acquirers, Apps out there that is going to be the best for your business. All credit card processors make money off of the credit card transactions you process monthly. The best way for business owners to avoid headaches and process credit cards without any fear is to have a person that you can trust with your Merchant Services. When you have an agent who has your best interest in mind. He or she will explains your rates and your fees. There are rates and fees that can’t be lowered, only markups are negotiable. Last thing don’t be too quick to sign a contract without first read it or have a lawyer check it for you. Once you signed a contract with a processor you won’t be able to get out without loosing a arm or leg.

  • Thompson Merrell

    NEVER EVER USE SQUARE, It’s been over 2 F*king yrs since my account was deactivated & I still have yet to receive my deposit from Square, the money is still in my Square account when I log in says “Upcoming deposit” they told me it was a 90 day hold well B*tch “90 days” been passed, When I start a thread in Square community regarding my problem they’ve banned me 5x GIVE ME MY MONEY B*TCH

  • angela d bowman

    I had square and it went well untill we sold an engine for over 4,000.00 the customer put in a stop payment and I sent in all the proof of the order and the transaction but they were rewarded their money back and that was without them sending the engine back So they got a free engine. I couldn’t believe it that was theft by credit card ? and Square should have their customers back. they said it wasn’t their decision. anyone one else have this problem with them?

  • Tracy

    We have been using Square for over 5 years now, we love it!! We have never had an issue with them, I have been able to refund people by making a mistake entering the amount tendered and I love that I can send invoices by email. Square has a great program, Square Capital, to do a loan and is paid by percentages of your daily sales. Also, we plan on looking at the new payroll service. I love Square!

    • Square Sucks

      Tracy is nothing but a BS artist. More than likely works for the company or loves to go to review boards and place contradicting information to get under the skin of people who have been ripped off. Tracy has no evidence except her own worthless statements she cant back up, if it even is a female.

      The truth about Square.com is that they are nothing more than a con job company. They are so eager to sign you up, they don’t do the traditional work as a normal credit card processing company does, until shortly after you start using the terminal and then you get hit with them stealing money.

      Square thinks they want to be the next PayPal so they will sign up anyone they can get their hands on. They will lock your account for any reason whatsoever. They will use any and all excuses possible to steal money from you. They dont know what your selling, they dont know what the transaction is for, regardless of the dollar amount, or your processing volume, these scumbags will lock you out of your money and disrupt your business.

      The reality of running a business is that no one is on your side, everyone is out there to screw you over, from your payment processor, to thieve buyers to anyone out there. Credit card companies will allow buyers to steal merchandise from sellers and they make up every excuse possible.

      With any processing company, especially Square, we strongly advise sellers NOT TO SHIP ANYTHING OUT UNTIL THE MONEY IS IN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT. Your only paid for an item only and only when the funds are physically in your possession. Regardless of what Square’s useless agreement says, you are until no legal obligation to ship anything out unless you are paid for it. If Square gets a chargeback, they money is pulled away from them and its their fault for any chargebacks incurred if they deposit the funds into your bank account.

      Square will hold funds and then come up with more of their standard BS and say “well we’re holding the funds just incase you get a dispute from the buyer.” Well Square was the direct cause of the chargeback. And thats that reason why there is no phone support. The only way you get any one is that you have to have an active account, and they will not talk to you unless you log into your account and type in some 10 digit code.

      Square will lock anyone at anytime for any reason. If they were so concerned about getting ripped off, then these idiots should take every application and research these people/business before they approve them and then steal their money. If Square is suspicious of a seller, then make the seller place tracking information in their account and prove the buyer got the information not lock a person up for something they didnt do. Understandable if a seller is starting to get alot of disputes from buyers then there’s cause. But these morons screw everyone over. The only thing you can do when Square steals your money is refund the buyer. At this point your reputation with that customer is destroyed. They will immediately blame you not Square for why the sale didnt go through, the customer will think your the con artist instead of Square.

      Everyone should start filing complaints with the Attorney Generals office in Square’s home state. If they are allowed to screw sellers over, they will just do it more and more, until legal action is taken and they so called false untarnish image will have something on public record.

  • JAMES

    Square has someone using their service who stole my money through one successful attempt on my debit card this weekend for $600.00. Luckily I am poor so when they attempted a 2nd and 3rd transaction they could not go through for the same amount of $600 otherwise I would be out $1800 total. I tell them this and you think they would make an effort to contact the person who put through the charges? Absolutely not. They say I must fight with my bank. In the meantime, my bank will not fight until it settles. So instead of Square contacting the person to void the transaction before it settles they will wait until it settles and then handle. I am out the money since Saturday. I could alleviate a lot of the stress if they would contact the merchant and tell them to void the transaction or void it on their end. I don’t like when a payment method like this sides with their customer. Let their customer prove this is valid, which it cannot be, and void it accordingly. Mind you the only way I was able to contact them for help was through facebook messenger.

  • Elise Treimer

    Square would not work with me even though I provided all the information possible to accept cards THE FIRST TIME. They had TERRIBLE customer service and I am completely appalled at the way they handle their business. Absolutely no one to call when you need help. They need a better system on many accounts

  • Lauren Latsko

    NEVER EVER PURCHASE THE SQUARE UP SYSTEM OR IPAD!! Customer service can ONLY be contacted via email code. ONLY after selecting the correct prompts that are BURIED under 1000 keystrokes. CUSTOMER SERVICE is misleading!!! Paid top $$ for latest Unlocked IPAD AIR. It’s DEFINITELY LOCKED. Even the carrier T-mobile can’t UNLOCK IT!
    – [ ]

  • Steve

    Square violates privacy rights of purchasers by emailing receipt to unrequested third partie. When I questioned square they blamed the merchant (pure nonsense)When I said I might sue them their response—good. They clearly don’t care that they do this.
    think about it, if a drug store used square and they emailed s detailed receipt of your drug purchase to a third party I think it would be a HIPPA violation not sure why they don’t care but they don’t

  • Matt

    Terribly company. My whole business was shut down with no reason given. I was blocked from customer service, and they have not responded to any inquiries I have had. I am now aware of three other companies that they have done the same thing to. It is unacceptable for a POS service to just simply stop serving its customers without any explanation or resolution. It hurt my business, and they have literally told me they are not going to give me any more information or communicate with me further. Unbelievable.

  • Ben

    This company is fantastic at taking your money and holding it hostage while providing little in the way to resolve problems. All it takes is one customer who made a large purchase to “forget” they bought something, place a dispute on the charge, and the money is immediately, with almost no notice, withdrawn from your account and held in limbo! When you contact that customer (and pray you are able too, because if you can’t that money is GONE) they have to provide something from the bank stating the dispute is dropped. Square provides 0 ways to have the customer confirm that the transaction is valid and release your money. Being a small business and relying on knowing how much is in the account to make purchases and fund expenses makes this product NOT WORTH THE RISK. They will not reimburse you for fees accrued while they are holding your money hostage and good luck getting any sort of workaround for them to have the buyer resolve this instead of waiting for that bank letter deeming the dispute is resolved, which can take a week or so from prior experiences. Do yourself a favor, avoid this product and the headache you will inevitable face from its use.

  • Andrew Doll

    Used them and HATE THE RESULT!!!! BE VERY VERY CAREFUL! If you decide you are stupid enough to chose this company then please have fun losing money. 1 transaction cost me hundreds. In the FAQ for Deposits it clearly states that Square will not hold funds for any reason. They deactivated my account without notice and now are holding my funds for 90 days. I called them earlier today to see where my account stood after sending them information. I was told my account looked great and all my paperwork was in order. I was also told that my money WILL (not probably, not no) WILL be deposited this evening. Not 15 minutes after the phone call my account was deactivated. Now no one is answering the phone and I am not getting responses. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. If anyone is filing a Civil Suit I want to be a part of it. Thanks

    • Blake

      We have to all somehow get to the bottom of this. They randomly deactivated my account and held $3000.00 and won’t talk to me. They need to be sued. It’s ridiculous and I don’t understand how this keeps happening to everyone and square is continuously getting away with it!

  • Jonathan Jarmon

    Square terminated my account with no prior notice, with no phone calls whatsoever and for no apparent reason. They’ve held me and my 1st square customer hostage by withholding the funds for an indefinite amount of time. No customer service and way to get that money except waiting awfully long. In the meantime, I’m supposed to deliver a service to my customer not knowing if I’ll get paid in the end and my customer is still waiting for the refund and will surely use someone else for the service. This is a pure lost of sale and a missed opportunity, on a big contract nonetheless! Proper nightmare this square, I wish they go out of business.
    Although I’m glad this happened now so I know I need to use a real company for my CC payments

  • Candice McFashion

    Terrible customer service! Rejected money that was sent to me for no apparent reason and could not even explain the reason for rejecting the funds after holding the funds for 24 hours. Then held funds from the sender for 3 days. Again, reasons unknown and after requesting an explanation 3 times, there was no direct answer. General answers from their FAQ section on their website. HORRIBLE. NEVER AGAIN. Please save your time and energy!

    • mike

      I totally agree. We were setting up our square account and my wife was trying to learn how to process payments…we had a couple of gift cards laying around with small balances (Under $9) and I did one to show her how it works, then she tried one and it was declined, we thought we were doing something wrong, so we kept trying different ways, keying it in manually, using a pin….always declined. As a result, Square deactivated our account, with no explanation, said it was final. I reached out to customer service and got a boilerplate response ” we already told you that you’ve been deactivated” a non answer, referring to terms of service, I can’t cour a hundred pages to find what their concern was so I asked them to explain….no response. They stink.

  • Maria

    The idea is sound. However, this is the worst customer service I have ever experienced. And, 98% of the time. Not only do you have to pay EXTRA to have the money sooner, there is a minimum of $50 after fees in order to pay more to have the money the next day. This is my money. The fees are stupid. Second, debits come out of the payer’s account immediately, no matter WHEN the payment is accepted. However, if it’s on a Friday or Saturday, it won’t show up until Monday or Tuesday (if Monday is a holiday). This is ridiculous to me. Lastly, I have sent them message NUMEROUS times (at least 6 or 7 times) that went completely unanswered. I had to call them. I quit taking square because it was such a pain. I had to change bank account and sent multiple messages along with a notecard in my chip reader hardware return to please call me and not to refund the card on file. I made this request in various forms more than a half dozen times. What do they do? Refund the old account that I have no access to. I have to wait a month for a check to flipping arrive. Square “couldn’t do anything, since the money was already sent.” So frustrating. Worst service ever. Will NEVER use them again.

  • shane.Kilduff

    Square up PTY LTD is criminal organisation, that has set up a system to steal money, they can take your money and pretend you don’t exist.
    The CSR are trained by Telstra and the waiting period on the phone is equally as bad as Telstra.
    If you put your card in to a reader beware.
    If you join and you think the money will be in your account next day. dream on

  • Diana Hamrick

    My niece used Square when I made a purchase from her small business. She now gets an Email receipt from every purchase I make from someone else who uses Square. I canceled my credit/debit card yesterday because I feel it is no longer secure. I now have to write checks and go into the bank to get cash until I receive a new card and new card number. I am glad it was a family member and she has been able to notify me when this happens. I will never allow anyone with a Square reader to run my card again. There is no way for me to contact this company and find out why this was happening.

    • Joanne C.

      I just received an email from J Nichols via Square and it has the last 4 digits from a Mastercard, the amount, an actual signature and an authorization code. This isn’t me and now I have this gentleman’s information. I just wanted everyone to know that this has happened to someone else, and this poor guy is a stranger to me. I tried to Google his name to warn him, but no luck.

      • Robertm

        My X of 8 years ago was getting my receipts recently. Recently my x just got my Moms receipt. completely different credit cards etc. Its like big brother. I have been divorced for 8 years and this is just now happening. where are they getting their data? scary

  • Paul Gagnon

    Square Cash is terrible. Terrible Customer Service, terrible service. They Lost $150 Dollars my friend owed me. They keep saying it’s in my account my Bank has NO Idea were the Money is. Square thinks I am just going away? NO way refund my friend it is going on 3 Weeks REFUND HIm NOW. So I can delete the App. Terrible and once he is refunded I will delete the App. Don’t use this service! You will be as sorry as I am?

  • Michael Roth

    I lost my code number, nobody from customer service answer your phone call if you don’t provide the code, It is unacceptable not to be able to talk to customer service ,I need someone to call me on my phone or e-mail me in regards to this problem

    • mike wilson

      you are so right ….

      worst setup in the industry

      FLAT ASS CROOKS AND I AM OUT $300 ON 1ST AND ONLY TRANSACTION – THEY FROZE MY ACCT WITH NO WARNING AFTER PROCESSING THE ORDER AFTER TELLING ME EVERYTHING WAS VERIFIED

  • Joe G

    Square is a complete joke. I own a small business and was using them to process payments on my website for a few months when out of nowhere they informed me that my account was permanently deactivated for violating their terms without any specific reasoning. They referenced 2 sections of their terms which, after reviewing several times, had no connection to my type of business as all. You also cannot speak to a customer service rep on the phone. They only offer service via email. After emailing they, they just reiterated their original statement, saying their decision was final. Still no reason as to why I was deactivated. Joke.

    • mike wilson

      sadly well stated

      did my 1st and only transactions with this operation today … they make Pay Pal look golden

      I got everything verified via them and told that both over the phone and email …. now they decide to freeze all movements to my bank acct as they have other stuff to “validate”

      SPREAD THE WORD .. GO TO SCAM.COM AND RIPOFF REPORT AS THIS IS NOTHING BUT AN ONLINE MOB OPERATION

  • Robson Melo

    This company just close my account without any explain while they just send me an email saying “high risk activities” ! Have done only 5 transactions using their app and the last one of 500 dollars they just put on hold for 90 DAYS! After that I have no access to then by phone email, what means no more communications it’s possible! I just can’t believe how this company still on the market since treat their customers like this! Those 5 sales I did it’s REAL, customers approved charges, no one ask charge back and I just have no idea for what reason they see my transactions as “high risk” !

  • Elle

    Worst payment app ever!! Possible scam? DO NOT USE. Wish I had read reviews 1st. After collecting unnecessary ID info like SSN (identity theft/security risk), it without reason fails to complete valid bank transactions. Initially, both sender & receiver get a “payment sent” notification; then 6 hours later both receive a notification that payment has been refunded without explanation. Error-handling is awful & Support is useless. Transactions & proper notification should be instant because the bank instantly approves or denies. Indicating a payment was sent but then cancelling it hours later is unacceptable for both consumers & merchants (who often send goods as soon as they are notified of payment).

  • Anonymous

    Worst payment app ever!! Possibly a scam. DO NOT USE. After collecting unnecessary ID info like SSN, it without reason fails to complete valid bank transactions. Error-handling is awful and Support is useless. To the point others have made, transactions and proper notification should be instant — banks instantly approve or deny. Indicating a payment was sent but then cancelling it six hours later is unacceptable for merchants and consumers.

  • Avoka

    At first when I just had a square account, our first business deposit was $350. No harm no hold on the money it went instant deposit just how they’re setting up their ahits. Little as I know the business processes a payment of $4000.00 they hold the fund saying for about 3-7 business days it’ll be available and also they said they have to do a review first that needs to be done. Lucky I refunded my customers money because the next final word they said over the phone is, they are going to place a hold on the balance for 30 days

  • rick

    They have been forcing me to provide extremely personal business information and personal information in order to get paid. I say extremely personal because they want multiple government issued IDs, copies of past invoices, my bank statements going back several months, and a lot more non-sense. I feel forced to give them whatever information they are asking for since they are holding up my funds ! I will obviously terminate any relationships with this nightmare company. Just going to use paypal from now on, like I have always done.

  • Michelle Neber

    My family purchased Square in order to process payments during a Benefit Concert that was organized to raise money for my sister and family. My sister was battling Triple Negative Breast Cancer, which had spread to her brain, her bones, everywhere. During the concert we held a silent auction where donated items were auctioned to the attendees, many who paid by credit card. The square worked great that evening, we had no issues UNTIL we attempted to collect the proceeds. We were told that the account had been frozen because of possible fraudulent activity. We were further told the funds would be released after a holding period of 45 days, which later changed to 60 days. We explained the situation, but it did not make a difference to their decision. The Benefit Concert was held on September 25th, my sister passed away on February 16th, and she never saw a penny of the proceeds that were raised to help with medical expenses. We basically gave away football tickets, hockey tickets, art, vacation by the ocean, and received nothing for any of it. It is now May 6th, and Square still has not released the proceeds to the family. Having to deal with this nonsense is an OUTRAGE, especially during this time. Can anyone tell me what agency governs fraudulent activity for these type of companies? Square has stolen and have held hostage money that does not belong to them.

  • Anne Marie Bishop

    DO NOT USE SQUARE!!!! Square deactivates your account without notice and for no reason. Even though they have your money from a transaction, they do no deposit it into your validated bank account nor otherwise provide you with a means of contacting them. I am absolutely shocked if they can do this legally. There are other much more reliable and trustworthy services. I have spent hours literally trying to address this problem. Unbelievable that a company like this is still doing business.

    • Joannette Odle

      I keep receiving emails from Square stating that my vendor payment has been denied or something like that. I don’t have or have ever useda square account. Either they are or fishing for information or somebody sends me a hell of a lot of emails with their letterhead

  • John T

    My experience w/Square is incredibly frustrating. Although I read many negative reviews, I still signed up as it was easy. I now regret that decision. My transactions occurred on April 21 and 23 and as of May 5th – twelve to fourteen days later – I have not been paid yet. They keep saying payment is tomorrow, but still nothing. It seems pretty chaotic over at Square.

  • Cal Beaken

    DO NOT BE FOOLED BY SQUAREUP.COM.
    The simplicity and utility is how the suck entrepreneurs in. They will not talk to you. If you do obtain a customer code through the multiple steps, you will be given a code and a lengthy process. They also hold money and DO NOT PROCESS transitions efficiently. Their customer service is rude and they are not a reputable business. Its the barnacle of credit card processing.

  • Sam

    Square News Is Fake News.

    3 years with square they canceled my account with no notice. All I got is “according to section blah blah blah”.

    I called and my customer pin has been also canceled no one to talk to. Just cancelled my account without having the strength to talk to us. That’s because it’s a weak company. The CEO is bipolar so are the employees. My business is in California. We already have enough regulations we don’t need to be canceled with no notice and not be able to accept credit card payment on a busy weekend.

    When telemarketers called us and said one day square will cancel your account with no notice we didn’t believe them and said “we love square we are not switching”

    But they were right.

    Square News is Fake News.

  • Diane House

    Do NOT use square for cash transactions !!!!
    They locked up my money and have no explanation as to why or any timeframe as to when it will go through or be available

    No way to Cancel and no apology !!
    Never trust them with your money !!

  • Cameron

    NEVER use Square. They will vaguely review your business and hold your money without reasoning given. When you try to inquire about your hard earned money they will block you from contacting them like children even if your inquires are informative and professional.

    Do yourself a favor and use Stripe.

    Here’s the full story:

    Square is by far the worst processor I’ve ever encountered.

    Before Square, I used Stripe for my small LLC. I sell video gaming services and therefore licensing has always been the first concern of processors that I use.

    When I used Stripe, they reached out to me about copyright, a concern obviously brought up by their financial partners. I simply replied with the laws I operate legally under and the licensing that I have, and their financial partners immediately approved me. However, Stripe allowed a lot of fraud payments go through, even when I upped the security on my account. I didn’t get an disputes luckily, but it wasn’t worth the risk so I transferred over to Square.

    That was a huge mistake. Square let me start processing almost right away, but I noticed one day that my transfers were pending. Apparently Square wanted some additional information from me before I could receive my money.

    I was fine with this. I supplied them with my IRS issues EIN document, Articles of Organization, ID, voided check, transaction examples, etc. I went above and beyond to give everything that was needed plus some.

    2 days later I get an e-mail that my Square account is deactivated and that I won’t be able to receive my funds for 90 days. At this point there is over $2,000 in my account that is being held for 90 days.

    I am a small start up LLC. It’s just me. I don’t have enough cash on hand to keep running my business or even pay my rent. In 10 days when rent is due I will without a doubt be evicted thanks to Square.

    But this isn’t even the bad part. The bad part comes to their support system.

    I e-mailed Square to clarify this clear misunderstanding and got a copy and paste reply from an employee named Toby.

    I replied to Toby with my documents and this time I included solutions to what I thought may be the problem. This included my explanation of my licensing and copyright along with licensing present and direct references to laws that protect fan artworks and other things being used on my website.

    Surely, just as Stripe did, I expected Toby to be on my side. Here I am with 0 disputes and no issues on my account other than 1 simple misunderstanding. It was my assumption that Toby would get my information to the right person and have my information re-submitted to their financial partners.

    Not only did Toby not reply, he closed my support ticket.

    I got this e-mail:

    “Hi Cameron,

    Thanks for your reply! It’s been more than 2 weeks since we last heard from you, so we closed this case.

    If you have additional questions, please create a new case with our Support Team by visiting the Support Center.

    Additionally, feel free to visit Square’s Seller Community to get ideas and help from other Square sellers.

    Thanks again,

    Square Support”

    That’s funny. I didn’t even sign up for Square a full 2 weeks ago, so it’s odd that my ticket expired within 24 hours.

    That’s right, here I am doing nothing wrong, victim of a misunderstanding on Square’s end, and I get shut off from clearing things up as if I did something horribly wrong.

    They have my $2,000 so they don’t care. They have no interest in appeals or clarifying situations so that all customers are satisfied. They only care about the money they get to hold and vaguely reviewing businesses only to make final decisions as if all aspects had been looked into.

    Finally, after my e-mail inquiry had been closed, I tried to call them. Well, apparently my Square account is now blocked from calling and using call support.

    What a scummy company.

    My advice to the public, never use Square. They have a policy that they can do whatever they want with your money for whatever undisclosed reason. You may thing this means they will still use their judgement before taking your money, but they won’t.

    Here is my contact information in case anyone would like to ask more about Square:

    [email protected]

    • Wulf

      I have lost three returning clients.
      One even laughed at me calling me small-time scum.
      Anyways.
      I am small-time. I work to pay bills.
      Without warning they put a hold on my account.
      Transactions take two business days. This is the second week my client have no reimbursement, so he won’t pay me till then. Understandable.
      My phone shut off unpayed bill.
      Crooks.
      How can it be a fraud.
      When the credit card is insured by the credit card company.
      Same thing If you purchase stuff online.
      You need to go on a find Waldo search on the website to get your customer code, otherwise they won’t answer the phone.
      They only have phone service 9:00-17:00 California time.
      But processing is done by a computer.
      Example:
      Approval message received @ 20:30 Sunday.
      Never a straight answer never a reason only suggestions.

  • Marilyn

    I’ve been using square for several months now. This will be my first time writing a review (on any matter) and I will keep it short.
    Overall square is good and convenient in many aspects. I encountered two issues however but I will only write regarding one. Anytime I charged a customer via square the purchases added up to hundreds of dollars, I had no problem with the deposit. However When I had a big sale of few thousand dollars Square sent me an email saying it was against their terms and services stating “Under our Terms of Service, you cannot process prepaid cards, gift cards, or your own credit card using your Square account. The Square Terms of Service also prohibit using Square as a money transfer system. You must provide a legitimate good or service in exchange for every payment processed with Square”, I did none of the above but only charge few grand on square. I tried contacting them by phone but had absolutely the worst experience and no success in doing so. I wrote them an email asking why the charge-deposit had been declined being I didn’t violate and terms, the response I received was “We took another look at your account, but unfortunately we still will not be able to process the payment..” they never gave an explanation as to why or a reason for their determination. I replied and asked to speak by phone or have a manger call me but again no response. They state in the terms that one can process up to 50,000$ in one transaction but seemingly that’s untrue. I was willing to send any other information they requested but no response.
    After this episode of true dissatisfaction and disappointment I decided it might be the right time to drop square and have my processing done by another company.
    I guess when they say it’s perfect for small businesses they mean really small…

  • Ben h

    Worst company ever!!! Had to go to another company to accept cards for my small business. Square likes to charge regular fees but they don’t give you the funds. Been waiting for 924 buck for like a month. They promise it will be deposited that day but still no deposit. Had to say goodbye to 924 bucks!!!!

  • Bridget Smalls

    Square has been a Great asset to my business I have no problems my money is deposit same day with instant deposits and next day for all other customer service is fast and friendly online and over the phone easy to use and it feel safe I give square A+ rating

    • Lisa Helsel

      Just Wait – Our process went flawlessly for about a year as well until recently. Once they freeze your account for unknown reasons, you will not get it unfrozen. They will keep your funds. Mark my word. You will not be able to reach anyone via customer service because those people do not exist. I’ve been round and round with the same representative via email that is unable to read. That’s about how much respect Square has for you, their customer! Don’t be fooled by a customer service number, it just loops you back around to any help you can get on their website. NO human interraction is allowed with this company until they are trying to sell you something. Just wait until they ask you to upload three month’s worth of your bank statements so they can better serve you (right) to unfreeze your account. Just wait Bridget. It’s coming. Have a plan B. I wished I had never left my more expensive processing company as now I have to start all over and am unable to accept credit cards. If accepting credit cards is important to you, I’d leave Square ASAP and that goes for everyone else. How they are getting an A rating by BBB is a mystery to me.

  • Brett

    Do use Square. They do not advise that on the first payemnts they will do a review of your company or business. Then they hold payemnts for over a week and finally may close your account for no reason. Totally non trnasparent company with a customer attitude sadly lacking.

  • Terri Holt

    Just like everyone else,starting the end of March, we started having problems. They needed 3 months of bank statements, government documents, and signed contracts by clients.
    They had been holding my funds for 2 weeks, I started calling everyday after submitting everything they asked for, was told everyday that funds would be released at the end of the day.
    Today after I told them I would stay on the phone until they finished my review, that was suppose to be done 3 days ago, I was hung up on, and than received an email that my account has been deactivated. I had the choice of refunding my clients, or waiting 90 days to get them.
    If you read complaints, I don’t think anyone is getting refunded money. Do yourself and your. Lie to a favor, and refund now!!
    At this point, this company is nothing but scam! RUN!!

  • Mike mitchell

    I have been a good customer with the square for five years and then today all of a sudden they stop the payment from coming through and told me that they need more information about myself and to review my account . One of the things that they’ve asked for is three months of bank statements with all the charges in my account and when I asked why is this because that seems more like an investigation and not clarification they stated they wanted to see all the activity in my account and what I use my account for And when I asked why they said so that they could better understand the nature of my business which is landscaping . But it was clearly like pulling teeth to get even that much information from them because they didn’t seem like they wanted to provide me with any information or answer any my questions they just wanted me to send over a bunch of personal documents that really have nothing to do with them including one of the things they said they were looking for is to make Sure that there’s enough money in my account in case there’s a dispute and when I asked how much do I need to have in my account in case of a dispute they said there was no certain amount which is really not making sense to me . And now looking at reviews it seems many people are having problems with them so it looks like I’m going to look for another service and I suggest all of you do because it’ll be right during the time you don’t need this to happen that they’re going to do it to you .

  • Clem

    I cannot event say how square worked for me because their system won’t accept me – unable to verify my identity. I don’t have a credit report – as I have never applied for a credit – which should be a good thing! – and they say they can’t verify me manually. I tried to get verified with my passport number (which is also a way to do it) but apparently I don’t exist there either!! Horrible customer service as well, they obviously do not care about their customers.

  • Laura

    I have Square Reader it was a very bad experience they kept my money for 90 days they canceled me for no reason I think they just wanted to keep my money to use for another reason do not use Square reader for any reason they will take your money I don’t even give them one review zero

    • Tdub

      My account was deactivated after I took several payments. Now they’re saying my money will be in reserve. No way to contact them without a code and they requested me to use email. No way to get a live person!

  • Rita Benson

    Very disappointed in square … i recieved an email they were disabiling my account…tried to contact them to find out why and how to remedy it but they do not return emails..they have no telephone number to contact them to find out why and whats going on..definitely no customers service !..if i had know how poorly they treat small business i would never have signed with them…Avoid Square card processing!

      • Gee

        Have you made any progress with them regarding using prepaid payments because I have received the same message & now I can’t get my funds? What steps have you taken? After today I say class action lawsuit

  • Ofel Garcia

    Hi I’m kinda going thru the same thing they held my money for 90 days and 90 days just passed and haven’t heard anything from them still haven’t received my money . Did you ever receive the money they had on hold ?

  • Peggy L

    I used square when it first came out and recently bought a chip card reader and Stand. This weekend I used it for an art show I was in. I panicked when I first open the box but then realized it was so easy to set up. I even set up categories in just a few minutes. The Dave name and square was put to the test. It was so easy to use And SO reliable. I love the stand because my iPad fit right into it; I use the little screw and wrench that they provided in the tool kit and it was held and secured all day. The magnetic strip reader and chip card reader are Bluetooth enabled and all the equipment Held a charge for the entire day which shocked me. I had such a great experience with square point of sale system! I can’t wait to use it again!

  • Jamie

    I’m disgusted with SQUARE out of the blue they have deactivated my account. No issues with my account except that my business was growing. Time to find another service provider.

  • Christian

    Nothing doing business with Square anymore.
    Worst customer service ever. You can forget about ever trying to reach a live person with Square.
    I tried calling Square to ask questions on a dispute and i could not find a phone number anywhere on their site.
    After i googled searched for their number, i called it and the prompt service says you need a “customer code” and tells you to simply sign into Square for code. The prompt voice does not explain how to get a code so i did a google search “how to get customer code with square” and got instructions that way.
    When i called Square again with my customer code, the prompt voice says “invalid code” so i tried getting another code and same thing over and over. So frustrating. Bottom line, i tried for days to get a live person and nothing.
    Tried emailing them and that hasnt worked either.
    Im going with another merchant.

  • Laura

    Your company is ridiculously horrible. Your complete lack of customer service when handling merchant’s money is laughable & void. Your customer number is also a joke when you still refuse to actually have a live member of your, “staff”, if you indeed even have one, have the common courtesy to respond to emails . I will warn everyone that I know not to use you & recommend one of your competitors that actually know a little something about customer service, ethics, & just plain have respect.

  • Louise

    I got a square account a few years back, have not used it till December of 2016. I was not aware that I was not allowed to swipe gift cards and so I did. My account was closed but for the past 3 months I have been trying to get my money back that square held in my account when closing it, they will not return my emails or calls. So they just decide to keep my money????? I will never use them again

  • Andries van Riezen

    Great business! Almost bankrupting mine by randomly deactivating my account and freezing over $ 25 thousand dollars in payments. “High-risk” activity, but thats all the information I get. Then when you are deactivated, they deactivate your account number so you can’t call them anymore!! I have to wait 2 months (already waiting for 2 weeks) to get well over $ 25K. Absolutely unacceptable

    • Julie

      Hi I would get An attorney. You will never see that Money from the Square in sorry to say. There are thousands of complaints just like yours. I’m so sorry to say. Get an attorney involved. That’s the only way you will see a dime of your money.

  • Milenko Lazarevic

    I had problem with a square: I had around 600 dollars payment to me, but Square sent me only 300.
    I was waiting for their reports for 3 weeks and final answer was: nothing.
    In conclusion: check on them. Somebody in company is doing something stupid and they don’t want to admit.

  • Brian

    GST doesn’t work correctly.
    For my colleagues in Canada, I would like them to know that Square cannot handle the national sales tax. Square can only calculate and apply tax for a province. Customer service advises that Square has been aware of the problem (the sales tax has been in place since 1989), but do not have a solution. I wish I would not have spent the time setting up the on-line store, only to find out it isn’t going to work. Perhaps I can save others from wasting their time.

  • Shane Innes

    Horrid customer service. “Deferred” deposits seem to be the norm with these guys.

    If you HAVE to use them, be sure to contact account services as soon as possible to submit ALL required documentation PRIOR to square holding your deposits for days/weeks.

    Will switch to another system immediately.

  • Carla Mader

    DO NOT USE Square – it is a sophisticated SCAM, they double debit you and hold fund for 90 days and your customer funds for 60 days. There are thousand of complaints online and also on the Better Business Bureau website and now being investigated. A class action lawsuit is being initiated and filed by customers for scamming them and defrauding our customers. They “review” your account after a large deposit, then notify you by email that your account is closed while they are hold funds for another “review” for 90 or more days. Oh, and also you may not contact them – only via email. They do this to customer after customer and thereby breech the contract with their customer by getting paid for a service they DO NOT deliver. They further add insult to injury by debiting your bank account because after they freeze your funds and close your Square account, When you now do not have funds that are frozen. They scammed us out of $4200. Some customers complained to the BBB that funds were held for 14 months or more. They provide services and charge like banks but do not offer enough staff to expedite issues. DO NOT USE SQUARE. I recommend Worldpay and regret opening an additional Square account for my onsite sales staff.
    We, scammed Square customers are banding together with the exact same complaint for a Federal law suit to stop this seemingly legitimate company. They are stealing and holding capital from very small businesses and sole proprietors and need to be prosecuted. They should be ashamed and are immoral, unethical and thieves.

    • Barney Nowicki

      Hi Carla…….The EXACT SAME THING HAS HAPPENED TO ME and I am LIVID. Can you please write to me at [email protected]?? I am the smallest of independent Photographers and the Bastards at Square have ripped me off to the tune of over $2700 now, since Dec. 24th of last year. That amount being stolen from me has hurt tremendously and I’m desperate to hear about the class action law suit. Please write me, thanks!

  • Peter

    We began with Square in mid Jan 2017 . They made a deposit into my linked bank account with no issues. All of a sudden they were asking for verification. Their verification they say takes 1-2 days. Nonsense…mine took over 10 days during which they were holding onto $17000 of my sales. Every time we sent them information the verification clock started again only for them to come back and say they needed more information. Finally my account was verified but after two weeks it has now been closed by them . Why ? They won’t say …they say possible “suspicious activity”. But no evidence and examples. What suspicious activity, some sales are in the $5000 range some in $100 range.
    Now of course you can not call them but only send an email . They want to hold onto my sales money for up to 60 days.
    STAY AWAY FROM SQUARE. They are corrupt and dishonest.

  • Michael Woodruff

    Square failed me in a major way. I am a freelance DJ and I DJed a wedding on December 3rd 2016. For reasons completely unjustified the customer disputed the charge with their bank A MONTH after my services were given. Square immediately took the amount out of my account making my account negative in that amount plus fees.
    I provided square with email after email and text after text that proved the services were provided and the charge was legit. After a lot of back and forth with GUS he informed me that the case had been resolved in my favor. Then the customer re-disputed the charge. GUS at Square asked me for documents as if I had never provided him with them the first time. Square lost the dispute the second time around which makes no sense to me. Now they want me to pay them back the money they sent the customer.

    So now the customer basically got her wedding DJed for FREE and I had to pay to do it.

    I am tired of emails I want to talk to someone on the phone that can fix this. The only way you are getting your money back is by getting it from the customers bank you gave it back to.

    Btw, this was all disputed because they said services were not what they wanted it to be.

    So next time you use square just remember all your customer has to say is I didn’t like it and they will get whatever services you provided for FREE!

  • BeaM

    I WAS NEVER NOTIFIED AS A CONSUMER THAT I WAS GOING TO BE ENTERED PERMANENTLY INTO A DATABASE WITH MY CREDIT CARD PURCHASE THAT HAD NO RELATIONSHIP WITH MY PROVIDER AND WOULD NOT LET ME EVER DELETE MYSELF FROM THE SYSTEM.
    This is invasive, creepy and absolutely needs to be investigated by consumer protection agencies.
    The website gives NO information on how to delete your personal information permanently so I got an e-mailed receipt yesterday from a phone transaction when I never gave out my address to the vendor.
    I AM OUTRAGED THAT THIS IS BEING DONE WITHOUT OUR PERMISSION OR KNOWLEDGE.
    SQUARE NEEDS TO BE STOPPED.

  • Darryan Prestin

    I have been very happy with my Square service for a few years but now things are going awry I’m not getting my money and I absolutely cannot get ahold of them I have looked everywhere online for the PIN code to call them and I cannot find it I’m not a millionaire but I’m done close to $50,000 worth of business with them last year and it frustrates me that I cannot call them and talk to somebody when I have issues

  • adam jagiellowicz

    I started an online school and had just received my second course payment. Square held my money claiming that my account had a ‘pattern’ of risky payments and that they therefore had to hold my funds for 90 days and deactivate my account. There was no pattern (2nd payment ?) and they refused to explain the reason. after deactivation they no longer felt obliged to answer my requests and only replied with canned emails asking me if the support i received was satisfactory. Well, now over 105 days have passed since they held back that $1000.00 from me for no just cause. They have not credited my bank account and have not emailed me. Square has a license to steal money it seems. This company is fraudulent. there is no other way about it. And I will be contacting the police. What a pain in the ass to have to track down these slime bags.

  • Sandra

    So here’s my problem. My account was hacked in December. Over $1000 processed through my business but sent to another account. Square confirmed the hack, closed my account on line and said no problems for me. I now get an email that one of the transactions is being disputed and my account will be billed. Hmm I say, I need to contact Square customer service and make sure this is not going to happen. And the merry chase begins for a customer code – which is the ONLY way you can get to the customer service line. BUT they closed my account, I cannot log in. So I cannot get said code. I try to re-establish account – but alas, my account already exists and I cannot get a new password. So my complaint – Square customer service sucks. I’m dropping any relationship with Square and no longer recommend them to anyone.

    • Fist Fit Tech

      Square is the Worst!!!!! Signed up and was told I can still except payments until my account was verified. They were holding $19,300 of my funds and when it got verified 2weeks later they deactivated my account without explanation and no customer support to no longer talk to about my funds!!! Telling me they will be holding my funds for 90days . WTF !!!! This company is a real Scam and Feds need to shutdown Square . American Greed at its Finest!!! Don’t USE …..

  • SCOTT BROOKS

    These IDIOTS!!!! I changed my bank account and they verified the new bank account was verified. The old bank account not even listed.

    I take in a $1500 payment and do instant deposit and they deposit to old account!! My customer needs his goods tomorrow and they are saying it can’t be reversed, about to go frigging ballistic!!

    YOU FRIGGING IDIOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111

  • Jonathan May

    This is a horrible company. I mainly deal in large scale gold bullion transaction via wire or check, but I also sell fine jewelry. To test their system my own mother bought jewelry she wanted from my website and it was denied. I was given no chance to explain. They would have gotten their fees. But I cancelled my link to them and got a refund. Don’t use them. Poor poor connection and understanding , trust and communication did not exist. May their business be cursed by G-d

  • Maria

    I joined Square in December and purchased their hardware. On January 21st, a client paid $100 for services and few days later I couldn’t use my square account. Square deactivated my account and I am still waiting for my deposit. It has been 28 days. I have emailed them daily for 3 weeks and no response. I reached out via Facebook and no response. I finally obtained a code (2/16/17) to reach out to them and I didn’t get any assistance. I was told someone will reach out to me. Few minutes later I received an email stating “our decision to deactivate is final” “unable to provide details” WTF At this point I just want my money.

  • Alan Rich

    Worse customer service I’ve seen. What a SCAM. We use Square calendar for booking reservations. We have both our bank info listed and a company credit card to pay for the monthly calendar charge. We found that Square is charging our credit card for the monthly subscription fee as well as debiting our company bank account for the same charge. We notified Square customer support about this in late January 2017 after they double charged us for December 2017; Jan 2017 & again in Feb 2017. They requested that we send them the bank statements and credit card statements so that they could escalate this to their engineers which we did and it clearly showed that they charged our credit card and debited our bank account for the same amount on the same day for Dec 2016, Jan & Feb 2017. We made several attempts to contact them via phone and email after our initial phone contact and you cannot reach them by phone and they do not reply to the repeated emails.

    Their bottom line must look great since they double charge their customers. We have since deactivated our account with them 2/16/2017 and pursuing reimbursement through our credit card company.

  • yasmin

    DO NOT use square. They are a horrible company and customer service sucks. They withdrew money from my account for a dispute without even listening to my side of the story. Who does that when you are their customer. Awful!!!!

  • Glenn Miller

    I am a sporadic user of Square since I conduct my business part-time. I took a customer’s credit card for the amount of $600.00 on Mon Feb 6, 2017. I’d always received a deposit into my checking account within a few days. It is now Feb 15, 2017 and no deposit. I have sent them numerous e-mails with no response other than the automated response. I tried to call them and the recording said I needed a customer number. I read the instructions on how to find a customer number but could not find one no matter how hard I’d searched. Can anyone offer some practical advice?

    I also set up Instant Payment to my ATM card but the web site will not let me transfer the money.

    Can anyone help? I am at wit’s end

    • Tracy Brady

      I am in the same boat. I set up my account beggining of February, they verified it, let me believe it was all set up, I even did two small transactions for $5.00 just to be sure it was working, no problem, the money was in my account. Later, when I swiped 2800.00 is, I’m getting emails they need more information to verify my account. So they wanted three months of bank statements, all my signed receipts, (they can’t verify signatures with the signature you capture on their app) credit card agreement for my customers, my business information. But they advertise” NO Surprises!”. Of course you can’t reach anyone by phone to talk to them. Then, this is the best, after I send all this information, they send me an email and tell me my account has been deactivated for too much activity. I can return everybody’s money or wait three months and they will refund mine. So the billionaire Jack Dorsey is keeping my money for three months because he doesn’t make enough with Twitter. Search the internet, exact same thing they have done to numerous other people. This money was for a friend dying of Cancer, real nice Square, you need money that bad. Scandalous and sickening.

  • chuck dehney

    poor commutation, on hold for hours, no people skills , actually one of the Square service people hung up on me during a recorded conversation on there end, his final words where , there will no longer be any telephone dialog ,everything will be thru email , and I was just trying to get answer about my 57,000 plus dollars they where holding for over 30 days, I will say it was a experience dealing with them and I learnt a lot , which help interviewing new credit card companies , which have better rates , we do about $40,000 – $50,000 a month in cards. We have a saying here if you don’t take care of your customer someone else will

  • David sapirstein

    I have a problem with square and realized how ineffective their operation is .
    The order could be resolved immediately but they are not interested to find it immediately but yo take their time and cause hardship yo their customers

  • Sherry

    Don’t do it. My square worked before they went to point of sale and now it’s literally a POS. Now it is not compatible with my phone. So completely useless. I have a new phone so that is not an issue their new update makes it not compatible now. Spent 60.00 for this POS.

  • Kyle Baker

    One and a half years ago I purchased a square register to use with my I-pad air 2. I was not told at the time that this was not compatable with my device. Upon using this product with my Ipad it has since began to warp the screen and peel back it back. I have contacted square and tried to resolve this issue but I was only given the option to receive a $50.00 credit rather than any other method of resolution. I spent over an hour on the phone with square and this was the best result they were able to offer me.

  • Babe Savage

    The worst processing company ever. I have never had a charge back. Been with them for 8 years . My first large transaction comes through and they deny it because afraid of a charge back. Cost me a huge customer.

  • Jerry Puda

    Great Idea! Miserable execution; Zero customer service for merchants. Flush with cash they forgot the small businesses that made them. 7 days, no reply to email generated from account dashboard. Sales department contacted after 6 days without any reference to message; generic reply. Live phone agent 67min wait, arrogant to the max. PayPal never looked so good. We’re taking our money and running as fast as possible. Might as well be a fake website in China for all the human interaction available.

  • T

    This service is horrible. They do not have a working customer service number and when you call they ask for a customer code that they do not provide to you. They make you send an email that they never contact you back on. It has been about 3 days now since a payment was cashed out and it has not been deposited in my account.

    Worst Customer service ever!!

  • Jason

    Sales just started to ramp up and square has advised me that they are going to hold all of my funds for 90 days for no reason or justification. There is no way to call them and no way to contest. I paid the 2.75% for convenience and look but now i see there are much better solutions out there.

  • Eli

    Square charge my customer card for $4,000 and sent email saying money being sent to my account. They charged another customers card for $3,720 the following day and said money being sent. They then REFUSE TO PUT MONEY INTO MY ACCOUNT. When i call them they had NO PHONE and sent a email said we will get back with you by email only.This is company is playing games on the NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE with consumers money. BE AWARE !!!

  • Kasey

    Square has the worst customer service ever. There is no phone contact. The only way to contact them is via email. They have deactivated my account with no warning in the middle of my business day. Left me with huge chaos with client check out. I’ve emailed them several times and they send the same email back to me every time. Not answering any of my questions. THE WORST CUstomer SUPPORT EVER!!

    • Mitch

      Same thing happened to us. Cancelled our account in the middle of the work day. And, they had already accepted some charges before cancelling. There is no way to contact them after they cancel your account. They will hold all your money for 90 days after they cancel. This company is a nightmare waiting to happen. Beware!

  • Marce Holmquist

    My Square reader experience was horrible and costly. I am an independent contractor that had an issue with a large Square transaction. Not only did Square wait over 2 weeks to tell me the customer challenged the charge, but I did all Square requested to upload my documents supporting the transaction. It took them less then 6 minutes to find against me and start debiting money in Square escrow & my personal account. Knowing that legal issues are pending, Square made no attempt to aid me in this situation & now its in the legal systems jurisdiction. I don’t recommend to square to any independent contractor, small businessman or any business. There are better options out there that actually protect me against similar instances, and Im happy I found one. Trying to contact Square customer support is a joke!!!!

  • Art Ferris

    No customer service. My credit card payments are floating in an electronic black hole and I am getting sent back to the website without any way to resolve the issue for several weeks! My money never reached my bank account, and no one at Square seems to care.

  • Bill Edelblute

    No customer service at all if you can’t sign in to your account. If you call, the greeting demands a code that you have to sign in to obtain, when I can’t sign in.

    Need to change password after having lost it, it won’t let me get past answering security question and entering new password. Sent three emails over two days, just get an auto reply saying we will contact you soon. Meanwhile can’t take any payments.

  • Jayme Terrigno

    The company is holding over $16,000 of our companies money. We can’t get a hold of anyone and there are no responses to our emails. We have supplied them with everything they requested and then the communication just stopped!

    • Donna Evans

      I, too, used square because it was recommend to me. I call Square to ask about setting up the account. A rep walked me through how to set it up. Then after receiving my first round of charges for my Weight loss class. I am , then, told that my account was deactivated. No reason why, but I would receive my funds within 90 days. That was on 10/11/16. I have not received any funds as of today. It is now almost 114 days. I have emailed with no responds what soever.
      I sure need to get paid for my serves. Plus they are holding over $1000 in her account with the exact same thing happening. I wished I would have read reviews before I did this. I now use Paypal and tell all 300 reps to please use them instead. As we add reps I will continue to recommend Paypal. With Paypal, I have had no problems.

      • Mitch

        Same thing happened to me. Cancelled my account without notice. No way to reach anyone on the phone as they wont accept any calls without a code from a WORKING account. You have to be crazy to use this company.

      • Hannah

        That’s what happened to me on Stripe. They told me it is the “new industry standard” to just close your account with lies and hold funds for 90 days. Something fishy is going on with the Globalists pushing their agenda. I have $12 and change tied up, not a grand like you, and I’m pissed! Oh the lie for closing my account is that I have a significant amount of charge backs and disputes on my account and also my shop is high risk – the reality is I have one normal sale, zero charge backs, zero disputes, items shipped and delivered with positive feedback, and have two items in my shop for $12.99 each.

        • Donna

          I have recently changed to Paypal and they sent me a triangle to uses – like the square but I received my money the next day. Totally different than what I received with Square. Still waiting 99 days later for the money in my square account to be sent to me. They keep saying once your 90 days are up we will transfer it. Well, we are going on 10 days past 90.

  • Dwayne K Boyd

    Sqaure sucks. Period. After doing several transactions Square held my funds claiming that they needed to do an account verification. After checking the reviews, they have done the same thing to numerous people. So basically, they are stealing peoples money. I don’t know how they can legally get away with this, but avoid this service like the plague.

  • Eric

    Hi i have had sqaure for sometime now making some small transactions now today. I do a transaction for $2,000 ,when I needed it the most (square let me down) ? I really wished I would have read the bad reviews on google first. I would have never tried it. Next thing you know they send me a email saying that they are sorry to inform me Dactivated my Account stating that I am to much of a risk WTF !! They want to keep my money for 90 days !! Now I have to go back and tell my customer to refund the money !!
    I DO NOT RECOMMEND SQUARE FOR BUSINESS AT ALL !!

  • Anonymous

    I am a credit card paying customer at a coffee shop which uses Square at POS. Square is the only reason I leave the visits with an unnerving feeling of violation. The shop prints out an invoice for my visit which prints out my full name, posts the invoice until prepared and calls out my name to the public. I don’t know how the shop disposes of the invoices with my info.

    I am not a subscriber of Square nor have I signed up for Square and yet, when my credit card is swiped, all of my personal info is printed out for this shop to save or dispose of as they wish. It appears whether or not you are a subscriber or customer, they are collecting info.

    People, beware. This company collects A LOT of your personal information, cc#’s, bank account #’s..look at their privacy policy for yourself. Their service is free and they systematically collect your private info and your customers’ info on a daily basis.

    Awesome, cheap technology? You decide. I am not a fan of privacy being striped away in my day to day life.

    Anonymous

  • CARLOS DELAMILERA

    Please be carefully processing credit cards with this company. They keep your money for 6 months. My best advise is to contact your bank and not let them debit your business account or personal account. Beware!
    They like to work threw emails and they do not have a direct line to contact or live representatives.

  • Teresa

    Horrible service. They help my money from a client based on a customer service glitch. It took 2 weeks to resolved and then they withdrew money from my bank account based on marketing service I did not approve! I am unable to take payments from customer through square because I am still waiting for them to Put my money back in my bank account.

  • Kevin

    We will never use Square for credit card transactions again. Not only is it expensive, but recently a customer erroneously initiated a dispute and Square immediately took back $900 for the transaction. The customer realized his error, called American Express (his CC) and cancelled the transaction (providing me with an email from Amex verifying that conversation), and Square STILL will not release my funds. I forwarded the email from the customer and Amex to Square and they maintain that American Express communicates to them that the dispute has not been cancelled. Well the customer said the charge remained on his bill, which means he paid the $900 that my business was owed. But Square refuses to release money that doesn’t belong to them, even after being provided with proof. Their support is the worst I’ve ever experienced in this industry. Phone support is useless and email is inefficient and it’s as though you get an entry level employee that could care less whether to resolve your issue or not. Do your business a favor and throw away your Square reader immediately. We switched to the Clover Mini and it’s been a fantastic experience so far.

    • Michael J Mayosky

      You are so right.. They did the same thing to me. I did the work, and the client paid… but square kept the money…. STILL… and after I provided proof the client was still charged…. they are the worst. No accountability.

  • Lauren

    Business Identity Fraud using the Sqaure App and I can’t get any answers from Sqaure. Apparently, someone had used my business name to set up a fraudulent square account and was able to bill someone’s credit card for fake services. I had a man show up at my door (since Square lists my address and gives a map detail) demanding answers how I was able to illegally charge his credit card, I have been emailing Square for the past several days only to get a few replies thanking me for my email. I have asked repeatedly to speak to someone over the phone and have been denied. They also told me there are not at liberty to discuss due to privacy rules.

  • Theresa Crosby

    Recently someone accessed my Square Acct, changed the banking information and helped themselves to my deposits. IN addition they opened a cash advance on the account. Fortunately they were only able to get a few days of deposits. I immediately called Square and everyone I spoke to (Josh, Terry, Wanda, Mark, Susu & a couple others) were extremely helpful. I took about 10 days but I did get my money back. The only downside was the hold time when I would call, but other than that they were great to work with.

  • Ginger

    Horrible company I cannot believe that this type of cruel and rude behavior is allowed to go on as long as it has. We as vendors/customers has to shut this company down. This whole thing is set up to steal peoples money.

    • Eli

      Square charge my customer card for $4,000 and sent email saying money being sent to my account. They charged another customers card for $3,720 the following day and said money being sent. They then REFUSE TO PUT MONEY INTO MY ACCOUNT. When i call them they had NO PHONE and sent a email said we will get back with you by email only.This is company is playing games on the NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE with consumers money. BE AWARE !!!

  • IRIS GARCIA

    I lost my business because of square. How is this company still functioning?

    I have a small shop at the mall, square has been holding my funds for over 2 weeks now. I’ve been reading so many reviews and I know I’m not alone. I know this man in Texas and it’s been over 1 month and he has not received $14,000 and a lady out of Dallas and she has not received her $12,000. She has contacted the local news.

    Unfortunately because square has not given me my hard earned money that I have to close my shop Dec 16, 2016 because I’m unable to buy the merchandise I needed to continue to do business here. I’m located in Sunland Park Mall in El Paso Texas.

  • Russell Roesner

    Square is great until they turn off your account with no warning. Instead of asking me about certain activities, they just decided to turn off my account the day after I made two big sales. Not only could I not draw out the money, I had to refund my clients and ask for checks for a total of over $800 after they had received our services putting me at a huge risk. Beware of square. If they turn your account off, their customer support phone will not allow you to talk to anyone to even discuss the matter. You become the “scum of the Earth” to them. I really liked this company until they did this. Be VERY careful of this company or you might get screwed over like I did.

  • Been there done that

    I’ve been waiting 96 days for $8,871 to be deposited, they asked me documents which where provided and legal. I provided proof I was at dragoncon and spent $1,600 to be a vendor there. I’m now out of business and still waiting on these funds emails are always the same saying we’ve made our ruling and it will be 90 days we are way past that. I’ve since lost my house and now living with friends and they do not care enough to respond. Beware these crooks!!!!!!

  • eddie

    square is one lousy company, deactivate my account with a reason of high risk although i do business with people whom i know for a while and they authorize me to use there debit card every once in a while
    DON’T EVER USE THEM ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU CAN’T REACH THEM OVER THE PHONE!!!

    • Russell Roesner

      Agreed they did the same thing to me. I CANNOT BELIEVE they would turn off your account and then BLOCK you from even calling them on the phone right after. I had been a customer for over 5 years and bang, they cut my account off with almost $1000 that I couldn’t collect. Its been a nightmare!

  • kerry

    THE WORST COMPANY — a few months ago, i used Square Cash to collect for an ill friend, no problem. TODAY i did 10 requests to collect for my kids school fundraiser, there’s payments to me — but I CAN”T GET THEM OUT as they want me to VERIFY ON FACEBOOK? I hate Facebook, I don’t use FACEBOOK — WTF

  • Reuben Avalos

    This company has terrible practices and very little respect for customers, they do what they want and provide very little help, they do not care about your complain and treat you like you are just some pity fool who needs their help, I will spread the word everywhere to raise awareness about these people…

    • kathy Green

      They are morons. I ordered some stuff from China . The company said the were going to refund me. Gave them my info. Now I have 2400 in charges. The screwed up thing is Square makes it look like I was binge shopping. My banking is linked from one card to a bill to another card! Its a mess.I dont know where. to start. To be honest I am afraid to see what other damage has been made on my other accounts.

  • Marc

    Square Sucks!

    Square is holing more than $26,000 of our funds (after we proved our claim, the merchant company agreed with us and was validated by Square). They initially told us it was a 90 day hold, the 90 days is on 12/15/15 and two weeks ago they cancelled our account and told us they were going to hold the funds for an ADDITIONAL 90 days.

    We’re a small business stuggling to meet payroll.

    Their claims are unsupported and decisions have been unilateral.

    THey are a joke!

  • Amy

    I had $900 transferred to my cash app and it won’t let me transfer to my bank.
    $600 was actually taken out of my bank account without my authorization and hasn’t been put back. I’ve been going around and around with customer service with no real help and every time I get a different person telling me something different that doesn’t help at all. And now I’m out of this cash. I feel cheated and it’s creating a problem for me.

    The original $600 I was cash apples is not even showing anymore. Just disappeared. And didn’t disappear to my bank account.

    This is the worst. Not reliable and my money disappears!

  • LV LEGALDOCS

    We have been with Square-up for nearly 7 years. I’ve had two chargebacks. Both were from people that were being evicted. We provided services, submitted all the paperwork. However they still placed a hold on our account, then debited the account twice making a overdrawn balance of 1045.00 not including overdraft fees. I have always been in good standing, however, they still treated me as if we were committing fraud. DO NOT USE SQUARE. THEY LIE THEY STEAL AND IT TAKES AN ACT OF CONGRESS TO GET A SIMPLE ANSWER WHICH THEY REALLY DON’T PROVIDE.

  • MartinaR

    Horrible NON EXISTENT customer service. You can’t even talk to anyone when you call. (if you can find the number to call). I sent them an email and they gave me a “case ID” . Big deal. No more response from them. I have the best credit rating possible and yet they just say “declined can’t confirm your identity” What the heck. Hoping I can take their “free” reader that I paid 10$ for at best buy back. With a big complaint. Now reading the other reviews I should have checked them out before getting involved with them. I think I dodged a bullet by not being able to sign up. STAY AWAY

  • ALEXANDER

    Muy mala atención al cliente, he tratado de comunicarme por teléfono y me piden un código el cual no puedo obtener de ninguna forma posible, también he enviado varios email y no he recibido ninguna respuesta. Estoy tratando de aclarar una transacción y no hay modo de que algún representante se comunique conmigo, increíble !!!

  • Jim

    Billed amount on credit card statement was $22.00 more than the invoice amount. Appears Squareup is charging credit card fees to the end customer vs. the merchant/vendor. Watch out!

  • Eric

    Hello Seymour,

    Another day has passed and this is getting ridiculous, SQUARE has stolen money from us $5380.00 and this is unacceptable especially since I can’t even get a phone call or email response, at this point I’m contacting our attorney by the end of business day as this is not being handled in a professional manner, I will also file a police report against SQUARE at the end of business day as well as this is theft, and is impacting our business and our client whom paid to have work done by us.

    More so I’m returning the items I purchased from SQUARE readers etc..and expect a full money back return, and say goodbye to a good customer who planned on using SQUARE for all our processing roughly $100,000 in transactions per year and social postings of what SQUARE has done to us.

    I cannot believe how unprofessional we are being treated!

    • donald

      I opened an account with square and had nothing but problems getting my account verified. finally after 5 weeks of fighting. a gentleman named Barrett sends me an email, stating that my 606.00 would be transferred to my account…..5 hours later I received an email from someone else saying that my account is being deactivated for suspicious activity….so now I stuck with no way to talk to anyone about my problem……why is this allowed to happen….. I also feel like square is stealing my money……I don’t want an email notification all you do is lead me to a help desk that does nothing with out you 12 digit code to get online….without one you cant talk to nobody…..

    • Russell Roesner

      WOW! I cannot believe how many recent complaints there are about Square just for this month, DECEMBER of 2016. They deactivated my account after 5 years with no problems, held my funds in “RESERVE” and would not allow me to transfer to my bank. I had to refund almost $1000 to my clients and have them all write me checks after they received our services. ITs been a NIGHTMARE! When you get deactivated, their customer service number won’t allow you to talk to anyone and you have to only email them. Its a SCREWED UP COMPANY! Do not use them!

  • Bill

    Terrible service. They debited our bank account based on a claim that services were not rendered. However, we provided a signed contract of the credit card charge and Square ignored it. Poor customer service when calling back. No real managers to talk to. bad experience.

  • Joyce

    Great idea BUT: This is a product designed by people who might be good at tech stuff but seem to never have run or owned a business, do not appear to know retail and what information one is looking for when running a retail business, have no clue about good customer interface. It is complicated and absolutely NOT INTUITIVE nor in keeping with established norms of organizing sales, customer, inventory and other vital data. GET SOME PEOPLE WITH REAL WORK EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELDS YOU ARE TRYING TO SERVICE onto your product development team. Seriously.

  • Sharon Brown

    Very unhappy with support, can’t get anyone on the phone. I’ve emailed and cannot get the anwsers i need, I ordered their chip reader and opened an account with them. Used the chip reader once for a test to make sure that it worked. When i go to use it again, it wont work, I go online to find out that my account has been deactibvated. I seem to be unable to get anyone on the phone to solve the problem.

  • Tom Lambrecht

    Signed up for Square bought card readers, sent LLC papers explained we were a consulting company, Mortgage Broker company, feasibility studies and
    mortgage restructure and arbitration company in advance. One first client was asked for a ton of info
    then they say they don’t do business with Debt counselors (we are not) . Keep away from these guys they don’t even have a phone to complain or settle disputes. In doubt call me 800-810-0949

  • Scott MacDougall

    This site says Square’s rating is “B”. This is misleading. It should be “F”. Called four times to follow up on none payment. They were uncontactable. How can you run a business when a financial services company is holding on to your cash flow?. If you’re relying on funds being available Do NOT!. I repeat DO NOT use square! Otherwise you’re a Square Head….

  • Jim W

    On 10/15/2016 I made a donation to a small local nonprofit using an email address I’ve never used before or since (so I can determine the source of spam email). On 11/24/2016 this email address got an unsolicited commercial email from:

    Amorino Theater District

    about a Black Friday sale. They could only have gotten this email address from my 10/2016 Square purchase. Perhaps there was fine print somewhere that said my charge allowed Square to sell my contact information to Amorino Theater District for commercial gain, but I’d never have allowed it if I’d known.

  • SpongeBob SQUARE pants

    Welp……As of 11/25/2016 Iike everyone else I’m going thru the same BS with Square. Unlike most reviews on here I don’t do large transaction over $500+ I first made a credit card transaction for a measly $75.00 Square wanted documents sunt via email I passed all verifications. Yesterday I swiped for $286.95 I received an email today saying my account has been deactivated due to “High risk”??? WTF Its like were suppose to make transactions for $100 or lower for your account to stay active SMH

  • Kerry

    Will not use this product ever again service is the worst I have ever seen. I got the same email like everyone else about my account being deactivated and they will be holding my $2400 for 90 days and they will not contact you or reverse the decision. It sounds like they will be holding all of the money for the next 90 days and collecting interest off of it. Plus I cant go back to my customers and tell them I need to rerun their card again. The whole thing smells fish to me.

  • The Youth Shop GA Property

    We have read this about your company, no merits on this decision at all, but it is okay. You received the documents and you know the transaction was legal and legitimate. Please Refund the clients money today! You guys should verify account before setting up account not after pending transactions. This will help both merchants and customers. This tenant maybe homeless because of how your company conduct business. We will make the necessary steps we need to help prevent this from occurring again to another merchant that decides to use your services.

    FYI. I spoke highly about your service to my friend at NCR the next competition she comes in contact with will mention my experience.

    From: Square Account Services ;

    Subject: Alert from Square, Inc: Important Information About Your Account
    Sent: Wed, Nov 23, 2016 6:19:16 PM

    Hello To my company
    We’re sorry to inform you that we are deactivating your account. Our Account Services team reviewed your account and found a pattern of transactions associated with high-risk activity.
    For further information about our policies, you can review section 36 of the Square Payment Terms.
    We regret that, starting today, you will no longer be able to process transactions using Square. Any funds currently in your account will be held for 90 days before being released to your linked bank account.
    If you’d prefer to receive funds more quickly, you should consider refunding the payments back to the original cards and seeking alternate forms of payment. (Please note that we will refund all the fees, too.)
    Refunds are available within 60 days of the original payment. To process a refund, log in to the Square dashboard.
    Use the date selector tool to locate the specific payment.
    Click the payment you’d like to refund, then click “Issue Refund”.
    Select the reason you’re refunding the payment, and click “Issue Refund.”
    If there is additional information about your transactions or your business that you would like us to take into consideration of an early funds release or a full reactivation of your account, please submit that information here. Our Account Services team will review your request and you should receive a response within 2 – 3 business days.
    Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
    Sincerely,

    Square Account Services

    © 2016 Square, Inc.
    This was done in middle of the pending transaction, documents where sent in, however this is the company business practices. PayPal will do your account verification prior to approval of the account,not during a.pending transaction. The cause hardship on both merchants and the customer and Square holds customer funds 90-120 days and longer in most cases without merit. No fraud activity whatsoever. Please take this as a warning for your business and your customers.

  • Brandon

    I would not recommend this service for new small businesses. There is no phone support and you must contact them through email. Their email response is vague and answers absolutely no questions on the issues at hand. I regret signing up with them.

  • Leila

    Wow where do I start? Horrible horrible customer service!!’ My advice to you is turn away, find a different route!!’ I went online and bought the Apple Pay , chip reader pack. I was super excited! So when I tried to register this and get it all set up it kept telling me we are unable to set up at this time try again later, so I did several times kept getting the same message, so I contact customer support well first of all it isn’t customer support it’s more like we don’t give a **** about you, telling me that because I had attempted to set my reader up to many times they are unable offer me their service! Then they said they couldn’t approve my application, well if I needed to be approved why didn’t they have me fill out the application before taking my money’ wow wow wow I am returning it before I even opened it all up! So disappointed!!! Wish I would have read all the reviews before I even did anything! Cause I would t have even ordered from them! So just know they don’t ever pay you on time there is no customer support!!! Bad bad bad bad bad service!!!!!!!

  • Kathi

    I decided to use Square Up at a small artisan show on Nov. 4th. I made two transactions which added up to a little over $600. I worked for 6 months to prepare for this show so that I would have Christmas money. They deactivated my account and are holding my money for 90 days! I’m unable to contact anybody, you can’t without an account. I feel as though I’ve been robbed.

    • Gail

      Square is an inadequate rip off company. Their service is ZERO- you can never get anyone on the phone as they make it impossible to contact anyone period! They send you robot emails that never explain anything clearly and they rob you of your $$$$ as they hold onto it for 90 days without telling you anything other than nothing! Of course they keep the percentage right uP front. I despise this company and their unrightful ways. Use PayPal or do it the old fashion way- accept checks- Postal Money Orders.

  • Vasil Vasilev

    DO NOT USE !!!
    After 3 years business with Square, suddenly last week i received the “deactivating account message, NO explanation”. We run legitimate Limo and Shuttle Services business in Orlando and i have some charge backs from time to time, but nothing excessive! DO not use these Crooks!! I gave them so much money over the years, never caused trouble! I was telling all my friends how good Square was and got knifed in the back!

  • Ken

    Unable to send invoices. Error message says “Payer’s email is invalid”, This comes up on every invoice I try and I verified the addresses plus one of them is a repeat customer with no change in the email. Sent an email to Square earlier today and the only response was an email saying they would respond.

    • The Youth Shop GA Property

      They do things without notice, during pending transactions with verification documents and it can be a hardship for your business and your customer. We and other merchants in metro area are taking their business practices to our senate and house representatives.

    • Kris

      You must be the only person on the face of this planet thanking square. This company is money holding company for interest period. Nice try do yourself a favor and watch for squares moles leaving good reviews.

  • Gage

    Absolutely THE WORST Customer Support. Terrible service provider. We have transactions that range between $5000 and $25,000 and we had funds held on the second transaction pending additional verification, which we provided. With no response from the verification team, I called Support THREE TIMES in one day from 10:30 AM – 3:30 PM PST with hold times up to 45 minutes per call. I finally got ahold of a human being on my third call only to have him not answer one of my questions, rudely and forcefully talk over me without listening, then hang up on me.

    SQUARE PROVIDED THE MOST HORRIFIC CUSTOMER SUPPORT…EVER!

    The reviewer has the perfect words to describe who best Square is for…”It appears that Square is best suited for individuals who have an occasional need to accept a credit card payment, such as babysitters and flea market vendors.” This is NOT THE CREDIT CARD PROCESSOR FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES OR SERVICE PROVIDERS. However, it appears it’s best for business owners selling coffee by the cup, baked goods, a mobile mechanic, or someone selling T-Shirts at a swap meet. Low dollar transactions (below $500) are king at Square.

    The provide NO escalated phone support. The support reps treat every phone call like the Wild West. If they feel like being rude or abusive towards assertive customers asking valid questions they can’t answer, they simply hang up in your face. There are no managers, no staff supervisors, NOBODY with any higher level management to escalate a call to.

    I will not be surprised when this company goes out of business. They seem to be on a fast train heading for the mountain. There are too many other credit card processors available for anybody to tolerate such disgusting service.

  • Cynthia

    I used Square for a bit back in 2011 with no issue but business closed. I recently opened another business and decided to go back with Square. After my first sale on the new account was taken, and I received an email that had me going
    through every hoop they demanded. Contractor licencing proof,3 bank statement,state tax id #,
    contracts with clients on & on. I get email next day (no deposit of funds) stating funds were seized to cover chargebacks from that old account. I was never was able to speak with anyone! After some research I found out and wasn’t aware there was fraudulent activity on the old account by an employee that switched information to their own (bank, email, etc). Our domain was deactivated when business closed so i never received any emails afterwards. Therefore I wasn’t given the opportunity to resolve or try to clear up old account; just another email stating new account deactivated due to suspicious activities. I assume since I was on hold for an hour and no one answered the account was being deactivated and reading here “deactivated accounts” don’t get support.

  • Tim Stell

    Have been on hold up to a half an hour to get a recording for call back, which has never come. They have held my funds for going on 2 weeks after I have submitted the information they have been asking for, only to find out that ,oops ? They need more information by emails , that they said were sent….. I haven’t received!

  • Mike Bagby

    The Square system is a great idea, the Square customer support (if there is any) sure leaves a lot to be desired. Their software quit working yesterday and I still haven’t been able to contact anyone about them getting it to work.

  • Micki Welsh

    SQUARE USERS BEWARE! I worked all day preparing for & catering an event. I used Square to charge my customer’s card. Later, I received an email from Square saying they had refunded my customer. After jumping through all the hoops to get a customer service rep, I was told that I had manually processed the refund. I could not convince him that I had not. Later, I charged myself $1 & refunded it just to learn the process. You have to manually input the refund amount & then enter a reason. So I called again & asked what reason had been entered. I was then told that there was indeed a problem because no reason had been entered. But shortly thereafter, I received another email stating that a reason had been entered after all. Obviously, Square has either had a security breach or a glitch & they are refusing to acknowledge it. To date, I have not received my funds for all my hard work.

  • Pim

    Hi there,

    I am writing this review from Canada since I also have the same problem as you guys here. Square have been held my $10K for more than 6 months after they deactivated my account. I try to search for anyone who have ever get money back but seems hopeless until I found this news “Complaints mount against credit card processor Square”
    please search in youtube or copy and paste the link as below:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYgMx2AkqtM

    Is there anyone follow up or any result of this news?

    God bless us!!

  • dave

    My retail store switch to square a year ago. It’s been the best thing we ever did. I have been reading all the complaints and wonder what company your dealing with, the ease of completing sales and the ability to instant deposit the funds in my account is priceless. We also deal with square capital and presently working on paying off our third agreement. Square is a top notch company. I rate them 5 stars– end of story.

  • Nick Kostovic

    To Square;

    To Whom it may concern,

    You are stealing the people money and their identity.
    I supply you with all information, even with my clients phones, and their banks which approved funds.
    You are asking me which way I get my clients, and it has nothing with payments.
    It is just proof you are part of Organized Crime, and I report you to FBI, Los Angeles Police and BBB.
    I found on Internet you cheated your clients and kept money, tents of thousands of dollars for months from your different clients.
    All of my clients dispute payments and it was $15,000, because of your stealing the money and information.

    CURSE ON YOU,MACUMBU ON YOU

    Nick Kostovic

  • Tonya

    I did business with square for a little over a year. Then I started having issues some issues with “charge backs”. I was told that for my business it would be better to do an invoice and allow the customer(s) to pay their own invoices instead of keying in the card information (not in person). I did as I was instructed. For a while (6 months), it worked fine. Supposedly, a client waited 36 days to decide that they didn’t make the purchase. I tried contacting the customer to see if there was a problem. The customer would not respond to my emails. Square deducted the money and stated that I needed to provide information/documents regarding the purchase. I did exactly as I requested. First they told me the case had been decided in my favor (based on the information I provided). Then a week before they were to release the funds back to me, I received an email stating the customer had re-contested the funds. The bank decided in the customers favor and square locked down my account. I can’t get to any of the information. I’m out $1,085.00. You are gambling with the funds if you trust square to honor you as a business owner.

  • Greg

    Square wil rip you off. Held $1725.00 received from one of my customers for weeks and it still hasn’t been put in my account or refunded to the customer so they can pay me a different way. They won’t respond to inquires my email or take calls. Its impossible to get any help. Horrible company and customer service is a joke.

  • Paul badeau

    I would never recommend square to anyone. They took my customers credit card payment immediately . 8 days later I was trying to find “a person” to speak to and all I could get was a recording telling me to go on website and get customer code. I could not get the customer code because they deactivated my account for no apparent reason. I finally got someone to call me after many emails left asking where was my money (4000.00 mind you). After being asked several questions I was told I was all set and the funds would be in my account within 1-2 days. I received an email stating they deactivated my account and the funds would be in my account within 1-2 days. 3 days later still no $. I again tried frantically to reach someone and could not because the account was still deactivated and not deactivated as I was told by their customer service rep as well as the email. It has now been 11 days still no money ( however it was taken from my customers card 11days earlier). I finally revived a response to my , again, several emails asking where my funds were. They stated they could not process it because I for some reason am on a “red flag” list. For what , I have no idea!! They said I could wait 180 days for my money or refund the money to my customer. OFCOURSE I refunded the customer immediatley! What a horror show that company is. BAD BUSINESS and no customer service!!!! BEWARE!!!

    • jack

      my God I am just reading all these reviews and just come to see I have just took a ladies credit card for my first sale using a card and I am not going to get my money and neither is she… This is the first time to use Square and they send a long list of thing they need to verify my acct. After is sent all the stuff to them and waiting on hold for hours I was told all is well and the money will be sent to me the next day.. not only did I not get the money they said I was deactivated and can not say why and have to wait 6 months for the money.. that is $6450.00 I cant even refund because there is no button to do it….. What can I do????

      • Gail

        That is a major lawsuit waiting to happen. Contact a Lawyer or look to see if there is a Civil Law Suit filed then jump in.
        I do not trust this Company as far as you could throw them- they are crooks!

  • Has

    Received a text saying Welcome to SMS messages from Square – Reply ……..
    View your receipt from The Fix Solutions:
    Tap to load preview

    Never heard of them. Don’t have an account. And I’m darn sure not going to tap on their link! I see that apparently this is another sleazy scam method they have added to their arsenal. Watch out.

  • Dani

    In Florence,AL. I bought something from 256-718-7999. She was using Square. First she said …no receipt, than she said ok with a phone nr.
    Gave it, received a link …
    Now I dare not go pick up my receipt as my security tells me square’s site is improperly set up & would allow my info to be hacked. ???
    What is this ???? not having security in there ?????? I deeply regret having accepted to go through square. Bad juju !

  • Patricia S

    Beware do NOT use Square in offline mode. It is no better than writing the credit card info down on a piece of paper and hoping it goes thru when you can actually process it. I’m a vendor at craft fairs. I use square registar. I had great cell service because I was checking the current weather reports on multiple sites with no problems. Square would not connect online and told me to use there offline mode. I did, I checked for proper current valid ID. I had a $255 credit card charge. Square approved the charged and I had the customer sign squares capture screen and got the usual thank you screen. Big mistake on my part that I did not write down any customer info. My sales are one time things I don’t ever expect to see or sell to theses people again. IAcccording to Squares directions it says that as soon as I’m connected to the Internet it will run theses charges. I take the risk that these charges could be declined till I’m online. Less than 8 hours later I was definitely connected to the Internet I was at my home with dependable service. I checked my emails , sent emails, etc etc. I assumed Square was processing my credit card charges but NO they did not process these charges until some 7 hours later. Which is when this one Charge was declined. I feel that had this been done when I was first online then maybe this card would not have been declined. It took me three days to finally talk to someone at Square. The person was no help, would not let me speak to a supervisor. Would not give be any info about this charge, told me she felt it would have been declined no matter what time it was processed, but would not tell me why she felt that, would not try to resolve this with the person , or bank , would not run the charge again either.. Would not help in any way at all. Whe did offer to give me free processing fees for the next $1000 charges which amounts to $25 . So they are admitting that they were in the wrong. She would not check to see if their service was down it that area at those times. It was working at the library across the parking lot. Only Square was not working.
    So I’m out $255 which is a huge sum to us.
    Does anyone know if it is legal for me to take photos of people’s ID’s so I have this info to contact them if there is a problem and so I can run the charge again if needed. Of course I would delete the photos as soon as the charge cleared. I’m opened for suggestions . What company can I use ? Help

  • V Reddy

    One of the worst company ever. It looks like I have lost my money with Square. This company is not releasing my own money after providing them with all legal documents. I called them today and I was told that they will release money today but nothing happened. Scam!! Stay away sole traders

  • Pedro Moreau

    Soy un usuario de SQUARE y esto es una publicidad engañosa, me registre y seguí todos los pasos que ellos exigen, sin embargo después de hacer cobros por tarjetas que suman $6387.84 estos señores nos tienen estos fondos represados por mas de 3 semanas dañando el funcionamiento regular de nuestra empresa de servicios WETTER TOURS LLC. No USES ESTOS SERVICIOS ENGAñOSOS por favor. He tratado de llamar para resolver el problema y si revisas por internet verás que es imposible comunicarte con un representante, son una compañía sin seriedad y se quedan con tu dinero. CUIDADO con usar este servicio.

  • Alma

    My husband realized he was swiping his clients cards using square but all funding are pending. I went to BBB to see what they are about… WOW!!! To my dismay I read at least 15 reviews and all of them were talking about money withheld by square. THIS IS A SCAM!!! He only lost $78 which is a blessing when you look at the merchants who lost thousands. My heart dropped everytime I read a review indicating their trust in this company with information about their bank accounts and that of their clients. WARNING- You may want to randomly check your bank account for any unwarranted activity. If they are willing to steal from us blatantly in our face then how much more will they do behind our backs.

  • Tariq Zee

    I have been using Square up for more than 6 months for my retail furniture business. First of all they have the work customer service, I had to call them twice both times the representative was horribly rude.

    The biggest reason I hate Square up and I am going to quit using them is; NO REFUND AFTER 60 DAYS. So if you issue the refund via check you obviously loose the fees charged by Square which is unfair.

  • Terri Freeman

    Do not use this company if you have half a brain. Square has one of the worst web sites I have ever seen. It is anything but user friendly. You can’t find anything you want and trying to get a customer service phone number is totally out of the question. All I want to do is bill one of my customers by inputting their card number manually and I have now spent over 45 minutes trying to find the link to do that. I have tried signing in several times to see if I could get to the page I need but NO all I get is useless reports, and a bunch of junk. This is RIDICULOUS!!! I am going to find another company that does this but has a clue when it comes to designing a web site. This place SUCKS!!!

    • Leigh Myer

      Hey Terri, how funny to see you on here. Someone used my credit card who l trusted and took out alot of money. l have tried for three days to get a hold of Squareup and can’t get any one to speak to. My credit card company has tried and sent a letter to dispute the charges. Still nothing. Now l have a 1300 bill on my account. I can’t believe square didn’t send me “the card holder” a confirmation number at the time . l could have denied the charge then. Now two months later and l still haven’t got it resolved.

  • jeffrey phillips

    Square put a hold on a large payment from a customer and gave me no reason why. I will do everything in my power to prove that this company is holding money illegally to draw interest. I have contacted my attorney who has contacted the federal Bureau of Consumer Protection | Federal Trade Commission. I would not do business with these scam artist.

  • Piss Off

    Wow, I have read some reviews that was just posted within the last 72 hours and to my surprise, I am having the SAME issue. My account was DEACTIVATED yesterday for some unknown “security” reason after having a transaction done under $900.

    Is SQUARE serious. They shut you off without any explanation at all and keep you from calling THEM! How professional of them.

    I don’t understand what was ‘RISKY’ when its on file that an invoice was sent and paid by the customer on their on server entering their own information.

    For SQUARE to not want to explain themselves is a huge red flag for me.

    I DO NOT RECCOMMEND SQUARE TO ANYONE !!!!

  • Robert Faulkner

    I signed up with square the let me collect fees and when I tried to collect from them they closed my account and kept the money 3700 dollars don’t trust them they will steal your money and try to call them impossible

  • Michael Litt

    Decent basic system, however soon after purchase most support all but disappeared.

    Loyalty program that was promised as part of sales pitch ended up being dismal, restrictive and unuseable; after working with them over a year on it they finally added originally promised functionality and offered for an ADDED COST. Bait and switch.

    After implementation our rate almost immediately increased by .35%, as original was ‘oops an error’/. AFTER we purchased and implemented 3 systems. Horrible bait and switch. Stay away.

    Nervous Dog Coffee Bar
    Michael Litt, owner

  • Kate

    Do not buy this product if you are not a business owner! Square Up will not provide services to unincorporated associations and trusts (like community groups & charities). They do not state this anywhere on their website and you’ll only be told after you’ve bought the product and try to use it. When I sought assistance from their telephone helpdesk, I was put on hold and then they were unhelpful. I would not trust this misleading company.

  • josh fay

    I am extremely dissatisfied with Square. I have been using this service for about a year now and even though their rates are extremely high, the service allows me to take payments on the move. However, I put a payment of almost $3,000 through yesterday, and they are holding my funds for 1 – 2 business days to verify the security of my account. On top of the hefty fee, they reserve the right to hold any amount of funds at any time and do. When calling I spoke with a rep by the name of Todd and he refused to transfer me to his supervisor, tell me his last name, offer a phone number of someone that could help. So, my funds are held and there are zero representatives that I can reach to release my funds. I will be switching service providers.

  • Monica Drake

    Terrible. As soon as I linked it to my bank account, I received a message that my account was deactivated, the decision was final and that due to privacy concerns I could not know why. In short, they still have the $$ I’m owed for having sold a few things using square, but the account is cut off for secret reasons and there’s no discussion to be had. This information came in on a Friday night, shortly before their offices closed for the night. Now I have no way to manage product sales, and no way to access money from previous sales using Square, and I’m left wondering what is wrong with my account and if something has been hacked. I so regret ever using Square at all. My advice would be to avoid this company.

  • Jolan Stoltz

    Square will not send over deposits sitting in my “pending” to my account, now 7 days after each of the Square Generated Invoices were paid for BY the customers – on their own accord.
    Square will not call or assist to have the funds transferred to the bank account on file.
    And now, after my repeated emails to have someone contact me on this… They have DEACTIVATED MY ACCOUNT because of risky activity???? 3 invoices generated and paid for by clients??? How is that risky? They are not answering my emails – no calls – no contact.
    I’m helpless at this point, and the money is in their account that I can not access.
    Don’t even get me started on what is happening in my account awaiting the funds!!!!

    Is there somewhere else I can contact that anyone knows in the Square World????

    • Kimberly

      Jolane,
      Unfortunately, I have been trying to get back thousands of dollars from them since 2013. Nothing! I have been in contact with pretty much everyone, even opened an file with the FTC, but heard nothing. Contacted both the Ohio Attorney General and the California Attorney General, nothing. But Ohio Attorney General did accept complaints against my company at the time. Long story short, I had to close my business of 22 years. I get on here every once in a while to see if anything new has come up about how to get money back, but I see they are still up to the same old tricks. The emails that they send you after they deactive your account is down right crazy. Never let you have a phone number and never give you there last name. They told me at one time, “give us your phone number and an exact time to call and we will.” so I thought ya know, it’s been over 6 months I’m going to have some fun. I emailed them back to call (123) 456-7890 at 5:30pm – about 5:45 I received another email saying they tried to call that number but it wouldn’t work. Right then, I knew I was in trouble…who in the world would think that was an actual telephone number? Good Luck

  • Stephan

    Why is this info not being reported to the Attorney General. What is really frightening to me as I just paid off a loan from square where I was not aware of or they did not have the minimum 8% of balance must be paid within a 60 day period and full loan amount must be paid within 18 months. I do into think that clause was in my first alone or I was un aware of it and luckily paid it without a problem but being a Artist who has dry spells and then large sales it could of been a real problem. NOW add in this phenom of Square “Seizing” large credit card sale at their discretion. THIS is the real nightmare scenario. I am still after getting a new loan from them yesterday still unaware of what happens if I fail to make the 60 day or 18 month cut? that is the real issue for me. So much for the easy laid back, not have to think about or worry loan payment system. Square had restored my faith in lending up until yesterday and now it has set a new standard for un thinkable Loan terms. (Cue soundtrack to Jaws”. Actually it is sad and heartbreaking to see what is happening to people in this country when it comes to lending.

  • Jason

    Crooked company, did a lot of smaller transactions with them and it was fine. Then had a couple of large ones, then suddenly they froze/deactivated my account with $2600 in their bank account. Their last email says minimum 90 days up to 180 days(or longer they choose).

  • Chris Garza

    Let me start by saying I went with square because of a past experience with them. I ran a service dept and never had a single issue with square. I’ve just started my own small HVAC/R company and decided I would use them due to previous use. For the first 2 months everything has been great. Then they showed their true colors. The majority of my customer base are property owners that have rentals here in N.C. but do not live in the state. One of these customers I have been trying to get owns 1200 rentals here but lives in AZ. I finally got a call from here to service one of her properties. Needless to say after having 4 hvac companies charge her almost $1300 and still not fix the issue, she was ecstatic when I fixed in less than an hour at $425. So I charge her through square and after 2 days payment still said *Pending*. I contacted square so I could send this customer a paid invoice. Their answer was “It’s an issue with Mastercard not us” and “I Gaurentee the money is I your account by tomorrow afternoon”. OK no problem, I contact the customer and Gaurentee her invoice by the next afternoon. This was a Thursday, Friday morning I receive an email from square saying they need to verify my account. I fill out the information and explain to them how important this customer could be for my small company. They tell me “everything looks good, you will receive your money by tonight, but no later than Monday”. I again make the mistake of telling my customer the same thing. Well Monday came and went with no response from square. Meanwhile my customer calls Tuesday morning asking where her invoice is. I call square at 10 a.m. eastern time, they return my call at 3:30 p.m. and tell me “we just sent your info to the review dept you should have your money by tomorrow afternoon!!!!!! I get frustrated and tell them I am going to refund my customer and close my account. The guy from square catches an attitude with me and say “ok, I’ll send you the process to refund and close your account, bye” and hangs up on me!!!! What kind of customer service is this?? I think they forgot they work for me not the other way around!!! Their big mess up is next week I start my fall maintenence inspections. This is 3600 properties at $165 each, meaning they just lost out on $60,000 worth of processing fees they would’ve made because of a $425 charge!!!! I’m sure that’s not much to a large company but I’m not the only one they’ve treated like this I’m sure. By the way their whole reason for the review is because it was an out of state card. I fully understand and accept that. All they had to do was ask why and I would’ve explained because she owns the rental home and lives in another state. This is not uncommon here in America. Instead they turned it into a long drawn out process that just lost them a customer, along with everyone I know that uses square. I will be turning them onto another card reading service that only charges 2%. I’m not going to state the name of the other service so it doesn’t look like I work for them lol. Anyway, if you are a small company and need your funds in a timely manner, DO NOT USE SQUARE.

  • Jesse Smith

    We’re a real estate location providing horse stalls for use during a show in Florida. The stalls are expensive, the people pay on no refund and no deposit refund contracts, and everyone makes their payment on 10/1 and 12/1. Its a simple business model.

    I just accepted 50k worth of payments through Square. All of the money is on hold. Apparently to get it released, Square would like me to give them the last three bank statements of everyone I have paid money to on my last three bank statements.

    I’m not entirely sure how to do this, but I am 100% sure that everyone working for this company is a complete idiot. Do yourself a favor, pay your bank the annual fee for credit card processing. Maybe this is a great system for someone who sells candles at the farmers market on the weekend, but if you’re trying to operate a real business with actual revenue, this is not for you.

  • juanrico fuqua

    My name is Juan Fuqua I shared the same experiences that you have shared Square took $1,500 from my account and then they sent me a email saying that my account was deactivated and I wouldn’t get any money back for a. Of 90 days this is ridiculous there’s got to be some way that we can get this money back from Square my suggestion to you is to go to your local Prosecutors office and large a criminal complaint against square and then you may be able to get us to thank you so much for reading my message and have a God blessed day

  • Chad

    It took over two weeks to get paid for my first transaction. I answered every question and submitted every document imaginable and now in trying to get paid for a second transaction they’re holding my money again and asking all the same questions.. I was on hold for 40 minutes before a recording came on and said they’d call me back. That was 30 minutes ago. They are incompetent, inconsiderate and probably purposely holding people’s money for their benefit. I will never use them again and if they ever call back I’ll let them know it

  • A & A PAINTING CO LLC.

    I charged an existing customer a transation for
    $3,935.00 , it took several days for me to find out why
    my money has not been deposited in to my account .
    After sending a email to square they email me back saying that I had to verify my account . I tried to speak
    to someone it is very dificult I have questions about the
    verify account issues ” it has been over a week and I
    still don’t have my money ! I am considering going to another company .

  • Charles Lipsey

    WORST company I’ve ever dealt with trying to get to customer service. I was on hold for 3 1/2 hours finally hit option 1 to receive a call back. Another hour went by with no call. I and my partner used 3 lines to call again. finally got a call at 9;30 p.m. while i was finally home and in the shower and missed the call.This is a recurring experience hence the need to post this review.

  • Shay

    These people are absolutely criminals. They withhold your money whenever they feel like it trying to contact anyone to resolve anything is not going to happen.I would never recommend anyone using them and I don’t even know how they’re still in business.

  • Bluelime GraFX

    I pre ordered the chip reader that bluetooths to your devices. I go to use it for the first time after finally receiving it moths ago just to find out that it doesn’t connect to my phone. How can a bluetooth device that runs their register app not be compatible with their hardware? It is BLUETOOTH for God’s sake!! I call them up pissed of making me look like a fool to my client when it doesn’t work. Just for the new age hippy way of patronizing a person that has every right to be upset. It isn’t like I am throwing a tantrum because I didn’t get a gummy bear snack in my lunch box. This is a BUSINESS and loss of money we are talking about folks. Do not patronize me or others when you have a crappy business that causes us to lose money and clients.

    The lady said sorry over and over and over…..number ONE mistake in my eyes!

    She offered me a puny 100 dollars of free transactions for my trouble…..number TWO mistake.

    She said she would see if their plug in device would be compatible with my phone……I gave her the make and model and sure enough was untested…….number THREE mistake

    I told her that I would no longer do business through Square, because when a company pisses me off this bad and makes me lose business then they lose my business in return. She got me my info for the return of the product so I can get refunded the 49 dollars I spent….MINUS the shipping and hassles…….number FOUR mistake.

    I also got an email about getting 100 dollars of free transactions or 180 days which ever comes first. As often as I need to use it I would end up getting nothing in return……number FIVE mistake.

    I have been very insulted. They have tried to pull the fast corporate smooth over a pissed off customer by offering a very tiny offer like I am some child that is a sucker. This to me proves that corporations charge for the value they think they are, but downgrade the consumer with measly offers to say sorry for wasting the consumers valuable time, money, emotions, and well being.

    YES Square I do not fall for that slide of hand trick. I cut ties and say good riddance to the corporation that swindles me out of my value! If I did it to wal-mart 25 years ago. I will do it to you. Never again will I do business with you or any subsidiary company you may own.

  • jacquie

    Square has horrible customer service. I entered my information wrong one too many times, when i tried to go back and fix it the website would not let me. I emailed them for help and this is the response i got.

    ”Hi,

    I apologize for the delayed response — thanks for your patience.

    Unfortunately we can’t approve your application to accept credit cards with Square. We wish we could provide you with another chance to apply, but we’re unable to do so since Square can only provide a set number of application attempts.

    While we’d love for you to process payments with Square, this isn’t possible.

    We wish you the best of luck with your business.”

  • Shawn Schwartz

    We are a non-profit mental health services organization that did minimal business with Square (<$1000) per month. However, for some of our clients, this is their preferred payment method. I received a "account deactivated notice" and upon querying the poor client service folks, they said "we cannot disclose the details".
    While they can "legally" terminate without cause, apparently they don't care about the black eye.

  • James Lucas

    I have had a tough week. Bought a dud car maybe lose about 4 k when I re-tade it back on one that’s worth it.
    A month ago I went to the bank for a Eftpos machine. It used to cost $40 a month now they wanted $80 a month. ++ if you go over 6 k trans a month. Rip off, Square sounded great compared to that. Just sorry never read the reviews. (slow learner) they also never say in the beginning how much info they need for you to verify yourself either after you sign up.
    Then yesterday I get a email that I need to verify my account and a customer who paid $2,600 into my my account via square. They are holding her funds back for the second time. 3 weeks ago this same customer paid me $4,500 had the same problem then except they tried to tell me it was a fraudulent transaction from Canada (were in Melb Australia) Aust bank and card.??? and this is a long term customer I have known for several years. At the same time another customer paid me about $1,700 hers was rolled into the same fraud. After many talks and getting info to them about these customers names add etc me supplying invoices (why) they after a week paid me many days later than they promised. So now same customer with the Canada fraudulent card. paid again and they want the same info back again. for someone they cleared 3 weeks ago. Tried today to clear up but it had to go to credit department With no return call coming from there. After reading these reviews for the first time. (Bloody idiot that I am) Once I can tolerate a mistake like that, but twice and to the same person again. Never she was humiliated having to identify herself and her credit details once to them, do I have to do this again. My customers are valuable assets to me. And Square is F—–ing them around and me as well. The penny has dropped reading these reviews. These sharks lend money to their clients for a healthy profit. Guess who,s funding the capital. Its all the customers that have have a $1,000 or two or more tied up in a 90 to a 365 day or more in transaction disputes. Or they are making money like the banks with electronic transfers, holding the money for 3 days on the short term money market laundering. But Banks cant hold disputed funds they have to pay the recipient then sort out the problem. But not Square. watch out they are un contactable. don’t return phone calls or Emails, when they have your money. Unable to sort a problems but create them. Melb credit card in Canada give me a break. Where does that bull—t come from. Watch out. I’m getting out I think they may only be good for a coffee shop or anything under a hundred. But after reading these reviews they will get your money one day and keep it for a year or so. The ACCC will be hearing from me about Square. Back to the Bank for me they cost,but are predictable and reliable. and assume responsibility for what they do. I will hazard a guess this this is a low capital tech company. clawing there way up to being a wanna be bank with their customers illegally held funds. “WATCH OUT” !!!

  • Christy Hendricks

    Wow! Square (which I have used for YEARS in my business) just sent me a very disturbing notification. I read reviews on the product just now and they are not good. I have thousands of dollars they need to transfer to my account that they are holding. Any suggestions (oh, BTW they only have automated responses and even FB is automated). No Customer Service. Here’s their notice: Hello Christy,
    Thanks for following up. We understand that this can be a frustrating experience.
    Unfortunately, our decision to deactivate your account is final. Due to the obligations of our agreements with card networks and other financial institutions, we cannot reverse this decision and are unable to provide additional details.
    For further information about our policies, you can review the Square Terms of Service on our website

  • Antainette

    This would be my 3rd year doing business with square I run a online virgin hair boutique My busy season is Sept-April every year. Everything seemed fine at first I processed more than 54,000 with square during 2014-2015 I took a small break from processing April-Aug 2016 I called into square and asked was my account still okay to process on. I was assured 100% your account is fine no need to worry the representative went over every inch of my account with me and said your account is perfectly ok. I asked would I have to go back through reverification of my business the representative said no. I said alright so I sent out my email blast & social media blast letting my clients know I was back taking orders. I ran my signature special of $50.00 bundles Sept 7- Sept 11 and bam………… September 11th I get a verification notice in my email I was upset because I had been doing business with them for years now. I had only taken in 1,000 from my customers at this time. I called customer service on Monday September 12,2016 and got the usual run around crap not to mention I was on hold for 2 and a half hours. I finally did the call back. They lady that called me back was very rude I asked when could I resume normal business she said they should email you today or tomorrow when your money should be deposited after reading all the reviews here I am less than hopeful about my account. I have a feeling im going to have to refund my clients money and look for another processing service since square has become so bad they are losing good business owners

  • Jeanne

    We rent cabins in a beautiful mountain area of Oregon and have been in business over 11 years. Two transactions were deposited to our account, great, right? Then I made several more deposits and immediately I am asked to send info on our business which I did. Two days later I get the famous email, “account deactivated, money held for 90 days, risky transactions.” Since you have been deactivated you will find there is no way to talk to Square, the phone number given is only for “active accounts” After ready the reviews I fear we will never see the money they are holding for 90 days. This puts small business owners in a difficult financial position.This is a scam and the owners should be in jail. Send a report to the Better Business Bureau, get that A+ rating down where it should be.

  • Linda

    So I spent money and about 3 hours trying to connect my bank account to Square before one of our fundraisers. After all this..and telling me about a secret routing number from the bank they needed (and the bank didn’t know anything about a secondary routing number)–they decided we couldn’t connect the bank account. Their advice was to go to another bank! What a bunch of crap. They should warn people that they can’t connect to all institutions straight up. But it looks like straight-up is not in their list of virtues judging by some of these reviews.

  • Dee

    I’ve used Square for a few years now and it seems their quality of service has hit the skids. I’ve just experienced what has been described in the forum here, ‘security holds’ on almost $12k of funds for no apparent reason. When I called I got the run around from four different people as to what was happening and when the funds would be released. One gent even went so far as to say I didn’t have to use Square if I didn’t like their policies – not a problem there Chief!
    Having owned several small businesses of my own and working for one now, I can safely say that I would not get away with providing this level of poor service to my customers – I wouldn’t have any customers left. At this rate they’re not going to either unless they make some dramatic changes.

    • Mark

      I have been using Paypal and Square together on my Weebly site. They have my funds on hold now after using their services for three years. They promise two-day turnaround that was eight days ago and promises I will get an email Reading the other reviews looks like this is not a good company to deal with. I will be going with Paypal 100%.

      Does not feel like an honest co.

  • desiree gato

    I have had it with this company. Their customer service is pitiful. I go online to get a “ticket” which is required when you call, and it doesn’t load. it’s just a blank page. I have had multiple instances where whoever I send money to does not receive it, and when i get a return, it takes multiple days to go back into my account. I am fed up with square and I am done using it. After I get my refund, i will be deleting the app and so will the rest of my family.

  • David Paolo

    I would NOT recommend Square to ANY business. We received an offer to add Square as a payment option for our clients, we had been using and continue to use the payment Gateway from Freshbooks. After putting a few transaction through Square with one client Square put a hold on our funds to “verify” the transactions. After answering many question and uploading and email several files Square closed our account, KEPT OUR MONEY and said it would not be available for 90 days. We are a company that does business and provides service with Fortune 500 company’s for which we provided AMPLE documentation. We are an approved member of the Ariba Vendor management portal which is used by our Fortune 500 clients. I WOULD suggest if you are a small business DO NOT USE Square.

  • Bad Customer Service

    Good product but the customer service and tech support definitely need improvement.They have all these young inexperienced support staff that are definitely not qualified to resolve complex tech issues.

    These youngsters are rude and lack customer service skills. We all have bad days but from my experience, rude service is fairly consistent at Square Services.

    I have had a few technical issues with my Square account. Speaking with their tech support yielded the same result. My issues is not resolved.

    Their response… “We have done all that we can. Sorry.”.

    They do not follow up.Repeated phone calls and emails were just completely ignored.

  • Mrs Goldston

    I have been using the cash app for two years free of charge, them all of a sudden in July of 2016 it began charging me 2.75% for every transaction sent or received. Because there is no direct customer service number I emailed customer support about the issue, however it took days before heading back. And when I finally did hear back it was generic response. Because the issue has not been resolved, I had to send ANOTHER complaint email and wait for who knows how long for a response.

  • TAMMY SCHNURR

    They deactivativated my account without notifying me until i contacted them after a week or so wondering where my $1300.00 deposit went to. They said i would have to wait 90 days due to deactivation for patterns. They would not answer customer service and it took 6 times before i got a call back from them. They finally reviewed my account and decided to deactivate it.

  • Charles Baca

    SquareScam is the WORST Website for transaction in the HISTORY of the internet. I Sold some stuff back in April of 2016 and i have yet STILL to receive my money and its September 1st 2016. I Sold a digital asset back in April and because i did ten transactions of 1000 dollars in less than a day they said i was fraudulent and they where gonna hold my funds for 90 days! i said ok thats fine august 1st rolled around and i still didn’t have my money i have been contacting them all month to help and im getting 0 responses and they still have 700.00 of my dollars HOSTAGE! Im writing a review here and on every website that allows me to, im also reporting them to the BBB. AVOID SQAUREUP AKA SQUARESCAM AT ALL COSTS!!!!

  • kevin hart

    I started to use square a week ago. I am HVAC contractor. The first transaction was 1700 and the day after I received a email asking for copy of the contract and my license which I sent them on Friday found out this a week later that they were deactivated my account and gave me one hour to refound the customer. Their email stated that my company is high risk. My company is 25 years in business. I recommend not to even consider a square account as they are a complete ripoff.

  • Michael F

    I used to think Square was the best. After processing over $500,000.00 over a three year period with no charge backs, I had grown accustomed to them. They offered me Capital Advances form time to time and I was really excited about the next day deposits. All this changed last Monday (8-15-2016). For no reason I got an email from Square stating they needed to verify my business. Moreover, they would suspend all deposits until this business was verified. Thats funny I thought, we have done business ofr three years and have spoken many times on the phone. Be it as it may, I sent in what they asked, fully expecting a thank you and your all set. No response. Two day later, they re-requested the information, I tried to call them, no response. No way to contact them by phone, no response to my emails. Immediately changed processors because I can not and will not do business with a company that can not take a call. Beware of them! This is not the first time this happened to good merchants like myself. They ended up deactivating my account, which was fine by me because I already moved on. Square = F- to me. Really disappointed.

  • D Hirsch

    I had dinner at a restaurant that uses Square Up and will no longer do business with them because Square Up shared my email address with them. I did not provide an email address when I bought my dinner and paid with my card. The next day I had an email from the restaurant asking me how I liked it – I didn’t because I did not share my address with them – Square Up did. I have been spreading this to my friends and warning them about using a credit card to pay for dinner at any establishment that uses Square Up to process payments – I did not give them permission to contact me this way and feel it is a breach of the anti-spam laws.

    • Susan

      So what program do you guys suggest? What is the next apps for small businesses that accepts all forms of payment with no hassle? If your paying with a credit card, any program, any swipe, any computer transaction, HAS YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH YOUR PERMISSION GRANTED AT PAYMENT and does not need permission to send a emailed receipt or survey. Your lucky that is all the information, which is sent to only you from square or ANY FORM OF ELECTRONIC PAYMENT.

  • Kacie

    Square is only good if you want them to hold your money for 6 months. They will hold deposits then say they want to do an initial review of your account after you email several times about not receiving your deposits. They will then close your account without notice and say it’s in their policy to be able to do so. They then give you the option of refunding your client and taking payment again, even if services were already rendered and it was after 60 days. They will then hold your money for another 90 days. They are a fraudulent company and I highly recommend everyone stay away from them.

  • LMAulgur

    SQUARE WILL NOT STAND BEHIND THEIR SYSTEM ERRORS.
    Do your research before you sign up with square FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS
    1. You cannot find a customer service phone number in a timely manor
    2. I was processing a transaction that had doubled because of square when SQUARE ISSUED a refund to the previous customer.
    3. Square would not stand behind this system error.
    4. After 5 hours on the phone with them they refused to reverse their error and I am out $80.15
    BE AWARE

  • Lifewurx

    Stay away from this company. Read how square destroys small business accounts with no recourse. They did this to a company of disabled military veterans. We needed online invoicing for our small shop. Square let us set up, took money from a client on one transaction using American Express card then square demanded we provide supporting documentation for our business existence. We provided Federal EIN, copies of the invoice for the transaction and informed square we were small… And only had a web contact page as we were still building site. Square demanded the same documents TWICE from us. When we complained about that and refused to be extorted into taking out a company advertisement we do not need or want, the Square rep seized our money, closed our account and denied us the ability to even talk with anyone. We were toled the reason was “a pattern of risky transactions” how is ONE TRANSACTION … A PATTERN??? I used my personal account to get a phone code and was threatened by Square rep and led to believe that if I made another issue out of business account being closed, my personal one could be affected as well. SHAME, SHAME SHAME! If you have any connection to the military, close your accounts and take your business elsewhere. These people are the worst kind of crooks. Do a google search of this wretched company to learn for yourself the small businesses that have been destroyed without recourse or review by these people. Ask yourself if your business could survive having all your money stollen right now, your entire POS taken and you left with nothing and no appeal. That is Square folks… The cold hard truth. Check out their BBB NEGATIVE reviews and ripoff report. Eye opening. Glad we did not go all in with them.

  • Darius

    Hello people and businesses. Square is becoming a thieve big time. Square is holding merchants funds without any detailed explanation, they stating that account is under review for a weeks. This is most likely a big scam I ve ever seen. I had couple invoices paid by my customers and square placed on hold those funds for unknown time period, they lie over the phone that your funds will be released by end of the day. It never happened. I m very confident that square is steeling money and. This is big scale scam. BE AWARE!!!
    I m going to file a law suite against SQUARE SCAM!!!

  • LATISHA MCDOUGALL

    Square, Inc. makes no effort to resolve issues when its service fails. I have contacted square via email, Facebook, and Twitter, seeking to find out where my refund was and Square, Inc went so far as to block me from communicating with it through social media. Square lost my refund and I am asking it to help me trace where it put my money, but instead of assisting me, its blocking. Square block me from contacting it on Twitter and Facebook. Square has effectively stolen my money. Square, Inc. makes it almost impossible to speak with a live person and takes days before responding to your email and when Square finally responds to your email, it provides no answers.

  • Rita Goode

    I processed three invoices through quare for one customer with three properties, Each had to be invoiced separately and processed separately for each business my customer owns. Square allowed the processing, one being over $13k, and the other two were around $500. FIVE DAYS LATER, Square said they “permanently deactivated” my account and that I needed to refund my customer or they would hold the money for 90 days before depositing into my account. With N EXPLANATION, mind you. They just did it! Luckily this is for my mother-in-laws businesses, otherwise, I may have lost a customer over this nonsense, when I tell them “Square is great and we would have no problems processing her invoices through Sqaure. Well, this has soured me off of Square “permanently” and I would suggest no business with transaction over $50 use this service. They should have kicked back the charge at processing if there was going to be a problem.
    This is SQUARE’s fault, not mine. the transaction was completely legitimate and LEGAL!

  • Chris

    Do not use this company they are a joke they hold your money for 90 days even if you win a dispute you are putting your buisness in jeopardy if you do choose to you will regret it the are incompatance unprofessional read your paperwork because there is a lot of hidden scams in the contract if you ever listen to any review listen to this one

  • Robert Roberts

    i bought a square devise and attached to my phone and i was having problems entering my routing number, so i tried to call them and speak to a human being, it was impossible, There system is not designed to speak with a customer service, I wanted to know where my financial info went to, since it was not processed, who got my info, and what do they do with info thats not processed, since you are asking for personal info, dont like it at all.

  • Karen Simmering

    I used to love Square because of its ease of use. When we heard they had a cash advance program for merchants, we decided to use it (despite the high fee) and we were delighted with how easy and stress-free it was to pay back.
    When we were within a couple weeks of paying off the balance, we got an email inviting us to get another (higher) advance. We were thrilled, and planned to use the money to increase our stock in preparation for an upcoming busy season.
    However, when we applied for the advance we were suddenly “ineligible.” I’ve now spent more than a week begging Square to have someone contact me to resolve this problem or at least explain what we did wrong to suddenly lose this opportunity. Their customer service people are very nice and apologetic, but apparently the people in the Capital Department are absolutely impossible to contact or talk to. Each agent I’ve talked to has promised to forward my request and explain the urgency, but the fact remains that over the course of eight days I’ve sent four emails and called four times and have been completely ignored. (They promise a 24-hour turnaround.) I am starting to research other merchant processing options today. There are lots of other options out there now besides Square. I highly prize loyalty but if they’re not interested in helping me, I’ll have to go find a company that’s more responsive. Not impressed!

  • darren

    squareheld our funds in january 2015 and have not released the funds it is now august so thats one and half years wih almost no communication legally you can only hold funds for 1 year from the transaction date
    wallace consulting

  • Helena Spensatelli

    I just read some of the reviews and my hopes of getting the close to $3000 that Square has been holding for a week are gone. We area small cafe and catering business. Not only are we out the money they won’t deposit into our account… we are also out the food costs we paid for and the staff costs. This is really crippling to a small young business.

    My story is the same. After doing business for a year with Square, suddenly our “instant deposit” was taking a week. Then we started supplying meals for a local rehab. We had a credit card charge for $1840.00 and it never made it into our bank account. Then we were asked to verify our business by supplying 3 months of bank statements, our EIN #, and our food handling license. Really?? wtf? But we supplied everything they ask for.

    Next day they wanted more verification. Had to supply our invoice to the rehab facility, and answer more questions. Still holding our funds. So upsetting and stressful. Can’t even make payroll.

    PLEASE BE WARNED… DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH SQUARE!!!

    It’s been 1 week that they have been holding all our funds, including the day to day cafe business earnings.

  • Atakan Camadan

    HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE. If you are a small business dont ever use square. It is so cool with white beautiful design hardware and fancy website but when you need customer service you are in trouble. Also they can just put a hold on your funds for their review like you are a hacker or thief stealing other people money. They are holding funds in my account today and I need to make a payment to other company tomorrow and guess what I dont have the funds available. I will loose my client because of square. I learned my lesson now. I was warned about square services how horrible they were and I didnt listen If you dont wanna be a victim dont ever use Square. They are super expensive and they treat their customers like they are thieves.

  • tim

    Square has had our funds held since march 2015 it is now july 2016 1 year and 4 months later and we have had virtually no response from square of when these funds will be released it could be another 10 years as far as we know
    care cleaning

  • Steve Porter

    This company is a fraud, they will do nothing for you except steal your money. Finding out what thieves square is has cost me $520. I’m filing a complaint with the NM Attorney General. I will also file complaints with any other government regulatory agency. Do yourself a favor and don’t do business with crooked square!

  • Jonathan Immke

    Cannot contact and speak with a customer service representative. Apparently Square Inc. doesn’t believe in providing customer service like most other financial institutions.

    Cannot do business with Square Inc..

  • Tim Williams New England interiors

    Square is horrible. Not only would they not process a bill from my customer, it tool a week to resolve and the resolution was not to process. It took a week for the refund to transfer back to my customer. I refilled for the amount limit they suggested and they refused that due to frequency of billing. Under 90 days. Wtf…
    I will certainly be looking for a different merchant. Square looses another customer

  • Eldar

    Square is holding our funds for more than 120 days with no explanation no communication
    We will never recommend Square to anyone This company is called this company is the biggest bully in the credit card market
    You wear for your money will be gone for months you won’t even get it back

  • Ray J hutcheson

    I have been with square a little over a year. Ran a large charge of 2000 paid by invoice and square froze my account. They have not deposited my funds nor will they allow me to refund my client so he can pay me by check. It’s been a week.thier rules promise next day deposit. Phone support is basically non existent for all practical purposes. It’s hours till they call back and they have no knowledge of your case. They appear to be reading from a script and have no direct knowledge of your case.They refuse to allow you to speak with a manager. They claim manager support via email but despite numerous emails sent I’ve yet to receive one reply so I assume it is a stalling tactic. As far as I can tell there is no other numbers to call. I have tried thier corporate office. It has an answering machine and if you don’t have an extension you can’t speak to anyone. Same with thier legal offices. I tried many extensions hoping to accidentally get someone. No luck. Messaged them on Facebook (where your not allowed to post directly to thier site) and was assured “someone would get back with me shortly”. When I pushed for a manager or someone who was actually working on my case I was told they couldn’t speak over Facebook about my account but someone would be with me shortly. ……..
    They have overy 1800 simmilAR complaints on the better business Bureau who gives them a c rating.
    When does this behavior go into the criminal relm? Any help you can give me toward resolving this issue is greatly appreciated.
    Many thanks,
    Ray J hutcheson
    Hutcheson Diesel

  • Bev

    I have a small business and switched to Square this year from Chase Paymentech. I wish I had done this years ago as I have saved so much money. However, I notice that they take money from my customers and hold on to it for a lot longer than Chase did.
    I had to process a refund for the first time last week. The amount was less than $100. The money was taken directly from my bank account and then not returned to the customer for over one week!
    I wonder how they are using our money in the iinterim.

  • Dena

    Square has been holding our money for 90 days. And they deactivated our account making it impossible to get in touch with a live person to find out what is going on with my money.

    • Erica

      Square did the same thing to me, activated my account and told me to began using their service then sent me an email requesting additional information which I sent immediately then a couple days later, they email me stating that my account had been canceled and my funds would be held for 90 days and that there was nothing that I could do or say that would change their decision. Now as a certified veteran owned company contracting with the government this was such a shock and disappointment. I have not been able to contact them after this, my customer code does not work anymore. Wow, this caused major financial stress for me as a new small business owner.

  • Brett Leighton

    I have been a square customer for almost a year without a problem.. Until now! I had a customer bounce a check for $5500 and so he called me and I keyed in his debit card for $2950 ( max per day $3000) and a credit card he gave me. Square debited his account and then froze my days deposits from my retail store as well saying they needed further verification. After a lengthy online form and No customer service… I still have yet to see my funds and this is a new week…. Also the next day’s deposits have yet to show up on my account as well! They allow me to continue to accept payments but are keeping the funds!!!! Do not go with this company! I am finding a new processor today.

  • Dwaine dyke

    Any company that does not have a person you can talk to should not be used by anyone. This company is crooked the took my money because of a dispute then deactivated my account with out a phone call just an email. DO Not use them and tell all your friends that are to stop before there out $8000 like I am

  • Mario Rossetti

    There is virtually no customer service from this company. Twice I have been promised that a return call would be made to me and that call never came. After several tries I quit.

    Mu advice; find a company that actually wants to communicate with you!

  • Lance Tawzer

    Contacting customer service, getting straight answers to simple questions about services and costs (not fees) is next to impossible. You cannot speak to a human. It is no wonder that this company is losing customers left and right. People who are considering using Square should be warned about how poor their customer service is. Grade should be F

  • Michael M.

    After reading all the reviews I am so happy that I didnt take a friends reccommendation and go with this company. I decided that PayPay was the company for me. 3% thats all. No different rates for this or that. No withholding deposits for 30 days. In the beginning cash deposits to my bank took 3 days but Ive been with them for a while now and usually only takes a day sometimes 2.

  • Michael McNeil

    I used to think Square was wonderful never had an issue up until recently when a credit card company flag a charge and the customer call them up and fixed it immediately I’ve never had any complaints no problem but now they’re holding my money for account verification they want bank statements which nowhere in their contract does it say they need bank statements for verification it’s basically extortion and not only while the deposits are deferred they were still accepting money why wouldn’t they decline the charge

  • Douglas Dolton

    WORST COMPANY EVER! They took $31K from my customers, then suddenly, mysteriously, are holding it while they “verify” my business, after doing business with me for one month, and having two people come out and visit me (at my request). NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH SQUARE – I can’t WAIT to talk to Jack Dorsey!! I’ve been in the financial services business for 35+ years – i have NEVER seen such a terrible experience for the client – I will make sure EVERYONE knows what I think – i can’t even get anyone from Square to talk to me.

  • Tessa

    Complaints and Service section should have an F rating, not a C.

    Their customer support is non-existent. If a hospital only provided medical care for people who are perfectly healthy, it would be just about as helpful as Square’s customer support.

    Our account was deactivated with no warning, and no explanation. Frustrating, but technically their Terms and Agreements say that they have the right to do that. HOWEVER they took money from our customer, and canceled our account before paying it to us! Sorry Square Inc,, I don’t see anything in your Terms and Agreements that says you can steal money.

    OUR STORY: After taking a legitimate payment from our customer, we were asked to provide highly confidential information to “legitimize” our business.
    I replied with a request for support contact information, in order that they would explain their request. I got a canned email in response saying “your account has been deactivated for suspicious activity.”
    I sent another email asking for explanation and support. Their one sentence answer was “Support is only available for active accounts. Sorry for the inconvenience”.
    To put the cherry on top, they DID remove $3,700 from our customer’s bank account, and have not deposited the money into our account.
    But WE are the ones being told our activity is “suspicious”?

    This is not a legitimate company. These are professional scammers.

  • Bradley Zientara

    CHOOSE AN ALTERNATIVE!! i would stay away from square if you own a small business and need to accept credit cards from your clients. The customer service although very nice, very unhelpful. They kept the money owed to my company for over a week asking me to jump through hoops only to deny the requested transaction. I would look for alternative sites, let any other entrepreneurs know if an alternative is available they should go that route or it will end up costing more in the long run.

  • Kelli

    Over charging. They constantly exceed the 2.75 percent. I do not do instant deposit now as the charge an additional 1 percent. New rule without notice. I have requested an audit if my account to no avail. If you want customer service or set fees I recommend using another company. If the BBB gives this company an A + after over 1600 complaints all that means us they paid their dues with the BBB. Business owners beware you have no recourse without a lawyet

  • richard thomas

    Absolutely stay away from this horrible company. They have no customer service if you are not a merchant,so if there is ever a problem with a transaction you have no recourse other than emailing them and waiting several days to possibly get a responce and then the responce is inadequate to solve the problem. They are holding money for days and days when there is no reason to do so. I just got burnt by buying something for a friend who was going to pay me back right away. they did but squarecash decided to hold the transaction. I dont have a lot of money I cant afford to have my money floating in space and unable to do anyth8ng about it. its only $160.00 but still if they are doing this to thousands of people daily they are making some big bucks by making there networth seem larger than it is. for all I know they might never give me my money and I have no way to contact them and no recourse whatsoever. very stressful for no reason. they need a customer service number available to anyone who uses there service. I have used them for a while now and have had too many problems like this. I will never use them again.

  • Noah

    Whatever you do, do NOT use Square! I’m not sure what their issue is. I used them for years and they have profited from thousands in fees off o my business as we ran close to $200,000 total thru then. All of a sudden, they closed my account for violating “Section 47” of the user agreement? There is only 26 sections!!! I took a card from a family member who bought a service from our business. Legit? We are radio stations. They had the same last name as me so they said that I was advancing myself money? WHAT??? DON’T USE SQAURE!!!!!!

    • richard thomas

      I agree, this is an awful company, They literally stole money from me and I have no way to contact them, my only recourse is to report them to the BBB unfortunately that will not get my money deposited to me. They are thieves.By being impossible to contact they have created a situation where they can have a “glitch” and take a persons money and that person is unable to do anything about it. I will never use this company again, I am so unbelievably angry .

  • artnwordz

    This mobile swipe company SQUARE is HORRIFIC. DO NOT USE THEM with YOUR FINANCES.

    1- they have NO real customer service. This point is widely advertised. And it’s shocking the way they will treat you when it’s not to give them your money.

    2- they are being investigated by the federal government for appropriating people’s fund and holding them. THIS was done in preparation for their public stock release in order to make themselves look like a bigger company then they were. This practice apparently was highly illegal.

    3- like Nordstroms their ” charge back ” return policy is a joke. They will take money out of your bank account FIRST before even speaking to you as a merchant / provider. Then they make you chase your money just to try and get it back. To add to this issue SQUARE is not real financial corporation. They only use your money as a go between and take their VERY high fees then send you the rest. This matters because of this.

    When someone purchases something from you any other company that takes mobile swipes has a computerized system that applies an ISBB electronic code to your company name and you have to be approved to seek with any other company. When an item is purchased you companies name appears on the sale !! NOT WITH SQUARE.

    THEY SEND PEOPLE RANDOM ITEM / or GOODS RECIEPTS. IN OUR COMPANIES CASE THEY WOULD REPORT PLACE IF SALES AS ” grocery store “.

    You can only imagine how many fraud issues we had to deal with not to mention charge backs. ALL BECAUSE SQUARE LIED AND MESSED UP and offer no real support.

    AGAIN STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY WITH YOUR MONEY AND BUSINESS if you value growth and your time and reputation.

    Their attitude is putrid and they feel they can not be touched so they do not care they are rude and offer no support.

    We understand all companies are busy. And seek to save money. But SQUARE is truly and capitalistic greedy company that pretends to offer ” support ” but in reality offer 2.75 to 3.4 interest charges and give you the middle finger while they are at it

    Very sad.
    Thanks for reading and we hope this saves another company the pain of dealing with SQUARE.

    Report Comment

  • Jese Nicolopoulos

    We started using Square in 2012 when we opened up our barbershop. Each year of service, Square has done great things with POS and many useful tools to help our business. Many of the new tools are “FREE”. Square is very simple to use and our customers love it. We also enjoy the fact that you are only charged 2.75% per transaction. No other lame fees like other processing companies.

  • Farzad Hooshmandan

    I have been using Square on and off again as I am used car dealer and use it for down payments and other forms of payments. Last week Saturday, a customer bought an Aston Martin that I had (rebuilt title) for 26k and paid on his AMEX card. I contacted Square and they said it should be fine, and I processed the transaction and it was approved. 3 Days went by still no funds. I call up square and they say I need to send my Bank account statements and proof that I am a dealership and proof of the sale. I explained to them to let me know if there is a problem as I need to reposes the car, they assured me the funds would be in my account at the end of the day. The next morning still no funds and I get an email at 1:53PM saying I can’t make transactions over 10k then at 1:55PM I get another email saying my account is deactivated and I need to issue a refund. They also deactivated my customer code so I can’t even call them to see what happened. The customer called AMEX and they said that they paid square and can’t issue him a refund. Square has my money and they told me to issue a refund which will come out of my account now. THEY STOLE FROM ME AND WON’T CONTACT ME BACK… I have sent many emails and no repsonses I would call but they have the WORST Call support ever and took away my customer code so it just hangs up on me. I guess I have to get my lawyers involved now…

  • Johnny B. Good

    I’ve had a dozen transactions with square that went smoothly but # 13 didn’t which is why I’m giving them the lowest grade available. The justification is that when you have credit card services at a bank the failure rate is 0%. Square the supposed miracle upstart came in at 8% which is very high. It’s for businesses that are so small that the owners can barely afford the rent on a cardboard box. Or some college grad who’s leveraging $500 to get his new business off the ground. It isn’t for people who run a professional business and need to know when they are going to be receiving the money and when they aren’t. The website says one thing but when the rubber meets the road you may be waiting an extra day or two on your money.

  • Chris

    The worst customer service ever anywhere!
    I have been a Square customer for 6 years.
    Had no problems… over the last 4 months Square has allowed $6500.00 of charge backs for services preformed 3 months before. Send everything to challenge the dispute! No customer service whatsoever and then force me to re verify my account then close ot with no explanation holding $2500.00 of my customers money and refuse to release it.

    DO NOT USE SQUARE!!!

    CAN ANYONE HELP AND RECOMMEND A CARD READER COMPANY WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE I’LL SWICH TODAY!!##

    SQUARE IS SCAM

  • hhsc

    I’ve been a customer with square for several years and I never had any chargebacks whatsoever. one weekend I did a blowout sale on my merchandise and sold all of my products at a super low discounted rate. square deactivated my account because I processed to many pre paid cards that weekend.

    • Chris

      I did not know you could take pre-paid cards, what about those visa, MasterCard, etc gift cards that people purchase? Tried to take one and it wouldn’t go through so entered the card numbers and it still would not work.

  • Bob

    I have lost a lot of money because of Square. Their contactless/chip card reader is a piece of junk that will not connect to the app when you need it. I have had customers standing there when the reader would not connect and I lost the sale. It’s junk. Never use Square under any circumstances.

  • Steven Lukens

    Absolutly hands down the worst company I have ever done business with. Opened me up, did my first transaction no problem. Took a 15k order from one of my really good customers then got requests for all sorts of documentation. Customer service, or lack there of says they will take 2-3 days to get back to you. not an option in my business. Square cost me an order and a customer. Beware of Square, they are not what they say they are!

  • Dorothy

    I have been using the Square to process credit cards for a year now and have not had one problem with SQUARE. My customers love it and I like the fact that I don’t have to rent an expensive terminal to process credit cards. It is awesome!!

  • Don Reynolds

    We are a growing company and were deactivated without any recourse today. We tried square last year and found that customer refunds are very slow, and switched back to PayPal. Additionally, it is virtually impossible to contact them by phone or email. Additionally, we have had 2 instances that we were supposed to get a refund on transactions where the money was held for over 120 days… still waiting for the funds to go back into out bank account. I recommend PayPal and Stripe or getting a retail merchant account with Heartland Payment Systems. Square sucks.

    • Barbara Katze

      I accept Square since October 2015 until present in my clothing store. I’m giving them 5 stars. Never had problem, always next day Square transfer money to my bank with weekends exception.
      No extra fees! Love it.

  • Peter McArdle

    I am a consultant in the software industry. I started using Square’s POS transaction service last fall for my business, Xigent Media LLC. Between November 2015 and February 2016, I collected approximately 3000.00 in fees from various clients for jobs that I completed.

    As per Square’s requirements I connected my business checking account at BoA to my Square acct. It was verified by Square in early November, before I did my first transaction with a client using Square.

    Over the following 2.5 months I used Square a dozen times or so. It was not a good model for billing clients. Normally I invoice for hours and they cut a check or direct deposit; my customers were not accustom to paying vendors with credit cards.

    Twice charges were approved by one person and then disputed later by someone else because they didn’t know what the transaction was for. Both times the client’s bank inquired, as well as Square, and both times the dispute was settled in my favor.

    There were a number of times when cards were declined–probably because the project manager was trying to use a company card in his name (that they use for business expenses) and there was no room on the card. Or whatever. I was later paid by check.

    But about 3k did get paid through Square. The money accrued in my Square account and the web site indicated it was it was available pending set up of the automatic deposit, which was nothing more than setting a time to be the end of the business day. Done. Square seemed a little slow but I had no reason to believe that I would have a problem.

    Imagine my surprise this month, in June of 2016, when I get notified by BoA that they are closing one of my Small Business checking accounts because it’s had a negative balance for over 90 days! The negative balance was a result of unpaid monthly bank fees; unpaid because Square never made the deposits. 7 months had gone by since the first charge went through them, and they still were sitting on my money, and they never notified me or said anything.

    When I realized what had happened, I reached out to them and was shocked by the way my inquiry was handled. Their phone number (that you list as a customer service line) is a dead end. A recorded voice tells you to enter your customer code, and if you don’t have one, it hangs up. It does tell you where to get a code, on the Square web site.

    However, the page to which it refers does not contain a code. There is no code, there is not a link or a sub page or anything there to provide a code. Not anywhere on the site. If you don’t believe me, I invite you to call the number on your own web site that you promote for them. Follow the instructions and enter the URL for the page on the Square web site that is supposed to provide the code. You will see that what I am telling you is true.

    Perhaps it’s an error on Square’s part that they direct their customers to a dead end loop that does not provide a way to actually contact them. From the customer’s point of view, I can tell you that this is a bad thing. Imagine if the bank stopped providing a way for account holders to contact them directly. They are a bank. They would lose all their accounts. The FDIC would inquire. It would be a completely unacceptable situation. They would either start answering the phone, or they would go out of business.

    Why then is okay for Square to do it? They apparently are not considered to be a bank from a regulatory POV, so they don’t have to answer to the FDIC (who would be worried about insolvency if a bank stopped answering customers’ calls). And they don’t have to answer to me, the customer. Why? Because they have made it nearly impossible to get through.

    I say nearly because I did eventually get a customer code sent to me by an email, a half a day or so later. And since they were holding my money, I was waiting for it (unlike most customer service complaints where hours or days later, I’ve no time to revisit).

    I talked to 2 different customer service reps who acted surprised that the money was just sitting there, and they seemed to agree that 7 months was a long time and that fixing this should be a priority. The second one, Billy Joe, said that it would be referred to some ‘Resolution Department’ and that it would probably pay over night. The web site said that it would pay by June 15.

    After a couple more days, I called back to follow up and found that my customer code was no longer working. When I logged onto the site, I found that my account was deactivated and there was a message that they were holding my funds for 45 days to allow time to dispute the charges!

    Never mind that they already did this to me 6 months earlier. Never mind that any disputed charges were found in my favor and were paid. Never mind that they then held my money for three or four months longer than the dispute took. Never mind that seven months have gone by and I still have not been paid.

    On top of all of that, I feel sure that I was lied to by the customer service rep, who then fed my ‘request’ into the Dispute Resolution queue, and the ‘department’ to which he referred (which may exist in name only) then rubber-stamped its response, which is to freeze the funds for an additional 45 days while it allows time for the payees to dispute.

    Then they revoked my customer code so I couldn’t even call them back.

    This is intolerable. They have already demonstrated a failure to pay at all, after indicating that all was well and the auto deposit was set up etc. 7 months goes by and apparently they felt that if I wasn’t going to complain, they were going to keep my money.

    How many people do they do this to and get away with it? For me, three thousand dollars is a lot of money. I want my money and I am not going to let up or go away. But at what amount do you write off a disputed transaction that Square has frozen, and not bother to jump through the hurdles they create, in order to get paid?

    I wouldn’t go through this for 50 bucks.

    We all know that 50 here and 50 there….before you know it, Square has found a new profit center! And a motive to treat their customers rather shabbily. But, since they don’t answer calls or talk to customers unless they feel like it, it’s not that big a problem for them.

  • Dave N

    Open account about 1yr ago, it was great most of my swipe was only $20, i do state inspections on autos. About 2 weeks back i do a sale & it said my account was deactivated. I only had 1 $20 sale so i tried to get a code to call well that didnt work. So after about 2 weeks i open a new account, tried a $1.00 test and avery thing going good did one inspection used square seems to work ok. The next day i was going to get a code and call to check on my 1st account BUT i did another inspection thats when i find this new account was deactivated. So they got about $62 in both accounts that they are holding. HOW can they hold money with out telling you & what can you do? I run a STATE INSPCETION
    BUSINESS if i didnt do things right the state would fine me close me down & some have been put in jail for doing things. So i guess SQUARE can take money keep it, You think the attorney general in the state they in would look into Square & find out whats going on.

  • Garo

    I was using the Square and I was happy but I get charge back dispute and Square didn’t help me and takes so much time over 2 month I gave the Fedex tracking number and CUSTUMER email Messages and phone number invoice shipping billing address I give all the information I lost my items and money ! Disputes services A To Z 1 star !!!

  • Don Hartman

    I own a bail bonds agency and was looking for a better option to process credit transactions. Huge mistake. The sign up process is too easy and doesn’t do enough to qualify the merchant. Hey, if you don’t want to deal with bail bonds businesses, then tell me up front. No problem. But don’t lead me down a too-friendly path and then dump me when I have thousands of dollars on the line. That is just so unprofessional. So, I sign up and run a test charge for $1.00 to make sure the account works. No problem. I get an email from Square stating that everything is good and I am ready to run transactions. So, I get a client who wants to put his bail premium on his credit card. Great. I run his card and get approval. I post his $50,000 bond and he is released. I ran the card for $5,015, which is my 10% fee. I now owe my surety $1000 as their fee. Cool. My $5015 should hit my account in a couple days, right? Wrong. Square puts a hold on the funds and asks for my business license, proof of customer interaction and three months of bank statements. No problem. I have all this and deliver it to them via their account validation option on the dashboard. Then, the next day I am informed via email that my account has been deactivated and the $5015 minus $175 fees will be held for 90 days. But get their reason: their fraud team has analized my transaction history and detected a pattern that indicates high risk. I remember from high school math that a single point cannot define a line, much less a trend. Some fraud experts. I am deactivated after my first transaction. Meanwhile, I owe my surety $1000 and my client got out of jail free. Whew. Insert Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation rant here.

  • Christina Salon Inc

    We use to have Wells Fargo merchant and process about 15K a month with $545 in fees. With Square is simple and much less, about $410-420 vs. $545. We standing with square. The apps is much easier to use and we can accept payment on the go vs. Our machine stay one spot inside our salon. Square make our business 10x easier!! Thank you so much.

  • Rev Jerry t

    Contracted a property inspection, and a kitchen remodel. Square is holding 3500.00 dollars after deactivating my new account for risky banking practices. Client is angry that I cannot complete contract without payment. Square is the risky banking practice
    Any way to make them release my funds?

  • Jill Lafferty

    Daughter gave sensitive info like birthdate and SS # to start an acct. however, square said they couldn’t confirm and deactivated the act. Problem is she can’t get customer service by phone or email without an acct #! Sketchy and unacceptable! I’d hate to have to try to settle disputes with this company if this is how they treat people! I don’t like that they now have her information as I do not trust them.

    • Mike K.

      The same thing happened to me. No reason or explanation was given. When I persisted by email for an explanation, the response was that none could or would be given and that I should find another service provider. Be glad that you never really got involved with this company. Since these fraudsters have sensitive personal information, it would probably be prudent to sign up with Lifelock.

  • Toots Mumbi

    Total fraud! DO NOT USE THEM! We had been using them but anytime we get payments over $1000, they froze they account . The final straw was they told us they had to do a total customer verification and asked us for all types of personal information. We sent them everything they needed, then they deactivated the account with over $9000 in pending transactions. Then to make it worst you cannot contact anyone there without a pin code to get through, no customer service line at all. Meanwhile or money is stuck in limbo. And there charges are outrages!

  • Roxann

    Horrible Customer Service, can not get a “customer code” if your life depended on it. They hold your money and don’t even try to help. I’ve never seen such a bad way to do business. Jack Dorsey should be very ashamed!!

  • David Esau

    Square shut down my account for “suspicious activity” and will not reopen. Do not waste your time using their services, because they do not have ANY. It use to be great for small businesses because it was basically a no approval process and free reader. I have only used the swiper a couple times and sell nothing high risk or suspicious. My company sells holster cases for runners and some other products like Bluetooth Headphones. They have now turned against their merchants and will not get my business back.

  • Karin Williams

    I have 3 square card readers including 1 chip reader and most of the time they do not work. It takes 7 to 20 tries. I get it to work on 2 out of 10 credit cards. My customers are not happy. The chip reader has never worked at all.

  • KC Reynolds

    I would rank this company a ZERO across all levels of service. They charged my client on May 10 and as of today, the funds have still not been deposited into my account. I have called numerous times to listen to the “10 minute wait time” that is actually “1 hours and 10 minutes” or the “press 1 and you will not loose your spot in the queu” message but receive a call 2 1/2 hours later, only to be in a meeting or driving at that time because of their ridiculous pacific standard time hours. I have had to repeat my story numerous times, I’ve been hung up on, I’ve received over 15 emails going back and forth and still no money. The attachments on their forms don’t work, can’t find a person with any common sense to talk to and the list goes on. My bank tells me that they are getting a lot of new business from small business owners like myself because of Square’s horrible service. Deal with a company far more reputable than these guys. They’re brutal!

  • Z. Dash

    I never heard of this company before last Wednesday, but I already despise them beyond belief.

    Without my ever giving out my e-mail address or ever requesting an online confirmation of any credit card purchase, Square, Inc. confirmed one of my in-person purchases by e-mail. Where they got me e-mail address I have no idea. I certainly never gave it either to Square, Inc., nor to the vendor whose credit charge they confirmed.

    This is highly alarming to me, that Square has my purchase information including my electronic signature, my name, my credit card number, and the amount and name of the vendor (which I had never bought from before).

    To make matters much worse, Square, Inc. takes great care to ensure that no one can reach them by phone. So they obviously do not care about rectifying a situation such as this.

    NEVER USE THIS SLEAZY COMPANY FOR ANYTHING!!!

  • jeff Paris

    I have been accepting payments via Square for 2 years and do about $75K a year with them, no problems… no complaints. Always paid on time every time.

    I also have accepted Square Capital 2 times and again, no problems at all… it has been a life saver actually.

    If you run a legit business and no bull**** then Square is great.

    • Al

      I have a legitimate business for 8 years. So don’t throw that at me. I the most honest person who would never hurt anyone. Definitely not worth being dishonest. Carma is a b. Have you ever read any of the complaints. You’re lucky fellow. Be careful because there definitely up to no good.

  • HOWARD PAUL SHORE

    Square, Inc. Committed Fraud!

    Do Not Use Them!

    Back on Saturday, April 30th, 2016, I used my American Express Credit Card to pay my contractor $20,000.00 for a job that has Not Been Finished!

    The way that I paid for this amount of money was by receiving an Invoice that my contractor sent to ME, however, Square, Inc. is the actual company that Charged My Credit Card and is the Same Company that is Responsible For Transferring My Money To Whoever I Wish To Pay which In My Case Was NEVER DONE!

    I have waited Very Patiently For MY MONEY to be transferred to Mr. Justin Rivas, the Contractor and at least 18 Days Went By and Square, Inc. Deliberately and Purposely REFUSED TO TRANSFER OVER THE MONEY!

    This Unprofessional and Dishonest Company was Illegally Holding My Money In Their Own Internal Account 100% Against My Will And Without My Legal Permission, Consent, Nor Authorization!

    What Square, Inc. Has Committed Was FRAUD!

    I can NOT tell you and reiterate on just How Many Times I Have Contacted The Horrible Square, Inc. No Customer Service Phone Number Of: 1-855-700-6000 to find out Why They Are Not Sending MY MONEY OVER TO MR. JUSTIN RIVAS, THE CONTRACTOR!

    Guess What Their Response Is? Answer: We Can NOT Discuss This Issue With You and Can Only Talk To Mr. Justin Rivas About It!

    My Response: That Does Not Make Any Sense Since It Was Me Who Initiated The $20,000.00 Payment To Begin With and It Was Done With My American Express Credit Card Which Is In My Name, NOT HIS!

    Square, Inc.’s Customer Service Department did absolutely Nothing To Assist Me, Nor Help Me!

    Furthermore, I did speak to Mr. Justin Rivas about it and he also called them many times ONLY to receive a Runaround, Lies and Mind Games stating that he did Not Fill Out The Paperwork Properly, or that he Needs To Resend Some Of The Same Documents Over And Over.

    Even though he did as he was told, Square, Inc. still REFUSED TO SEND THE $20,000.00 DOLLARS OVER TO MR. JUSTIN RIVAS, THE CONTRACTOR!

    I was so Angry and Pissed Off over this Type Of Abuse Coming From Square, Inc. that I tried to call their Customer Service Department back again and Dispute The Money and Have It Go Back To My American Express Credit Card and this is What Their Customer Service Screwed Up Department Told Me!

    Square, Inc. Customer Service’s Response: They told me that they can NOT Dispute The $20,000.00 for ME On My Behalf (Even Though I Am The Payer) and said that I need to contact American Express To Dispute It!

    Well they are also 100% RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS SINCE THEY TOOK MY $20,000.00 ILLEGALLY AND COMMITTED FRAUD BY HOLDING MY MONEY IN ONE OF THEIR INTERNAL ACCOUNTS WITHOUT SENDING IT TO MR. JUSTIN RIVAS AS IT STATES ON MY CREDIT CARD STATEMENT!

    Please NOTE: I have NEVER had an experience like this one before and hopefully NEVER AGAIN!

    Moving Forward: Back On, Monday, May 16th, 2016, I finally decided to Stop Waiting, Hoping and Dreaming for Square, Inc. to Transfer This Money To Mr. Justin, Rivas, The Contractor and instead I called up American Express and Filed A Dispute Against Square, Inc. For FRAUD!

    Please NOTE: I Refuse to Pay For Fraud and Refuse to Pay For Something that I NEVER RECEIVED and Square, Inc. Must Have A Reputation at Doing This To Many Of Their Customers!

    The Problem Is That Many Of Their Ex-Customers Are Afraid To Post Reviews On Their Negative Experiences because they are either Afraid or Scared Of The Outcome, Including Retaliation By The Company Which Rarely Happens, or Just Do Not Have The Time or Maybe They Simply Do Not Care To Let The Public Know On What Happened To Them And Would Rather Just Keep It Private!

    However, I Dare To Be Different and I Am Blowing The Whistle Loud And Clear Against Square, Inc. To Let Them Know That You Can NOT Get Away With This!

    At The Present Time, I Am Still Waiting For This Fraudulent Money Of $20,000.00 That Square, Inc. Stole And Held In Their Internal Company Account To Be Returned Back To American Express Since I Will NOT Pay For FRAUD!

    I am also Making A Very Serious Recommendation To American Express To Cut Their Ties And Business Dealings With Square, Inc. In Order To Prevent This Type Of Fraud From Happening To Their Other Customers Like It Just Happened To ME!

    Enclosed, in the attachments, please find seven (7) pages of communications that I had with Square, Inc., American Express and Mr. Justin Rivas, The Contractor for your reference and further review.

    Final Thoughts: My Advice To Anyone Searching For A Way To Pay Somebody Is First Of All “NOT To Ever Consider Using Square, Inc.”

    Thank you.

    Sincerely yours,

    Howard Paul Shore
    Angry, Unhappy And Pissed Off Ex-Customer Of Square, Inc.

    /HPS
    Enclosures: Please See The Attachments For All Of The Communications That I Have Had With Square, Inc., American Express And Mr. Justin Rivas, The Contractor For Your Reference And Further Review. Thank You.

  • Rick K.

    Square is a joke! Opened an account and sent my very first invoice to my customer, which he promptly paid. Then I get an email from Square stating that my account shows a “pattern of high-risk transactions.” Really? After only ONE invoice!? So they deactivate my account and are currently holding my funds for 60 days. May they rot in Hell.

  • Julia McGrath

    HORRIBLE customer”no service” plan to wait hours before some yo-yo cant help you with a simple fix. THEN they will not connect you with a manager, nor supervisor and then they hang up on you. when the founder makes over 6 million a year, someone better address clients problems with the service they provide. I would never recommend this company! They requested all my information approved a credit card , took their money, then held the deposit for days, THEN told me to refund the customer, yet keep processing credit cards through them. Now they have enough info on me to commit IDENTITY FRAUD. WTF?

  • virginia Kaczmarek

    I was just informed by a client that his credit card had been charged twice for the same amount that appears on an invoice. This prompted me to ACTUALLY look at my Square account and I an SHOCKED to find they are holding over $25,000.00 in “Pending Deposits” since the 30th 0f March and it is nor May 25th. I have tried every number I could find on various forums and all I get is a recorded message telling me I need a CODE to talk to a human. I enter all the crap on thier help page to request a code but I never get it. Only an email with a case number which is NOT the code. How am I supposed to pay my vendors, if I can’t collect funds that were payment for product I purchased!!!! This A HUGE SCAM> NO idea how Square could stay in business. I just wish I knew WHO to CALL. I need to get this resolved. ASAP

  • Charles Sabourin

    DON”T EVER USE SQUARE – USE ANY OTHER SERVICE OUT THERE BUT THEM. THEY ARE A RIP OFF. Been in Business 21 years and now that I need to use them because Comcast hasn’t transferred by services yet to use my regular card reader. Square has been holding my money for 23 days and because I’m complaining – Can’t reach any customer service person on the phone – they have deactivated my account and are holding my funds for 90days!!!! BEWARE!!!!!

  • Eduardo

    I’ve been using square for over a month and have done three transactions so far and my third transaction has not gone through it’s been almost a week I’m still waiting for my money Square is still holding my money I don’t know what’s wrong with square but they keep telling me that they are handling it but I still don’t see my money at all or no email

  • Donald

    Bad experience with Square. Would say I will never use them again, but had a bad experience with Pay Pal some years back and haven’t used them in over eight years. As someone stated, your first transaction goes through fine. I am billing a customer each week and I did not find out my second transaction did not go through until I checked my account and the funds weren’t there. No communication to say as much. When you call the customer service number they require a code, which if you don’t have you can’t get through. They wanted all of this documentation. Fortunately, I had it because I am a business. But what if I didn’t have a business? Awful customer service. Square should be further regulated by the feds and should not be allowed to be in business when dealing with people’s money and you can’t get through to speak with someone.

  • Brian

    What a horrible organization! Held my funds, demanded invoices, business description, method of marketing, shipping methods, etc. Then told me they would not support my business. I held a square account for a few years, and they pull this crap. Never again.

    • Marci

      My customer cleared funds of $1992.00 being held no less than 150 days. This means they use my money for at least 5 months and who knows because heard of stories where it’s been years and people haven’t gotten their money. I saw their stock is way down so maybe this is how they stay afloat by using our money. I can’t find anything to do about it. Told my friends that I talked into using Square and they tried closing their accounts but evidently you cant close. They say just don’t use the account. Small business rely on funds turning over to keep going. They are getting away with theft here.

      • Marci

        Update: I had gotten an email from them to try for 30 days Square Marketing and then 2 days later I realized my funds hadn’t deposited. I logged into my computer app because nothing showed on the smart phone app to discover they wanted information about website, advertising, invoice, business license so I figured just a way to get data to get me to use Square Marketing. I didn’t want to be forced into that product so I refused in several emails my account ended up closed with note that I would receive my money no sooner than 150days. I talked to my lawyer and she wanted to see the user agreement so I reread it and realized what a fool I was to ever let them have access to my money based on what was in the agreement. I can’t believe I used to love them and got friends signed up with them. I sort of remember reading these things thinking it would only happen to people doing fraud. That wasn’t me. Well it happened to me. I was cut off no response to emails. Couldn’t make the uploads work. I just wanted to meet with someone and say I’m real and legit and here is my proof but you can’t. They are basically in lock down funneled through a small opening in a lobby with badge reader access only. I ended up emailing data since I couldn’t upload and I did get my account reactivated but I don’t trust them based on user agreement that is completely biased in their favor. I guess a business does what a business needs to do but I can’t see them staying viable long with those type of business practices because word does get out!Especially as the numbers grow. My friends that trusted me to join now trust me to leave them. I think verifying a business could be done in a much better way. I’m back to my tried and true bank of many years. Why did I ever stray. It’s worth the monthly fee for peace of mind that my money will be there. I still can’t believe this happened to me. You will feel the same when its you. In business I save every thing all the receipts, emails everything so I looked back through all the email to see if there was a email notice of issue with my funds and nothing. Only find out by seeing no funds deposited. I have so many more things to say how this could have been done better but I’m done wasting my time. Good luck everyone getting your funds.

  • Harper Anderson

    After approving a sale of $400 plus tax at a trade show took back the money and said it was fraud. This is b.s. What do we pay for? They approved the sale and then 4 weeks later say that American Express decided to take the money back because their client “claimed they didn’t make the purchase. I am going back to cash or checks and will tell every merchant I come in contact with how I was treated. I am recommending they don’t accept American Express and change from Square to someone else. I see hundreds of merchants and until they refund the money they stole from me I will not stop,

    • David Dutton

      They did something very very similar to me. Twice I got a fraud alert saying a client claimed that They never authorized the charge(s) on their card

      I’m a massage therapist so I know the contact info of all of my clients and I called both of these clients and they were absolutely clueless

      It turns out that in both cases when my clients paid me and left a tip it put their credits into an over limit because of the way square allows charges to happen – it does not work like PayPal

      SQ works like a gasoline station or a restaurant…If you charge somebody $50 and they leave you a $60 tip… All thats authorized to card is $50 TEMPORARY charge.. Which actually allows for the final charge to be different to allow for tipping or like a gas station where it pings your card credit card for a dollar and then when the transaction post it post for the actual amount

      So in my case, one of my clients had about $60 on your credit card so the $50.00hour session fee was authorized, and win the entire transaction posted it build a card 110$… Normally a card going over limit is perfectly OK and that is his issue between the cardholder and the credit card companies… But went to credit card companies did is they sent of false claim of fraud to square saying the customer complaint when the customer never dead

      I disputed this with Square and explain the situation and even put Square in contact with my clients who said that these were authorized and that is their credit card company that was causing the problem.

      I went back-and-forth and back-and-forth with square for five months over this issue – and in the end they said the credit cards company’s decision stood and they could not do anything about it….and since the credit card company was doing something they weren’t supposed to be doing – square should’ve told them where to go stick it

      So before I knew it squared took the money out of my checking account which did not have enough in it and it bounced, and square did this every day for 10 days and I racked up $350 in overdraft fees

      And then square permanently disabled my account, and they are still after that money and tried sending me to collections. So I got fed up with them and took them to small claims court and I won and a judge ordered them to give me my money back

      This is one screwed up company and I advise people to be very cautious – do not use the tip feature or you will get into trouble. If you want somebody to tip you or you take tips make sure the tip is included in the actual service charge – that way if a person does not have the proper amount on their car the transaction will not go through … But I under stand what most people and merchants out there do in a situation when it doesn’t go through – the customer will usually asked the merchant to just run the service charge through which gets excepted by Square, and then they tell the merchant to go ahead and add the tip which is excepted and it puts the cart over limit – most credit card companies don’t care but there some pretty bad ones out there

      Reason why I recommend PayPal now versus Square is when you enter your service charge plus a tip into PayPal, PayPal all the rice is it as one total charge that’s not a temporary authorization … This way your transaction either goes through or doesn’t and you do not have to worry about credit card companies causing problems because square claims that they will come to your defense and even paid if square decide you were in the right… But in reality that never happens and there’s a little teeny tiny clause in our user agreement that says no matter what the credit card company decides is what Square will do

  • Beth McGonigal

    After a payment dispute by a disgruntled customer, square debited my bank account for the entire amount disputed. Because I didn’t not have the opportunity to gather necessary paperwork in time (Less than a week) square didn’t stand by me. I’ll be looking for another processor ASAP.

  • Chris Bogle

    Opened the account and got a $433 debit on my account right after opening. No help with them at any number. Filing fraud suit with California Attorney General. Absulute trash of a company!

  • Donna

    Walk, don’t run as fast as you can away from this company. Not sure how they stay in business. Basically I finally found a live person to talk to and they said, we really don’t care about you or your business. They would rather walk away from a $700 profit to them on a $20,000 transaction than to deposit the money to my account as they should. I have been working with them for a couple of years without any problems. Obviously things have changed there. BYW…..There are other professional businesses out there that do the same thing for half the fee. I believed long term relationships were important. Square doesn’t feel the same. Horrible, HORIBLE customer service is what you can expect in 2016.

  • Mark Pinckert

    Well your first transaction goes as smooth as butter very exciting but then comes the second they wait until you do your second transaction and then tell you you cannot have the funds until you give them all your documents and invoices proofs of purchases. For a small business that in some counties does not require a business license or a federal employee number makes it impossible to receive your funds and then when you reach out to try and get help there is nobody for you to ask. You can email but no response you can call a phone number but you have to have a code which you can get I am currently out $1,600 because I can’t get in touch with anybody I will never use this again. Keeping in mind that I may be due to transactions a month because I do it in my spare time makes losing $1,600 a big deal

  • Kim Slaughter

    I would strongly advise against using a Square!!!!! Our business had an account set up, and successfully used it 2 times, then the third time was a $5208.00 sale and funds were never deposited into our business account. My husband made several attempts and spent many hours trying to get someone to help with this, but he was told through email only that a live person was not an option!!!! We are not tech savy people and would have never entered into this agreement knowing there was no way to receive help with such an important issue. We are currently seeking the help of an attorney to straighten this out.

    • Christina Knight, ploutos oil, llc

      We are in the same boat, out first transaction was 5k, no problem, several days later 10k. It’s was never deposited to our account. I called and they said I had to add more info such as 3 recent bank statements, government issued papers, invoice reciept, we sent all that they asked for, later that day I checked and said account deactivated. We were confused so I called and the idiot on the phone said the code number was wrong, and my account showed only 1.00. I have no idea what they have done with our 10k but I finally called back and talk to Jordan and he said he could see my money and it saus pending deposit but he couldn’t transfer me to the risk department that is handling this. They will call. He said worse case scenario it could take 90 days for them to send me a check. I’m advising my customer to file fraud claims with them because I can’t release his product to him until I have his funds. Once this is over I will NEVER us or NEVER refer square to anyone. My company handles over 500K a year and they could have made alot just off my fees. I have no idea why they would do this to a legit business. The longer they hold our funds the more interest they are collecting of our funds they are holding.

  • Johnna West

    I MUST AGREE WITH OTHERS HERE AND SAY PLEASE DO NOT USE SQUARE!!!!! They recently sent my account three requests for verification for my company and subsequently a recent charge we had run. Each time I promptly replied with the requested documents, yet today I received an email that my account had been deactivated with no explanation as to why and their customer service has been utterly non-existent, conveniently (not to mention they’re now holding my account balance for the next 90 days which has been a substantially higher, even detrimental, balance for others who have expierienced this). I understand holding questionable funds for 90 days is standard, but what I don’t understand is how this is justifiable given that I gave them all the documentation they requested and, from their own policy page, what I provided should have been more than sufficent to verify the legitimacy of the account and charges. I would strongly urge anyone attracted to Square’s low rates to read this article before signing up for thier services, or just google Square to see how common this corrupt process is and how unprofessional this company operates. https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2015/11/20/456635063/square-goes-public-and-fields-a-flood-of-customer-complaints

    • Damita Hill

      The same thing has happened to me. I was done the same way. However, my funds were to be released for deposit on 5/17/16 into my bank account and I am still waiting. My account was deactivated after I sent in requested documentation showing the ligitamacy of my bisiness.

    • Mosharraf Khalid

      My account was deactivated today, After I gave them all the information they requested, Bank statements, invoices. Makes no sense, We are a non-profit charity organization and they are holding $4100.00 for the past one month and no communication from their side. This is all donation money.

  • Matt Knudsvig

    I’m a small roofing contractor who just recently started accepting credit cards, what I didn’t know is that after several transactions, they decided they needed more info from me and held a large amount of funds from the customer to me without warning, send me an email the next day noting my account was inactive, I would have to spend two days gathering information, emailing back and fourth, 2 30 minute waits to speak to an idiot that couldn’t help me! After a week of waiting o relieved an email stating the funds would the deposit in 1-2 bus days? I still have not seen the deposit? I will never use them again ever!

  • Janet Hartsfield

    DO NOT USE SQAURE. I made a transfer from my checking account using square cash. It was for 1000 dollars. They made the deposit into the account I sent it to. Then they turned around and took it back out of the account I sent it to for no apparent reason. Then they turned around a few days later and took another 1000 out of the account I had sent it to. 2000 dollars just vanished. We have been trying to get resolution for over 14 days. The main problem… there is not phone support for square cash so everything is done thru email – only email. They respond 1 time a day only with a cookie cutter answer – I sent them a copy of what the bank gave me that shows the deposit and the withdrawals but they still have done NOTHING to resolve the issue. DO NOT USE Square services unless you want to give away free monies. There are so many dissatisfied customers. Never been so frustrated. Some people have wrote that they have been trying to get issues resolved for over 6 months and the only way to communicate is thru email so they just keep waiting. Sad situation. Sad service!

    • Bob

      GET YOUR BANK INVOLVED. Dispute it. Do not let these losers play with your c v v number and take what doesn’t belong to them. they will not give you your money back, get your bank involved. Square is a fraud. It’s imperative to me that Apple and other retailers need to get Square readers out of their stores. Innocent people don’t deserve to go through this and have to pay them for it.

  • Ann Davis

    Worst company ever. Do not use this company unless you want zero customer service, no access to a human, just emails and they take days to respond. They will freeze your money for no reason, ‘deactivate your account’ and offer no resolutions. They SUCK.

  • Vickaro Global

    Square Is the worst merchant credit card company ever. After using them for five years just a few days ago I had a Platinum wedding package and charged the client $7644 which she paid with her credit card, the following day I got an email from square stating my funds were on hold and that they cant deposit it in my account until further verification. So they requested Invoices, Bank statements, business license, tax id and a few more things. I supplied them with all this info but blacked out anything on my bank statements that was nothing of there business which were Balances deposits, withdrawals. The following morning they sent an email stating they the transactions of the bank if not for me to do a return of the money to my client. My financial information is none of there business dont know why i changed over from Bank of America merchant to Square. I guess some things are to god to be true.

  • Jim Sanders

    Stay away. They have a verification process that does not work. Their objective is to keep money as long as possible, They cost me a huge sale due to this process. You have been warned.

  • Rebecca King

    Square deactivated my account recently without giving a reason other than claiming that I violated a section of the Seller’s Agreement. However, while Section 17 of said agreement allows Square to hold funds, it does not give a time period for such holds. Square is holding over $2500 usd from April to July. There is no way to contact them by phone and when I was able to contact them they were not willing to discuss the reason(s) for the deactivation of my account. Is this something that the Federal Trade Commission can handle?

  • Marc Dobiecki

    I have been an active Square merchant for more than one year with no issues. That is – until recently!
    My account was placed in a “Review Status” after I completed a 26K single CC transaction. Square requested that I submit various financial data on two occasions this past week. I complied on the dates of the request. I have received NO follow-up emails or any communication from Square. I have sent ten emails to Square (non)Support of which not one has been answered. This is bordering on criminal.

  • Pam

    Another comment To add to the pile of negative comments about square. I had the register and used it on my iPad. Worked OK for 2 years.then my square account was hacked. Only that account, nothing else on my computer. The customer service was just awful. Ridiculous answers to e-mails, like they were not even read, many, many phone calls, no one able to help, waited on hold for hours, dropped calls and rude people. This company is not worth the trouble and wasted time.

  • Herman Polen Sr.

    I am very unhappy with your service, you accepted the cards money and deducted your amount but never sent mine to my approved account.
    This is 2 weeks ago. You are holding on to my funds of $501.00, I have sent 3 faxes and tried the verification on the webpage 4 times, it will not take my documents by your website. I was never given a customer code when I got on your phone iy just shut me off. please take care of this right away. I just sent in my 3rd fax my number [REDACTED – personal contact information] Herman Polen Sr. Helping Hands Security Services

  • Karen Payne

    This was the worst decision we ever made choosing square… I wanted to switch to another company months ago and decided to give square a 2nd chance and now our funds are being held and our account has been deactivated!! Of course there is no live person to speak with! I will tell everyone I meet to NEVER choose the Square!!!! This has been a nightmare

  • jesse Taylor

    Account was closed because I was doing business as usual don’t understand them They held funds for 5 days then sent an email to refund your customer’s…
    Not a happy client and will not recommend them to anyone I come across in the future… In fact I’m going to have my friends and family who use them switch to a different mechant system.. Because of the lack of communication from them..

  • Tiffany Clark

    We signed up with Square in late March of this year to be able to provide the convenience of accepting credit cards at our outdoor festivals. At the time of account generation, no verification was requested by Square other than what we registered. This was this way for 3 weeks as we invoiced vendors for booth fees and accepted a small number of payments. We used Square registers at our event bars to accept “card in hand” transactions for bar beverages over a 3 day period. Immediately following this Square asked us to jump through hoops for 3 weeks verifying our company (25 years old), our business (did and sent copies of invoices, noted that our use was for vending fees an bar transactions, copies of our bank statements (with Bank of America for over 20 years had it all lined out well) and then deactivated our account this week noting “high risk” business and is holding our $11,900 in funds that we require to pay event staff this weekend. As everyone else here noted, cannot reach them. Deactivated without warning, then say they can’t speak with us because we are deactivated. I think it’s time for a Class Action Lawsuit after reviewing the comments here. It is corrupt and fraudulent behavior. They are holding other businesses funds, making interest off of them, I’m sure using the cash and not holding it in trust accounts until they release it. Given the increase in complaints year over year noted here, it is a big red flag that they are getting more comfortable with this practice and are not being checked.

  • Vanessa Jackson

    Square took payment from my client then immediately deactivated my account without paying me the funds. They will not answer customer service phone calls if you don’t have a customer number (which one doesn’t have if their account is deactivated), so they have essentially stolen money from me and my client. They only send form emails in response to online customer support attempts.

    This is an unethical company with horrible practices and I would strongly advise against using them.

    • Andrew

      Not Squared …But SCREWED By Square….

      Hi,
      I verified my bank account on 4-26-2016 and made several $1.00 test charges to check my business’s invoice and receipt content was correct. I then sent an invoice to client which they subsequently paid via CC to my square account for $2,871.45. Square asked for additional verification which I supplied. I was then sent an email with a customer code which I tried to get support with to no avail it said my account was deactivated? I had the account for 5 DAYS and they deactivated it and now I have to wait 90 DAYS to get paid and I already paid my vendors…I’M Screwed…!
      The question I have will the funds I received from my customer ($2,871.45) be deposited into my verified Chase bank account in 90 days as stated in the deactivation email I received?

  • EJ

    How come none can get a human being over the phone anymore?? Why square is making difficult to talk with them? we are the customers! I don’t think that is right. You sign into your account and Square still not realizing your code or MID (member ID) WHY??

  • Monique Jones

    Square has a non-existent customer service approach. If you are a small business do not use this as your third party payment method. You’ve been warned!. Square held funds in excess of $3500 for days. Not unti threatening legal action, posted bad review om FB and finally called their Sales Dept did I get a response. Is anyone surprised I could get a human in Sales but not in Customer Service? If you are, here’s why. Sales make money, but Customer Service probably means complaint. Square doesn’t care about paying customers only acquiring more paying customers. I’m all for technology, but when you only rely on it customers pay the price. Square, do better…be better or I can assure you, your lack of customer service will put you back at square onw.

  • Jade Marini

    I am not happy at all with square and would not recommend it to ANY business owner! I have been robbed of $6,000 on Friday and could not get anyone on the phone until Monday! I called the customer service number and we hung up on because I didn’t have my customer code!! Not for nothing but as a small business owner trying to compete with cooperation a I would like to be on an equal playing ground with customer service care!!! I wou never recommend this to anyone and suggest all small business owners to find another company for credit card transactions

  • Daniel Betts

    Terrible. My law firm has been using them for a few months, and while they do provide a useful service when it works, their FAQ is woefully uninformative, and in many circumstances is directly unhelpful, referring the user to supposed features that neither exist on the website or the app. I’ve spent over an hour today trying to figure out how to refund a payment that was made yesterday and has not been processed. No luck whatsoever, no possibility of speaking with someone or even chatting with a bot (which at this point I would take). The client is furious, and I will have to find an alternate means of refunding the fee. I will be terminating my relationship with SquareCash as soon as I can extract myself from this morass. STRONGLY DO NOT RECOMMEND.

    • Ryan

      This company sucks, STAY AWAY!

      We are a medical clinic and our 3rd day using their merchant processing application we charged a little over 5K in sales. The next day we received an email that they froze our account and will be holding on to our deposits until they “review” our transactions. They were asking for our medical licenses , detailed descriptions of our patients information and treatments. Long story short our attorney is going after them as they are with-holding payment for no justified reason and trying to acquire HIPPA protected patient information that has absolutely nothing to do with credit card processing.

      This company is a bunch of scam artists. Go with a different processor, one that actually has a live human on the phone to discuss any issues that my present themselves with processing. Square Down is what it should be called. Stupid company.

  • Gordon

    Extremely frustrating experience with Square Inc. I’ve never had such a difficult time trying speak to a company rep or agent in my life. And for the type of service that Square provides for people and businesses, that is just inexcusable and ridiculous. None of my funds have been released, since my first customer charge 30 days ago! And currently those charges totals over $3k. And now, after countless back and forth useless & auto-generated emails, 1 actual phone conversation (with a useless agent at that), they decided to deactivate my account…..and hold my funds for possibly 90 days!?! Absolutely absurd!
    SQUARE INC is a sorry, shameful, and faceless company. Any company that tries this hard to avoid their customers SHOULD and WILL be terminated eventually. On a positive note, i’ve realized there are many companies providing everything Square can offer but with far greater service and respectability. I selected PaymentDepot because they are locally based and I spoke directly with a helpful representative. Wish I had done my research from the start, I would have seen that all my issues I had with Square was a very common occurrence. Shame on you Square Inc., shame.

  • Amanda Kalidy

    Square deactivated our account even while providing tracking confirmation for every customer, and has now held our money for over 1 month. I’ve emailed several times and they won’t speak to me because our account is not current. I am so frusterated, and i feel so helpless as i do not know what to do about this!!!!

  • Melinda Middlebrooks, Esq.

    Our Law Firm had been using Square for several years then suddenly, without notice, we received a notice of immediate termination because we handle bankruptcy matters, including creditor representation. Square has apparently determined that bankruptcy representation, even of creditors, should be classified together with “escort services” and the like. We are pleased with our replacement company, which has much services and more competitive rates, however, the manner in which our firm was handled was highly unprofessional and inappropriate. I will be certain to advise all of our colleagues NOT to use Square and will be selling my stock interest in the IPO asap. Highly disappointed with Square.

  • Heather

    I run a service business and have recently deactivated my Square account because I have found a much better company with lower rates.
    Today I received an email from Square about a client requesting a refund. The problem is, I stopped using Square more than a month ago. This client has enjoyed the services I provided and now is wanting money back. I would like to know who was not satisfied and what the true problem was. Square emailed me from an email I cannot reply to and the customer support number will not put me through to a representative because I deactivated my account. Lesson learned, Square doesn’t protect the business that have invested in their services. And because of this, I will spread the word to other business owners to never trust Square.

    • Anti Square

      Heather, before you start hating your clients know that they take money from people like you and me then blame our clients for chargebacks they did not dispute.

      They did this to me nearly 1 year after a friend and associate reimbursed me on Square. Turns out, he doesn’t have a SquAre account anymore and neither do I. Banks allow about 60 days for chargebacks, some processors up to 120. Square went ahead and extracted over $500 363 days later after funds cleared.

      While I am fully aware customer service can lead to chargebacks Square not only tries to break small business owners but destroy their rapport with their clients as well.

      And yes you bet I confronted my customer about the year later chargeback, and he was stunned. He felt so bad about it that he reached out to square telling them he did not dispute charges on me. And they responded with a copy paste email that had absolutely nothing to do with the matter.

      Dispute the chargeback with your bank and get a new debit card. They cannot debit money without your numbers and c v v. Report them
      Now and get a new card!!!!! ASAP

      • Maureen Tanner

        why was my account dectivated i used it yesterday and the sale seemed to go thru but then it didnt show up today. I needed the transaction for a plumber who put ina hot water tank, 1000.00 the money is available but it has been deactivated WHY

  • barry wallace

    Well I am no longer an active square customer we have had our money held by square since 2014 two years the money being held is only 2,100 dollars so that amount is not high enough too get a lawyer so I suspect they think they just ignore our company send over 100 emails and no response
    our company is called wallace consulting

  • Damien Hammond

    Square DOES NOT do what they say.
    I own a small handyman/ construction company. I just started with a new client. I have done 4 charges with him $15,000.
    It has been over a week and square still has my $$. I tried calling!! You need a customer code. Filled out form for code! NO code my account is under review 2-4 days and they’ll get back to me. We had to stop work. My bank account is overdrawn and I can’t pay my employees or my bills either.
    use ANYONE else DO NOT use Square

    • George Satoa

      UNBELIEVABLE!!! This is happening to me too. We have over 40,000 that is on hold cause we need to verified documents from our bank statements accounts, contracts from our clients and other documents. I now have to call my costumers to cancel all transaction made from us. All bills have to be on hold, can’t pay my employees for the jobs we just finish, my bank is running negative wtf! I am pissed! I will have to now fly down to San Francisco and kick some asses the old school way. CONSUMERS BEWARE! RED FLAG, RED FLAG, RED FLAG!

  • Thiago

    On April 11, 2016 I reached out to square in order to get some advice about a transaction i was about to process using their services. I asked if it would be suitable to sell a vehicle in the amount of $4,000.00 USD as long as i had all paper work, including bill of sale, and title transfer signed by both the seller and buyer.

    Square assured me that there would not be a problem. That same day i sold the vehicle and processed the payment of $4,000.00 via an American Express card and everything was approved.

    While the buyer of the truck was still in premises i called square to follow up and make sure no further steps needed to be taken in order for the money to be transferred into my account, which i was told i did not and by the next evening the money would be in my bank account. So away the buyer drover with the truck.

    Later that evening, around 9:00 PM EST, i received and email from square stating that they needed further verification from my end. Which included my last 3 bank statements, a government ID, BIll of Sale, and any extra paperwork that was signed by the buyer, which i had every single one of those papers under my possession and quickly emailed them over Tuesday April 12th, 2016.

    On Wednesday, April 13th 2016, i get an email from square alerting me that they would not be able to process the transaction and i would need to issue the buyer a refund.

    Called into Square, and for the second time was transferred to a CSR by the name of Zayn, which has to easily the one of the most disrespectful and unpleasant people to speak with, seems like his job is to be short and not have any questions from the merchant end answered.

    At the moment the vehicle is being driven by the Buyer, the payment has been cancelled, and as told by Zayn, i need to have the buyer pay with Cash, which obviously would of have been my go to choice if the funds were available by the buyer.

    This has to be one of the worst experiences i have ever had dealing with a CSR by the name of Zayn, and the Square company overall.

    • John R

      Simple stuff here – it is a very, very high risk credit card transaction. The buyer has up to 90 days for most banks to dispute the transaction. So if anything at all went wrong with that car, all he had to do it call his credit card company and claim misrepresentation on your end. The credit card company claws the funds back from Square and if Square can’t claw it back from you, they eat $4,000. Bottom line is you only accept a cashiers check when you sell something like a car. If they can’t give you a cashiers check, run away very fast from the transaction. If the buyer says he “has” to use his credit card, I’d tell him to get a cash advance and bring me a cashiers check.

      As for Square? The CSRs have no idea which transactions will get flagged by their underwriters, so calling them before a transaction doesn’t mean anything. And for what it’s worth, I can’t imagine a single payment processor who wouldn’t flag that type of transaction.

  • Judy Williams

    I received a package in the mail, I have not opened it. I can not get ahold of this company to send it back . They are taking $1.00 out of my bank account each month. I have a product that I am using SO now I am being charged for an item I do not want and did not order. I need to know how to connect by phone to SQUARE.

  • Sandra Landau, Ph.D.

    Have had Square for more than one year. It just stopped working when I attempted to manually enter a card number. There is no support. Both the telephone number and web site are a joke only this is not funny. You cannot speak to anyone without a customer code obtained from the web site, but you cannot navigate the site to obtain the code.

    • K Mac

      I totally agree. Not only can you not navigate their site to get that mysterious code to be able to get through on their customer service line, once they deactivate your account for no reason, you can’t even log in and ask ‘the community’ a question. I would love to warn every small business owner I know to avoid Square completely. Now what to do with all the components of the lovely Square Register. Cha ching.

  • Halim

    This is the worst company out there, I don’t know how they are still operating. I will do everything in my power to share how a horrible company they are. I have been waiting for weeks to get W2 for employees and Taxes are due in just two weeks! I have been e-mailing them everyday hoping to get a response from them and nothing so far.

  • Anny

    I used Square Reader sporadically for insurance copays recently I realized that my last two transactions were not credited to my account. I called Square, not able to get through, e-mailed and was given a customer number. It turns out that since November 2015, my account has not received any of the transactions I processed and someone charged a TV to my account. The name, the phone number and the receiving bank was changed in my account. I did not received any e-mail from Square notifying of any changes to my account. Now it has taken several phone call and emails to try to decipher the problem. The account was hacked. Now Square says they will reimburse the money but not the fees. Just one day ofter I spoke to them about the account being compromised and they assured me they would put a hold to the account, I received another email with another charge that was going to take place. The crazy thing is that now I cannot deactivate the account because the last fraudulent charge (400.00+) is still pending and they would not release the account until that goes through. So they want me to allow the bank to process a fraudulent transaction and place my account in jeopardy of being hacked again, so that then, they can close the account. I called my bank and put a stop to any transaction coming from Square. I cannot get anyone on the phone and they’re not answering my emails. I will file a formal compliant with the BBB in California.

  • Randy

    I WOULD NOT process with square. You are guilty until proven innocent and then when American express tells square that the dispute was reversed in your favor square will take four months to return your money. You can’t call any one and talk to them about any issues. You have to do the work for them. They lie about defending you and sending in documentation. I had to send everything in myself and took care of everything in 1 day verses the four months square wanted to take. What a JOKE. DO NOT process with Square.

  • J M

    Took over $2000 from me and refuse to disclose why they’ve closed my account. No way to call them, no way to dispute their claim of “suspicious activity” (this was my first time using the service, which is apparently a problem.)

    They’ve stolen money from me and unless it is returned within 30 days I’m pressing charges. Horrible company, do NOT use Square!

    • K Mac

      I had the exact same thing happen to me. Brand new account, had already used for four days when I got the ‘account has been closed permanently’ for ‘suspicious activity’.

      The email claims they will hold my funds for 90 days, then release them.

      I tried to call customer service, which does NOT exist. I could NOT get the ‘customer code’ from their website either. And they have never responded to my emails. Basically, you are suddenly cancelled with no explanation whatsoever.

      I would just like to warn others, because when you are standing at your ‘Square Register’ with your customer’s card in hand waiting to check out, it’s a really bad feeling to see that your account has been ‘permanently closed’ without any details. What a MESS.

      • Frustrated

        I’m curious also. Did you? I turned in tons of paperwork proof and still waiting on my money. Wondering if they are needing all of our funds to stay afloat because this is a lot of complaints! Especially when I saw the one they did to a law firm. If they can hold their money, we are all screwed.

  • Ben murphy

    Square is stealing money from small businesses. I applied to there web site. They gave what looks like an approval. Then they sent solicitations for me to start processing credit cards. I allowed my client to pay me with a credit card $1100 dollars. Square approved the transaction and removed the money from his card account. Then kept it! They said we need more information to approve you. Then declined my application sending me a n email saying that the money would be held for 90 days!
    If I refund my customer it will take him sixty days to get it back!
    This is called floating they are stealing small hard working people’s money and keeping it for literally months while they use for whatever.
    They are a bunch of stealing SOB’s I am interested in any class action suit.
    This really hurts me and takes food from my table!

  • Nan Green

    I have been trying for over a week to get in touch with customer service in regards to a transaction whose funds never made it to my account. Unless you have a customer code, you might as well forget it. There are a lot of directions as in click here for your customer code, but noting leads you to the code. I believe that this company does not want you to call them, nor do they want to help you. I’ve emailed them for several days in a row, only to receive a canned reply. No one ever calls you back or reply’s to your message.
    The worst service ever!! I’m going to have to go with a better service. In fact, any service would be better then the service I’ve received from Square.

  • pamela

    Horrible Customer Service, in a world where Customer Service counts. There are too many companies that pride themselves with great customer service practices, that we don’t have to put up with companies that really don’t value your business.

    We’ve been with Square for two years, and in trying to find an answer as to why it takes a week for our customers to receive a refund the rep. tried to make up some random answer. When my husband replied, “so apparently you don’t know, please give me a supervisor.” The rep. responded he didn’t have one. So maybe my husband was talking to the founder himself. So when my husband said we would be moving our business elsewhere, and he could pass that on to his non-existent supervisor. He said ok.

  • Tom Mills

    Square is a complete scam. I keep getting emails about $1,000 plus deposits that can’t go through and I don’t even have an account with these pathetic human beings.

    And there is no way for me to stop these emails, as none of them are legit and wiped out after they are sent.

    DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!

  • Michael

    Square has the worst customer service ever, these guys have proven to be crooks,
    They are holding my funds for 90 days for no reason. $4190.00 of my hard earned money and for no reason,
    My client confirms that the money has been deducted from her account, so why is square squatting on my money?
    They sent me an email saying my account had been permanently suspended so I can no longer call them either LOL
    Gangsters without any remorse

  • Doug Marshall

    I applied and was originally told my bank account had been approved but when the reader did not show up I tried to contact Square customer service WHAT A DISASTER that is. No phone support for people who are not existing customers, you have to use email. Basically I was told FU by square for some unknown reason and when I repeatedly asked why Square never returned an email. I have never bounced a check, gone bankrupt or had anything that would exclude me from any other CC processor or financial institution.

  • Michael

    Square.com is a real pain in the rear for the vendor, I am a contractor and when I receive progress payments from customers they are usually at least $4k. I will process a payment on Thursday at 2pm for example and I should expect my money to hit the account by the next business day right? Well no guess again, you see they have tied up my funds multiple times for one reason or another, making me jump through hoops and whatnot, in the mean time they comfortably sit on the interest earned by my funds releasing them from Thursday till Tuesday

  • James Glucksman

    I joined Square in late November 2015. Until March 28, 2016 at 11;53 a.m. I was singing their praises. I once contacted hone support and got a call back within an hour or two. At 11:54 a.m. I was abruptly terminated under “Section 6” of the agreement, which relates to “high risk” activities. The only category that seemed to fit was “bankruptcy law.” I practice in bankruptcy courts but not representing debtors. In short, it is no different than representing people on speeding tickets.

    I was unable to contact them by phone and two requests for communication via their customer assistance site has led to a black hole. I would be happy to resume using them and if they actually new my business I’d make money for them. This has put me out of business until I replace their services.

  • Vlad

    Square is a “bad hell “company. We are lucky to flee from Square because we got bad guts when we were curious surfing the website. Oh, my gosh! Square does not have a real rep and does not communicate with anyone by phone. Even they do not communicate and do not respond to inquiries. It is SCAM. We emailed a basic inquire to Square 3 times and never heard back from Square. At worst of all, we requested the Square sales office to call us for opening account because there is loop to run. The sales reps did not contact us anyway. It is 100% SCAM!

  • Jessica Landeros

    DO NOT RECOMMEND! We read the reviews a lot before purchasing and unfortunately we still did it. I regret it!

    We have been back and forth with customer service and the dispute team and it has not be helpful. Our company is suffering because of the Square’s lack of communication and actions. It took about 4 days to be contacted by the Square after seeing a withdraw of $5,745.66 on our account from the Square. You cannot get a hold of customer service without a code and I could not find my code anywhere. I called several times a day and emailed at least 5 times and was still not contacted by anyone.

    We are a small family owned business who had a stubborn customer who made a dispute, but it did not take long for them to realize they were wrong and cancel the dispute. They made our account negative a few times and tried multiple times to take out the money. The dispute was canceled by our customer and the Square still took out the $5,745.66 from our account. The Square should have canceled the debit immediately but instead debited our account 3 days after the dispute was canceled.

    This has taken up a lot of our time and we cannot conduct business without that money. We are a small business and something like this puts us in a bind. We have vendors to pay and projects to start and we can’t run smoothly because of the Square.

    I am very disappointed and will be looking for a replacement for the Square. I will not be recommending the Square to anyone and I will be reviewing on every page I can find to stop people from getting the Square. We just started our business and the Square has made this nothing but difficult.

    • max

      Dispute it with your bank. They’ll get your money back. Square did this crap too me numerous times. I got my money back every time, and finally closed the bank acct. To this day, months later, square is still trying to debit the bank acct that was closed. I know because they keep sending me emails. customers stole from me, and square allows it. Now they had to refund the customers, they were attacking my bank account

      • Bob

        Max, they did it to me on 3/9/16. they claimed my original sender for money sent to me in March 2015 disputed charges. I contacted the original sender who is a friend. He said he can’t dispute bank charges past 60 days and didn’t want the money back. Plus, the Square website says refunds can only be processed through them in 60 days. They violated their own policy by extracting funds 363 days after they cleared AND blamed the sender! The sender has yet to hear from Square because he never filed a dispute!

        I reported it to my bank and disputed these charges. I hope the odds will be in my favor and I will get my money back. 363 days! Let’s think about that for a moment…everyone get a new debit card if you’ve ever had a Square account with your existing card. spare yourself the annoyance of this floating money fraud company.

  • Shaq Rivera

    This has been one of the worst most hurtful experiences ever. I finally figured a way to make extra money out side of my regular 9-5 and for a brief moment the square really seemed like a blessing . As soon as I got to a good point and had a very successful day my funds were put on hold with no warning . I tried getting the elusive customer code with absolutely no luck. I sent an email to the “customer support ” and in response I got an email back stating my account will be deactivated with no chance of a reverse decision and my funds will be held no less than 150 days possibly 180 . I feel helpless and robbed.

  • Judy English

    This is the most awful experience I have ever had with a company. We signed up for a square reader and I had to dig around on the internet for a phone number to talk to an actual person instead of an email. The customer code was no where I could find (which they require to talk to a person) so I emailed for the code. The wrong one was sent. When I called the 855 number and entered the code on prompt the automated line said it was wrong. Back to the drawing board of sending emails and begging for the right code. I have not even received my square reader in the mail yet and at this point they can keep it I am going with some else. They can keep their free website and business help I am not dealing with this. Not a good experience so if you are low on patience don’t bother and if you happen to have a lot of patience it will be pushed to the limit with this company.

  • Robert Griggs

    SQ is the worst company for customer service I have ever seen!!!! We made a mistake in setting up our account I admit! But they collected money for our Charity; then deactivated our account! Now they want answer the phone to help. We collected money for the University of Missouri Athletic Department last week & thought this process would be easier! Boy was I mistaken they don’t pick up the phone & if they deactivate your account they for sure want talk to you!!! I went to their office yesterday in St Louis to speak with someone & they wouldn’t talk to me!!! I did get mad & frustrated but they said if I didn’t leave they would call the police! We are going to do a tweeter champagne against them starting today!!!
    THEY ARE THE WORST! Don’t use them unless you want FRUSTRATION & PAIN!

  • Randy McKernan

    I was trying to switch to Square. I processed a few cards but had some questions about the verification process. I sent a request to have someone call numerous times. I got an email with a phone number and a code to use that was invalid. We are not a virtual company. I process over $1M per year in Credit cards and insist on customer service.

  • Kandie davis

    I was told they were going to hold my funds for 90 days. My business is high risk. It has been over 90 days. I have not received my funds. When i call the customer service number i need a code. I have my code. I enter my code and it says that’s not it. Its not it because they deactivated my account. Now with no way to contact them except through email, they are keeping my money. They don’t respond through email. I am contacting a lawyer today. This company is a scam!!!

    • Kim hunt

      I am going thru this right now except they say they holding mine for 180 days..I have been using square for 4 years now and I have never had a problem until now..please keep us informed on what your lawyer has to say!!

      • Kimberly

        FYI I have been fighting Square since 09/2013 and have never EVER received any of the $8,000+ they withdrew from my business account. I contacted a CLASS ACTION ATTORNEY in Columbus, Ohio and he was very interested in the case. After sending him Squares contract he contacted me several days later and said they had an iron clad contract, basically saying they can “deactivate and withdraw funds” at anytime for any reason. I have been blocked from all of their websites/forum/facebook accounts because I will not stop until Jack Dorsey and his company is exposed as a PONZI scheme. Worse than Madoff, at least he went after the millionaires and not small business

  • david evans

    does anyone know if they consider account that they closed but that appear to be open considered dormant i got this from there terms and conditions
    paragraph 32
    Dormant Square Accounts

    If there is no activity in your Square Account (including access or payment transactions) for at least two years, consecutively, and you have a Balance, we will notify you by sending an email to the email address associated with your Square Account and give you the option of keeping your Square Account open and maintaining the Balance, withdrawing the Balance, or requesting a check. If you do not respond to our notice within thirty days, we will automatically close your Square Account and escheat your funds in accordance with applicable law, and if permitted, to Square.

  • Amber

    ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE!!!! They deactivated our account without any notice, saying that our funds would be held for 90 days and there is no way to reverse this decision. WE ARE A LEGITIMATE BUSINESS. There IS NO FRAUDULENT activity on our account whatsoever, so the fact that they are suggesting this is ABSURD. We are reporting them to the Better Business Bureau. DO NOT USE SQUARE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. We are contactin our attorney tomorrow.

    • Christine

      We were just deactivated today as well but we were not told why. I don’t understand how they can deactivate and not tell why. They made good money off of my company & now all of a sudden they are going to deactivate????

  • IF ONLY I HAD KNOWN BEFORE PURCHASING

    Purchased the Square device last week. Set up account. Took first payment from a customer on Saturday. Checked account Monday morning March 21, 2016 only to see no deposit. Checked Square account. Had a notification that they needed more information (government ID, receipts, invoice etc). Sent what I had. Called them at 12:00PM my time which is 9AM their time. Said they received the information. Got an email a few hours later that they needed bank statements. Sent them VIA fax. Called them back 45 minutes later. The guy (very rude) said once I hung up with him he would process the information. Here is the swift kick to the butt, they sent me an email saying they had cancelled my account due to suspicious activity. How the heck is their suspicious activity if I only made one transaction? I had done one Saturday but cancelled it because the device wasn’t working. Got it to finally work so their was only one transaction showing. Contacted the customer and let them know that I was issuing a refund. Then find out it takes 2-5 days to do that. So all in all, I have to wait over a week to get paid for work that has been done which was a residential repaint. So as far as I am concerned, if you want to waste your money on a Square device and only be able to contact someone IF you have a customer code, go for it. THIS WAS A BIG WASTE OF TIME AND $10 +TAX FOR A PIECE OF PLASTIC TO PLUG INTO MY PHONE. “SQUARE” CAN SHOVE IT AS FAR UP ITS BUTT AS IT WILL GO. WILL NEVER WASTE MY TIME OR MONEY ON THEIR CRAP AGAIN!!

  • john

    This little card reader is only useful if you have zero options other than the customer’s card.
    They charge way too much ( like real estate agents) and offer nothing in return except taking days to process your charge and, there is no phone help unless you are a paid member.
    Where does all of the millions of dollars go that they are making off us?
    Pay a person to answer the phone. This sucks

  • blake stormes

    I do not use square up and I receive unsolicited emails with no link to unsubscribe. How can I stop this annoying action on their part. Will never purchase ANYTHING that is processed through square up.

    • Jerry sharman

      I am getting the same unsolicited emails indicating they are taking monies from my bank account. I have tried unsuccessfully to reach these individuals because I am unwilling to sign up and get this customer code they require to answer the phones. This is beginning to really worry me and I refuse to sign up for this service just to be able to contact them. Thinking very hard about reporting them to the authorities, if I can find someone that can help me. I would never use a service like this that has access to my monies, but won’t even allow you to contact them!

  • Carol

    Square’s Non existent live Customer Service is a joke. I’m a current Square Customer – I’m out shopping around because of there lack of Customer Service.

    I Hate them!!

  • Paula Ogier

    While I enjoy using Square for payments taken in my art studio, my experiences with customer service related to their online store have been shockingly poor. I can spend weeks hounding them for the answer to a question about my online store. You’d think that only 2 people work in customer service. After complaining about their slow customer service on Twitter, I would hear back from them immediately, but the person they’d have contact me (via email) would give pat answers that were irrelevant to my question. So, I’d have to say my biggest frustration with them is not being heard. Their responses seem scripted and designed to shoo the customer away as quickly as possible. It is one thing to send cheery responses (with exclamation points!!) saying they’ll be getting in touch soon, or to feel free to send any further questions their way, and it is another to actually listen and take steps to be helpful. I would like to continue using Square, and I like the look of my Square online store, but I’m losing my respect for them due to how they handle customer service. It was very interesting to find this article and see that so many other customers have had similarly poor service.

  • Debra Turner

    I am sick and tired of receiving emails from these people. I have no earthly idea who the hell they are or how the hell they got my email address.

    It’s always something to this effect, and they always threaten to take money out of my bank account: “We have not received a response from you regarding the $1,973.27 payment dispute on a transaction that was processed on January 24, 2016 If you would like to challenge or accept this dispute, please respond to information Request Form within 24 hours from the date of this notification.” There’s more, but I’m sure you get the idea.

    I have emailed them about this but they have never acknowledged any of my communications. This is irritating and makes me more than just a little bit nervous. I have had the same email address for about 15 years, and it worries me that they have it and that they seem to have an account attached to it. I have begun changing my password quite often.

  • Jamma

    I have been with Square for a few years now and have not had any issues. I am a one man automotive repair shop and use Square once or twice a month. On March 2nd I used Square for a credit card transaction with the customer present for approx. $1600. I was notified by e-mail that the transaction was successful and the money would be in my account. Later in the evening I received an email from Square saying they needed 3 months worth of bank statements, a government document showing my business is legit, copy of an invoice and a copy of a purchase order in order to receive my funds. So by Friday, March 4, all the documentation was sent and was told it would be sent to their review committee. I received an email Friday at 7 pm (the time they close) saying ” We’re sorry to inform you that we are deactivating your account. Our Account Services team reviewed your account and found a pattern of transactions associated with high-risk activity. For further information about our policies, you can review section 42 of the Square Seller Agreement. We regret that, starting today, you will no longer be able to process transactions using Square. Any funds currently in your account will be held for 90 days before being released to your linked bank account. ” Not sure what the high-risk activity is since we only use them once or twice a month and the charges are usually $200-$300.

    Therefore, this means I cannot have my funds until June 2. Just like all the comments I have read on here, you can’t call and talk to anybody without a code, and you can’t get a code when your account is “deactivated”. So in the meantime I have vendors that want money and I have other payments due and if payments are not made on time that creates more expense for me. I have sent Square an email asking for a better explanation of the deactivation, but doubt I will hear anything. So needless to say I am in the process of looking for a more reliable credit card company without monthly fees for my small business.

  • Joe R

    NOT as advertised. Downloaded APP, verified account and went pretty smooth.
    Good luck getting your deposits within 2 days, make it 3-5 days if you have charges on a Friday!
    Customer services is ridiculous! They enforce priority call backs and literally takes 2-3 days! Was I supposed to wait on hold for 3 days if I didn’t choose the call back? HORRIBLE!
    THEN, once your up and running, they interrupt your business after a few weeks to RE VERIFY and hold your deposits????
    Don’t know how much longer I’ll be with them. Aside from the RE verification, I can’t be with a company with zero customer service!

  • michelle

    The absolute worst company I have ever dealt with. They are completely incompetent, don’t know anything about how to use or work their product, and when they don’t have an answer they say they may be able to fix in the future but not now. I wouldn’t recommend them to my worst enemy. Complete morons.


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  • Brett

    Horrible company. I ordered my square card reader and they took $49 out of my account on 1/12/16 and said they shipped it 1/22/16. It never showed up ao weeks later i was asked to private message on face book and they said they reordered me one on 2/7/16 and then took another $49 payment and said it shipped on 2/13/16 and as of 3/3/16 still not here. I then went back to there facebook page and then they blocked me right away and now im out of money twice and no card reader, Does anyone know a phone number where i can actually talk to someone??.ive called the number on their site and it wont actually let u talk. Also im interested in any info on anything with filing a suit against them..#Scam#Liars#Thieves


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  • jledkins1979

    Mark in Compliance replied to my email inquiry concerning deactivating my credit card processing.

    Please be advised, Square will deactivate credit card processing, reply to to email 4-6 days later, and will never give you your customer code to call in and speak to someone!

    Sqaure does not want to speak to you.

    They will tell you that your activity is “generally associated with high risk activity” = but Square won’t ask for nor has seen a single financial document.

    YOUR LEGITIMANT COMPANY WILL BE INSTANTLY CRIPPLED!!!!

    The following is my reply to the Compliance Department:

    Mark

    Interesting feedback,

    Wells Fargo Underwriting approved Virtual Terminal as my new credit card provider and other of my vendors that were using my American Express as payment for services to them, but Square deactivated services.

    My financials were provided to WF underwriting.

    What I don’t understand is how a close look at my form of payment to a hands on underwriting department found no issues, but a service provider like Square who has never seen a single financial document can tell me that my practices are generally associated with high risk activity.

    After fees collected on hundreds of thousands of dollars processed, you would think that before deactivating my account Square would ask for my 800+ credit score on all 3 credit major credit providers, I have $200k of available credit lines with some of the highest profile banks, including a $100k spending limit with American Express per month alone

    I phoned American Express to go over terms and conditions of my card and activity = no issues found. But Square hasn’t seen one financial document – but my activities are are deemed High Risk

    Wells Fago Underwriters looked much closer – including pulling my credit = no issues found. But Square hasn’t seen one financial document – but my activities are are deemed High Risk

    Individuals associated with High Risk Activity do not have 18 years of established credit accounts with $200k in credit lines = NOBODY!

    Individuals associated with High Risk Activity don’t provide financials

    *I don’t expect a response and I’m sure no one after this email has the $&@” to call me*

    *Should Square contact me = I would love for you to be provided what was given to Wells Fargo Underwriting*

    Assumption is the mother of all screw ups

    Call me = PLEASE

    I’ll give full disclosure for Square to speak American Express, get all 3 credit scores, and contact Credit Union of Denver = be prepared to to get laughed at!

    Call me = PLEASE

    I’ll hand over all my fully compliant licenses, general liability, insurance umbrella, Colorado state certificate of good standing with the Colorado secretary of states office including no complaints ever filed against myself or my company that began in California in 8/2005.

    Let’s square up


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  • Richard

    I work building websites. I charged a customer $2000 for work which was completed. I had paperwork, emails, etc to verify work was carried out. One day the customer decides he no longer wanted to pay. I got a 1500 chargeback. Square took the money right out of the account without warning and overdrew our account so I shut it down. Square still tried to take the extra $500. Now Three years later square is trying to get the extra $500. The offered no support or resolution service and no response at the time.

    This is the email chain

    “From Me”

    This customer stole the services from me and you provided no support whatsoever. We provided you with paperwork, contracts, emails and various other means of proof that the customer had used the services we offer and you did nothing. The Better Business Bureau took my side on the matter.

    At the time you provided no phone support or mediation services to assist us as your customers. In fact at the time of the dispute you provided no phone contact for us at all and there was no even a listed number for the company. Your support was weak at best which is well documented on the internet.

    I consider this a terrible disservice to us followed by no resolution. In face we lost much more than this $500 due to you pulling the money out of our account with NO warning. You didn’t even hold the money in an escrow account pending resolution.

    You lost us as a customer due to this and I have moved all my business to Paypal who do provide support and resolution.

    Perhaps you should consider either eliminating this balance completely or drastically reducing it before I will even consider settling with you and am prepared to take this matter to a local small claims court

    From Square

    Thanks for writing in. As a point of clarification, all cardholders in the United States are afforded the right to dispute any and all transactions appearing on their statements that they do not agree with. This right is protected by Federal statute and enforced via the card associations. The responsibility to address billing disputes remains incumbent upon the merchant regardless of which issuer, acquirer, or payments service provider you elect to do business with.

    Please note that all the information you supplied at the time of the chargeback notification was used as part of our case. The cardholder’s credit card issuer is ultimately responsible for determining the resolution of the chargeback.

    Square does not control the outcome of the chargeback decisions reached by the issuing bank in a credit card transaction. By accepting the terms of the Square Seller Agreement, you agreed to accept liability for your chargebacks.

    If there is some reason why a payment cannot be made immediately, please respond so that we can make arrangements that will be mutually agreeable. Perhaps we can work out a payment schedule that would be realistic for your present circumstances.


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  • Nancy

    Can’t get my square wireless reader to pair with my phone. Have updated everything. Trying to contact square but cannot get a customer code. When you go to the web site they tell you to get your code from you get an email form. Fill out the email form and you get a canned reply: We will respond shortly. NO CODE no way to get in touch with them. This is a stinky system!!!! Will be moving my business to Pay Pal!


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  • Jennifer B

    Square’s customer service is terrible. There is no live help. Imagine this…all of the transactions from your business for the week are automatically deposited into your checking acct for the week…except…the money is not there in your account. You attempt to call Square and day after day they report they are not accepting phone calls. You email them your issue and days later still no response. Pretty scary right? Well it’s been reality for me. Stay FAR away!!!


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  • DT

    As with many on-line companies, they have poor customer service. It’s difficult to reach anyone. Having a few FAQ’s on your website is not customer service. I’m trying to give you my business, and you’re making it as painful as possible. I may have to go back to Pay Pal. They charge more, but no problems and good customer service. Jack Dorsey is ruining this company through poor execution and management.


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  • Joe Rhem

    We created a Square account and ran a few transactions everything looked good. We then ran $8000 through the system and they indefinitely held the money. There is no one to talk to. When you go to the website to resolve an issue they require a code to call and when you follow the link to get the code it goes to an FAQ and there is no code. This is a fraudulent and non-responsive organization. We are reporting them to all of the state and federal agencies that regulate the credit card industry. Do not make that mistake we made and think it is a fast way to start taking payments. Take the tie to get with a real processor or work with your bank or even Paypal. Square is bad for business we still do not have anyway to get the $8000 back or speak to anyone. When we send in emails we get non-responsive replies. Stay away from Square.


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    • Sherelle

      This exact thing happened to me last week and I sent email after email, after the sixth email I sent to them by that time I was very angry , I said I was gonna contact the better business bureau because I couldn’t even get into my account , not only did someone change my banking information they changed my email, this was just unacceptable , the costumer service is beyond ridiculous, why would we have to get this angry to hear back from someone. And to top it off when I did get in touch with someone she told be they would send my money within seven business days. Smh I’m taking my business elsewhere.

  • Paul Kenyon

    Square was a great idea. There are a few things that have become so onerous, it may well be worth finding another payment option. When it is available, support is atrocious and of very little to no support.

    1) Customers can avoid ultimately paying for merchandise bought with Square by simply alleging their chip enabled credit was not chip transacted. At least in Canada, Square has no capacity to accept pin enabled cards, so every transaction is little more than a crap shoot and rock solid sales agreements and proof of sale are summarily ignored in favour of returning transaction amounts to dead beat customers.

    2) Most notably you can rarely, if ever, reach anyone on the telephone with a question or concern.

    3) The verification process is cumbersome, one dimensional, subjective and ridiculous. It contemplates that we are all selling widgets and has little capacity for verification of a lawyer, Dr. or personal reseller account.

    4) The exchange of information is faulted. When there is a problem with a transaction, Square gives you very little information with which to determine who the ‘Disputing’ customer is. They just you and amount and a date; and the amount of not what you charged the customer, but that amount less transaction fees. God forbid you should have multiple transactions of the same amount on the same day.


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  • Lucas

    Square is a truly substandard and non- responsive company. After discontinuing our service shortly after set up, they subsequently and continually attempted to debit our bank account for a card reader that had been on back order when we first applied with them months ago. We can no longer use, and therefore no longer need any of their equipment. Understand that they tried charging us for the equipment over two months after letting us know they couldn’t accommodate our business. We notified them by email before their first attempt to charge us that they had declined our business and that we didn’t need their equipment. A live person responded by email that they had forwarded our email and that we would hear back directly from square shorty. We didn’t receive the promised response and instead they began hitting our bank account. We have now sent three email and attempted to call with extremely long hold times that had to be discontinued. We are still waiting for any substantive response or responsible behavior on their part.


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  • G DABOSS

    square is a piece of crud. first of all they want more information on everything and anything i bought it to use it only for a weekend when a lady paid for my translation and paralegal work by credit card using square it wasnt that much it was arround 2000$ they want a copy of the reciept which was a custum amount .. now they want a copy of the damn receipt and a copy of her card i never knew i needed to keep a copy of the lady’s card cause it wouldnt be safe for a custumer to keep such sensitive information….. now second of all contacting custumer care is a pain in my neck being asked for a custumer id so you have to file a question wait hours for them to give you a custumer id then wait the next day cause they responded too late their buisness hours were over so had to wait next day issue is still not resolved


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  • Raymond J Marshall

    There customers service is the worst, I got an email a few days ago stating that I need to verify my account information, and they want my SSN # and some other personal stuff, I didn’t feel comfortable sending any of my personal info over the bet, especially when I’m not 100% sure it’s not some hacker trying to get my personal info, and also there would be no reason to verify my info when I did that over a year ago Sqaure already has my business EIN # and bank info and I have been using the credit card reader on a regular basis, so anyways I called them up to make sure they sent me the email and if they did I would just verify my info over phone. Oh also the email stated that if I don’t contact them within 1 – 2 business days they will put a hold on all future transactions, so I called them ASAP yesterday morning, I was on hold for 30 mnutes. Then there recording tells me that due to high volume calls if I leave my number I will not loose my spot and they will call me back, well I did that and never got a call back, it’s now been 2 days and still no call back, I even went on there website and left an email and still no return email or call back, so I did my part and contacted them or tried to contact them so now beings they never returned my call according to there email if I try to use the credit card reader the funds will be on hold, so if I don’t hear back from them by the end of the day, I’m going to get online and look for another mobile credit card reader and I’m gong to close my account with them, to be fair. Every time I used the reader it worked perfectly and the funds were deposited into my account fast , but if I can’t get through to customer service when I need to then it’s worthless to me to keep using square. After all your dealing with people’s money here.


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  • Connie

    on 2/15/2016 I had to have my dog put down. I paid my vet with my bank card. He uses Square. Square declined several times. As of this morning 2/17 Square is still telling him I was declined. But my bank shows they took The $495 out not once but twice! So neither of us have the money in our accounts! My bank checked into it and said the two payments were accepted then immediately reversed by square with no reason given as to why and that it will be two weeks before the money goes into my account and back on my card. So evidently they told him they declined but actually approved it then reversed so they could make interest during the hold? All I know is since they did it twice I am broke. I’ve been through a VERY hard year and just getting on my feet financially. I’m in the middle of a move so on top of losing my much loved friend,I now have no funds to turn utilities on or pay other fees to move.I could actually end up homeless and lose everything I have left because of this company and I don’t even use them. Not the vets fault at all. In fact after reading these comments I wouldn’t be surprised if he has further issues beyond my payment with them.


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  • Susan Purcell

    They have held over $6,000 from our small business for two months even after we have submitted the requested documentation – they just keep asking for more. They are impossible to reach by phone and throw up barrier after barrier to obtaining payment. I wish I had read these comments before using them. A frustrating mess and terrible experience. We will never use them again and I would never recommend them to anyone. Not sure how we are going to get our money out of them. They have managed to make it extremely difficult to resolve issues.


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  • Pete Allen

    Just received two emails from Square today speaking of thousands of dollars of charges and chargebacks that will affect by bank accounts. The only problem is that we don’t have a Square account and never gave them any of our bank info. We don’t have one of the readers with which to charge folks credit cards. It seems that Square has a big problem. One Fraud by one person cost them over $4,000,000. It seems like the justice department needs to shut them down until there is a resolution to all of their problems.


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  • Teri Ronk and Suzanne Fulford

    We have been loyal customers of Square for 2 years now. We get our money 24 hours after the sale. Now all of a sudden we are not getting our money. It has been 7 days and Square now has $19000.00 of our money and they will not talk to us. They are in “meetings”, their support staff in New York doesn’t know what California is doing. I think they have absconded with our money.


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  • paul volpe

    they are my card processor, they hold funds all the time and make my bank acct go neg, they say they dont cover that , but they cause it.they cant be reached by phone, you must use a code and wait for a call back. they finally called me 2 hours later, i told them to release funds, they dont need to hold my money , never had tis happen with my bank processor. they cost more but i can go there or call them


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  • Amna Farooquee

    They held my account for verification and holding $2000 of mine from my online store. The guy from Square called me to verify my company, and said today we will release your funds. Then 3 days later, deactivated my account saying the hold will be for 90 days and then I will get my money. Stay Away from this Company.

    This is the email they sent me – after 10 days of no Person On The Phone – They have no customer service at all.

    Hello Amna,
    We’re sorry to inform you that we are deactivating your account. Our Account Services team reviewed your account and found a pattern of transactions associated with high-risk activity.
    For further information about our policies, you can review section 42 of the Square Seller Agreement.
    We regret that, starting today, you will no longer be able to process transactions using Square. Any funds currently in your account will be held for 90 days before being released to your linked bank account.
    If you’d prefer to receive funds more quickly, you should consider refunding the payments back to the original cards and seeking alternate forms of payment. (Please note that we will refund all the fees, too.)
    Refunds are available within 60 days of the original payment. To process a refund, log in to the Square dashboard.
    Use the date selector tool to locate the specific payment.
    Click the payment you’d like to refund, then click “Issue Refund”.
    Select the reason you’re refunding the payment, and click “Issue Refund.”
    Unfortunately, our decision to deactivate your account is final. Due to security reasons and the obligations of our agreements with card networks and other financial institutions, we cannot reverse this decision and are unable to provide additional details.
    Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
    Sincerely,

    Square Account Services


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  • Olga

    Terrible customer support, it looks like my account was compromised, I can not log in to my account and that’s why I can not access customer support by the phone, I wrote them 5 emails so far 1 week ago without any response.
    I hope they lose a lot of customers, because they are just collecting the money without providing any support to their customers!


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  • Chris Reese

    Square deactivated account after sending numerous emails asking for purchase orders and invoices. I sent all required documentation and square deactivated account for no legitimate reason..

    Find another way to get your money….. Square is on the way out and there are cheaper methods anyway. Save yourself the hassle and the problems they bring to your business.


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  • Jeremy Spears

    Poor customer support, rather no customer support. Squareup lists a phone support number but requires a Customer Code in order to accept the phone call. I have an active account and have logged onto the site and searched through accounting and dashboard pages and found no Customer Code. The support page doesn’t even provide instructions on obtaining code. It appears to be purposely hidden to reduce support calls from customers.

    I’ve had an account for almost 3 years with Square and never really needed to speak to customer support so this was a complete surprise when I noticed my deposits were no longer being made but my customers were being charged. The funds are just sitting with Square in pending deposit status. The only option I had was to submit a service ticket through the online form which generated a case number but that is not accepted by the phone filter system.

    I expect better customer support from a financial service company.


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  • Self-Employed

    Beware if your business is an LLC, corporation or partnership.

    When one of your officers or employees who is not an owner of your company or its bank account goes online to set up the Square account for your company, and that person provides their name, address and last four digits of their Social Security number to “verify their identity,” your LLC, corporate or partnership Square account will then and forever be tied to that person’s individual name and Social Security number, no matter what tax ID information you provide to Square for your company then and thereafter.

    Square lies when they say that the only reason they need the name and last four digits of the Social Security number for the person creating the account is to “verify their identity.” Actually, on Square’s books, that person is designated then and forever as the sole OWNER and controller of the account, no matter what differing account information you provide.

    What then happens when that officer or employee of your company is sued or divorced or gets into trouble with the IRS or whatever? You guessed it: You and our bank account are in trouble.

    Square deceives LLCs, corporations and partnerships into believing that their Square “business account” is a Square commercial account. But it’s not a commercial account. It’s actually a personal account, then and forever tied to the person who provided their name, address and last four digits of their Social Security number to “verify their identity” when they set up the Square account for their employer.

    The same is true with one or more other companies that provide these types of services.


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  • Julia Darling

    A month ago I noticed that our daily summary hadn’t included a huge tab from the night before meaning, we looked short. I called Square and they apologized profusely saying the transaction wasn’t “captured” and they “will push it through now.” Had I not called, we would’ve been short thousands of dollars. Fast forward 30 days, and here I am today – this time for over 8K in funds from last night. “I’m so sorry – the transaction wasn’t captured. This NEVER happens.”


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  • Janet

    I loved square for 6 months. Then out of the blue they want me to verify my account so they can release my money. They have held it hostage for over a week because as much as you verify and even try to call you don’t get answers. When calling they want you to type in a customer code that doesn’t exist. Very frustrating, I hope I can find a more reliable company.


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    • jax

      Same with me they have aprox 18,000.00 of my money with no way of contacting them. I have tried a few numbers and they all will hang up if you do not have a customer code. I finally was sent a customer code and called them back 1-855-700-6000 Im sure you all are familiar with that number and the number they provided was invalid. I tried this several more times with the same results. If anyone has any better luck please post !!!!! My blood is beyond boiling at this point !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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  • R COUCH

    How about this and others beware. I just received and email that Square up attempted to take money out of my banking account and it was declined. I have not bought anything with anyone who used this type of processing, nor do I have an account with them. Never have. But they want me to verify my banking information. No phone number to call unless I sign in or sign up. How bogus.


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    • Katey

      I have had a similar experience. Scammers are impersonating Square and are asking for verification of accounts, reporting deposits to accounts, notifying of holds place on funds, and even alerting to suspicious activity – all on nonexistent accounts – in what I believe is a well-crafted phishing scam. Such emails began arriving in my inbox a couple of months ago, and because I do not have a Square account, I just marked them spam without opening them But they continued to come and did not go directly to my spam folder. Finally, a week ago, I contacted the real Square, and they confirmed that the emails were not legitimate. However, they certainly look legitimate. I wonder how many account holders have been duped by these bogus emails and have clicked on the links and given the scammers verification information. I believe the real Square has an obligation to take whatever steps are necessary to bring law enforcement down on these scammers because they are stealing Square’s identity. If anyone who has an account with Square receives these bogus emails, please pressure Square to report the problem to the appropriate law enforcement agency.


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      • Nancy

        How did you contact them?? We just got this weird email stating that our bank account had been verified…..well, we have never signed up wanting the square, let alone gave info regarding our bank info. I have tried 4 different numbers and not having this “code” can not speak with anyone…thanks for letting me bug you!!


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  • Margaret

    I applied for a Square Credit Card Account and was sent a Square devise. I opened the account, had my bank account verified then took my first payment of $2,500.00. Square contacts me after the invoice was paid by the customer to verify my business account again (which has all the same information as my bank account that was originally verified by them) then informed me they are going to cancel my account because I am considered “high risk”. They give no definition or explanation, including why they didn’t categorize my in the first place as such and cancel my account BEFORE I took a payment. I have been selling online for over 15 years, have Platinum status, an impeccable business record & excellent customer service. So now I have the awkward situation of a customer who paid and Square is suggesting I ask him to cancel his payment and pay via another means, or I have to wait 90 days for the funds to clear before they are sent by Square to my business bank account (in the meantime, my Square account is still closed). This is a ridiculous situation to be in, it’s makes my business looks unprofessional. Square is the one who is “High Risk”, stay away and find another Credit Card Company to do business with.


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    • jackson

      same thing happened to me. file a complaint with the BBB. Square will only reply to someone higher than them. They always reply to the BBB. You ill see hundreds of complaints like yours, and they get their money back faster. Square likes to hold money to collect interest on it. This keeps them in business


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    • LayLani Gambino

      Yes, I just went through this yesterday. It is so rude of them to let you accept payment from a client and then want to verify you. I even sent my client the invoice and she paid herself, which clearly tells she was willing to pay since I am a reputable supplier for over 5 years. I am going back to PayPal, square has a lot of drama with them. I immediately issued my client a refund through their site. I hope she receives it on time because they may make an excuse to hold that too. And now when I call to check on the status I can’t get through to square. Please stay away from this company because they will make you look bad in your customers eyes when you are honest. Luckily my clients are sweet but other clients are not. Bottom line STAY AWAY FROM SQUARE!


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  • jackson

    This company is a joke just like all the other ones. They all follow the same protocol. They will freeze your money with no explanation, close your account with no explanation, request personal information, then shut down your account afterwards, they all read the same script for liability issues. It’s like talking to a robot. They just repeat everything off 1 piece of paper to prevent any lawsuits he said vs she said scenarios. They don’t think outside the box, putting themselves in our shoes, because that would just make too much sense.

    After 5 year with no issues, they started asking for all kinds of documents, and i actually sent them everything. Had $1500 in the account and they shut my account down thinking they can keep my money. Filed a case with the BBB, and they quickly responded and said they will release the funds


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  • mike

    Square has debited my account $1,000 because a customer falsely notified them that they were entitled to a $1,000 refund for a hotel stay. Squares response after 90 days was that this was an airline ticket and the ticket was not used. Square is either confused, engaged in overt fraud or simply a defrauding entity engaged in fraud. You cannot speak to anyone, you cannot get anyones’ name, there is no recourse to this firm stealing your money other than arbitration.
    Stay away from Square, they are dishonest, devoid of communication and dishonest. They should be prosecuted for fraud.


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    • MINISTER ROBBIE

      Yes just found out that square debit my account for $32; for their device that was never shipped to me as of 11/09/2015 and that I have never used as well and I was only to be charged per swipe 1%. a BUNCH OF THIEVES. I called my bank and they canceled the card and the pending transaction; 3 month later want to charge my card; they were hopeing that I wouldn’t notice. but the devil is a liar.


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  • John Goertz

    Last October I looked into the avenue of taking credit card payments and was immediately solicted by Square. over several months of being reminded if you will that i had not yet “Activated my account” the opportunity arrose to use the service and since i had received two card readers by this time figured why not? I on the spot listed my info a bank account ,did the test deposit that was ssupposed to take 2-3 days and accepted my first payment within 15 minutes… No problem this is great right…. not so fast… My next project and client are here on business of the late mothers estate and we negotiate a fair and acceptable deal… I then call square to ask abount deposits and turn around times etc. and informed we are good to go as stated in the agreement. plus i have indded used the service prior… Now my client is back in Texas where he resides and gives me written signed authorization to use his card as he wishes to finance this work, great option, and so i do and his card monitoring kicks it back and calls him before i could even dial…when i do he tells me run it again i just ok’d it with them… perfect and its done… since the work to be done is on a time sensitive schedule I again contact Square whos account rep informs me yes it went through 1-2 days and no problem this is on Jan 6th, Jan 8th i see no payment or deposit and go to the Square site where I find the Astris saying that a review is needed prior to releasing funds…just routine get some info and we will release the deposit… I inform them of all the details including my clients phone number the documentation and the time sensitive nature and the fall out that would happen should it be a problem… and again am told there was not even an issue and it wont happen again just a one time thing…. 4 days later I recieve an email 5 minutes before the close of their service hour informing me that I represent a fraud risk and they are permanantly and irrevocably closing my account, forcing a refund that will tie up the very funds needed to honor my contractual agreement and that they regret this but thats it thats all… They have no held my personal finances and the work due my client hostasge for 5 days and then inform me that im to issue a refund that will take anothe 10 to 14 days to process… Really? I have never in all my days been so blatantly humiliated and so shabily treated by a company that perform a service for monitary gain… I will indeed follow the words of advice and as it seems will have plenty of time to dedicate to the cause of making sure Im heard… Very diappointed and hopefully not ruined by bad practices and lack of fair dealings with Square…


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    • Square Victim

      This is a shady business. Joined because a fellow co-worker recommended it. All was going well and processed over $2000 in sales in my first month. Got an e-mail stating I was in violation of the Terms of Service. Requested to have the Terms of Service sent to me outlining the allegation. They refuse to provide this documentation and stated I needed to refund the money. So they are now holding my money hostage with no validation. I contacted them stating my case, provided all the necessary documentation and still no answer other than it violates the Terms of Service. Let me be clear, these are valid transactions so let’s not go down the road of fraud. The only fraud being committed is by Square. STAY AWAY FROM SQUARE!!!!! They are shady, shady, shady!!!!!


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  • Foad Queiri

    After receiving my first three payments the first day, they decided for unknown reason to terminate the account stating we were engaged in risky transactions. Before they deactivated the account they asked for every piece of paper you could ever imagine stating it was to verify our account. Despite the submission of all documents requested they still terminated the account. We have decided to not even pay any merchandise using square.


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  • Barbra Bloy

    I got the Square but then sales dropped off and I have not used it. People are only paying me with check and cash. The Square appears to be deactivated. It disappeared from my Iphone. But I was still charged $50.00 for the new version! I want my money back! There is no customer support at all! I feel like I was ripped off. I will never attempt use their service again.


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  • carole reed

    The most infuriating experience I have had to date with any company anywhere. The customer service is non existent while seemingly helpful they are actually only working in their best interests. They arbitrarily closed my account and froze the funds for no reason after I supplied everything they asked for and now I am forced to wait 3 months for the funds – a total nightmare !


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  • Katherine

    I do not have a Square Account, but a couple of months ago I began receiving emails from Square with captions like “Account Canceled.” I ignored them (did not open them) and marked them as spam. Since I don’t have a Square account, I could care less if it has been canceled. Yet the emails have continued to come, not in my spam folder, and the captions continue to warn about account deactivation, but some of them (e.g., today’s) concern “Payment Receipt.” I have no idea how Square, or an imposter, got my email address since it is a dedicated address. An internet search has not turned up any similar complaints about Square, so I am beginning to think someone may have set up an account under my address. Any suggestions how to get this to stop?


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  • Nick WIlliams

    I’m a health care provider. I try to use visa cards that are from health savings accounts. These cards have never been accepted by square and I can never get answers, or a live person for any help at all. I miss out on a lot of collections. This seems to be a serious fault in Squares services and i’m looking to jump ship to another company that can at least provide help via phone. I hate being left in the dark…


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  • Brandi

    I have been using square since 2012 and have never had anything out good experiences with them. I have had a couple of disputes but they made the process easy and took care of the entire thing for me. I always have my money in the account the next business day and the instant deposit option allows you access immediately to the days sales. The square capital is so great for small companies and I have used it three times with much success. I think some of the reviews posted here are competitors.

  • Kevin Collins

    DO NOT USE SQUARE!!! Nothing but horrible experiences with this company. You will run into a problem with them and when you do, there is no avenue for support.

    What happened in my case is they out of no where froze my accounts and to reactivate asked for every piece of information you could imagine. This included: all of my corporate documents, bank statements, LinkedIn information, scans of every document you could imaging, more than the government asks for.

    They may have had a good reason for asking for all of this, but who knows, they never told me and there are no avenues to find out. I have had to deactivate my account and get my clients to contact their credit card companies to remove the charges held in my account.

    Nothing but horrible experiences with this company, I would recommend using any other company before giving them a try.


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    • Brent

      I could not agree more. I am going through your scenario right now. Unfortunately for me, this is my first transaction for my new business and it was rather large in my world. I have no answers, I do not have my funds, do not know when I will see them. I have unloaded everything you can think of to them, and NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO way to get in touch with them. My first and LAST transaction with these people.

      I LITERALLY FEEL SCAMMED, AND THIS COULD DOOM MY BUSINESS DUE TO THE LOGISTICS RIGHT FROM THE STAR!!

      IF YOU ARE A NEW BUSINESS……………… TRUST ME,,,, STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS REAL!!!!!!!!


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  • JL

    I own a furniture store and Square deactivated my merchant account in October 2015 because a customer’s card failed to process a few times. They sent me an abrupt email saying that the decision to deactivate the account was final and that they are holding my funds (from the same customer that actually successfully processed the payment finally) for 90 days until releasing it to my bank account. In addition, I was left with no way to process credit card payments from my retail customers for a week until I got a replacement solution (Shopify). Today, I found that that not only are they still holding on to my money, they continued to charge for the Customer Engagement Pro tool on my DEACTIVATED account for the past two months. This was the last draw and I had to write this review to warn others of this inconsiderate company.

    I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the great design of the product, but Square falls way short of actually understanding a customer’s true needs and they left me stranding at a crucial time of my business, with no real support available. I am staying far away from this company and will advise all of my business owning friends to be ware of them as well.


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  • Bob

    Square’s is making unauthorized use of my email address. Unknowingly I recently made a purchase at a “square” customer’s retail business. I was asked if I want a receipt, I said, “Yes” and was handed a paper receipt. Much to my surprise, within a couple of hours I received an email receipt for the same transaction. I did not ask for an email receipt. I did not authorize anyone to use my email address to send me a receipt. My credit card company tells me that they do not release this information to Square. Where do they get it? More importantly, How do I stop this unauthorized use of my email address? Square appears to have no customer service for the customers of their retail clients. This is an unauthorized use of my private information.


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  • Melissa

    I was with Square for a little over a month when out of the blue my account was terminated. I called and emailed without any success then finally received a form email stating I was in some kind of violation of their legal terms of use. After reading over those again I was still confused as to why they had disconnected from the Square service. Should they have felt something was awry with my use of their service I would have appreciated a head up, an email, anything. Very dissatisfied with Square!


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  • Kathy

    I had this account set up for a little over 24 hours – took $900.00 worth of charges and then it was decactivated. I was told through an email that the decision was Final and that MY money will be credited back to my bank account in 90 days! How can they do this? They cited section 42 of their agreement. Not only will I NEVER do business with these people – I will avoid them at all costs for any merchant using their system.


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  • Jim

    Square just cancelled my account after 2 months stating my business was ” high risk “. Said their decision was final and cannot be reversed.. The company took in more than $15,000 without one dispute or concern. The company cancelled their other card service and has now left the company out in the cold. Be careful people as square can cancel you without notice and without reason anytime they want.


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  • Kevin Rockitter

    WARNING WARNING WARNING. Stay away from this company. They will hold your funds for 6 MONTHS without even the courtesy of advising you. Just try to get any type of customer service. Forget it. Call the support number and you cannot proceed with a “customer code”. They instruct you to log in to get the customer code, except when you do, there is no option to obtain a customer code. There is no way you will ever speak to a live person. If you submit an email, you MAY get a cryptic response directing you to the website, which of course is no help. A real horror show.


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    • Adam

      I got defrauded out of $1200 using SquareCash to accept payment from an individual for a camera I was selling privately (I’m not a merchant)

      No customer service at all from them, no explanation of what happened, and of course the scammer who has my camera has disappeared.

      The police and DA have no interest and won’t let me file a report. They don’t consider it a crime.


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  • Hok

    I have bad experiences with square. Last week I got chargebacks from goods I sold. I provide them all the documents to fight for chargebacks even with photos from security camera proof customers did purchase and left the store with the items. Yesterday morning they send me a notice telling me to update information about my account for verifications. Business name, business address, EIP, government documents and 3 bank statements. In the same day, 5 P.M they send me another notification and telling me they deactivated my account a put a hold on my money in the account for 90 days. The reason they provided was a pattern of high risk activity and tell me to look at section 42 on their sellers agreement. I tried to call them this morning, but they delete the customer code they provided to me and I have no other way to speaks to them from phone. The only way to reach to them is from their question and feedback section via email, but they did not respond back to me. Now, not only I didn’t make any profits, I lost $2000 on the goods I purchase to resell to customers.


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  • George E Sanford

    Our company was told repeatedly that our bank account was verified. They lied several times in thier emails. After they said our bank account was verified, we began using the Square to conduct our business. Now we are fighting Square to get our funds and they are sitting on over $7,000.00 in deposits. All they tell us now is that our bank will not receive our deposits because of a glitch in our bank’s electronic ACH department. Today I had our bank ( Y12 Federal Credit Union, Knoxville Tennessee Phone 865-482-1043) a conference call for an hour with Square and myself and nothing was resolved. The Square agent said we must wait until Square verifies our bank account. Square has sent multiple emails saying our bank account has been verified and that are deposits have been made but then Square won’t release our funds. Square communication and emails have mislead and misrepresented their service. We are regretably forced to pursue legal action to collect our funds. December 17, 2015


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  • Stan

    Beware about Square’s “Instant Deposit” for an additional 1% charge. It’s not “instant” at all. Normally money gets to our account on the second business day (charge Monday, money appears in our account Wednesday). Yesterday we had a large sale and the money was due to be in our account tomorrow, but there was an item we wanted to buy today for our biz that might not be around tomorrow. So I flipped the switch for “Instant Deposit” and paid the additional 1% for the “Instant” transfer of funds. When the deposit never appeared, I called Square. I was told “Instant Deposit” means next business day, so I basically wasted an extra 1% on misleading advertising. Square had no ability to reverse the transaction and didn’t offer to waive any processing fees to make up for the money I wasted thinking “Instant” meant “right away”, not overnight. Not cool.


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  • Trevor

    This morning I received an email telling me $21.58 was charged to my credit card via Square. It was obviously fraud from an air conditioner maintenance company with a disconnected number and a web site that listed offices in multiple states with only partial phone numbers. I called the credit card company and they cancelled the card. I have a message sent to Square and I’m curious to see if I even get a response, there wasn’t a fraud reporting option on their support questions.
    I appreciate this is a small problem compared to others here but I wanted to point out that the scammers are working around (or with) Square. i assume Square makes money from scammers just like the credit card and phone companies do so they have less incentive to catch some of these crooks. I was almost ready to eat the charge rather than having to get a new card. It’s profit for all when enough people miss the charge or don’t do anything about it.
    At least Square sent me an email, which makes me wonder, where did they get my address from? From the scammers or did they match it up from records they have stored? If it was from the scammers why would they give my real email address? I also get alerts from my bank on my credit card use but, strangely, I didn’t receive a message on this charge.


    Are you with Square? Learn how to resolve this complaint.

  • Elizabeth

    Thanks to all of you for your comments here. I wish I had seen them before I went ahead and signed up for a free Square account and wasted time on the hack job of a joke they call their “online store.” It’s hard to believe they’re actually in business to do this kind of thing. I have seen a lot of cafes and independent freelancers using Square, so I figured it was OK. I no longer believe that, especially with the issues I have seen described above. Because really . . . if they can’t avoid wasting my time creating my online store, I wonder what DOES work in their business model.


    Are you with Square? Learn how to resolve this complaint.

    • sarah

      Yes, all of you here are so right! this company is the worst of the worst! i feel like we should all do something about this on change.org and have them listen to our voice, full force!!!!!! listen to this; I also had problems and they are as of now holding $2,200 on my account, after they already claimed to have refunded the costumer. then they say they had a problem with their portal and i should disregard the other email……..not one word they say makes sense!!! EVEN WHEN I EMAILED THE CEO, DIDN’T HELP! I emailed Jack Dorsey ([email protected]/square_com ) about this issue, and all he said is “will look into this”, but never came back to me. I try emailing him a few times this week, but he still doesn’t respond!!! I’m filing now a BBB complaint with this company and I just wish that we all do some class action against them and get our money back for all our frustration and wait time!!!!!!!!!!!! hate them with a passion!!!!!!!!! they drive your business south!!!!


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  • Patrick Evans

    We have used Square for 2 years now and have not run into any of the problems that are shown on this web page. We do sell high ticket items, but our volume is large and we have had complete success switching from First Data to Square, and have saved tons of money not having to lease portable credit card machines, paper, tons of fees per transaction, foreign cards, ect. With Square, the amount comes out immediately, I know exactly what I will be getting the day of the deposit, Square is excellent for a company doing less than 500,000.00 in sales.

    • Shannon Pyne

      Patrick…I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who has had nothing but a good experience with Square. I don’t know if you saw my comment below but I recently had to go through their verification process for a payment I had processed from a regular customer of ours – as a matter of fact, it’s pretty much the only customer we have that pays via credit card, so it did seem a bit odd for them to hold up the deposit but I provided everything they asked for and within a couple of hours I was advised that they had completed their review and released my deposit. Simple. I’m not sure what the criteria is for flagging transactions, but I would rather put up with a little inconvenience now than to have to deal with a problem later on.

  • mike

    This company blows. They offer no protection for it’s sellers, despite the fact, that it’s the sellers that pay their bills. I had a customer who used his mothers credit card to make a purchase. Mother claims fraud. Kid got to keep the product and mommy got her money back.

    Again, someone made a purchase 5 months ago. Customer today, files dispute, “item not as described”. Square sends me an email stating they will deduct the funds to refund the customer in 2 business days. 5 months later? Really? So how did i protect myself? Since square gave me a heads up, i called my bank and closed down my entire account that is attached to square…LOL. KARMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I will never use Square again, or pay them anything for their failure to protect it’s sellers. I looked into Stripe, but they don’t offer protection either. Too many complaints as well for the same thing. Heck i think, all these companies do this. Nobody offers seller protection. The only way to protect yourself is money orders and cash.


    Are you with Square? Learn how to resolve this complaint.

    • Suzy

      Well, apparently this individual has never dealt with Merchant Services (MC & VISA)….through a bank…..I will tell you, I processed some high volume charges for garments I was selling – 5-6 sales around $1,800 – $2,200 each, received an approval from MC/VISA when processed thru Merchant services, done right??? NOPE almost 3 months later Merchant services contacted me and told me that these charges were fraudulent and that I (the shop owner) am responsible to contact some 800 number to ensure the credit cards are valid….so I am out the merchandise, out the money paid to the distributor and now I have a $15,000 bill that I have to pay to MC/VISA because it is the merchant/shop owners responsibility to ensure the card is good, the only think the approval code is for is to say they have sufficient funds available on the card to make the purchase????? so how is this any better than anyone else???? I have used square for over 6 years and have not had one problem…..my money is always there the next day and I do not do any type of business that would require them to put any holds on my account…..I guess the secret is, you just have to stay within the rules, when you push them, you have to suffer the consequences….they are in business too you know and believe it or not, they need to make money to survive and provide a service.

  • Joan

    Don’t even bother with Square. Go to your bank that holds your business account and open a POS with them. The very first transaction we did with Square was held because it appeared to be fraudulent according to them. We are very fortunate that it was our first transaction and our vendor was willing to pay us in a different form because we could refund the transaction and avoid it being held for 90 days. How can they even get away with that? Good luck trying to get someone to help you. We have had no problems with our current POS and we are able to get someone on the phone right away to help even with random questions.

  • Dr. Debra K Lewis

    Used Square for about a year, worse company ever! Took back monies that were authorized and never had ANY phone customer service. It was all email and nothing helpful. I recently (11/2015) got a notice from IRS saying I owed on a second 1099 on Square from 2013 which is infuriating because I have no record of these transactions. I have emailed Square on getting a copy but of course have gotten no reply as of yet. I need help from Square on getting a copy of this second 1099-k which I never received.

  • Imad Abualia

    I just had the most unpleasant experience with Square. I charged an amount totaled $3100 to a customer for sale of equipment on 11/11/2015. They started by asking me to fill out a verification form and provide them with an Invoice, my ID and 3 bank statements which I did immediately. I get an email back asking me to provide more information about my relationship with the customer, which I found pretty strange, but yet, I provided them with that. Today 11/16 and after 6 days of holding my funds, they decided to reject my transactions and asked me to refund the money to the customer. The reason they say is that I am violating the terms of service agreement. here is the email I received “Under our Terms of Service, you cannot process prepaid cards, gift cards, or your own credit card using your Square account. The Square Terms of Service also prohibit using Square as a money transfer system. You must provide a legitimate good or service in exchange for every payment processed with Square.” ,So I read the terms of service agreement section by section and did not find that my transactions violate any of the sections in the agreement. My sale was for equipment and an invoice was provided. I did not charge a gift card, prepaid card, nor it was my own credit card!!! and definitely that was not a money transfer!!! Asked to speak to a manager, they refused!!
    I process over $40,000 a year of transactions using merchant services. I thought switching to square would save me some money. But it looks like the money I would save will be spent on medications for headache caused by Square’s complications. I think I will stay with Bank of America merchant services. Business owners beware

    • Peter a

      Prepaid are No-No and the now one of the most common forms of fraud. Sorry, but all prepaid and gift cards should be marketed clearly and additional form of ID should be required from your customer….Counterfeit card are quite common and mon and pop shops are a great target, sometimes even the card holder doesn’t know it was counterfeit, especially online programs for discounted gift cards…….Also you also tried to process a amount almost 8% of your total in one transaction…. anything over one or two % should be flagged as unusual.

    • Ethar

      Same thing happened to me. They gladly took the payment from my customers credit card but failed to deposit into my account. I sent all the verification documents and they sent me an email telling me to refund my customer because they think he might do a chargeback. No live phone help, just emails. This company blows and I’m filing a complaint with the better business bureau.


      Are you with Square? Learn how to resolve this complaint.

  • mamali

    Square is definitely the worst.
    They went ahead and closed my account for no reason… Oh because of verification purposes…
    After using Square for over a year, referring 12 People, including family and friends.
    Now they do this to me… Not to mention that they have $432.95 of my money held.
    It’s ridiculous… Trying to call these guys is absolutely mind blowing honestly… it really is. Why you ask?
    Because, I always have to wait on hold for 45mins – 1hr. Always.
    I cannot believe how bad they are with their support team.
    Scammers, cheaters, and I don’t like them. Switching to Paypal Here.

  • karl burgart

    At a recent large trade show event, Oct 25-26 2015, Square “lost” over 70 transactions totaling over $5000.00 from my merchant sales account. They have been extremely poor to respond or rectify my missing funds! The service I’ve received has been horrendous to say the least!
    All transactions went through my account and receipts were sent to customers yet Square claims they have no records. Any email receipt should be recorded on their server.
    This has caused major damage to my companies reputation..and Square continues to not return my calls with updates as they promised or find my funds!!

    • Mark Monelli

      Holding funds for no reason. Opened account October 2nd 2015 and verified bank. Account active. Processed a payment October 31st in the amount of $850 for my business. I get an email from Square November 2nd that my account is deactivated because they cannot support my business type. And that this decision is final. Said to either refund payment I received and use another processor or wait till 2-3 business days after January 31 and a this amount will be deposited into my bank account. Its obviously fraud, you can’t close down someones bank account with money in it and hold onto it, nor can a processor hold money. This dates back to the early Paypal days when my companies small business was crippled by a 10% reserve holding of the average balance. I’m looking forward to the day I get a class action lawsuit email, for now I have no choice but to put this on every site possible since they have no customer service. This is a huge win for independent processors, don’t use Square, don’t put your business at risk.

    • TJTJ

      This just happened to me and I discovered what happened although after finally being able to speak with a live Square person and Square did fix the problem and refund my lost money, they do not claim any responsibility and claim that Square’s systems have not been compromised…. humph!

      I discovered I was not getting my square transaction e-mails 2 weeks ago and the funds were not being deposited into my bank account. My clients all showed that the charges had gone through on the credit accounts. I tried contacting square but my e-mail addressed was not recognized and I could not log in. After 2 days of e-mails to square I was finally able to talk to a live person. My e-mail address to my Square account had been changed to another address and my charge funds were being deposited in a Discover bank. Square claims they sent me an e-mail almost 2 weeks prior of my e-mail address being changed. I went through all of my e-mails including deleted and spam e-mails and I DID NOT receive notification of my e-mail address being changed.

      Square support over the phone with me changed my e-mail address back, I changed and greatly increased my password and I increased all of the Square security settings to my account. Square then told me that they would reimburse me by mailing me a check. After this I was scrolling through my Square account tabs and click on the “list” tab. I do NOT sell anything through Square. I only use it for customer payment transactions. Well in my square list was several big screen curved TV models for sale!!

      I clicked on these items listed in my Square list and it took me to an Amazon sale listing selling these TV’s. My name was listed as the seller with some TV show’s photo shown as my profile photo. So on this Amazon listing I clicked on this fake sellers name and a FREAKING street map with my business location where I used Square from pops up on this fake sellers listing!! On this fake Amazon sale listing was a phone number for information so I searched the phone number and it came back as a phone number from Colima, Mexico!!!

      So these fake selling thieves are somehow getting into Square accounts, changing the owner settings, setting up fake online items for sale and using a Square customers account to funnel the stolen money through which is then deposited into their account in some other bank. But any sales I ran trough my account were also going into their account.

      Here’s the kicker. I received my reimbursement check today along with a letter from Square stating that they had investigated the matter and found that the square system was NOT compromised and that Square was NOT responsible to refund my money but they were refunding it anyway. I’m wondering if it was a Square employee involved with this scam. Anyway this is what happened to me starting Oct 22, 2015′.

  • Mike

    I can’t believe they did that to me …
    They froze my funds after i sent an invoice from their website, after 2 days the client paid and they accepted the money without any hesitation … the problem started when they had to forward the funds to me. They first asked a bunch of information about my business, and after they decided that the transactions follow a “suspicious pattern”????????????
    How can be suspicious an invoice sent from their website and paid on their website??? It was normal until the client paid and become suspicious only after?
    they refuse to give any other explanation and after 1 month I still not have idea where my money are and when I’m going to receive it.
    On the other end Amazon register and Paypal here never give me any problem of sort, they forwarded to me transaction higher than the one Square is holding and they are way more transparent on their policies.

  • Dean

    I bought some furniture at a small resale shop, and they use Square on an ipad; an email of my receipt went to the car repair shop I’d used a couple weeks before, though I had not shared my email address with the furniture shop. I won’t be using a credit card on Square ever again. Sloppy controls somewhere.

  • Shannon Pyne

    We began using Square a year ago when a municipal customer indicated that the agency preferred to issue payment via credit card; as they were a return customer and there was a possibility for a long-term business relationship, we signed up. While we did offer it to all our customers as a payment option, I had very few take advantage of it until a few months ago. We expanded our business through the purchase of a similar existing business and one of the contract customers whom we deliver to on a bi-monthly basis decided to try out credit card processing as opposed to issuing checks. They are thrilled with the option and for the past four months have used this form of payment exclusively. I have never had an issue with receiving my funds (they have been available the very next business day) and the customer reports there have been no issues on their side either. I did just have to go through the verification process this morning for a payment I put through yesterday, but did not have any of the issues that other users have noted. I provided the documentation requested and within two hours I received an email back from Square indicating that they had completed their review, returned my account to active status and resumed regular deposits. All in all, I would say that my experience with Square has been very positive and I regularly endorse their services to friends and business associates.

  • Ryan

    I have nothing good at all to say about this company, I should’ve just known better and went with PayPal from the start. The only reason I picked square is because they were running a promotion that had no fees attached for your first $1,000 received when you referred a new user. I used square to accept payment from customers that were using prepaid cards. Square instantly locked my account, stating my account was terminated, freezing all my funds saying I violated the Terms of Agreement by accepting prepaid cards. They said they were holding my funds up to 180 days (but not less than 150 days) or depending how they felt, they were holding my funds until farther notice. Really?! Funny thing is, the seller agreement literally contradicts itself, it makes absolutely no sense! Section 6a states prepaid cards are not a acceptable form a payment, yet section 11 says they are. Who writes these things?! I tried reaching out to them, which you are forced to do via email because their phone number requires a customer number, which is impossible to obtain (trust me, I requested one many times). I’m convinced their customer service department doesn’t even exist because they never both to even acknowledge their customers. After many emails to them over the course of almost 2 months with no reply, I threatened legal action in an email and got a reply stating my account termination decision was final. I replied back stating I didn’t care about my account termination, only my funds and wanted to know if they would be unfrozen within a realistic time frame and if they would still be fee free when they were released. Needless to say, they never replied back. Thankfully I was still within the refund period so I issued all my customers a refund so I could accept payment from them another way. Talk about a pain, you try chasing down 15 customers that you did business with nearly 2 months ago telling them you need a new form of payment. In the end, I’m thankful that square terminated my account, they were only doing me a favor, saving me from their complete lack of service!

  • Derrick

    After signing up with them and taking my first payment I was sent a Verification by Square. I have a LLC registered with the Secretary of State for 13 years and have been in business for 13 years. I have filed all my taxes federal and state. I have been very profitable for 13 years too. My company has never gone bankrupt or been sued. My company doesn’t owe a penny to anybody and has over $500k in assets. I was just informed by Square that they we deactivating my account due to a pattern of transactions associated with high-risk activity. This decision is FINAL. I now have $500 taken from my customer 4 days ago sitting in Squares bank account and I cannot get it for 90 days. THIS COMPANY SUCKS AND IS NOT TRUSTWORTHY!!!!!!!!!! Use Intuit or Amazon, they are both great.

  • Maria

    Worst mistake I ever made by purchasing this card reader. I will make sure to post my complaints everywhere that people can see. Beware this thing is a scam! I purchased this product for my small business to help make things a little easier. After the first transaction, they flagged my account, deactivated it, and took the money without it ever going into my account. You cannot even contact customer service since it keeps telling you to input a customer code that never seems to work and you cant speak to anyone unless you have one. They got me for 8k. I will make sure that my complaint is heard. I hope this company is put out of business soon so no other innocent people get scammed out of money. Beware of square!!!!

  • Col. Jordan Palmer, CHA, CLA

    Impact Originals, Inc. operates ImpactTactical247.com and several retail stores. Our experience with Square has been extremely positive. Funding is extremely fast and their customer service is exceptional. Brian in particular in Customer Support has been outstanding as has their Capital Funding Team. I cannot say enough positive things about Square, their support, and how wonderful the people are that work there. Everyone has problems with credit card processors from time to time and a lot of times it is user error, not the fault of the processor. Square has been a blessing to our business when large companies let us down. People typically only use online forums and the BBB to complain, but companies also need positive feedback when they go above and beyond.

    A+

  • Betan Testravosky

    I would tend to avoid Square right now, it’s a great idea but needs to really improve on its service. I used to see Square itself make large deposits and then large withdraws to my account not initiated by me or by credit transactions on my square reader. It wasn’t a “hack” by someone using my accounts … originally I changed all my access information to square. I never lost money on it, it was the mysterious additional deposits that weren’t mine that were then withdrawn by Square 24 hours later that happened every couple weeks. Either Square was messing up in its collection system and depositing to wrong accounts … or someone internal to Square was trying to launder money using Square. Either way, I closed out and went back to the expensive card processing service where I never saw this happen again. You get what you pay for.

  • Alexandra Maxwell

    Was hoping to use this to sell my stuff at a few festivals. I purchased a square then tried to sign up only to be rejected! I double checked my info, then triple checked it, they even asked for my SSN! After several attempts I was locked out. I tried to find a number to call for help but apparently you can only get access to a number IF you are signed up, which they wouldn’t allow me to do. Emailed them for help and received this: Unfortunately we can’t approve your application to accept credit cards with Square. We wish we could provide you with another chance to apply, but we’re unable to do so since Square can only provide a set number of application attempts.

    While we’d love for you to process payments with Square, this isn’t possible.

    Why was I rejected in the first place???? I’m furious at them and am returning the reader I bought. I’ll find another way and square can go stuff it.

  • Angela

    I wish I had read these reviews before attempting to use Square. I am a sole proprietor, and they don’t seem to be accepted at Square. The first transaction I did was flagged and rejected, now a question of what happens to that money. I can’t get my pay and lost good will with a client by convincing them to use this mistake of a company.

    I understand if they don’t want to accept individuals and very small businesses but SAY SOMETHING BEFOREHAND.

    How are freelance workers supposed to get paid anymore? Scamming us seems to be an entire industry!

  • Cindy S

    I have used Square for a little over a year now. I am thoroughly impressed with the company. When researching processing companies I came across a lot of bad reviews on the company. I called them; which I got a human right away, and asked them why I should choose them since they had so many bad reviews. They addressed everything I had read and gave examples of how they have either addressed the complaint or why they do certain things that were the heart of some complaints (holds on funds).

    I have had nothing but an excellent experience with Square and they only get better over time. I process transactions manually and by swiping that range anywhere from $2 to $2,000. This year alone I have processed over $370,000 with Square. I have never had any problem with any transaction or refund.

    Lastly, I have always been able to contact a human being quuckly when I called in. I was just at a tournament where I was going to sell my product and needed to change my prices. I was having trouble and called into Square. I was connected to a representitive within 10 minutes and he was able to walk me through the process of changing my prices.

    I give Square an A+!

    • Ryan

      Well please provide the number you called because currently the only number they list as a point of contact requires a customer number, which you have to request via email! They literally make it nearly impossible to call them unless they allow you to.

    • Liz

      Please share the phone number that you use to contact them as every number that I find I a black hole. I am so frustrated with this company right now. I am planning to tell people that I’ve invited to use them to cancel because of it’s non-existent customer service.!

  • Rachel Miller

    Someone with a Sqaure made 7 withdrawals and deposits in my account in one day. None of these were authorized and it is my concern now that someone is going to hack my account and take all my money. I tried getting someone on the phone to find out which business or square holder had made the transactions but they have no customer service number for everyday citizens needing assistance. I sent an email and I am waiting to hear back from someone, anyone!!

    • kim

      This is what Square did with my money…
      someone paid for a service, i did the service, and turns out the card was a fraud even after checking ID. They took $1,400 out of my checking account and never put it back. I am still figuring out the best way to sue them. I know there is a class action brewing as I’ve spoken to several people with Square problems.

    • Artra Fleming

      I had a very bad experience with Square. Someone hacked my account and took my $5,877.29 they also, made 7 deposits of 8.500 on a Sunday. I tried contacting Square but wasn’t able to. I went to their office in San Francisco, CA. I spoke to an Eric. Eric told me that they would over night me my fund by the next business day. It’s been about a month now I receive nothing yet, but lies and most lies. PLEASE DON”T DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY!!!

  • Tom Lukasik

    Please do your research before using this credit card processing company . They should not be used for large transactions . Their policy seems to be to tie up for money . When you have had it with them and simply want to refund the customer the money and collect from another source , their answer is we will try to refund the money . The money is taken from the card holder and not put into your account and they will “try to refund the money .” Please learn from others misfortunes and stay from from this company .

  • Maggie

    I used the Square interface and billing services, as I initially liked the way it gave me a virtual online store. I had the site – which was advertised literally everywhere – for MANY years. They were excellent about depositing my funds for sales the very next business day. But one day, Suddenly, it was gone. They gave me NO notification, but my clients who were trying to make purchases, suddenly could not. Square literally shut down my store, and each time I tried to create and send an invoice, I was given an error message reading “please activate your account to accept payments.” My account had been active years! So I contacted Square (they NO LONGER OFFER A TOLL-FREE NUMBER TO REACH A HUMAN BEING, THE CUSTOMER SUPPORT – IT IS ALL FORM LETTERS NOW VIA EMAIL AND TAKES 3x TO GET AN ANSWER.) Once someone wrote back, I received a form letter stating that they had deactivated my account. NO warning, no contact, no nothing. I wrote asking why – I received the following: “Square reserves the right to terminate any account at will without notice. There is no appeal process and the decision is final.” MY ACCOUNT HAD NEVER HAD A CHARGE BACK, NO FRAUD, NO BAD CARDS, NO ABANDONED CHECKOUTS. MY CREDIT RATING WAS EXCELLENT. So, why this termination?? I switched to another online solution (Shopify) and it’s not only better, but more user-friendly. My sales skyrocketed. I asked my clients why. I was told that Square wouldn’t allow them to process transactions with discount codes, and that they always had glitches and hold ups in the transaction process. Shopify is not free as Square is, but with this new increase in sales (I went from selling about 20 sessions per month to 15 per week) I am starting to enjoy this other site much more, so maybe Square deciding to close my site was a good thing. Another thing they did to me was hold my funds when they shut my site down for 180 days. That said, I think Square sucks.

  • Robert W.

    Haven’t read this site in quite a while. I’ve been using Square for abt 3 yrs and other processors for previous 15 yrs. Had some serious trouble at first related to the merchant code processors attach to a business. Some cards are code sensitive and Square was designed around glass blowers and pastry shops, and their assigned default code of “gift store” was unacceptable to government cards. They were not well prepared to accommodate a variety of businesses. They did finally, after several days, discuss the problem with me but it was a problem that needed a solution within hours, not days. Obviously I am now overall pleased with their service. The Register program has received many updates.

    My observation of the many complaints here is that most complainants seem ignorant of fundamental business practices involving risk. Would you lend money (essentially what credit card funding is) to a proprietorship business which has been around for only perhaps weeks or months, works out of a home, often sells intangibles, wants to processes 4 figure transactions with card not present, and is ignorant of English grammar when registering a complaint? I think not.

    I can offer one piece of advice: Have a backup checking account into which you can move money when you sense a credit card processor may be ready to withdraw money from the linked account. Otherwise, start your business with a more conventional processing company. After a year or so, you will have a transaction history that you can show Square or others which may lower your risk score and make you a more desirable customer.

    • Jason

      Ignorant of fundamental business practices? You gave me a good laugh. I have a FICO credit score of almost 800, have over 130k in the business bank account with no debt (Nothing not even credit card debt!) and have over 200k in my personal bank account. I was BANNED from square and they are holding over $5,500 of my money. I had no transactions over $200 and Square charges more for transactions not present to compensate for the additional risk. If card not present transactions are not allowed then Square should tell people beforehand. I’ve already moved to another merchant account and it’s been doing great. I’m baffled as to why Square banned me with my financials. Square is for small mom & pop businesses who have no chance of growing. If you’re a small merchant then use Square. If you’re going to grow then use someone else.

  • Chris Henandesz

    Squareup Has been a nightmare to deal with. I sold a product locally for $500. After I received payment hey they locked my account and asked for verification of my identity which I provided. Weeks have gone by and I have not heard anything back from them . I send them one email every two days and they haven’t responded to ONE of them. Check the BBB reviews and you will see alot of people are being mistreated as you see here. THIS COMPANY NEEDS TO BE SHUT DOWN. STAY AWAY FROM SQUARE!

  • CEO

    Square erased our ecommerce site. We had a transaction that a week later the customer claimed fraud. We Submitted the video footage of the transaction as evidence, then no communication for three days from square. Even today, nothing, and no code for us to input when they tell us to input a code to call customer service. They are not emailing and no phone calls are being returned. Taking action in starting a class action lawsuit against square. We have lost hundreds – thousands of dollars in the short time time they took us offline. It’s a shame that it’s been done to many other businesses. Have been searching new POS after this monstrosity.

  • Kim Soldevere

    Square has been holding back funds from my business since April 27, 2015. Square has collected the money from the card holder and will not pay me. This is illegal and stealing. I am a single parent trying to run my own business and live the American dream. Square has violated me and my rights as an American citizen. Square has withheld my hard earned funds and has racially targeted me. I want my money now and I want interest on it. This company should be shut down!

    • Jason

      Same. They sent me an e-mail that they were going to hold my money for an additional 30 days. 35 days have passed and still no money in my bank account and the deposit still shows as pending on their website. They don’t even honor what they tell you in the e-mails.

  • Art

    This company has a really bad way of handling a buyer’s information. I made the mistake of filling out the profile with a merchant when I purchased an item. Much later when I made a purchase with another merchant who used a Square device, it had my basic information and my email address for an electronic receipt. That’s all fine. BUT recently I paid for a service which the merchant used a Square reader and my electronic receipt went to someone else! This happened on the same day, twice, with two different merchants! I don’t want my purchases flying out to anyone. Square has a responsibility and duty to protect a buyer’s privacy when it comes to purchases. What if they had been purchases that were of an very sensitive nature (they weren’t).

    All I can tell you is that I will NEVER use my credit card with a Square merchant again. Sorry, but Square blew it for you guys.

  • Jeff Paris

    I have used Squareup for over a year now, totally replacing Paypal for my businesses. I have never had any problems, I always get my money on time and I was eligible for Square Capital, which the terms are more than fair. Square has helped me to take my business to the next level. I have never had an issue with getting in touch with them during business hours.

    Now from reading the language in the other comments, I see that many of these people are not educated enough to be running a business and honestly with such vulgarities and “spoiled-brat” attitudes… need to mature a bit.

    • thech

      We’ve been using Square for 3 years now. NEVER a problem. Our money is deposited on time every week. Perhaps the nature of their business raises red flags with Square. Or the fact that they’re not using a slider, and instead using the manual input with every sale. That itself raises red flags. We take upwards of $40K in credit card payments a year. It’s an amazing tool for our mobile business.

      • Pete

        Ditto… never had a problem with this company. Like you i probably follow the rules. 99.99 percent of the people sign and all online is done through Square Market…. love that too. I would be happy to talk with anyone about Square.

      • Connie Crowley

        If not using a slider is a red flag, Square should make customers aware of this and those of us who do business via phone and mail would not use it. Square signs up small businesses, acts as if everything is OK. I specifically asked a representative when signing onto Square if it made a difference if I ran the credit card immediately with the attachment, or waited for the three business days right of refusal period was over and then keyed in the card. The representative told me there would be no difference for them. I believe I was had and that Square used over $6,000 of my money for 6 months. The worst part is I was not able to find out what the big “red flag” was because there is no customer service number and they would not answer the question via email, they only referred to article 47 of the contract which gives them the right to deactivate the account and hold funds for no reason. Beware – I have since used another company for the last 18 months with NO problem.

  • Eduardo Pavon

    Square continues to have horrible customer service. They are holding my funds for using gift cards even though in section 11 of their user agreement, it states gift cards are accepted. They are withholding my funds without any communication with me. I have sent 11 emails through their email support and the only responses are automated garbage. They are even still sending me emails on how to use their service even though it’s deactivated. I have posted on Twitter, Instagram and only a response on Twitter asking for my email so someone can help. Crickets after that. I have filed a BBB complaint against Square.

    There is no reason a financial company in 2015 has no way to call someone or get a proper response when they are holding your money. This is just straight up stealing. How can this be allowed. Horrible, horrible company

  • Chris Ammar

    Held my money with no warning! No number to call for answers. Was threatened by employees be awe of not making payroll and had to call police. Put me completely out of business and am now almost homeless. Ruined my business and my life!

  • Carla Sarvis

    This company has the absolute worst customer service….terrible…..my credit card was hacked on their website when the “training” asked me to key-in my full cc number to charge $1.00….then key-in again to request a refund of the $1.00…..within a few hours, our bank called asking about some huge purchases (i never left the house). We had to go through all the bank questions and cancel the card. In the meantime, I immediately tried to call Square (ooops, my bad…after hours you will reach nobody no matter how urgent), so sent an email…..then called the next morning and waited all day for a ‘call back’…sent another email…….finally received a call back but the person could do nothing and there was no “supervisor” to speak with me….and have not yet received a call from anybody “important” nor a reply to my, now, three emails…..this company doesn’t give a ##&*$) about you…it’s laughing all the way to the bank. It may be convenient in the short run but I wouldn’t’ trust Square at all to do right by you.

  • MARY

    WE LOVED SQUARE UNTIL WE FOUND THE TRANSACTIONS REPORT. THEY ARE NOT NOTIFYING US THAT TRANSACTIONS ARE BEING CANCELLED AFTER THE BUYER’S CARD IS APPROVED. WE HAVE DECLINED CARDS AND CANCELLED TRANSACTIONS AND SQUARE IS APPROVING THEM ALL ON THE REGISTER. WE ARE NOW EVALUATING A MORE TRUSTWORTHY MERCHANT SERVICES PROVIDER.

  • GARY GOODVIN

    I Had good luck at first. But I now cannot access my account. And no way of getting ahold of them except by email. That was 2 weeks ago. I’ve lost many sales since then. Be aware!!! Their customer service SUCKS!!!!

  • Ocean West

    I own a small auto sales and rental shop in Los Angeles area. Square deactivated my account and held $3,500. They said it’s high risk transaction and funds will be deposited after 90 days. Well, 90 days came and went, no deposits. No Customer telephone service, I sent two emails already, got automated messages, but no resolution. That $3,500.00 is my total net profit in months.
    There should be a class action law suit, it can’t be legal to hold funds for 90 days without live customer support.

  • Vera Hristova

    Horrible company. I wish that I read the reviews before signing up. They suddenly decided to hold my money Friday afternoon on for 90 days for no reason whatsoever.
    There is no customer service to talk to, just answering machine who knows where.

      • Ken Williams

        SCAM AND MORE SCAM. I signed up for free card swipe for android. Well after entering my pertinent business account information, someone attempted to wire $2600.00 from my business account to a Western Union account in another country. Luckily my bank flagged it as suspicious activity. My Square equipment never arrived despite them giving a tracking number. Called customer service _ No answer and also emailed customer service_ No reply.
        Thanks alot you MFs.

        • BK

          That same exact thing has happened to us. Three times we have changed our debit card believing that was the problem only to realize Square has our bank account number as well as the routing number. Those two things are all that’s needed for over seas fraud. A direct line into our account.

  • Jynelle

    Contract clearly states there are no monthly fees yet I was charged $18.99 for several months. Its partially my fault that I didn’t look for these charges. But from the prior post I read it wouldn’t have matters because like everyone else there is no actual contact number to talk to an actual human being. I spoke with the “dispute center” who told me to dispute through my merchant then get back with them. I sold Pure Romance products and they did not have anything to do with my problem. They asked for the last four of my card, the transaction dates, and the description transaction name. I gave it all to them and they still did nothing. I deactivated my account because they date they previously charged me was coming up. I hadn’t heard from them til after I deactivated my account. After I did so they stated they couldn’t do anything further washing their hands of their responsibilities. I do not understand how this so called company is still running eith all the above problems.

    • dea

      Square sent me a malfunctioning reader, found out at the end of the monthly billing that over 200$ did not process correctly despite the app stating “transaction complete”, my donut shop rarely sees charge customers but it would be nice if I didn’t get ripped off! It’s square who is responsible for the loss, I did my part. Can’t get a hold of the “customer code”either… any luck, anybody?


      Are you with Square? Learn how to resolve this complaint.

  • Melinda

    I do not have a lot of customers that pay for their services via credit card, however, recently I had a client who needed to charge a $15K balance. Out of the blue Square held up distributing this money to me saying they needed more documentation from me. I provided everything they requested very timely. I was then told I would get my funds within 2 business days. Getting through to their customer service is a mess, every time I call I wait an hour – literally. Then they have little to NO ability to answer the most basic questions. Despite being told verbally and in email that my funds would be in my account, they still are not and no one seems able to tell me why. They will not put a supervisor on the phone, all they will say is “someone will send you and email”. They are worse than the phone companies (and that is pretty darn bad!!) I will stop using square as soon as I get my money and will switch to a traditional merchant services account…..the fees are lower and they don’t hold your money to earn the float for these insane amounts of time and by inventing bogus reasons to need more documents then anyone can possibly need (and OH, BTW, if you want more docs, why didn’t you ask for them when I opened my account?)

    BEWARE DO NOT USE SQUARE>>>>>>GO TALK TO YOUR BACK ABOUT OTHER OPTIONS!!!!

  • Curious George

    These stories are horrible. Several of them refer to funds that the company holds and then deactivates the account. I’m curious to know, do these “held funds” include any deposits made on that account (I.e. Removing deposits on previously authorized transactions)? Or, are “these funds” specific to the transaction(s) that “flagged” the account? Either situation can cause inconvenience, but removal of all funds ever processed would be a nightmare.

    • Michelle Owens

      They help ALL of our deposits. They flag an entire account, not just a certain transaction. This is detrimental to small companies that accept credit cards as a form of payment for their services. It’s illegal. They are trying to get around it with saying the terms and conditions that you accepts when you initially signed up for the account would protect them. But it is very broken…. This will come back around and bite them.

    • Vera Hristova

      I am one of those people. They hold $1,400 of my money and deactivated the account. If anybody knows way to get more information please let me know. I could found only that phony 1-800 number going to answer service.

  • Michelle Owens

    PLEASE DO NOT USE SQUARE UP. We have been using Square for a few months now with no problem at all. As of 8/19 they put a hold on our deposits (over $5,000 worth) without contacting us to tell us why. I had to find out a week later when my account was in the negative. It is now 9/2/15 and we have yet to see our deposits. Meaning this company has run my customer’s credit cards – taken their fees, yet not given us the money…. IT’S ILLEGAL! The worst part is there is no phone number to reach anyone that can help you. We called product support about 10 times and they told us to stop calling. Yes… they’re holding $5,000 of our money and they asked us to stop calling. We are in the process of legal action. I would advise everyone having this problem to do the same thing. They are clearly stealing money from people and using it for their personal use until they feel like giving it back.

  • Jaime Howard

    Thought this product would be a very convenient way to process transactions wirelessly as well as a great back up payment method should there be an issue with our main merchant account.

    On August 29th in the greater Vancouver area we had major windstorms knocking out the power in our area. I thought it was great that I could still process transactions for my business although the power was out and our interact machine was not working.

    I processed about $3000 in transactions which is not a lot for our store but enough to be an issue if we do not receive those funds.

    I received an email from square saying they were not going to send me the funds and I would have to send them a photo ID (which I did), 3 bank statements (which I did), website, linked in profile etc etc

    Did everything they asked for and then just received a letter saying they are deactivating my account as they suspect that the transactions or activity is fraudulent.

    I also supplied a detailed letter as to why I had to use my square reader in the first place.

    They are holding all funds hostage for 90 days without interest and deactivated my account?

    I would definitely try another payment reader before using square. Also the cherry on the top was a note saying! All decisions are final. Apparently this is a common issue, square is holding funds maybe using the interest??

    • Lee

      I am surprised that the Federal government has not looked into this company. I also had them as well as my wife. I have a legitimate company, licensed in Florida. I had them ONE month and they abruptly shut me down. I called and they asked for all kinds of paperwork which we sent. They shut us off at 4pm Friday., They held $6000 from January 15 to April 15. Two days later after 2 weeks with them my wife received same for her business. She waited 90 days also for her money ($3300). Class action should be in the works. God knows there are many of us. I lost customers, lost profit, and had to scramble for new processor as well as short term loan.

  • Craig Jull

    We started using them for the a few transactions for our online Spanish classes.
    After a couple of months they sent me an email saying they were closing my account as it was not in compliance with their regulations.
    They never gave me a specific reason, then after a week I still had not been paid funds owed
    So I contacted them by email (they don’t even have a phone number for merchants to call).
    They told me they were holding the funds for 180 days as I was high risk??? WTF?? Where’s the risk with online Spanish lessons??
    Stay away from them

  • Tom Brown

    I use Samsung Tab 3 tablets. These cost $100 and are dedicated for use at our farm and farmers markets. It makes no sense to use a $400 tablet in those damage prone conditions. The current Square card reader does not work on these ‘older’ tablets. So I use older readers. At the farm our cell phone service is poor so swiping often fails or takes a long time so we just use the Register offline and upload later when I am at home with WiFi.

    So I just swiped my own credit card on my Tab 3 with the older reader in offline mode but at my home with wifi. The card swiped successfully and authorized payment (but of course, offline) However when I turned off airplane mode on the Tab 3 and swiped the same card again (so it was online and in direct wireless connection), I got a message that the card reader is no longer supported and the payment would not be processed. So this is what is happening with my payment declines. During my business day at the farm, offline, I am storing up payments in the offline mode since the offline function authorizes them but when I take the transaction laden tablet home at night, and turn on the Tab 3 and Square Register to upload the transaction data, then decline messages get generated and I see them the next day.

    So now I am out several hundred dollars plus my time spent in figuring this out because transaction support for this reader was terminated; probably on August 10 or thereabouts and with it, the capacity for transactions to be processed by Square. This despite the fact that the offline mode continued to show the payment was authorized.

    So the short story is that Square continually updates readers and associated software; necessitating unnecessary hardware upgrades to stay in sync, and progressively terminates older versions which result in payments being declined and the merchant stuck with lost revenue and lost merchandise.

    Tell me where I have misunderstood the situation.

  • Gus

    I switch to Square hooked by the 2.75% no monthly fee. I happened to prepare for the biggest expo in central florida and happened to charge over $5,000 in transactions to coach on increasing scores on credit reports. Square deactivated my account because there transactions we got paid were mainly done with pre-paid cards. We focus on clients who mainly do not possess a credit card. No warning, $5115 held for six months. They are supossed to deposit my funds today. I will keep you posted.

  • nbaj

    All these negative comments sound like paypal reviews..LOL

    I have used square for 3 years and never ever had an issue. i run a website and what i do is send out invoices to customers who want to make a purchase. You would think this would trigger a red flag, but it doesnt. I sell about $6000 a month using square, and i have never had an issue with them at all

      • nbaj

        You need desktop version on your phone, or you can use your computer. Go to invoices and simply create one and send it out. They pay it in the link square provides them

        As of today, stay away from square. I recently had 2 transactions where square automatically deducted funds for the 1st transaction and refunded the buyer. Nothing i can do. The 2nd dispute was today, after a customer complained 5 months later. Luckily square gives you a heads up, that they will deduct your account to refund the buyer. because of this, i called and shut down my bank account today that’s attached to square. I will not allow buyers to rip me off. Square won on the 1st transaction, but will lose on the 2nd, as there is no bank account. This proves that square offers zero protection for it’s sellers. I strongly suggest you stay away.


        Are you with Square? Learn how to resolve this complaint.

  • Jeremy

    Worst customer service I’ve ever experienced. Cannot send via UPS or Fedex & will not deliver to a PO box. DO NOT try to get this shipped to a rural spot like Jackson, WY. A waste of time.
    I suggest Apple Pay or Pay Pal reader. They can actually help you out!

  • Pate A

    Okay i watch the new commercial for Square.. I use Square Register on my ipad, use Square Market for online sales ), will most likely use the employee app when available. Several points… most negative comments don’t give much info on the business or the types of transactions. Square has marketed to small Mom and Pops, with face to face transactions, from a stationary location, and with relatively low dollar values per transaction. I’ve never had a problem, business fitting the above criteria I’v recommended Square to haven’t had any problems, So Why Is It So Difficult to Understand. New Businesses without a stationary location, making transactions without the customer present or over the phone without any tracking method… with hundreds or thousands of dollars of transaction , whom probably don’t use Square Market for online sales. Sounds shady to me.. These days you can’t be too careful, cardholders need to get statements , review and accept or question any transaction that are questionable.. at least 60 days so holding 90 or more day …. Read your terms and conditions first , most people with problems, I suspect haven’t until things start going wrong.

  • John

    OMG! SquareUp is terrible!! I read the reviews about them before I signed up and made the decision to go ahead and sign up anyway. Before I made my first transaction, I emailed them (They will not talk to you and do not post a phone number) to make sure that my account was active and that my transaction amount was within their limits. I received 3 emails back from them stating that everything was “good to go”. Once I made the transaction it showed that my deposit was pending. Then, later that night, I received an email stating that they were cancelling my account and that they were going to hold my money for 90 days. Unbelievable! I quickly emailed them back asking “Why?” I waited until the next day and did not receive any answers from them. I emailed again requesting information and that someone contact me to explain why I was told that I was “good to go”…still, no answers to any of my questions. I am trying to run a business and they have ruined a relationship with one of my customers. DO NOT USE THESE JOKERS. Unprofessional and they hide behind email providing absolutely no customer service.

  • Mike

    SQUARE is the WORST company around. IMPOSSIBLE to get anyone on phone and LIKE CRIMINALS, they hold you money for THREE MONTHS. Thats not a typo. You get an email from them saying “sorry for any inconvenience but we are holding these funds for 3 months” They are out to ruin peoples business’s at the expense of them collecting interest on your money for 3 months. They are a class action law suit waiting to happen. STAY AWAY FROM THEM!

    • Jenny

      Hi I am trying to make a decision on whether to use Square pos for my new business. Do you mind me asking what type of items do you sell and also was the problem with swiped or keyed transactions?

      • Carrie Heath

        I do sales and marketing for hotel groups I also a a small online jewelry shop called Designs by Carrie all of my transactions were keyed not swiped. They canceled with no notice and kept my money for 90 days. I am small business and unless you can afford to have your funds tied up I would not advise using them.

      • Teresa G

        Carrie,

        I sell vaping devices, which is actually sort of controversial. I do not sell online, I ONLY sell face to face, due to age verification. I do not swipe cards very often at all…only if I cannot get a card to read from a swipe. I do over the phone sales but they come in and pick up in store and then pay with a swipe of a card or cash. My transactions are average 60 dollars so not large transactions. I would think if you do large single transactions and/or key all or a lot then square is probably not the company for you. I have had a lot of great experience but I think most that are having all the bad experiences do not swipe and key in most of their transactions. I can tell you no other company was willing to loan me money for my business and square did after 1 year in business. It has truly helped me grow. I hope this helps you. you can email me direct with any questions or help I can try to give you. [REDACTED – personal contact info not allowed]

      • Christopher Burns

        Do not……. I am a struggling artist, they froze my account and held 515.00 on the 3rd and last sale. Before they closed my acount. 90 days…. They are crooks. 90 days come and gone. They will not take you by phone, it’s all email. Can you afford this to happen to you, likely, when it’s crucial that you need the funds? If yes, then go for it.

    • Josh

      O Yes I’m in the same boat as you. They are hold my money to on parts and and services i did on a costumer truck two and a half months ago. Email 12pm next morning are gone out of account. No leg to stand on. No support from them at all. Think goin to call police or FBI real shady company.

  • teresa G

    I am shocked to read all these comments! I have had square in a B/M business for a year and a half and I do 22000 a month in credit card transactions. I have had 0 (yes that is truly a 0) funds held from me. I have had NO trouble AT ALL calling them and speaking to a person in less than 10 minutes (which to me that is a good turn around time). most of the time its less than 3 minutes. I LOVE their POS system and I have two printers, cash drawer and two stands and tablets going. I Have honestly had NO, NOTTA, ZERO trouble. I know they are adding and building out thier program so there are a few newly added things I AM LOVING but not all bugs are out, so I do not currently use them, but I WILL :)

    Just my experience as I have seen a lot of comments that are MOSTLY all bad, but I have to give square a shout out here from my experience.

    I also got a capital loan from them and in less than 2 months have paid back almost half and I spoke to a customer care person and they said once paid I can get another one. I cannot even begin to get a loan from a bank!!!!! I have opened two stores now because of the capital loan!

    • Lee A

      Theresa, you are either a shill for Square One or EXTREMELY fortunate. I had TWO accounts frozen. One after 1 month and another after 2 days and just 1 transaction. They held over $5000 for 90 days. The reviews are mostly negative for a reason.

      • Wayne Guy

        Accusing Teresa of, perhaps, being ingenuous doesn’t seem fair. Our company has been using Square almost since Square’s start. We have never had a problem.

        From the beginning, as our business grew, we emailed Square whenever we needed an increase in our daily charge limit. They responded with an okay so now we can charge up to $10,000 a day.

        We are aware of the many people who do have issues with Square so the one time we needed to refund a client we gave them a check instead of doing a charge-back.

        I don’t know why some folk have a bad experience with Square and others, like Teresa and me, have only good to say. I do know they need to be made aware of your intended pattern of transactions, just like many financial bodies.

        • native7

          This company is nothing but a sham. Any positive comments are “REPUTATION MANAGEMENT” people paid by Square. I suppose many people will be fooled by these posts because it is so hard to believe that a company of this magnitude could operate this way. They held our funds for 1 full year. Been in business for 30 years and had never had this happen before or since. Jack Dempsey is in over his head. TWITTER IS TANKING. He is trying to take square public to save and it should be interesting when they have to be accountable to shareholders. Wish someone would expose this SCAM COMPANY.

          • Wayne Guy

            Your assertion that my positive comments are born from being a tool of Square would probably be offensive if I didn’t realize that it’s coming from a position of frustration and anger.

            Square seems to work for some people and then not others. I don’t know the guidelines for dealing successfully with Square but we have been dealing with them for a long time without a single negative issue.

            I believe Square’s biggest issue is not honesty but a severe lack of communication.

          • Teresa G

            I promise you I am not employed by square and you can easily contact me, to prove it or do your research. I am a veteran of 13 years whom started a business and use square. I honestly would NEVER lie to anyone about something for a gain of any kind. I know there are those who would but I am NOT ONE OF THEM. I think it has to do with amounts of transactions, and types of businesses(as I assume most any merchant account would scrutinize). I do not do large transactions, I am a retail store so my transactions are average 60 dollars each and I have done refunds through them and ALL have worked. I was skeptical doing a refund after reading so many comments but the 3 I have done worked very well. I just wanted to give an honest opinion of my experience. I am working with square now to set up my second location and YES, there are bugs and YES I am a little frustrated but I have worked with financial industries in changing systems and square is handling their changes quite well compared to the fortune 500 company I worked for.

            Anyway, please feel free to email me if you would like so you know I AM a REAL CUSTOMER OF SQUARE and not a paid employee or anyone paid to say good things for them.

            [REDACTED – personal contact info not allowed]

      • anees bader

        i have processed over $300,000 in the past 3 years being with square and NEVER had a chargeback and out of no where they terminated my accounts with no explanation whats so ever and now they are holding my money from 150 to 180 days please someone explain whats going on

      • teresa G

        I am no Shill, I promise you. I totally rely on user comments when shopping for items, so I would never stand up for something that doesnt work. I promise you, I am a very demanding customer when it comes to ANYTHING. I am just glad I am one of the fortunate ones that have not had any issues, as I was really really worried from reading a lot of comments prior to going with square.

        I think they are growing so fast is a lot of issue possibly, but not sure. I just know that my experience has been nothing short of awesome.

        Sorry to hear you have not and I would totally be upset with them and probably NOT use them ever again and write the worst reviews for them if it were me in your shoes.

    • Vera

      Can you please give me the phone number that you use to talk to them. They provided me via email with a bogus number that goes to automated recording. I read many reviews and no one but you seem to be able to talk to a real person. They are holding my money for 90 days but i see many people post that even after the 90 days there is no money back.

  • Curtis W

    Worst customer service I have ever run across. a full 12 email back and forth battle over what should have been a simple $15 refund.
    Still no refund and they wont return an email or a phone call.

  • Jason

    Total scam. They deactivated my account which is a life time ban from what I read on here and are holding $5,800 from me while I’ve not gotten a single chargeback. Apparently it’s because I’m too high risk. It just doesn’t make any sense. Now my business is literally on standstill while I set up a credit card account somewhere else. I would avoid going with square unless going a couple of days without credit card processing is acceptable.

      • Jason

        I have no clue what they consider risky. I have good credit, lots of cash, and have just been approved for a merchant account elsewhere for $50,000 a month. The most damaging part of this ordeal for me was losing business for a couple of days. If you get a lot of phone or website orders, having no downtime for CC processing is very important.

        My transfers got frozen and a prompt came up asking for more information which was filled out. All of my paperwork (DBA, business license, sales tax license, SOS filings) is up to date for my LLC and I do have business bank accounts. I submitted 3 months of bank account information showing an average balance of about 100k. The only debt I have for both my business and me would be $600 credit card debt. It just doesn’t make any sense. They just banned me a couple hours after I submitted the info requested.

        • Pete A

          if all that is true, and i presume it is, why would you be considering Square, you are clearly not the type of business it’s intended. It is not intended for volume transaction online. its a face to face, small transaction amount program.. Please explain why you considered this program to begin with. I would be very interested in you reply.

          • KPL

            If you look at their current mktng, they ARE trying to be attractive to larger customers, especially with their standalone POS option. Personally, I’ve been using them awhile, but then again I only get 1-2 cc transactions in a day. Nonetheless, the challenges with their C/S and all I’ve read here has motivated me to change to PayPal when I re-boot my e-store. Frankly I was initially attracted to Square because of the inventory management & reporting, But now PP has the same capabilities, so I’m going with the solid company, (with REAL customer service)

          • Jason

            Jason, they charge a higher transaction rate for phone and 3rd party website orders which should cover any additional risk they might be worried about. If they were so worried about risk, then I think a better option would be to put a reserve or ask for more information instead of just using the banhammer. It’s a shame since Square does have better rates compared to what my old merchant account was getting. I could care less now. I hope they are happy with all the small mom & pop merchants they have. I’ve already gone to one of their competitors.

        • John

          Same thing happened to me. I received emails from them saying that I was “cleared” to make transactions, and after the first one – which they knew about in advance – they sent me an email saying that they were terminating my account. No reason given.

          What a mess I have now! I am trying to get the money they have “on hold” in less than 90 days. What a joke.

          I called my customer and told them to dispute the charge. These guys are terrible and a disgrace to business. They should be ashamed of themselves. Anyone who works there should also be ashamed.

  • Hrothgar

    I like to think of myself as a person who gives others the benefit of the doubt. However, since I started my membership with Square this weekend, here’s what has happened:

    They have failed to deposit my money within the 1-2 days as they advertised, and promised (with qualifications, in their documentation) they would do.

    A customer paid an invoice I sent through their service with her credit card. After basically hoodwinking me into involving Squareup in my cash-flow, I was asked (via automated e-mail) to provide personal documentation of my identity, and receipts for my business — so I voluntarily provided these documents, same day. They have used my voluntary disclosure to inform their decision that my business is “high-risk.” They say that I may attempt to refund my customer his money and ask for an alternative form of payment (ie, appear disorganized or unprofessional to customers who have already trusted me with their credit card info), or agree to wait 90 days and pay them a fee for hanging onto my money for me.

    Their decision is “final” and “irreversible.”

    I haven’t gotten through to anyone in customer service yet, so keeping my fingers crossed for that, but I’m thinking I’ll let them keep their fees, damn their impudence. Whether I ever do business with them again would be in their court.

    • M N

      Close your bank account which they can access .They took money from my account without calling me or emailing me. They did not return the money for 2 years. There are several lawsuits against them .My attorney advised me to stay away from them. Several State Attorneys are investigating them for illegal practices..
      I opened my company in 2001.Had no customer complains ever. Even in this case my customer signed legal affidavits that he does not want the money back but they did not care. Close your account before they clean you out and push you to bankruptcy as they did with others. I was lucky acting fast on my attorneys advise. I went to a different bank where they had no access to my money anymore.

  • landon

    square is the worst company to deal with no way of getting a hold of anybody they hold money until a verification is done try to send more verification and no way of doing it very disappointed

    • Kimberly

      I know all too well what you have gone through. I myself started having funds withdrawn from my account in September 2013. At first I really believed they would return the money in the 30 day window they told me I had. After sending then numerous documentation from the State of Ohio, my financial information, business license and invoices I still had nothing after 30. At this point I was out $2485. Money that my small business juggled back and forth to cover. Then all of a sudden I get two emails in one day saying they had withdrawn $1600 and $500 again. I was livid. All in all, this happened six times. By then I was far too deep to recover. In November 2013 I contacted the Ohio Attorney Generals office for their help. Useless!!! They gave me a number that was to a disconnected cell phone. I called the AGs office back and was given the 800 number which redirects you to submit your issue via their website. I have a file folder that is more than 1″ thick of the same email over and over saying they would get back with me. After demanding a telephone number I was told “give us your number and specific time to call, and we will call you” I thought to myself…ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Anyone could call me and ask for financial info and I’m to suppose to do business this way? But I played along and sent an email that said “please call me in five minutes at 123-446-7890” about a half an hour later I receive an email from them saying “we tried to call your number but it was invalid”. I knew at this point I was in really really really bad shape. I took all of my emails and bank statements to my attorney and he was just as shocked as I was. Unfortunately, nothing could be done because of the contract I agreed to when I accepted the device. I could go on and on about my experience, it’s been horrible. I’ve lost everything I’ve ever worked for. 22 years in the travel industry – gone. I no longer have the financial stability that I had. My business was everything to me. I was one of the best. Even featured as one of the top agents for Apple Vacations. Everything gone in less than 5 months. I was charged with a Felony 3 Theft, received 5 years prison (suspended) probation for 5 years and with all of the fees, bank transactions, money lost from my clients trips. Jack Dorsey sits on the board of Disney and all of these huge corporations while running this useless business of Square. He needs to accept responsibility, just as I did and be charged with theft. Bottom line.

      Kimberly
      [REDACTED – contact information]

  • Cathy Primeau

    I would NEVER recommend Square to any merchant. We had a customer dispute payment on completed services and Square charged over $4000.00 back to our account. I placed multiple calls (over 50) and multiple emails. I NEVER ONCE, EVER, got a return call or resolution. I was told via email a decision would be made within 90 days as to the disposal of this issue. This was in April of 2014 and 15 months later there has never been a word from Square.
    There are far better credit card processing company’s with customer support.

    • M.N.

      I had to wait two full years to get my money back even my client sent certified affidavit to ask for release of their money to me, to their bank or to them. I am not surprised that several Attorney Generals are investigating them. There will be a big lawsuit against them. People who never had problems are going to have as soon as there will be a glitch in the Square system. There was no customer support to solve the problem. My company is over 14 years old and my attorney advised me not to do any business with them anymore. I was on a high level business conference where business owners and attorneys addressed the “square problem”. The advise was: Close your bank account which they can access and walk away. There are many companies (not merchant credit card terminals) which give the same service as Square I am using them and they pick up the phone when I call them.

  • Trudie Hechel

    We’ve used Square now for about 3 years. NEVER had a problem. Our funds are deposited in our account the very next business day. We’ve never had funds held. Many, many, many of the complaints I’ve read here arise because people are NOT using a card reader and the ampunts are somewhat high. I’m sure Square gets a bit suspicious about all these charges when no card has been presented for the sale. Non swipe transactions on our end amount to a fraction of 1 percent. If you’re going to do this type of business then you MUST consider another merchant account provider. For you to constantly bash them because you haven’t done your due diligence by reading the fine print and researching your options is ludicrous. In the right environment, Square has been, and continues to be above reproach.

    • teresa G

      I totally agree! I know for a retail merchant store Square is awesome! I think that using square for non swipe is a HUGE part of the issue and the amounts are very high from what I am reading. I am same as you, Trudie, less than 1% is keyed card transactions and I HAVE NEVER HAD AN Issue. I have had to key some cards and still NO ISSUE.

      I think square has to do better at letting consumers know that their service is NOT intended for those types of businesses and publish things that they would consider “HIGH RISK” companies. I do not think it is fair of square to let the public assume it is fine for most any businesses, but I also think most people looking for a processor needs to do their homework and find out if their type of transactions will be considered high risk.

  • Brenda Bell

    Horrible experience! DO NOT USE!
    I was a first time user. I got the square for the sole purpose of selling my paintings I had painted and collected over a two year period for an arts festival. First issue was that the square reader did not work, so all the transactions had to be done manually. Despite the setback the art show was a big success! My sales for the one day show were great! totaled almost $ 3,000.00. Only to learn the next day my money was not deposited into my account. In addition, my account had been deactivated without explanation. I tried numerous times to reach Square by phone and email. Only to realize unless you have an active a count you cannot speak to a live person at Square. I finally received one email telling me my funds would be deposited into my account 90 DAYS LATER without explanation! I filed a complaint with the BBB and have yet to receive my funds.

  • Mark Zender

    Worst service I think I’ve ever tried on the internet. I used a gift card to try deposit the cash into my account. Square took the charge (minus their fee, of course), and the deposit has been sitting there for 2 months without being processed. Basically Square stole $100 from me. I’ve sent 4 emails to support, never got a single reply. Of course you can’t speak to anyone via phone. I think I’ll report them to the BBB.

  • Regina D

    I use Square very seldom so it is easy to track deposits from Square to my account. We own a one room vacation rental and rent to fishermen etc. Anyway…I recently had two charges using Square for the rental. I received an email saying the first charge was accepted and a “Daily Summary Report” saying how much I charged. I never received a “Square has sent you” report for this particular stay. AND…the money is not deposited into my account. The customer was charged. CAN’T get a hold of Square via phone to ask for help. Sent and email, but still no reply. Hope I hear from them soon. Otherwise I will call the customer and ask them to cancel the charge amount on their card.

  • Jacob Probst

    I started using square about 2 years ago, up till now i have not had any issues with charge backs or disputes. I had a customer call in about shipping some wheels to Canada, i told him we could use square to run the transaction. His card was denied twice and so i told him i’d send him a direct invoice through squares web services. I had to post the item for sale first with square. I posted it and mailed out the item to the address he directed me to once the payment was approved through square and deposited to my account.

    Once the package arrived in Canada about 2 weeks later the customer then filed a claim with his credit company disputing the charges.

    Even though i had shipped the item to the costumers claimed address (square has no way of verifying this information / unlike paypal). and had a signed signature from the customer once they arrived from fedex. This deal was disputed as soon as the goods arrived.

    In my mind because square helped facilitate the transaction, approved the transaction and sent funds into my account telling me this is a good credit card go ahead and ship this item, they should be partially held responsible for facilitating the transaction.

    Now I’m out my initial investment plus the shipping costs at the minimum.

    Do yourself a favor, don’t download square application on your phone.

    It might not be the first transaction that causes you to lose money, it might be the 10th or 100th. But anybody that has a credit card can decide to dispute any transaction and Square does not have your back.

    They will pull that money out of your account faster than they deposited it into your account and wipe their hands clean of any wrong doing and responsibility.

    I just deleted their application from my phone and moving forward learned a hard lesson.

    Also there customer support sucks! Don’t take my word for it read other reviews.

  • Marjorie Hague

    I have lost several transactions because the square reader didn’t work, the swipe repeatedly didn’t go through. Fortunately I was able to negotiate a cash sale for them, the average amount was approximately over $100.00; the customers went to an ATM machine. I am now looking at keying in the amount, although more expensive per transaction, I am told this works. In the future I hope a better method will evolve.

  • patrice g

    Square is by far the worst company I’ve ever had to deal with. I attempted a refund which was a big mistake. I called in to have it done and was given the wrong information by a representative which caused my account to be destroyed. When I finally could reach someone on the line. They stated that the representative gave me wrong information and it was nothing she could do. Then she proceeded to tell me if I yelled she would hang up. She did. If you deal with square you know its hard to get a representative on the line. They made the mistake that costs me additional funds.

  • Alan Conner

    Square is not ready for restaurants. The problem is their sales representative repeatedly told me updates were coming. When it became obvious that the system would not work they refused to accept a return.

    Bad business practices.

  • Los Angeles Bill

    I highly resent the fact that I was effectively punished for daring not to have the most recent update of the Square app on my iPhone. I had just completed a consultation when my client asked if he could pay with a credit card. As I had my square reader, I told him that would be fine. Unfortunately every time I would try to load the app, the register keyboard failed to come up. So there I stood like a huge effing jack ass unable to process the payment. I fumbled with this for 15 minutes and even shut down and restarted my phone to no avail. I was in a weak signal area so running the 55MB update was not an option in that short time window. SO I LEFT WITHOUT BEING PAID. It wouldn’t kill them to put some kind of notification in the app if an update is necessary. When I returned to my office, I invoiced the client and am now sitting there hoping he will pay. Then, through trial and error, realized that I had to update the app to get it to work. I am extremely mad at Square right now and am considering stopping using them. I relied on them and they kind of screwed me. I will most definitely stop if I have problems getting paid for this transaction.

  • Tom Hamel

    Square’s customer service is sub-standard. IF you get them to respond by phone, they use VOIP and the quality makes it very difficult to understand what they are saying. Everything had to be repeated. The customer service actually admitted to me that it was something that they are told all the time. She admitted it! The representative I spoke to was unable to grasp the nature of my concern, which should have been fundamental knowledge for her position. The call was dropped, twice, on their end and I was the one who had to call back and go through the whole “your call is important to us” spiel. How can companies fail to understand the basics of customer service and still believe they will stay in business? It’s baffling to me.

  • First Choice Coring. Inc

    I just called to ask why you charging me 3.5%. the guy who called me back (I hope you have his name) was very rude.
    and was repeated himself again and again. when I told him that he’s still not answering my question. he hung up on me.
    it’s the first time I’m calling. and last time. because I refuse to be treated like 5 years old.
    you NOT going to see more charges from my business.

  • Jesse Bloom

    DO NOT USE SQUARE! THEY SCREW OVER SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS WITH LITTLE OR NO NOTICE. My account was deactivated after they requested additional information from me (which I offered immediately). They are holding around $1000 for up to 90 days with zero communication or warning for me beforehand. Unfortunately, that $ represents critical funds for me. They offered no explanation for their decision, though I suspect and have heard that coaching and other “spiritual or alternative” looking services they shut down. That would be the case in my situation.

    If you are a small scale start up and your cash is really critical: DO NOT USE SQUARE, they can really screw you over. I am a service based business and I charge remotely so maybe it’s fine for people who are running product and merchandising but my god, totally unreasonable. I’m done with square.

  • Debbie McChesney

    I am beyond frustrated with Squares customer service. No way to get a person on a call. Had a disputed charge that was totally bogus. Customer said they never disputed the charge. Then Square tried to sell me some protection plan for $250. Horrible

  • Lee

    After over 3 months my wife and each had our funds refunded. We had our accounts deactivated after 5 weeks for mine and 1 week for wife. No reason other than “suspected fraud”. I am licensed in Florida to do business as is my wife. I have established business in Florida. My credit rating is 810. I jumped through the hoops Square made me. I filed 27 pages of documentation as did my wife. Their response? No way Jose. Consequently I was left with no means to secure payments. Fortunately my customers understood and made it happen. They paid cash! Some actually made a trip to my office to pay. I received ZERO support from Square and the representatives were rude and condescending. I wouldn’t recommend this company to my worst enemy. They should be investigated. At the very least made to pay interest on funds held 90 days. The SEC standard is 30 days. The BBB is kind to give them a C rating. I have since found another company that is quicker, friendly, and less expensive. And their website and mobile app is easier and more detailed. So in the end I am okay. They held almost 7K from myself and over 4K from my wife for 90 days! To me that’s thievery.

    • Gladys Brierley

      Awful. We had a similar awful experience thankfully my client got her money back in 48 hours and repaid me another way. I was going along and all of a sudden they cancelled my card. No reason was given. I find them ruthless in their dealings and they also were not communicating, do not take calls and I hope they get investigated and get put out of business.

  • Sean Marino

    Nearly 3 months later, Square still has not accurately determined where my February 2, 2015 transfer of nearly $500 ended up. Neither the recipient (my partner) nor myself have received, or can otherwise access, the funds. Square, when you can reach someone in their “office”, has been completely ineffective in attempting to resolve this issue. Proceed with great caution. In all fairness, this happened only once out of many uses. However, the apparent inability to quickly rectify the situation is unacceptable. I had considered using Square for my business but I am now unwilling to take the risk.

  • richard

    I have used square for two years without any issues. This week I can’t log in and no funds have been transferred to my bank. I can’t get a customer code so unable to speak to customer service. It appears to me there is “no” customer service. I signed up for Amazon Register today as I’m sure I’ll never hear from Square again or get my money. Very disappointing.

  • Joanne Miller

    leaving square. had no problem and referred clients, family and friends, and then, bam — deactivated already sent invoices. Clients called and said they were getting error pages. Thank you Square. I’m a web developer—way to make me look like I know what I’m doing.

    My Square stores are down. My clients’ stores ? Down. Thank you Square. For making me look like a complete idiot.

    And, for holding money and NOT ANSWERING ANY SUPPORT TICKET ABOUT THE ISSUES I’M HAVING.

    GOOD-BYE SQUARE.

  • Lex Lope

    I am absolutely disgusted with Square! I attempted to call into their customer service and it disconnected me when I didn’t have a customer number. I sent square a request for my customer number 3 times in 3 days and they have tried to no answer me giving me all types of answers except the one I asked for. For a company that is one of the hightest rates in the industry their customer service is WORTHLESS!

  • Teresa

    If anyone is thinking of using SQAURE, please read these comments! Buyer beware. I had a similar horror story with Square and fortunately I was able to have my client put a stop to the transaction. My bank actually helped me to resolve the situation because they have had so many complaints and problems with other customers in the same situation as all these people here. I contacted the founder of Square through his Twitter account when all attempts to reach any customer service person failed. I highly recommend going to social media to get their attention. I noticed that anyone who complains on Facebook or Twitter gets contacted tight away. They don’t want anyone to see the negative posts so they are quick to get back to you.

    You might also want to know that Square is NOT a credit card processor but a money aggregator! They are only a middleman between you and the bank. They are not governed by the same laws as a bank. You can get a merchant account with your bank that offers virtual processing. It’s cheaper and you will have access to a banker or customer service 24 hours a day. They will not suspiciously hold your money or drop your account for no reason leaving you holding the bag.

    It’s also worth it to know that if a customer disputes your charge with Square they will just chargeback your account with no investigation so your customer gets the luxury of your goods or services while you pay for it! This is getting to be so well known with the public, there are actually people seeking out merchants who use Square just because they won’t have to pay if they dispute a charge!

    I now make it a point to never buy anything from someone who uses Square because I don’t want them to get 1 cent of my hard earned money.

    Be relentless on social media until you get their attention. Good luck

    • Connie Crowley

      Good luck to anyone dealing with Square, my testimony was posted in September. I did not have any luck with the social media. Someone had posted about posting on @Jack relentlessly to get a code for phone access. I posted on Square, @Jack, and other small business posts every 5 min. for 2 hours, then every 15 min for another 6 hours. Beyond that I posted several times daily over many weeks, I got nowhere.

    • Kimberly Pack

      I have posted many comments on this site regarding this horrible ponzi company. They have driven my business into bankruptcy, ruined my 22 year career and not to mention the financial burden it has taken on my family. I have been fighting them for almost 2 years now and have been charged with a Felony 3 because I was unable to recover the funds that Square withdrew from my account and held without returning to my client or myself. I urge anyone using this device to stop immediately and contact the FTC and FBI with open complaints. I have contacted several attorneys and none are able to take the company on due to their contract. In a nutshell, they can take money out of your account without notice and not return it EVER.

      For those of you posting about how great this company is, you are obviously a paid advertisement for this horrible company. Get a real Job!

      Kimberly

      • Chris

        Hi Kimberly,

        Today they deducted 10,000.00 from my bank account as it stated there was a dispute with my customer. Well there is not and I contacted my bank fraud department. My bank reversed the charge and I am going to get my money back…hopefully…
        So you think the FBI will deal with this? This will ruin my company since I look like a fool…I have been in business 18 years…and this is unbelievably illegal…class action suit?

        Branson is going to hear from my Royal Commando SBS partner who owns our business!
        We are connected to the heavy hitters of media worldwide and my partner won’t stop if anyone wants to ride the wave…

        Thanks Chris

    • alice taylor

      Thank you for this info! I’m unable to reach square, and based on what you stated, I called my bank. They do have virtual processing and will be setting that account up shortly. Square has been great until I needed their help. There are too many other available options to stick around for this kind of service!

  • natalia

    I wanted to share my HORRIBLE, upsetting and borderline illegal experience with SQUARE.. They claim to be a mobile credit card processing for small businesses. When I alongside my sister, Cherisse Danielle and our mother. Decided to take the leap and open our own small business, REST FOR LESS LUXURY BEDS

    I thought it was imperative to offer credit cards as a method of payment. Square was recommended to me by a friend and I took a look at the company… they claimed to be simple and fast Credit card/ online payment processing company.

    They sent me the white square reader right away and told me I could start taking payments immediately ( even before I linked our business bank account) That night we take a few credit card purchases and when the sales day was over I got on my laptop and entered all my banking information. They stated it would take 5 business days to verify my bank account.. I though okay that’s fine.. It also said I can keep taking credit card/ online payments and they would hold in my account until they bank account was linked.

    5 Business days later I got a notice that my bank account was verified, and again I could continue taking credit card payments..

    A day later I received yet another email saying they now needed more information before they would deposit any funds into my account, but the familiar notice that again I can continue taking credit card payments. The next day I gathered 13 PAGES OF BUSINESS DOCUMENTS and faxed off to them as per their request.. I sent business registration, customer invoices, supplier invoices, Business Adds, and my Bank Statement.
    Later that day I received this email from them:

    Hello Natalia,

    We’re sorry to inform you that we are deactivating your account. Our Account Services team reviewed your account and found a pattern of transactions associated with high-risk activity.

    For further information about our policies, you can review section 42 of the Square Seller Agreement.

    We regret that, starting today, you will no longer be able to process transactions using Square. Any funds currently in your account will be held for 90 days before being released to your linked bank account.

    If you’d prefer to receive funds more quickly, you should consider refunding the payments back to the original cards and seeking alternate forms of payment. (Please note that we will refund all the fees, too.)

    Refunds are available within 60 days of the original payment. To process a refund, log in to the Square dashboard.

    1. Use the date selector tool to locate the specific payment.
    2. Click the payment you’d like to refund, then click “Issue Refund”.
    3. Select the reason you’re refunding the payment, and click “Issue Refund.”
    4.
    Unfortunately, our decision to deactivate your account is final. Due to security reasons and the obligations of our agreements with card networks and other financial institutions, we cannot reverse this decision and are unable to provide additional details.

    Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

    Sincerely,

    Square Account Services

    Notice there is no contact information and no phone number at all… I went online and tried to find a contact number to call them as my BUSINESS IS 100% LEGITAMATE and I am depending of MY funds to continue operations!!

    Finally after looking online, and coming across many people in similar situations I figured out that they will not give ANY phone support to anyone without an active account, they will not talk to you call you back or respond to any questions. I also came across HUNDREDS of people with the same story as me.. All upset and left without their hard earned money!

    I think it’s important to mention that we have been open for about a week and a half so pattern of transactions?! Camon!!..

    Opening a small business is difficult enough without someone holding your funds for 90 days without reason, or explanation. I have written them 6 emails, tried to contact on Facebook and all I get back is a form letter saying our decision is final. They refuse to contact me via phone.

    Square has the potential to single handedly destroy my small business, and they are also doing this to a lot of other people… I wanted to get the word out!

    BEWARE OF SQUARE!!

    Please share… We cannot let these people get away with taking advantage of the little guy!! Do an internet search yourselves too …. It is a major problem…

    Talia
    #bewareofsquare

    • Sam

      Hi Talia
      I’ve posted my experience with SQUARE before, I am just waiting Civil Suit Action for this company to occur.
      I am a small business owner too. I sell products at the home shows. We had few CC processors and one of the show we decided to use SQUARE. This was the biggest mistake in my business history. We had over 10 K CC transaction happened at the show..All swiped and sign by customers. After this, our experiment was similar to yours. Unfortunately it took us 14 months + 20 weeks (installments) to get our money back. I hope this will not happen to you. The financial damage was far beyond 13K.. not even counting emotional distress. We have attempted to write to BBB, Attorney of General, some media group and in all Social Media.. I even personally went to SQUARE head quarter in San Fransisco to talk to someone. They have 2 layers of security.. I couldn’t even pass the first one. I just told them, I need to talk to someone face to face to get my answers and eventually my money. Security personal told me there 5-10 customers comes there (similar situation) but they can not let me go upstairs to talk to someone. I had to send them an e-mail. Anyways after I refuse to leave without talking to someone from someone customers service, they called to POLICE on me for trespassing.
      There are lot more of course, but I just want to keep it short.
      I believe this company is getting protected by some politicians and government agencies. As you know Twitter guy is the one found SQUARE.

      It is hard to get somewhere with these guys..

      GOOD LUCK..

    • Michelene Geneus

      Hi Talia,

      I was reading your complaint cause I got the same answer from square. The day before they told me everything was fine after talking to a customer service person. Then I received the same letter that you got. I just don’t know what to do anymore. I’ve send them everything they were asking for. Is the funds really gonna be release after 90 days? I’m worry it’s 5500$. Did you find any solution to talk to someone?

      Thanks

  • Jordan

    My company purchased a square reader about a month ago to be able to accept credit cards to be in the now day world . I run a Landscaping company which does high end landscape project $20,000 plus. The first day I got it set up I ran a $10k charge on a customer card, everything went through no questions asked money was in my account within 2-3 days. I thought great this is going to be easy to use. Then a month later I tried to run a $12k charge for the same customer of mine. Everything went through, they took the money off his credit card and sent us both receipts for the transaction. Then a day later I get an email from them stating ‘that we need to verify your business”. So I complied and sent over the documentation they wanted (federal tax ID #, bank statements, etc…). But good luck trying to do that on their website it does not work. When you call and ask why they simply reply “well download google chrome”. Sorry No I am not doing that. I am not very tech savvy. I was using internet explore the most common used web browser in the world. So I ended up having to send them in an email. They “reviewed” my information and then sent me an email a day later stating that they reviewed my information but the only thing is they limited me to a $3,000.00 limit per transaction. The bad part is they had my customers money for 3 days floating it around and ended up not transferring the $12k to my account. And then they tell me that it could take up to 8-10 business days for them to refund the money to my customers credit card. Isn’t that fraud??

    So why on day one of me having this square account did they let me charge $10k and now a month later with no issues with my account would they not let me charge $12k???

    When I went to ask why I was limited to $3,000 I was told it was for my protection and my card holders protection. (I understand they want to prevent fraud). But I have been in business for over 8 years. I have never had an issue or compliant about credit card processing. When I kept asking the question why, it was the same answer. So I asked for a supervisor! Good luck as they don’t take phone calls. So when it comes to needing help good luck you are stuck with whoever they can find on the street to answer the phones. Customer Service is horrible at this company!!!

    I WILL NEVER USE THIS COMPANY EVER AGAIN AND WILL NEVER RECOMMEND THEM OR ALLOW ONE OF MY CREDIT CARDS TO EVER BE RAN THROUGH THEM. So companies out there that have a square good luck!!

    I believe that the FCC or feds should walk in and shut this company down for poor credit processing handling and poor customer service!!

    I have been doing business for myself my whole life and my family owns many companies and we have never been treated this way by a credit card processing company!!

    Future users of the Square good luck! Because you will need it.

  • Jared Schuren

    Square fraudulently deducted $2,504.19 from my business account stating a customer’s bank issued a charge-back that was NEVER issued. I use or used Square for my on-line invoicing. Please keep in mind that I have never had an issue with my account; no disputes, no charge-backs, nothing. I rent short-term properties and I had a customer who decided not to stay at my property and wanted a refund. We do not issue refunds unless we can re-book the property and we were unable to do so on such short notice. There for, no refund was issued. Pretty standard in the STR business. The customer decided to call their bank and state that the transaction was unauthorized, $2,504.19. Their bank, Wells Fargo, reached out to myself and Square requesting information about the transaction. Keep in mind that they did not issue a charge-back or dispute; simply reviewing the case. I gave Wells Fargo the transaction receipt and all pertinent dialogue (e-mails) between the client and myself. At this time, Square decided to deduct my account in the amount of the “reviewed” transaction. Again, no formal dispute or charge-back had been filed. The charge Square deducted did not clear my account as we keep little funds in that account. Square attempted 3 times to take the money from my account. Each time racking up hundreds of dollars in banks fees as it was messing with my pending transactions. They were successful in obtaining the money on the 3rd attempt. Again, a dispute or charge-back had not been issued by my customers bank. I reached out to the customers bank and Square. Wells Fargo was extremely helpful and also questioned why Square had deducted the funds from my account without a formal dispute or charge-back being issued. Also, Square had all pertinent information in regards to the case and claims to offer seller protection which in fact they do not. You cannot contact Square directly. You have to call, leave your number, and wait for someone to call you back. At which time they transfer you to the disputes department. My call was dropped 3 times during the “transfer” and I had to start the process over each time; call, leave number, wait for call back, transfer to right department, call drop, etc. When I finally received a call back from a person in the disputes department the way I was treated was absolutely absurd. Wasn’t I the customer? The Square employee was extremely sarcastic with me and mocked my questions like I was an idiot for inquiring about why Square had deducted $2,500 from my account and that I had questions, concerns and needed time frames. I’m running a small business, $2,500 is A LOT of money to my business or any small business. There e-mail response to my questions and repeated email attempts was, “I’ve taken another look at your account and can see that the case below is still being reviewed by your customer’s bank. We don’t have any updates to provide to you at this time. However, as mentioned, we’re expecting to hear back from your customer’s bank by 6/12/2015. Please feel free to write back in at that time for an official update”. They want me to contact them in 90 days to figure out the “official update”? How is this an unacceptable business practice? Again, aren’t I the customer? Again, I’ve never had 1 issue with my account prior; no disputes or charge-backs. Not one. Do not use Square. I’ve filed fraud against them at this time.

    • Peter

      So you should be pursuing a legal case against the customer who created the problem. Square is follow its stated policies regarding disputes. You are clearly, as many people and small business do, trying to go after the wrong entity. Go after the customer for all damages and fees. All I can tell you Square didn’t create the problem, that customer did. I have always gone back to customers , confronted the situation and looked for compensation directly. Both institution are legally working for the customer not you.

  • Mike L

    I can say there are many payment options out there. Having worked for a year there are many fees tacked on later after a few months. Common practice. Because of that I eventually started own company. There are options where you pay as you go or hook up a machine, wireless, website etc. There are processors out there “rare” that will not charge junk fees, make sure you have your money next day and get billed only at the end of the month. It is better to have the Interchange Rates as issued by the banks with a plus rate. Ranges from ballpark 0.75 to 2 percent , depending on card and Mc Visa evaluation at the end of the transaction of which card you took. Check Cards around 0.75 percent (non pin entered debit) qualified cards around 1.54 percent (low rewards attached, than mid and non qualified. Cards not swiped, Hugh rewards to customer and corporate cards. Hope this helps. Happy Easter and Happy Passover.

  • Pamela

    We are a small, family owned business, and just started using Square a few months ago. We have been very happy with the service and the opportunity to offer our customers an option to pay by credit card.

    We just received a “not satisfied” response, due to the lack of information provided on the Square receipt. While I understand Square provides limited information (date paid, amount paid, credit card type and last 4 digits), it is unnerving we now have a negative review/response due to something beyond our company’s control.

    Is there a way to remedy this? The customer marked their review as “no response allowed”. However, that is not a fair assessment of our company.

    Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you. Pamela

    • Carrie

      I would be very careful. If you are showing and unsatisfied even if it is there fault they will start holding your money or cancel your account and tell you that you can have your money in 60 to 90 days and then will play h**l to get your money if you ever do.. Buyer beware when using Square

    • Carrie

      I spoke with my actual bank today.. (REGIONS BANK) I do not know if you have them but. They told me that they have a lot of complaints regarding square. They also advised me that they offer the same thing with a pay as you go merchant service. They qualify you at the start so there is no waiting for your money and no limit on the amount that you can do every month and that your service is good from your first swipe. No contract and your fees are less then square and available the next business day.. Your bank may also offer the same service.

  • Nay Nay

    Horrible, Horrible company and rude, uneducated no class customer service reps.
    My situation: Graphics and Printing Company, To make my story short customer was dissatisfied with flyers we printed for him, keep in mind that it was his art work. so he paid a total of $369.00 or so… Customer called his bank and Square and told them we somehow got a hold of his cc information and charged his card without authorization! Like really?? WDF?? So they charged my account and withdrew the amount of 369.00, then i called and then sent the proof they needed and they replaced the $ , poof problem fixed? NOT! so that weekend I got hit with a NSF, because we always transfer $ from that account to other account. I called them yet again, yes with stupid pin # they request you get before calling… , They hit my account again, and again I get a NSF, called them and they claimed that they will continue to charge my account until they get that money back, and I won’t receive it until they settled the dispute that is going on, keep in mind I already sent them a copy of the invoice customer signed and dated, where it clearly says we are not responsible for your own artwork . So basically they hold on to your money until wenever they want, claiming that his bank denied my claim because the invoice signed by him is not enough proof. So in the meantime they will continue to charge my account and they will not any shape or form be responsible for any bank fees my bank throws at me!!! Fellow business owners, beware please don’t accept SQUARE!! ITS A TOTAL SCAM COMPANY TRYING TO DO MONEY LAUNDRY WITH YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY!!!

  • Lee Akeley

    They closed 2 accounts of mine without warning and after lengthy and detailed report on my business with documentation. They are currently holding almost $1600 of mine for 90 days. NO communication. Non-existent customer support, thuglike behavior, and godlike attitude. This company should be shut down by FCC/SEC

  • Moraga Numismatics

    Four and a half weeks ago a $500.00 purchase was “approved” by Square. I did not received an update to my account record and my bank account was not credited. I checked my transaction record and found that the transaction was “cancelled” without notification. I finally talked to a service representative who gave me some gobblygook instructions on how to allow Square to check into it. I tried 3 times with no success.

    Beware of a company who can cancel a previously approved transaction without recourse.

  • Emma

    This is my fifth year using square in my brick and mortar store, and I’ve not had one problem. However, I did a lot of research first. The iPad POS system is equal to systems you could pay thousands to set-up and a monthly fee after that, and you can get it for free. I have recommended Square to other local businesses and no complaints.

    • Corky

      Emma – I think most people on here had an excellent report with Square and like yourself with no problems. But the biggest problem is, one day square just up and deactivates the account, no notice, funds held, etc, etc –

    • Gabriel

      Nice.

      Square service is so deplorable that the company has to plant fake comments. This user’s comment that:
      “The iPad POS system is equal to systems you could pay thousands to set-up and a monthly fee after that, and you can get it for free.”

      is echoed word for word by a user titled “Pete Abele February 27, 2015 at 12:14 pm” earlier in this thread.

      I feel for you business owners who have been scammed out of your hard earned money from Square.

  • Elaine Stonemark

    I had a retail store and used Square. I went out of business on March 31, 2014. I informed Square. The new owner of the store started April 1, 2014. Evidently the new owner used Square for only one half of April and then switched over to another merchandising card. GET THIS. I receive a 1099 Form that shows for January, February, March and one half of April. BUT GET THIS. My business was completely terminated with my bank, the state, and federal, and I DID NOT RECEIVE THE MONEY FOR FIRST HALF OF APRIL in my bank account. The new owner received the money in a completely new business, with a new bank account, with a new FEIN number and with notification to Square of the change. Evidently if the business is in the same location with the same name, they just consider it the same business … DUH … Trying to reach them is hell. Many emails … finally reach an employee who says the problem will be ESCALATED to someone higher because I requested it, but then only get the same employee again who says SQUARE CANNOT CORRECT FORM 1099’s. WHAT? … They tell me my tax accountant has to fix the problem. WHAT? I tell them there is a box on the Form 1099 for a corrected copy … they just need to send out two forms to the appropriate owners. I would not recommend using Square and going through the ropes like I have been going through. I THINK IT IS A SCHLUCKY TYPE OF BUSINESS WHO IS JUST TOO LAZY TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT OR PERHAPS EVEN TOO DUMB TO KNOW WHAT IS RIGHT … You decide …

  • Simple Hotel Solutions

    I have taken 2 credit card payments.. I rarely get credit cards in my line of business but once in a blue moon I get asked to. First payment went through without a hitch and it was for a large sum of money. Second amount was 575.00 and they are holding for 90days. The notice said due to high risk of fraudulent activity we are canceling your account and holding your funds for 90 days.. Really What fraudulent activity I have a business license and a tax ID and have never had to give a refund… What a joke…

  • Chelsea castillo

    I used square for the first time to sell an iPhone 6 128 gb , I communicated with the buyer via text and phone conversation and we agreed to meet in a public place (mall) and to use square for 3rd party sequiturs that’s in case someone tired to scam me. Turns out square isn’t like PayPal which is what I usually use, the “buyer” opened a dispute and has my phone. It’s been 4 months and still haven’t gotten my phone or money. I would recommend everyone to please stay away from this company. Bunch of theifs

    • Chris

      Your problem is with the customer not square, if you accept a card you always risk a charge back, if it’s fraud open a police report.
      Square’s responsibility is to the card user not the merchant (as are all card companies).

  • Pete Abele

    This is my fifth year using square, not one problem. However, I follow the rules, and I read the disclosures. In fact they have called me. I can’t believe all the people who use the system incorrectly and have a problem with the company when it goes wrong. Truly they should be on a cash transaction system only. Please people remember, it’s protecting your customers against fraud, not you! The iPad POS system is Equal to systems you could pay thousands to set-up and a monthly fee after that, and you can get it for free. For the businesses that have not fully investigated Square, and read all disclosures first, it’s a lesson learned. I have recommended Square to customers an local businesses and no complaints.

    • Teresa

      Either you are a ringer or you have been unusually lucky. Either way I simply don’t believe your story. If this is such a reputable company, why don’t they have customer service number like Paypal or Intuit? Don’t you find it a bit strange that a financial company (which by the way, is not governed by banking laws) has no way for its customers to contact them? Do you really think that all of these stories are from people that don’t know how to do business. That’s ridiculous. This company is a fraud! And by the way, can you explain why they pay back money they withhold in monthly installments? If they held the money they should pay it back in one lump sum back to the account it was held from. Seems like a case of borrowing from Peter to Pay Paul. They are just moving money around and it’s catching up with them.

      Richard Branson is a big investor in this company so I think that people should start boycotting Virgin products to make themselves heard.

      Another problem is that people are finding out that they can buy anything from a merchant that uses Square and they can dispute it with no investigation. The money is just automatically deducted from the merchants account with no notice, no resolution (remember there is no phone # to call) Merchant is just out of luck. I refuse to do business with a merchant that uses Square because I won’t give them on red penny of mine. A lot of people are also doing the same!

      If anyone is considering this company, save yourself the money and the inevitable heartache by using truly reputable companies. there are so many options out there that are less expensive and really user friendly. t will be the best thing you can do for yourself and your business.

    • Sandy

      As a customer I hate Square. I have never given them my email address but without my knowledge they somehow have it… Merchants are allowed to give it to them and select to email a receipt without my permission and I hate that I am not in control of my own information. I also hate that I cannot contact Square to have my information removed. The website will not give me their phone number even though they’ll accept all kinds of information about me without my permission. I hate the liberties this company and merchants who use it force on innocent customers who don’t know it until too late that their information was handed over.
      Our privacy DOES matter

      • Nancy von Seggern

        I don’t know why any merchant would send your info to Square. As part of the transaction the customer is asked if they want a receipt via text or email… or no receipt. My customers choose their receipt receiving method. I test Square from time to time and have never received an email or text from them on any of the accounts I have chosen for my receipts and have never had a complaint from a customer either.
        I have been using Square for over 5 years now and it has been nearly flawless! As a traveling vendor I love that my customer can use their cards confidently and I don’t have to stop my day and run end of day reports or transfer funds. Square takes all the hassle out of accepting credit and debit cards.
        Personally I am not thrilled with their politics that have slithered into their Square Seller’s Agreement but I do not violate their “policy” and therefore live with it.
        Truly, I have never had any real issues with their whole set up and have found them very easy to work with.

    • Ruth

      I have used square for 4 years and love it, haven’t had one issue. My transactions are usually less than 50.00 so I have on issues. The company I used charged me so much. This company works for me, May not be a good fit for small business who handle large ttransactions.

  • James Sagerser

    I’ve been with the Square about 2 years now. Here’s the good and the bad; It was a little frustrating when we first started due to the Square holding on to our funds with the larger purchases. We rent cabins in Alaska and occasionally we would get a larger deposit of $2,000 plus and, per their policy, would withhold our funds up to 30 days. Secondly, it was also frustrating not to have a live person we could call for questions or issues. The good part, and it’s very good, is the Square did eventually remedy the withholding by raising our limit so it’s no longer an issue. Secondly, we have had only has one dispute in the 2 years which was eventually handled by a live phone call to a representative at the square. This call was easily arranged by email to start with a request to speak to a live person. Our account was assigned a code and given a toll free number to call. I gave the person the code when I called and was immediately transferred to a person who found a solution to the problem (double billing by the customers bank) and fixed it in one day. In 2 years, the Square has been extremely accurate with our account and deposits our funds in our account within a business day or two. The fee schedule is strait forward with none of the aggravating tier levels that other card processing companies use to constantly abuse you resulting in elevated, unexpected fees. This is a great company if you play by their rules; ask for an increase in your limits when they get to know you and go through their channels when you need to talk to someone. If you can wrap your mind around those 2 issues, you’ll be really please with the Square.

    • Kimberly

      James,

      I have been battling them for almost two years. I have complaints filed with all the BBBs known to me including San Francisco, Kim is the vp there. She knows my story first hand. My complaint with the FTC had gone investigated and the Attorney General of Ohio (my home) and California are useless. They claim they can not help because wet are not consumers, we are small businesses. My class action suit is not allowed because square had a clause in their contact staying they can not be sued by a group and Amy complaints had to be tough arbitration via emails and you know how that goes. In October 2014 I was charged and found guilty of a felony 3 because square never released thousands of dollars die to my business and my customers filed charges through the Attorney General. I had to file bankruptcy, lost my career of 22 years and currently on give years strict probation. Not so much of a ticket and now I have to be in my home by 9, report every day to my probation officer and nit even a glass of wine with dinner. I’m 48, been hospitalized twice, unable to find employment with the felony record. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’ve tried everything to have them held responsible and nothing had worked.

  • M.N.

    My corporation was opened in 2001. Never had any complaint as we only charge after our service was finished and accepted by clients. I used Square for 2 years when I receive an email that they got a complaint. I found out from the amount who the client was and I called them. They never complained. They felt so bad that they sent a certified letter to Square and went to their bank to make sure the founds are released to Square. The founds were at Square. They could not reach anybody on the phone.I could not reach anybody on the phone. Nobody picks up the phones at Square. My clients sent a certified and notarized letter to Square to release the founds to me. Nothing happened. On 4/2012 Square wrote:”We are committed to responding by the next business day, so you will hear back from us soon. We take all matters regarding your funds very seriously, and with your cooperation we anticipate a quick resolution of your case. ” This was in the spring of 2012.After all these I received an email from Square that they cancel my account ” Your business is a prohibited business, as defined by Section 6 of the Square Seller Agreement. Therefore, Square cannot accept payments related to your business. ” I am a business analyst working with algorithms. What is prohibited on that? Our business has a 14 year A+ reputation. We pick up the phone when clients call, not like Square. Now 1/2015 I received back from Square the $300. Over two years of investigation needed for them to determine that the notarized letter of my client was original. This company SHOULD BE INVESTIGATE. They make you comfortable and they hit you when you do not expect. A business attorney advice us to close our bank account and open in a new bank as he was representing other clients where substantial amounts disappeared from their accounts. Be aware. A good business is not afraid to talk-to customers. Call them. You will see with your own eyes. There are other reputable companies providing the same services who pick up the phone. Do you really need the 100+ hours headache as I had, for no reason?

    • Mary

      I am so very nervous to get the Square after reading all these reviews , I don’t know what to do. My husband is a master plumber we own our plumbing business,I handle the calls and he does the work, It is only my husband and I , Small bus. I also checked EMS + that had lots of bad reviews. So any input would be greatly appreciated. Some reviews I have read on this site say there fine , but there are more negative then positive.

        • Anthonhy

          I had a problem with paypal when i was a power seller on ebay. Got scammed by someone who said they didnt recieve a laptop i sent said box was empty paypal took all the money off my account and shut me down. I have had square now for about a year and a half. I do alot of small billings under $1,500 every once in a while ill have a bill for $3,000. Im an electrican, not a “business” per say just a self employed guy working every day to make a living. I have not had any problems with square . Last year i only processed about 12k this year im at about 17k and will be around 30k in credit card sales. so far so good. makes me a little nervous ill just be keeping a close eye on my account

    • Bill

      Mary, I am a small home remodeling contractor. I use the square for a year then DEC of 2013 I had a client say she was out of money and did I take credit cards? I said sure not having any problems in the past. However this transaction was $6000.00 dollars I was not aware that they had a $2400.00 limit! They froze it 2 weeks before Christmas! It was 2 months of Hell after that. They have no customer service it was emails and they wanted bank statements, tax id,licenses ext… I gave it all to them and they still would not release funds! I finally had my customer call her credit card company that had been charged and dispute it. I ended up going bankrupt 3/3/14 over these con artist! DON’T USE THEM EVER! PLEASE!

      • Mary

        Thank you for your response, We are not going with the square . I had my husband read all of these reviews also. We are going to look into pay pal, intuit, Iam not sure about these either. We will look into it.

  • Sam

    WOW!!! I thought Square sounded like a great service to access CC for customer convenience. I was trying to set up account, but wanted to talk with someone – COULD NOT locate a telephone number and I had to sign in to access contact …. STILL NO TELEPHONE NUMBER! Then did a search and found this site.

    So sorry to read these horrible business nightmares! Instead of making it easier for Small and Independent Businesses – they are exploiting them!

    Changing T&C AFTER they have your accounts, personal information and data is fraud. Report them to your BBB and State / Province Consumer & Corporate Departments.

    Thank you for your sharing your heartwrenching stories I truly hope each of you gets your money ASAP.

  • Ramzi Kanso

    Absolutely the worst customer service and company I have dealt with. You should be aware that once you are set up, they can (at random) hold your money for up to 90 days (they do not disclose that during “the easy” sign up process).

    I guess they figured a way to squeeze more than the 3% by holding my money.

    To my surprise they wanted me to send them so much documentation including my CHECKING ACCOUNT statements!!! unbelievable! I am not applying for a mortgage here, and I already did the $1 process that should have proven to them that the checking account is legit and exists. I sent SQUARE my IRS filing / EIN for the Business and the renters lease to prove to them that the transaction is payment from one of my renters and I get back a rejection and they are going to hold my $1900 for 90 days! really! they must be desperate to make extra interest income by holding my renter’s money for 90 days! NICE!!! This is crooked dealing.

  • Rob Graham

    I charged $35,000 over 60 days with my advertising agency. I have a large monthly bill and figured this would be a way to extend my payments during the tight times. Well into the charging, my advertising agency started getting NSFs. Upon checking the deposit account, it was determined that the Square had stopped making payments that had been no problem before.

    The agency had no notice from the Square that there were any problems. There were no pop-ups stating that verification information was necessary to process. Nothing at all. It wasn’t until both of us called Customer Service through MY SQUARE ACCOUNT that we could even talk to a human being. They promised that it would be the addressed urgently. They did not give us a direct phone number to speak with a representative. They did not allow us to be transferred. They would not give us a direct email.

    It is now almost five days later. Over $35,000 is “deferred” meaning that my ad agency cannot pay its bills. I can’t do a charge back because that will only hurt the agency’s rating AND it will not free up my cards to pay while the matter is in dispute.

    I am planning on filing a class action lawsuit in the next few days. I have no doubt in my mind — since my cards have all been charged, that Square is depositing these funds and making interest in the interim while causing damage to my advertising company, giving me a black eye and causing NSF’s to accumulate. Enough is enough!

  • Kim

    My mother has a bail bond service. She used square until square found out she was a bonding agent.Square told her that was not the type of business they wanted to be connected to. I thought money was money.

  • Amanda S

    I use Square daily in my main business. I have as mall salon space that I remt, and the majority of my clients pay with a card. I’ve had it since June and all has been wonderful.
    I also sell Scentsy and had done a vendor show in November. I created a new square account with a different email address so that I could differentiate. Plus, my Scentsy money goes into my personal account vs my business account. I only had 1 person pay with a card. Went through, fine, no big deal. It was roughly $11. I never got the deposit. Then earlier this month I had a customer make a purchase and I tried to use my Scentsy square account to charge her card. No go. I log into my account and it said my account needs to be activated before I can accept payments. Weird. Finally yesterday I get around to contacting them, and this is the response I got today:
    Hello Amanda,

    Thanks for writing in. We understand that it can be frustrating to have your account deactivated. Unfortunately, our review concluded that we cannot support any Square accounts for you or your business.

    You will need to find a different processor if you want to continue accepting credit cards.

    ​Thank you for understanding.

    Square
    Square Account Services​

  • diamon

    I would like to speak to a person regarding my settings.

    They do not have a contact other than 415-375-3176 which I had to search for . . ..

    DO NOT use SQUARE. The customer support is non-existent.

  • burn

    I am an owner of a tattoo shop and we use square services..
    Square decided to deactivating our account for no reason…I got an email saying. “Our Account Services team reviewed your account and found a pattern of transactions associated with high-risk activity.” ?????

    they do not have any number to reach, just by a stupid email form that they never reply to it.. my money got frozen and I can’t access…
    any solution?

  • Ben Cerise

    I’ve been using, and happy with square for quite some time now. However, they’ve been withholding a payment of mine for 7 days. They claim they need me to provide information and documentation about my business before they transfer future payments. They want a detailed description of the services I provide and how I advertise. (I’m a building contractor). Really? How I advertise? How does not knowing how I advertise (among other things they’re requesting) give them grounds to withhold funds? They may as well be asking for the color of my underwear. None of their business and my advertising has nothing to do with services they provide. In their text boxes I copied and pasted the same thing in each one “I’m going to talk to a lawyer about your company withholding payments for services I’ve rendered.”. Hope they get with the program.

    • Bill

      Ben, I am building contractor that had used them for a year. They blind sided me and
      held $8600.00 2 weeks before Christmas 12/6/13. It left me broke! I could never reach a rep and
      when i finally got a email response I had to send all my business info tax id,bank statements
      on and on!!!!!!! I finally had to call my customer and have them reverse charges. That worked on one but not the other. I never got paid and it finally led me to bankruptcy 3/3/14
      WORST COMPANY EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WILL GO TO MY GRAVE MAKING SURE ALL KNOW THE TRUTH!
      Thanks!
      WTL Home Improvement.

  • C Cmpton

    HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE! my first 4 transactions were with the same customer so they froze my account and held a $2000 sale because they needed “additional information”. This hurt my business. We are small and that’s a lot to have “held” for no good reason. Once this deposit is finally released I will NOT be doing business with them anymore

  • Jim Sagerser

    The Square seems to be a reliable service provider from processing cards however was ZERO help resolving a payment dispute although I had a signed receipt and email from the customer acknowledging the transaction. This “dispute took 6 months! Don’t believe their “we’re on your side” propaganda. Would rate their customer service a strong “F”.

  • Todd Sherman

    I would like to inform everyone that…..90 days to the day……I DID RECEIVE MY 6113.00 from Square that they were holding. Maybe it was my letter of demand or what…..I don’t know. I wish everyone luck in getting their $ back. It was a terrible nightmare for me and my business. They put me in a severe financial bind for 3 months, I know that. Their questionable, (to say the least), business practices SHOULD be investigated by the U.S. attorney general. I was lucky! I had several thousand dollars in reserve to fall back on, to cover my expenses, but MANY other small businesses DON’T! I highly….HIGHLY, recommend NOT using this company for credit card transactions!

  • George

    When I first started using Square I thought it was great having the ability to accept credit cards for goods and services rendered. I own an AV installation company. For the first while, it worked well. I swiped cards and a couple of days later, the money was in my account. The transactions were typically $1,000 to $5,000. Then all of a sudden a day after accepting a couple of payments, I received an email asking for more information about my business as there had been suspicious activity on my account. They asked for my tax number, a scan of some government forms relating to my business, a link to my linked in profile and a copy of the past two invoices and my relationship to my client. They had the completed forms within a few hours of receiving their email. The following day, I receive a notice that my account had been terminated. To quote the email “We’re sorry to inform you that we are deactivating your account. Our Account Services team reviewed your account and found a pattern of transactions associated with high-risk activity”

    And yes, my money would be held for 3 months.

    The hold is not what bothers me. Other than being treated like a criminal, the lack of professionalism I experienced from this company is astounding. As others have mentioned, you cannot call in to speak to a human being. I’ve invested significant time and energy in setting this up, linking my banking information, creating invoices and advertising to my clients that I accept credit cards.

    Whether this is acceptable under their terms and conditions is besides the point. The fact that they can treat business owners in this manner is appalling.

    I urge anyone setting up a small business to seriously think twice about using Square Register. As someone who does everything by the book to all of a sudden be denied a service I have paid good money to without explanation, is beyond me. Luckily my business can go on without the use of Square. However, many other businesses would be in shambles if this happened to them.

    I also urge Square Register to come out with a guide on how to avoid this happening to other businesses. Had I known that a particular transaction type or amount would be deemed high risk, I definitely would have avoided it.

    And finally, don’t waste any more of my time asking me to fill out forms and send government documents proving I am who I say I am when you have no intention of reinstating my account. I complied in a timely manner and there could be no doubt I proved myself in these documents.

    CAVEAT EMPTOR!

  • Brenda

    Square reported my 2012 taxes as personal taxes and not business taxes. I emailed them 8/13/14 several times and called them. Except for once there is no response to emails. They don’t answer calls, they hang up. Just now I was speaking to RYAN Ryan who said he was getting in touch with the tax team and he basically COULD NOT HELP ME . He said he didn’t know when they would get back to me. DOES SQUARE even HAVE A TAX TEAM?
    They are simply not doing anything for me. What can I do to solve this MAJOR dilemma?

  • Mark

    The problem that nobody knows about is that the almighty Uncle Sam has implemented new policies, and all credit card processors have to oblige. Uncle Sam has told the CC processors that THEY (square) are responsible for policing and monitoring ALL the transactions to make sure that everything is on the up and up. too many prostitutes, drug deals, terrorist etc. That’s fine, but Square has ABSOLUTLY NO RIGHT to hold my funds (which they did) and tell me that I cannot have my money until I provide them with a copy of my LLC along WITH my LLC tax ID# and copies of the invoices. WTF! That’s blackmail, and there was NO email or contact telling me that there was a change of policy. Square is beyond unprofessional, and a complete waste of anybody’s time.

    • James

      funny, I am set up as an L.L.C. I use that monogram in my company name. Therefore if asked by square to produce these documents I would gladly comply along with a federal tax ID # and an associated invoice. I think that type of security prevents fraud and will also protect me as a vendor. I have never been asked nor have I had funds held. My business is large ticket items and I think the 2.75% is a bit pricy and wish it could be lowered some. I can, with other company’s, pay a monthly fee and swipe charge then get a lower rate But In a service business such as mine I would only use it maybe 10 times a year at best so the monthly fee would not benefit me. I am using this type of service only to oblige a small client group that would prefer to get a mileage perk as most people requesting my service typically budget for it.

    • Kimberly

      I beg of you not to deal with his company. I have been in busy for 22 years and all of a sudden they withhdrew thousands from by business accounts and deactivated it. Never returned the clients money to the card holder they “held it in a fund” that no one has access to. My clients eventually filled theft charges against me and I was convicted of a Felon 3 on October 1, 2014. Not even one thing on my record.

  • Kim Toney

    Our company has been using Square since its inception. We initially had a problem with the $2K limit on sales but Square’s Customer Support department responded immediately to my request for assistance and negated that limitation since the majority of our customers are not present at the time of the Square transaction.
    The fees charged are much less than what we were formerly paying and the money is deposited into our checking account the day after a sale is made – a vast improvement over our former method of accepting credit cards.

    I have recommended Square to dozens of people and have yet to hear a single complaint.

    Square is easy-to-use, reliable, fair, fast and has favorable rates.

    I will continue to recommend Square!

    • Cork

      Kim – I was so like you at one time. During the 5 years I was with Square, I processed tens of thousands of dollars with them. The first day I used them I processed over $10,000 in credit card transactions and did receive a communication from them asking a few questions, I answered the questions, and received the OK from them to continue using their service. Then one day, I went to log in to prepare for our next show, and found out that not only had my account been disabled, but (after FINALLY being able to contact customer service by email) my account had been permanently suspended. I received NO notice, NO warning, NO email, NO communication from them what so ever. In fact, to this day, I am still receiving mailings from them, proposing that I upgrade my account and purchase their register. Their reasoning for suspending me – and I’ll quote “I was in violation of their terms by running an illegal business.” Funny thing is, the IRS doesn’t consider my business illegal, the State of Oklahoma doesn’t consider my business illegal and the State of Texas doesn’t consider my business illegal. In asking how square has come to the conclusion that I’m running an illegal business, all get from them is NOTHING, no response, no explanation, no nothing. I do consider myself one of the lucky ones, because at the time they suspended my account, was during our off season, and I had no transactions or funds pending, therefore there were no funds the Square could seize or hold. Kim, I do hope things continue to go well for you, and had I not gotten the screw from Square, I would probably be on your bandwagon – but don’t be surprised if one day…….then we can say…we told you so!!

  • amgtimepieces INC

    Sqare is Biggest joke of a company!….we did over ton of deal in paypal without any problem,, but we just accept few thousand from our customer though sqare ,,sqare will hold the money and ask we refund the payment to our customer in 1 months later,,how can we take back our item then????…sqare wasnt professional for any company…totally not recommend.

  • Dee

    We are looking to use Square to collect payments at the door for our HS reunion. This is a one time thing, with transactions processed as some walk through the door on a saturday evening of the event if they did not pre-purchase. This is not a business venture. Does anyone know how long they take to release the money to our bank account? We have to pay the venue and am wondering if Square holds your money for 5-7 days which could affect our final payment to the venue once the walk-in traffic is assessed.

    • Les Kitchings

      I have been using them for several years without a problem. The first time was for my Band, We had a large New Years Party and had to collect at the door. All of our money was in my account the next day, so I had the money to pay for our venue.
      This worked out so well that I now use them at my business for day to day payments.

    • rebecca burton

      i have just started using square on the recommendation of a friend. i have taken three payments and they have held one of them. it’s not big money but it’s a lot to me. i don’t know why they have held on to it, or how to get it resolved. i have left messages, emails everything and nothing…. i won’t be using them again and would not recommend them… Dreadful customer service’

  • Murphy

    I have been using square for years and have not had a problem. I wanted to talk to customer service today about a client with a double charge and cant seem to get a real person without a code and the system isn’t allowing me to get a code. I am an active client. Totally hacked off right now.

  • darrylthebookie

    I tried to use the square at a craft show. $130 for new phone. $10 a month extra on my Verizon bill. I was really hoping, really hoping to make some of my money back at the show. but… the square didn’t work. All my work, planning, money etc. and the square didn’t work. And guess what? NO customer service. None. If you get a square plan on taking cash. Because you will be alone with no help.

  • Leila Scutt

    I am a jewelry designer and I receive most of my orders over the phone after people have seen my work. My business is based onnthe word of mouth. I am small and I can easily go two months without a sale but when I do have a sale the sale amount can run between $300 to over $2000. My work is handmade. I had usually processed orders of $300 without problems but all of a sudden when I had 2 transactions after a month selling nothing Square put a 45 day hold on the totality of my sale. They then asked me for information such as invoices and purchase order. I am a very small business. I processed the sales and all that matters to me is that the customer has the funds as most of them are referrals. Despite all the information provided to square they deactivated my account and put a 45 day hold on the funds. Impossible to reach them by phone. The only option I was given was to reimburse the customer but what do I do when the customer is already in possession of the merchandise? For a simple and small business like mine Square has been a disaster!

    • Annemarie

      I am in EXACTLY the same situation ie tranactions and the amounts Except they are holding my funds for 90 days!! Can’t get a hold of anyone. No help on how to issue a refund even, as when I go to dashboard there is no refund button to click! What a racket. Square has officially put a wrench in my new little business. Caution to anyone else… if you are an independent artist the SQUARE is NOT for you.

  • KD Bar Trucking

    Rude, rude, rude, not to mention extremely unprofessional! I waited on hold for 21 minutes only to be hung up on by the customer service rep. Called back to complain about being hung up on to be put on hold for another 30 minutes. The rep refused to put a supervisor on the phone and hung up again. I will never do business with them again. I’m canceling my account with them and will be telling everyone I can about this horrid experience!

  • Tom

    My wife and I own a craft business and most of our business is done on weekends. I was doing one of my biggest festivals of the season and my square stopped working. I tried finding a number to call square for help. One of my fellow vendors had a phone number for them and gave it to me. Well they are closed on weekends. Thankfully Sunday square started working again, but I lost a lot of sales on Saturday thanks to square. I called the number on Monday but unless you email them and get some kind of authorization number you have to key in you cannot talk to anyone. I dropped them that day. I switched to pay pal and am waiting for the free reader to arrive in the mail. Fingers crossed that they will be better. At least they have 24 hour support for those of us that sell on the weekends. Also I found out that square does not allow gun or gun accessory sales. Another fellow vendor I know makes hand crafted leather holsters and because they are considered gun accesories therefore she cannot sell them using square. She said she found that out after she created her products list in her account. She received and email from square quoting their policy. They did not shut off her account but they warned her that they would for violating their policies. She canceled her account after that.

  • Mark Litrico

    I have been using square for my small contracting business for about 4 years. Their deposit schedule was no problem and all was good. In late September 2014 I ran a customers credit card for $100. After a week with no deposit into my account, I contacted square and they wanted further information to verify I had a legitimate business. (There was never a warning of change of policy, they accepted the funds from my customer and would not give them to me until I provided the required information. They held my money “hostage”) I filled out the form with my business name and company tax ID # and attempted to submit it, but it would not submit because they also “required” an image of my LLC with my tax documentation AND an image the invoice! That’s none of their business! They accused me of being high risk and deactivated my account.

  • Todd Sherman

    60 MINUTES or 20/20 needs to do a story and expose these criminals. They closed my account with $6,113 in it. My business does transactions between $3-$5,000. I sell pellet stoves. (heating appliances). They were pretty “SLICK” about it though. First they took their fees at 3.5%. Swiping the card NEVER worked at 2.75%, so I always had to key punch in at the higher rate. THEN…..when I saw 2 transactions had not cleared….they sent me an E-Mail , LITTERALLY 2 minutes before they closed, and AFTER the transactions had been put in, saying they needed to “UPDATE” my account with more information. I needed to fax them a copy of my DBA….a customer invoice…..and 3 recent bank statements tied to my checking account. After ALL this was sent I confirmed that they received the information. Through a phone conversation to verify this….(along with a passcode #)….They said it was going to be reviewed and my funds should be available that evening. less than a half hour later my account was closed with $6,113 in it! I explained to “VICTOR”, that I was at one of my distributers to give them a check for $8,000, and needed the funds cleared. NOW I have to cover that amount of money by the end of the week. SO…..money from MY transactions has been sitting in THIER ACCOUNT….MY MONEY FROM SALES OF PRODUCT…..until THEY decide to release it to me in 90 days! Now I cannot even get ahold of them for the passcode they gave me no longer works. What are they doing with all this money they are SCAMMING out of people and holding ?? These people are KILLING small business owners with these tactics. The US Attorney General should put a stop to this NOW!!!!!!!!!! NO investigation is needed…….Just read some of these reviews. These “PONZI” scammers should be IN JAIL!

  • Amanda Payne

    Worst customer service .They are holding a large sum of money they say for 90 days after complying with all their request.They have shut down my account with no comunication. I will do every thing in my power, that other people do not come subjected to letting this company steal there money. I am reporting them to every agency and contacting my attorney.Worst service ever.

  • Jason

    Please…. this article ends by saying Square is best for babysitters or flea market vendors? I’ve owned a café for 2 years now and started with Square. It has been great and I haven’t had any issues really. And I have owned a place prior using a traditional merchant services provider….which I hated. This article read great but ended like its sponsored by the other guys….biased in some way.

    • Connie Crowley

      Of course you have not had any issues. If there were to be an issue, Square simply deactivates your account with no warning or explanation and freezes all pending deposits for 90 days. If you had a customer question a charge from your business, a traditional merchant would contact you, notify you of possible chargeback and hold of funds, inform you which transaction is in question. Square gives absolutely no information “for security purposes”. There is also no phone communication. Once you are deactivated and request to speak to a representative the following message is emailed: “As previously stated, phone support is only available for customers with an active Square account.” This way, Square does not have to deal with any investigation or attempt to clean up any issue. You will likely never learn which customer had an inquiry and never be able to recover your funds.

      Another reason many have apparently been deactivated is a surge in charges. If you were to hold a special event and had an unusual number of transactions for your business, you are susceptible to being deactivated and having the funds held for 90 days. This may not even be the first time for such an event in your 2 years, there is simply no continuity of business.

      Do you really believe you can operate your business forever without ever needing customer phone support? The passcode they gave you when they requested information will be expired. This is simply bad business. Please beware.

      • KPL

        Square now has phone support. Just spent 40 mins on the phone going thru a whole laundry list of questions. She stated they recognized the need for phone support and are staffing call centers in NY & Calif. Got GREAT service!!!

        • Connie Crowley

          Apparently Square does not have phone support for those of us attempting to recover our funds. I emailed another request to speak to a representative today when I saw this post and received with the same reply:

          “As previously stated, phone support is only available for customers with an active Square account.

          We apologize for any inconvenience, but our decision is final.”

          I don’t Square has a customer service phone line. They are still using the same pass code formula only available for those who have not yet been deactivated.

    • Donna

      Jason, I am beginning to think you may be correct in this site being fueled by others competing with Square. I have been in business for 25 years and have used the “other guys” and paid huge fees for credit cards. I have a window treatment business and move larger sums of money and have been using Square for over 2 years. I have run as much as $10,000 at 1 transaction before and as long as you know the rules with square and have set up the requirements I think all is good. I had money held only once but that was the very begining because I exceeded the manual entry limit (which is in the agreement), I contacted Square by email and had the limit raised and no questions asked within 2 days. I have never had an amount questioned by a customer so I don’t know how that would be handled but I do use a sweep account for all transactions. Once a payment is in this account I transfer it to another account so that there is only $100.00 in that account at any time, this is just safe. I have had to refund a customers payment and it was handled great by Square- no problems. I think it is a matter of establishing your company with a history with Square. I have begun using the invoice by email with them and my clients that are out of town can enter their credit card info in Squares’ site and pay a bill and I am charged the swiped rate-GREAT feature. I am very happy with the lower processing fees with Square! I hope I never have to change.

      • James

        Donna, I can assure you that I am not in competition with square, nor would I care to be. Like you, I had used other merchant accounts in the past, paid high fees, monthly fees, yearly fees, and was excited at the ease and affordability of square. With three years under my belt with them, and at times over $20,000 a day in charge transactions, with never a charge back or question, you would have thought I was in good standing with them, but I guess they had other ideas and not only did they deactivate my account without ANY notice what so ever, they actually accused me and I can quote “of running an illegal business.” To top it all off, square is still sending me emails and advertisements in the mail, urging me to purchase their Square Register. And get this, the postcards they send, have NO return address on them, or phone number what so ever. I too had blinders on while I was using them and like the saying goes, I couldn’t see the forest for the trees…………

      • Laura Puckett

        I assure you these are NOT posted by competitors. Thousands of small business owners have been devastated by this company. Myself included. They froze over $70,000 in charges and held funds over a year for NO reason.

      • Bill

        Beware ! Just when you get comfortable with them they change the rules! I am a good business
        man. I have have been in business for 26 years after they put a hold on $8600.00 I went
        through every hoop they demanded. Contractor licencing proof,3 bank statement,state tax id #,
        contracts with clients on & on. I never was able to speak with anyone! Actually I believe you
        could possibly be one of the many people they hire for for damage management.
        THEY ARE A BAD COMPANY! STOLE MONEY FROM MY FAMILY 5 DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS!!!
        CANT EVEN GO INTO THERE OFFICE TO COMPLAIN ,THEY HAVE SECURITY THROUGH YOU OUT!
        LOST MY BUSINESS DUE TO THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
        Good Day :-)

        • Michael Dimopoulos

          I joined Square and all was fine after 2 transactions then my web developer logged into my Square account as we wanted to plug this into our eCommerce functionality.
          Square deactivated my account and somehow thought there appeared a high risk activity. No call from them, could’t reach them, when I sent an email as that’s the only way they wish to communicate as they are too precious to want to speak to there customers..

          They advised me that the money that my customers had paid for my service would be released to me are you ready… In January 2017…
          Hello,

          Your funds are due to be released January 10, 2017. And there you haver a pack of arrogant TURKEYS.
          If they do not pay me immediately, I will send this message to every Square site that will allow me to voice my huge disappointment!!

          Todd

          Square Account Services
          Todd

          Square Account Services

  • Capt Turk

    Tried to sign on the phone app for square. It will not let me setup the account with out giving them full access to the microphone, camera, pictures, everything on the phone. WTF is wrong with these people?? I would NEVER give ANYONE full access to my phone, computer, or anything else.

    The money spent on that thing is just money down the drain.

    My personal rating of them is a big fat F!!

  • Jennifer

    Instead of filing withe BBB, people need to start filing complaints to the FTC. They can open an investigation and start getting to the bottom of this crooked company. No business should have to wait 90 days for a credit card transaction to go through. If that is the case there would be a lot of businesses hurting and closing. A company with no phone number is a huge red flag, but you don’t know until you need to call someone.

    • howard

      i read one post indicating the person getting the tires in CANADA put in the dispute after two weeks after the transaction, is there a time limit to file a dispute, or can someone get the services, and after, lets say, one year get the money back in a a dispute? got me wondering now. oh heck is taking a credit card at all safe for any merchant? world is full of krazy greedy people is the problem.

      • Donna Evans

        I ,too, have a problem with Square. I did exactly what they said as far as providing all documentation to verify my account. Once I did this. My account was deactivated and they keeps about $1500.00. I emailed and emailed. Was told they could not give any explanation to why they did but I would receive the money in 90 days. Plus I could never have a Square account in my name EVER. I still to this day do not understand why. I just teach a weight loss class for $99.00 and that was the charges I used the square for.

        Has anyone every gotten their money when deactivate?

        Donna

  • sue dayton

    I am a new “user,” which is basically a misnomer as I cannot get this DA….. thing to work on my phone after DAYS of trying. After calling US Cellular 3 times (*they tried everything and also can’t help me) there is NO HELP – NO LIVE PERSON at this company called “square” to talk to. I even sent a text to them via my phone and ZERO. NO FOLLOW-UP. NADA! Do you guys really exist?

    However, after reading about all the negative experiences that folks have experienced with this company I’m DONE. I’ll gladly go to their competitor…..

  • Pacha group

    Biggest joke of a company
    Someone ordered $1600 in print material for his company. Charged it on amex he approved the sale over the phone. Got the products no complaints. 3 months later charges everything back I get hit for the $1600. I send all paperwork to square. They wait 2 months for an answer. Then asked for the paperwork three more times. Still issue is not resolved. I’m starting a campaign against square as of now. I can’t believe how they don’t protect my business from scumbags like the client I had. I’ve called amex about this supposed thief even amex said this costumer charges back everything. Doesn’t square speak to amex? Or is this a robot ? I’m going at square hard if anyone want to join in a lawsuit please contact me. My lawyers are ready

    • James

      I would be more than happy to join you, however, I myself am not out anything except the inconvenience they have caused and the slander by them saying that I was running an illegal business. Funny thing is, the State of Texas, nor the IRS think my business is illegal. Guess square has different standards!

    • Connie Crowley

      I would love to join you, however, my complaint is different. I object to the holding funds without warning for 90 days and no explanation, no contact.

      It seems that to be in business without a brick and mortar building you should at the very least be required to have a telephone number that eventually gets you to a person.

  • john

    Someone please put a class action on against this pathetic company. I have used them for years with no issue. Monday I made a deposit of 6000 dollars. Today they cancelled my account, and sent me a message claiming it will take 90 days for them to send me my money. What a crime. I wish I could steal $6000 from a customer and keep the interest for 90 days. Some kick ass lawyer please, pretty please put these crooks out of business. And, like all the other customers said, you cant even call them to ask what has happened. DONT do business with this company. They will put you in a financial bind until the proper authorities shut them down.

  • Alanna

    I have been using Square for years without any hassle. Until yesterday, when I received an email saying a customer is disputing a credit card charge (from an art fair) saying they did not recognize the charge. They told me they are taking the money back they already paid me ($547) and will be held in escrow until they credit card company makes it’s decision if this is fraud.

    Firstly I cannot even begin to convey how royally pusses I am, I remember this person and our whole conversation, and Square puts it on my shoulders to explain what was purchased and who I am and my company. This customer never contacted me, and unfortunately this person did not ask for a receipt so I have no name or contact number. This person has not contacted me to resolve anything.

    So I’m supposed to just sit back and wait until some person I don’t know makes a determination whether this charge was legitimate or not. And this jerk of a customer gets to keep my merchandise! Why can’t I just get my merchandise back from the customer until this is rectified! Why do I have to suffer?

    You can bet I will be looking for a new credit card processing company. This is never going to happen again to me where I cannot even talk to someone. I am going to take to social media like others have suggested.

  • corky barder

    Square has got to be the biggest joke in the industry. We signed up for square when they first hit the market and had no problems up until last month. I had received an email from them about updating my reader and since my business only processes cards a few times a year in the fall, I didn’t to it immediately. Two weeks ago, I signed into my account, and the account was noted that it was permanently deactivated. I searched my emails to see if I had received anything from them and I had not, other than the notices to upgrade my reader. Since they have ZERO phone support, I was left with sending them an email as to why my account was deactivated. I received a reply from that I was running an illegal business and according to their terms, there service was not to be used for gambling or betting and that their decision was final and the deactivation of the account could not be reversed. I was floored, I responded back to them that I didn’t run an illegal business, that my business did not involve gambling or betting. That I had been in business for 12 years and had used their company for 4 years and asked them how they came to their conclusion, and since I was being accused, by them, of running an illegal business that I should be able to know how they came to this conclusion and why had I never received notice that my account had been deactivated. They responded back to me that by the terms with M/C & Visa, they didn’t have to disclose anything period. I’m one of the lucky ones, as I didn’t have any funds pending, for if I had, they could hold my funds for 90 days. I have filed a complaint with the BBB and apparently square is not communicating with them either. I will admit that when I was using square, I was very happy with it, but just to leave me high and dry with no notice, or explanation is totally unacceptable.

    • Connie Crowley

      Thanks for filing with the BBB. The more of us that flood them with our complaints the greater chance there is of them lowering their “A” rating, or setting up a customer support line. It would have been a red flag for me to have them with a low BBB rating.

  • Jennifer

    I have read these comments about Square and my stomach is in knots right now. I did my first show using them and they said the money was deposited into my bank account and it is not there. I ran a credit card of mine for a dollar and it it went through to my bank and used it over the weekend for a show and it said funds were deposited, but they are not. I went onto my Square profile and the last digits do not match my bank account which is weird because that dollar transaction went through. I have sent emails and no response. Now after reading I don’t what to think and I do believe the FTC needs get involved with these complaints. Someone has to be held accountable! A company that does mass business and has not customer service number is a HUGE RED FLAG to me. I did not notice there was no phone number before signing up or I think I would have held off. I have another show this weekend and I guess it will be cash or checks and I will be getting with my credit guy and set up a mobile account with him as I use him through our other business. It will cost 10.00 a month, but you get what you pay for in the end. I want to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and have this company investigated. I am very pissed and frustrated as I need my now. Any suggestions from anybody would be helpful. Thanks.

    • Jennifer

      So, I have an update from original post. The money did finally get into my account after 2 business days. I finally got an email response after 8pm that evening form and email I sent at 7:30 am in the morning. I had sent two emails that day. The first reply was still no phone number to contact anybody and the second reply I received the next day did give me a number with some kind of code I would have to enter. So, with all that, I am going to go with my actual bank and get a mobile reader through them. Yes, I will have to pay a monthly fee, but small price to pay for a piece of mind that that money will go in my account the next business day and if there are any issues, There are pros and cons and that would be the con, but the pro is they are taking less on the swipe as compared to what square is taking. I can pick up a phone and deal with directly with my bank. Heck, I can even go to my local branch and they can figure it out and take the proper channels. I guess in the end you get what you pay for. I hope this helps somebody dealing with the same thing. I am my business and credit cards is a serious issue. I don’t have time to wait on somebody to email back when there is an emergency. If there is no phone number posted on a company website…………..that is a huge red flag and you might want to rethink doing business with that said company.

    • Bill

      Jenifer,
      Glad it turned out for you :-) I have a small home improvement Co. I used them for a year most the swipes
      were under $1400 however DEC 15 2013 I finished a job the home owner explained she was out cash and
      do I take credit cards? I said sure. I swiped $6600 and another on her other credit card for $1800. The money
      never showed in my account I could not reach any one by phone I started emailing. I finally got a response and they
      they lead me down dead end roads for weeks. I sent all my business info contractor licencing insurance proof
      tax ID on and on! I filled with BBB fought as hard as I could. The story ends with me FILING BANKRUPTCY 3/3/14.

      ABSOLUTELY HORRIFYING COMPANY!!!!!!

      • Ruth

        I have used Square for two years now and had no issues. Square is not suitable for any business who processes large amounts at one time. Square doesn’t protect us against unethical customers who may dispute a legitimate charge just to get their money back so I wouldn’t suggest it for anyone who process any payments over 100.00. I have a very small shop and deal mostly in cash but I love having Square for my customers who do want to use charge. Most of the charges are under 20.00 so it is perfect for me. The fees I was payment with another company was outrageous so this company helped my business. Again, this is not a company for processing large payments.

        • Connie Crowley

          Ruth,

          Just beware, do you really think you can do business forever and NEVER need to speak to someone from your serving company? There is no phone support whatsoever so if anything ever happens, a suspicious card, anything, our funds will be locked up.

          We may have made a mistake by using Square for larger transactions, but the biggest mistake is doing business with a company that refuses contact with their customers.

  • Gladys Brierley

    I am so disappointed in the square. My husband got one over a year ago and we never tried it. He convinced me to try it recently and I actually ordered my own. I took two fairly small transactions and already had positive feedback. I just did a much larger transaction with a client that needed some discretion. Almost all my clients need discretion. All of a sudden The Square was asking for all this additional information which I gave them, incorporation filings, my social networking etc etc and then my last three bank statements which shocked me. I had real reservations on this but I had no choice as the client was in the middle of something and could not do a prearranged cash transaction through Money gram etc. The also asked me for proof of the client’s transaction. That was another huge alert as I could not give them a copy of the contract as that would really have violated their confidentiality as to the contents of the business we had together. I thought to myself ok just get through this and everything will be fine. I have a credit limit at my bank so my account is sometimes in the red for short periods of time. Also I have had one charge back on my pay pal recently in 12 years of doing business with pay pal, pretty good track record. I have charge accounts in good standing and I am sitting here looking at a deactivation notice probably because I questioned but submitted my bank statements. I told the Square they should have afforded me that type of in depth questioning up front. I have been in business 7 years and would never spring that type of curve ball at someone in the middle of an important transaction. So now guess what I don’t know where the darn money is. They took out the fee, deactivated my account, there is no phone number and they don’t have email contact information, they send noreply emails, so how do you contact them. I tried using that passcode at the bottom of the email, expired. I have serious doubts that if this company does not shape up it’s business practices there will be class action law suits for the nightmare they are putting small business in. Small business cannot afford to tie up thousands of dollars. The Square should immediately deposit the money as arranged or credit the consumer back immediately. This is unthinkable to mistreat both the consumer and vendor this way. We will smash our square that we have remaining and smash the other one when it gets here with a hammer and post it smashed on facebook.

    • business owner

      I had a similar experience.
      I could not get anyone live to speak to.
      Then I went onto social media, Twitter and Facebook
      and posted every five minutes that they were holding my money
      and there was no phone or email to get a hold of anyone.
      after about two hours of posting every five minutes.
      I actually got a manager from square to call me.
      If you post on twitter directly to @jack he is the founder
      of twitter and founder of square.
      hope this helps.

  • Scott Verney

    Square offices have not contacted me about two fraudulent transactions and the fact that they are holding $200 without cause. I have attempted to reach them once a day since July 31. Have contacted NH attorney general, better business bureau, Goffstown, NH police and Manchester, NH police. It is clear to me that regardless of the ownership of Square that they have set out to defraud customers. I will read above comments with the hope that someone has been able to contact Squareup. Lesson learned….I thought that crooks carried guns and mugged people in alleys. I will now heed the advice I have been given for years…deal with a local bank!!!!!!!

  • T W

    A very poor company to deal with . We have never experienced the lack of bussinness ethics from any firm in the 14 years of operating . The square policy deprives clients of funds without accountability . A mass amount of energy is spent trying to resolve regular transactions. It borderlines on fraud . This company ask for there clients customers personel Id but wont supply you with any supervisers phone numbers and attempts to utilize a litany of unavailable tatics to insure you cant respond to management .

    It leaves the owner short sighted on whats really going on in his company its a shame that the potential tool of convenience for business is lost by the lack of effort for its owners to manage it .

    TW

  • Michael

    I have been a CC merchant for over 30 years. We started using Square, at the advice of a friend, at trade shows to make it more convenient for our customers. We started with Square several years ago and then suddenly, without warning or any communication, our account was deactivated and Square held the funds waiting to be deposited. As you have already seen in other reviews THEY ARE AFRAID TO HAVE ANY CONTACT with anyone DUE TO THEIR BLATANTLY BOGUS BUSINESS OPERATIONS! I would NEVER do business with a company that is not willing to stand by their product or who is not willing to speak with their customers. They appear to be criminals and cowards, not sure but it sure looks like it. I am sure that Square will end up in the TRASH HEAP of tech companies that go broke because of lies and bogus policies. Hopefully they will deposit our funds before they run off with it………..
    If you are a smart business person, find another company to process your CC transactions. Any fee you might pay is going to be cheaper than what square will cost you in the end.

  • Valerie

    I have had the Square about a year and have never got the chance o use it. I now have a charge of over 85.00 on SQ CATS I’m having it taken off at my bank. Cannot find a contact number to speak with anyone. Very aggravated.

  • Connie Crowley

    I was very excited to be able to immediately accept credit cards for my start up business due the the ease and simplicity of Square. I submitted all information requested by Square however, they put a 90 day hold on my funds after 10 days of activation. I do not know what they consider high risk because, as stated to the BBB:
    Due to security purposes, merchants are not informed which of the conditions they have violated.” – See more at:

    The hold has hurt me badly, but the fact that there is no customer service line or identification as to what the offense may have been has made this worse. Squares customer service is simply unacceptable.

  • Brandon

    It seem like Stephen and many other unhappy clients that the system they have in place is extremely terrible. The company that I work for recently ran a few transactions well over 30 thousand dollars. Square said nothing until 3 days after that they are putting a hold on the funds.

    After the hold they requested forms and more forms which we delivered. Invoices, job detail, privileged information and even requesting confirmation from the customer and ID. This was all supplied and still after a Week and a half nothing has been done. We even initially had some verbal contact with the “Team” which than stopped discussing this and stopped trying to resolve this issue.

    We went as far to tell square after providing all the information requested that we wanted to make sure all this information was private and confidential. They went in return contacted the customer and definitely put a hardship and possible cost us thousands of dollars of future work. This is inexcusable and square should be held reliable for their actions. Or should we say lack of actions. I cannot believe that a company that runs transactions cannot handle phone calls or even proper details to have these issues dealt with in a timely manner.

    I personally for one still have no conclusion or solution provided by the Square Company. In all honestly all forms (3-5 forms and details from invoices, contracts and emails) have been provided. Signed details and everything yet Square hold the funds and refuses to send the deposit.

    Oh as well Square has accepted their portion of the funds yet hold the rest. This seems like theft …

    One very unhappy client and definitely some very unhappy customers…

  • Linda Lower

    I have used square for several years and just recently my account was hacked. They went in and changed my bank information as well as taken in 2 different charges for the exact amount each. I have tried to contact square for several days stating this issue and have yet to receive a response. I have since found out the IP address that did this was from the United Kingdom. As of today the money was deposited in the hackers account so basically they got away with this. I had even emailed the individuals that the charge slips were sent to asking them if they were aware that this was fraudulent. No response. Needless to say I am cancelling my account.

  • Yanni

    I would give the worst possible rating for square one. I recently ran a large transaction, $12.000. Square one happily processed it, only to hold it and start verification process. In spite of adequate evidence and proof that I provided. They declined the transaction and gave no explanation. All of this happened through emails! Phone support is non existent. It resulted in an unhappy client and cost me financially. Sorry but square one is only suited for mom and pop shop’s or small businesses that have small transactions.

  • Cat

    Upon a fraudulent claim form a client, Square cleaned out my bank account..There is nobody who you can speak with at Square, and pretty much no recourse for this blatant theft. With this theft of my money, All my money, I will need to close my accounts, change my business model to be cash only and spend anything I have left to prosecute lawsuits on these horrible clients and on Square for putting my business to a halt with lies.

    I am a very established business owner, and I have many corporate clients who want to use cards. I will be losing all of their business. Hundreds of thousands of dollars, because of Square.

    I can’t even imagine that one person’s lawsuit would make a dent. So much for dealing with businesses whom you can’t even speak with.

  • lonnie davis

    this is the worst company I have ever had to deal with. set up account ran the card now cant get funds for 90 days and no one to answer a ? you can bet on one thing I will never give this company a good review

  • Nancy Thursbay

    I began using square July 21 at which time I set up my banking info and made the initial 1.00 charge to test the link to my bank account. That went through successfully and I get regular emails verifying the payments accepted by my customers. The problem is that I can find no errors in my account settings and as of this writing I have had no deposits into my account. Square has more than $1200.00 dollars they have not deposited and I have no way t contact them. Please help, if there is any information you have that will get me in touch with someone to get this issue resolved. I love the concept and my customers enjoy it as well.

  • Daryn

    I am a restaurant processing $10k a month on average and enjoy Square. I am SO terribly tired of contracts, hidden fees, bogus processing sales pitches and lease contracts for equipment that cannot be canceled. I love the fact that I am not held to any contracts with Square and I use the sales tracking on-line multiple times a day. I will also have to say there is a big difference between using the free square that attaches to a smart phone or tablet and actually purchasing a Square stand for ease of processing and signature. I will also say that if you do not have a receipt printer there is a bit of a hassle for those customers who don’t have smartphones for a text receipt or email and want a printed receipt. The Square stand has a USB hub that allows a printer to be hooked up to ease with this aspect.

    I have been using Square now for a few months, have not had any trouble; however, I will comment on their customer service because they really don’t have anything that could be called “service” with regard to their customer base. I have not had a need to contact them regarding any critical funding situation so my issues were resolved over email but still NOT promptly and NOT without hassle. I did notice a difference between choosing the option of not requiring a signature and requiring it. Funds were held more often when a signature was NOT required but since going back to requiring the signature I’ve not had a single fund held. Sadly, I didn’t get this information from using Square FAQ or customer service, as I got it from reading blogs related to mobile processing in general.

    All in all, I would recommend Square to anyone and I do. My sister even uses it for her garage sales. I am so angered by credit card processing companies and their twisted fees. It makes me crazy. I’ll use the no contract Square until it becomes a bigger problem than the hidden fee world of traditional processors.

  • Correnzo

    I recently started using square only been two weeks now I made about four transactions no more than $30 today my account is deactivated I’m not understanding why I’m not getting any customer service or anyone to call me back, anyone to answer my replies and I really enjoyed the service was a nice set up but I would not recommend this to anyone else. Here I was bragging about the service how nice to setup was easy process invoices without taking credit card payments over the phone and to wrap it I think I’m going back to PayPal. I guess I should’ve read the reviews before I started using square.

  • Magnolia Design Group

    In the past eight months Square has managed to hold $2700.00 from us. On both occasions the customer disputed the charge. After we resolved the issue with the customer, Square still would not turn over the monies due to us. I advice anyone looking to use Square for your credit card processing, read the reviews. Here we, still waiting for our money.

  • A Far

    We have been using square and paypal for over a decade at our business. Neither has ever given us trouble- i will admit we don’t process a lot about $1800/wk on high end but they never hold money and thanks to god never giveus trouble…. I think iit’s a relationship deal with both of these companies- over time they develop a credit worthy or not worthy or limited worth value for every merchant. If you screw them then your toast if you seem shady your toast & if your transactions seem legit and consistent your credit worth keeps rising with them…… they will give everyone a chance work slow with them and let them get to know you and your transactions- they will slowly raise your limits and restrictions will be a thing others (new folks) deal with….

    square ease of transactions A++++

    customer service. (Don’t know never needed to contact thrm- if u read the rules and follow why call them ?)

  • Barb

    Don’t use square. We have been in business 20+ years and have accepted credit cards 10 yrs plus. I tried using square because I opened up a new location and thought it was easier since I’m always on the run. I have processed a few transaction cards present and not present, without issue. I accepted a larger sum and it was approved, then a few hours later an email was sent stating it will be held for 90 days. We tried to find a number to call and a human to talk to, but to no avail. 60 days for a refund or 90 for payment, our customer has been very helpful with the situation and calling his bank to se if they could help or cancel the charge. Square already took his money and won’t refund for 60 days. I don’t know how we are going to make it 90 days since the payment pays for parts for his machine. Now I’m forced to come up with the funds… I got an email back that said their decision is final and there is no re considering. What a joke, it’s totally a scam. I understand a hold on the funds, but 90 days?????

    Wish I read this first….

  • Square Customer

    We decided to use square having a CLEAN record with PayPal/Intuit and a payment gateway. I am talking about no refunds in a 3 year period. We processed 2500 dollars of invoices (from the same city) from our test clients (clients that were close so we knew if they tried anything).

    Review came up… Ok i understand, gave them legal papers that the company was real and a invoice from QuickBooks and we were deactivated the next day.

    They said we are high risk? WTF? We had to refund or wait 180 days for review (doesn’t mean we would even get the money) they told us NO details, and we didn’t break any terms.

    Luckily our test was with close clients and we refunded and called the one for the last transactions and redid them with our long term intuit/PayPal.

    Note: We are a service / retail shop with all A+ reviews and NO bad BBB history.

    I wouldn’t even waste your time with these guys, they will just let you down. When it’s too good to be true it usually is…

  • Cindy

    I have made two purchases using Square credit card processing. On both, the vendor miskeyed the number bur canceled in my presence to process the correct amount. On the purchase date for purchase #2,, my bank statement showed the valid purchase amount. However, 4 days later, my bank account showed an additional purchase amount of 10 times the original… the mis-keying of a decimal point on the original transaction. When I contacted my bank, they stated that the vendor had entered a cancellation for the transaction. In the meantime, these funds were placed on hold on my account for 48 hours. I’m not certain if this is the norm for Square transaction error processing, but I am now hesitant to purchase again from a vendor using this form of payment.

  • mary Liebhold

    After the problems we had with our only two transactions and problems paying somewhere with Square, I no longer use it nor will I ever use it to purchase something. I have walked away from vendors if that is the only option.
    Life is too short

  • Donna

    I have been using Square for almost 2 years now and my credit card costs are so much lower than before!!! I have been in business for over 25 years and have tried lots of credit card option as I have an average charge of $1000.00 per transaction. In the begining I did have a small amount of money held with manually entered transactions but that was due to the $2002.00 limit they have. I immediatly contacted the company by email and was told to request a higher limit for manual transactions and within 2 days of doing this I was approved for a limit more than double. I since have had NO problem with Square and find it very easy to use. They have added the feature of sending my customer a notice for payment and my customer can add their card number and process my payment and I still pay the lower fee amount. I have also had 1 occasion that I had to refund a customers’ money and Square took care of this immediatly. I think people just need to read the fine print and establish a relationship!!!

    • Pokertank

      If you read my original post carefully, you will see I had a problem on the VERY FIRST transaction. There was nothing high risk about the first transaction, my company, or me, however, their reason for de-activating the account was attributed to “a pattern of transactions associated with high-risk activity”. What pattern are they referring to, on the VERY FIRST transaction?… Without a way to call them to clarify, and nothing but canned email replies, I will never know what the real issue was, or if there was some sort of misunderstanding or something. Obviously, you have had good luck using Square so far, however, God help you if you ever do have an issue, regardless of what the fine print says…

      I stand behind my original conclusion, which is BUYER BEWARE if you decide to do business with Square.

  • Joyce Cambron

    I agree with the analysis that NO PHONE SUPPORT is a catastrophic disaster for this company.
    They’ve charge my customer’s account 3 times for one purchase, and I cannot find a way
    to reach them to clarify this problem. It looks like I may end up with a black mark on my
    record for credit card fraud, when I got 2 DECLINED messages when trying to enter this charge.
    Not Happy.

    • Nolan

      The best thing to do when dealing with a company like this. IMMEDIATELY contact your customer and have them or on their behalf, contact their credit card company to reject two of the three charges. Have them send in any information that they have or you can supply to them about Square – including at least 5 screen shots of negative comments, links to sites like this that show hundreds of not thousands of negative comments about this company.

      Then send a letter to the Attorney General’s office with pretty much the same information. You can also contact the BBB, Consumer Affairs and any other agency. The more the better. The letter to the State Attorney General’s office should be your main letter and can be copied and sent to everyone else along with a short note.

      That’s it. Good luck

  • C Young

    Customer service was very slow to respond, and when they did, they did not answer our questions, only had some scripted answer that did respond to our email, but did Nothing to help resolve problems. The critical problem we had with Square was their hanging onto payments for undo lengths of time, well beyond any reasonable time frame.
    Our customers had received service(s) and wanted to pay for the service with credit card. Services rendered, and the customers were present. NO reason to hang onto the payments, yet they did, and we couldn’t pay bills or use the payments! We don’t like asking customers to bring a check or pay in cash. Its ridiculous to wonder when or if you
    were going to receive the payments in a day or a week or two! Square is the bottom of the barrel. We had been
    with Wells Fargo , which was Poor, and Bank of America, which was expensive and mediocre, but in comparison,
    the amounts of money we spent with those two companies and the rotten treatment we received with them, was sterling service by comparison with the sabotage treatment that Square heaped upon us! But don’t take our word for it, try it yourself and just have another CC processor handy, preferably with a credit union if you can, as a back up~~

  • Pokertank

    Similar to some of the messages below, we were just screwed over by Square. I wish I would have read these reviews before setting up with these idiots. We have been using PayPal and Amazon for most of our customer payments, however, I wanted to add a mobile option, plus cheaper processing fees, so I signed up for Square after seeing their commercial on TV. The account was immediately approved, and everything was setup as promised. However, a day after I ran the first credit card charge, I received an email stating the account was under review. Not thinking anything of it, since the account was new, and noticing very little due diligence could’ve been done by Square during the initial setup, I immediately provided all the documents requested. I sent them 3 month’s bank statements, the original online customer order, our invoice with tracking and serial numbers, and the delivery receipt, showing the order had been shipped AND received already. This was a very good customer, so I did not want to hold their order, while Square was getting setup.

    A couple days later, I sent an email checking status on the review and hold on our funds. After another day went by, I finally received a response indicating the account was being deactivated:

    —-
    “We’re sorry to inform you that we are deactivating your account. Our Account Services team reviewed your account and found a pattern of transactions associated with high-risk activity.
    For further information about our policies, you can review section 42 of the Square Seller Agreement.
    We regret that, starting today, you will no longer be able to process transactions using Square. Any funds currently in your account will be held for 90 days before being released to your linked bank account.”
    —–
    Amazing how they found “a pattern of transactions associated with high-risk activity” when we had just run our very first credit card charge, and the product had been delivered BEFORE the payment was charged.

    I immediately refunded the customer’s card, and ran it through PayPal without a problem, then sent a message to Square asking for more information, and what could be done to re-evaluate the situation. I received the following CANNED reply:

    —-
    “Thanks for writing in. We understand that it can be frustrating to have your account deactivated. Unfortunately, our review found that we cannot support any Square accounts for you or your business.

    As stated in the deactivation notice, we will hold the remaining funds in your Square account for 90 days from the date of deactivation. Since your account was disabled on June 20, these funds will be released on.

    Depending on your bank’s policies, you should see these funds one to two business days after we release them to your linked bank account. We will notify you as soon as we deposit the funds.

    If you don’t want to wait 90 days for your funds to be deposited, you may consider refunding the payments back to the original cards and seeking an alternate form of payment. Please note that all refunds must be issued within 60 days of the original transaction date.”
    —-
    As you can see, this response was a canned reply by someone who didn’t even take the time to look up the account. I had refunded the ONLY charge on the account already, and the account clearly showed a zero balance at the time of this reply.

    I don’t believe Square is necessarily scamming people, however, I do believe they are trying to grow quickly, by sacrificing customer service. It is clear they auto approve just about anyone, then put the accounts “under review” after they have funds in their hands, instead of doing the proper due diligence BEFORE the new customer is approved to accept credit card payments.

    At the very least this practice is unethical and damaging to prospective customers, but very well may be against Vica/MC/AMEX/Discover policies. My next contact will be with these companies, to see what can be done about Square’s deceptive practices. In the meantime, I will do everything possible to prevent as many people as possible from doing business with Square.

  • carrie

    I signed up for square. I was unable to link my account to them but they sent the Square to me anyhow. So I finally found a phone number for them and talked to a real person they said that my institution will not work with their services. I use this same bank card for everything, online bill pay and at the store. I have direct deposit and they won’t accept it? Well from all these bad reviews I think I am glad they don’t accept my card. So I think I did myself a favor by deactivating my account with them. Anyone need a free Square Reader? LOL.

  • Sandy

    I just started using Square for a couple of craft shows this past weekend. I had used it from time to time with my money being sent to my bank account and now they cannot verify my bank info (which has not changed) and I cannot get my money to my account. I am also having a problem logging into square thru my commuter – I keep getting sorry internal error and no number to contact them at.

  • Douglas

    I have been using square happily for almost 4 years now… while i agree that square should not hold funds… everyone needs to read every contract before they start processing with anyone. I did… because they do no credit check no background check… or anything of the sort… you have to build a relationship with them.. over time.. just like if a friend came and asked you for 1000.00 dollars.. most of us would say no… but if he asked for 10 a couple times and always paid it back know promptly… we would trust him with larger and larger amounts.. until we knew the 1000 dollars would be paid back to us.
    This is how square works. If any of you had read the fine print you would have known that they give you a 1000 dollar a month processing and any funds above that are held for 30 days. This is done to prevent them from being killed by scam artists who might run 20.000 thousand dollars of false credit cards or stolen ones… take the money out of their account and stick it to square. I had money held as well and asked them to release it and they said 30 days.. and in 30 days it was released. Since then I have asked square to increase my processing limit.. I can now process.. without more than 48 hours wait time.. up to 5,000.00 a week without anything being held. It took about about a year to get there, but that’s where I am now.
    Yes their customer service sucks, scratch that, pretty much non existent. No live people, no phone number and the one that did work was shut down, no way to void a transaction, and no real way to deal with charge backs. Emailing seems futile and can be time consuming something I am sure none of your customers want especially mine.
    I have found that swiping a card leads to the least issues. I am also looking into their new program for people like myself who have followed the rules. It looks promising.
    I do not know why they are holding people’s money for such a long time… I do know it can take almost 6 months to make sure a charge on a card cannot be reversed… I feel for those who have had square hold money.. maybe things have changed since they started…90 percent of the complaints are about money being held… large sums run early on with their relationship with square… just like I wouldn’t trust a friend with no history to repay me a large sum and personally have been burned as well. Good luck to all. Stay within the guidelines and square is an easy was to process cost effectively and for those who have low volume where the cost of a 4 year contract is prohibitive and I was locked into one of those unfair ripoffs as well.
    Doug

    • Pete A

      As you read the negative reviews, please keep in mind what they are not telling you. New Businesses, unrealistic expectations of a company, that will always favor the customer and remember you are not the customer, you are a conduit or portal for the transaction, inconsistent transactions, high volume of not swiped transactions, and My favorites, COMPLETELY Incorrect type of business for the service. 4 years and never one questioned transaction, with transactions from $1 to $100 processing 100’s of thousand of dollars. I thinks is more of the 20/80 rule, 80% of the negative reviews coming for the 20% that didn’t have a clue or read carefully. Just my opinion. Sorry!

    • Anne

      Thanks for this post. I read some, but not all of the terms when setting up. Your explanation here makes quite clear what the limitations of this service are for new business and I found it helpful.

      This is exactly the same as opening a “purchase order account”, if you will. A new vendor I want to work with allows me to purchase items on credit (read: Net30 days) and if I pay those invoices regularly for a given period of time, I can then request the vendor to raise my “credit” with them. They’ll usually bump it up in increments. If I pay that regularly, then after another given period of time, I can then ask the vendor to increase my “credit”.

      If, instead, I ask the vendor, who does not know me from Jack, to give me a very large “credit” amount outright and tell them I want to pay it Net30, they will probably say no. They’ll ask me to do a full credit history application including previous vendors and run my me and company through a credit check using my social security number and/or Tax ID number. That’s because now we are getting into the realm of corporate banking. And Square is not a corporate bank. Because of this, they need to be very careful indeed on who they are “lending” what essentially is a Line of Credit to. They probably don’t have the same type of insurance that a corporate bank would have, nor did you secure a line of credit with them by handing over your first born child in the event someone takes you (and Square) on a very long walk off a very short pier. And so, they are in no way going to risk that loss. I wouldn’t either. Oh Hell No.

      I’ve only been using Square for a month. I’m not a large company with a hella lot of sales at this time. However, I do hope I can build this relationship over time because you couldn’t pay me enough money to use the real scammers and corporate scumbags when transacting credit card sales: Corporate Banks.

      • Anne

        Update:

        I subscribed to this group for over a month now to follow what has happened to other customers. As a result of the many, many complaints here I’ve decided not to use this company and am aghast at what I have been reading.

        Someone mentioned class action and I think you are on to something there.

  • mark

    square is a scam plain and simple we used them last year for the first time in our fireworks stand they was very helpful in getting us set up and we got an email for every transaction. that where it stops we have not got our money from last year after many many attempts to get it put into our bank account. i look at it like this if its to good to be true it is!! and from now on my moto is i trust GOD everyone else pays cash!! i feel bad for the people that got stuck for big bucks i only got skinned for 3 grand (because) i did not trust how simple it is program.

  • Jackie

    Someone using square reader in my company name, tried to get in contact with square, no luck. I don’t know if it’s the cashier or delivery driver, couldn’t get in contact with square

  • ignacio

    wish I had seen this site prior to joining. like many others square fails to tell you that they review your company. then they give you a bogus reason to cancel you and hold your money for up to 6 months. what a sham!!!!

    • Peter

      everybody on this site and other sites regarding square should all get together and file a class action suit and file reports to police for theft and fraud in your areas. lets all get together and do it.. im personally still waiting 100+ days for my funds.

      im sure the media would love to get this story. That should rattle them up and get funds back to people who worked hard to earn it. thoughts?

      • Mine

        Peter, I have thought of doing that. Out close to $4,000 since a bit over 1 year now, and when inquiring,
        get the same robotic email answers (definitely not from a human).
        On twitter I have found several people even owed more.
        I’m trying to get in touch with media, but strength in numbers will probably be the only thing to work!

  • david

    i started using square about 100 days ago, first transaction of about $500 went threw. i did another three transactions the next week after and i get an email about verification. they send me a code with a number that you cant find anywhere. i typed in the code and it takes you to a live customer support. they ask for some pics and receipts after sending them what they asked for. my acc got permanently deleted. and they have held $1500 of my money for over 90 days. i tried to call the same number and they ask for another code. i go back to my acc and it wont let me sign in. so basically im screwed because i have no acc to retrieve a code from. i cant believe they havent been in a class law suit yet. this is total bs. how can you be a company dealing with businesses and only way to contact you is threw email or twitter. this company is a joke.

  • Clay

    I would not recommend Square. They are holding $13,700 of my money and I can not talk to anyone. Their customer service stinks. When you call the person on the other end of the line sounds like they are about 16 years old and when you ask to speak to a supervisor they reply that “our supervisors do not speak on the phone”.
    My cash flow is really tight right now and it they do not pay or refund this money, I am out of business.

    • Michelle Smith

      They are holding 3900.00 of my money as well. This should be against the law!!! Then they deactivated my account so I can’t even give my customer their refund. I think I’m going to contact the local news and let them do a little investigating of this company!!!! Please feel free to respond!!!!!!!!!!

  • Mike

    I have been reading on Square reviews both good and *bad. I want to share a perspective which may enlighten some about using credit card processing.

    – No Card Present ( Keyed In ) = High Risk Period.
    Those who are processing with square and take the key in method approach at high volume will indeed have
    their funds held.

    *Go to your bank or use a real merchant account and see how much fun it is to deal with high volume key in methods, it is standard to hold all funds for x amount of time until your account reaches “good standing” with key in processing. Banks and those with their own merchant account always have a reserve when processing with key in.

    I agree, Squares *lazy approach making this clear, however as a merchant for many years, I lean towards swipe only as key in method is always a risk and the easiest for your client to charge back unless you have enough sense to imprint the card.

    – Card Swiped.
    Square is fine for this method, if you read all the reviews and complaints about square other then their high cost @2.75%, I have yet to find someone who ALWAYS Swipes get their funds held or account closed for high risk activity.

    *Card present is the most “secure” way to accept payments, as a small business it is up to you to ensure your swiping the persons card that belongs them and get a signature, as a merchant this keeps you are low risk.

    I think if square is guilty of anything it is not being clear about how processing works. Go get a merchant account at your bank and key in all your transactions at high amounts, no card present and see how fast they start holding 50% of your funds and put you on a reserve system.

    Does square have communication issues regarding this? yes. However your going to end up in this boat regardless of the merchant when doing volume or high amounts using key in method.

    • Wayne

      Mike, I think you have some good points and advice. However, we’ve been using Square for a long time and we ONLY key in transactions. We do maybe $5-10 thousand a week.

      I think what has helped us in not have a single issue is that we have emailed Square beforehand every time there has been an unusual amount, or we needed a limit increase in a transaction. The last time we emailed them we were told we can process up to $7500 a day, but if we need more then we should let them know.

      We know Square’s customer service is “unique”, for want of a better word, but I believe that if people took a moment to give Square a heads-up before processing an unusual transaction it would minimize problems.

  • Ryan

    I am honestly SHOCKED this company is legal, im not joking you have a 50% chance of your funds being Held for 90 days without notice. This has ruined many families, businesses, and lives. Square will scam you and you will never be able to reach them. Period.

  • Nigel momongan

    Omg every complaint on this message board applies to me. My customer’s credit card was swiped and the funds withdrawn. $2000 it says. I have been trying to contact someone for weeks. The transaction doesn’t even appear on my dash board yet I still have the receipt. What in the world is going on here???

  • TM

    I signed up for this service. Did my first transaction. Then Square came back requesting verification information. Sent them everything they wanted. I’ve been in business for 25 plus years and have excellent credit. After four days they said I was a high risk account.

    Couldn’t be further from the truth. I would only be processing a few charges a month in the $1000 to $5000 range and only with clients I have done business with for 15+ years. There was no risk to them.

    They have horrible customer service. You can’t talk with anyone. All done by emails. They will admit most of the people working at Square are young and inexperienced. You can tell by the limited communication they offer and how they respond.

    I would stay away from this company. They are horrible to deal with and completely unprofessional….

  • Michael Resnick

    I have been using Square for almost a year. I was paying the $275 a month and was very disappointed when they went to the straight 2.75%. I received a call from customer service about a month ago. They asked what they could do to improve service. I told them that I was unhappy about the 2.75% switch and in about 2 minutes they dropped my rate. Although their instructions of the I pad can be confusing I have found no problems with customer service. I do get quick email responses and they have called me to discuss my problems if the emails do not bring satisfaction. We have never had our funds held, whether, they are swiped or keyed and are always paid the next day. Maybe I am the lucky few but Square has been the best deal for me.

  • Mike Kahn

    I can never find a way to get a question answered right away, no phone number anywhere. I simply wanted to get two more swipers for my employees and it is a pain to do anything with this company, nothing is easy as it should be for a customer.

    • Beth

      Mike, sign in to your account. In the upper right, you’ll see the Dashboard and an arrow. Click on the arrow to see a drop down menu, one of the choices which is ordering more swipers. They are being updated, so you’ll all need a new one. The old ones will cease to be supported soon.

      • jay

        well beth, i have a question i need answered before business friday (tomorrow)

        we had an issue last weekend when we were charging from 2 different squares for the same account. they all got bunched together and we had to go one by one and separate which sale was for bar and which sale was for the door.

        we now made 2 groups but need to know if we did this correctly to not run into the same mistake again this weekend. how will we know if we partitioned it correctly and moving forward what is the proper way to take payments so we know what purchase is for what>

        please help

        • Beth

          I’m sorry I didn’t see this earlier. I am not a rep for Square, but I’m quite sure that having two readers won’t allow you two separate transactions if they are linked to the same account. Contact Square for help.

  • In and out auto clinic

    DO NOT waist your money and do not pay your busness to Square.com . They do not have live customer service and they send you email only and the people they send you email, are so rud. Any one despute thier payment , means you lost your money. One smart ass customer desputed for $850 on me and square didn’t even ask me what was going on and just took the found from my account and i never saw it . It means i lost over $1300 , because of square a.holls. Do not support this company.

  • tom poulos

    you rated this company, if we could even call them that, poor, you are to kind, why can’t you just say it like it is. they suck, they are scum bags, we will be reading about them soon on how they scammed a million people then claimed bankruptcy . I deposited 700.00 dollars three weeks ago. haven’t seen it since. there e-mail said it might take as much as 80 days to get my money. People beware, If you want to throw away money, send it to me, after doing bussiness with qurare inn i need it. P.S. start telling it like it is. tom paulos [screwed bussiness man]

  • will

    I opened an account 3 weeks ago wasn’t happy with any of there services they screwed up my account at my bank and now I don’t need them any more. I’ve contacted square 5 times so far in one week to cancel, never got a response back, they are very unprofessional. like the mafia once your in you can never cancel. If anyone reads this, be sure your ok having an account with them for life and that you will never be able to cancel. and in my my case never receive a response to their e-mail questions. You can get better prices and customer service at your bank, and talk to a real person…Run from these people !!!!!

  • Peter

    I have to ask the question, are all these problems occurring with swiped cards and customer signatures? I’ve processed as little as $10 in a week and over $5000, all with signatures and have never had a email or warning or hold on any funds.

  • Michael

    Square sounds like really good technology and seems to work nicely at first, with transactions in the hundreds of dollars. But if you’re using it for business and growing, and your transaction volume gets in the thousands – DO NOT USE Square.

    They hold YOUR money indiscriminately with only email or web forms as support. Then we also got the “high risk” email and they closed the account with no explanation. This is using valid customer purchases for goods sold and with customer consent. Never had a chargeback or customer complaint issue, it just seems Square wants to park my money in their account to earn interest on for as long as they can, and there is no way to talk to a person for resolution.

    Avoid this company and find a more established reputable mobile processor – unless it’s just an occasional personal card transaction. Square is definitely not for small business.

  • Den

    I don’t presently accept credit cards, but am interested in doing so. Someone close to me is convinced I’d see an increase in sales. While that’s probably true, I provide a niche service to a niche clientele and am not about to risk my relationship with my customers to a start-up that seems more interested in fulfilling their needs than that of their customers. There are far too many complaints here for me to feel comfortable using this service.

    I want to thank all those who’ve posted here and described the problems they’re suffering. It seems clear that I should avoid Square, if only because I can then provide better customer service to my customers than Square does for its’ customers.

    THANKS again.

    • TinyT

      We’ve been using Square for over a year now. We are not a huge business and don’t process any huge transactions. I think most of the complaints about Square are those who are using Square at a high volume of sales per month ($5K and up). We’ve only had a few months where we reached into the thousands for credit card sales and we’ve had absolutely ZERO problems with Square. With other processors they charge you a monthly fee, plus on top of that they charge you a higher fee if the card is a rewards card, etc. plus compliance fees, etc. In the end, it cost us about 4% vs. 2.75% for Square. For us it’s a win-win. Our sales increased about 50% once we decided to accept credit cards.

  • Jared

    After using Square for 4 years, they deactivated my account due to “high risk activity”. I made a larger than normal charge and they sent me an email explaining my account was being investigated. After supplying all of the information they asked for in order to make sure I ran a legitimate business, they deactivated my account. After searching through their legal contract, there is no definition of what “high risk” is. If something is high, then logically, there must be a low…and there is no definition of what “low risk” is either.

    They refuse to explain why my account was deactivated, and upon reading their legal contract, there is a sentence stating something along the lines of, “We can deactivate your account for ANY REASON or NO REASON, anytime we want to.”

    I believe they know what they’re doing, and purposely eliminated their customer service sector because of it.

    This is the worst merchant service company I’ve ever dealt with.

  • Peter

    I don’t understand most of the reviews I’ve seen, to little is mentioned about the type of transactions and the type of business. Square is meant to be used in a face to face business, where the card is present & signature captured. For all others trying to use it for anything else. Please read the disclosures, terms and conditions. Just look at the videos, face to face, signatures, I process thousands of dollars and ask for signature for even the smallest sale $2. The fraud protection provides @ 90 days for customer to dispute payment…. You are not the customer, you are a service provider… your customer is the person being protected. All I can say is, stop trying to use it for something is not intended, “non face to face businesses” “large transactions”

    • Wayne

      I tend to agree with Peter (March 20). We’ve used Square for a long time without any issues for amounts sometimes totaling multiple thousands, and always keyed in, and not face to face.
      We’ve always emailed Square ahead of time to tell them we needed to be upgraded so we could run thousands. We got a confirmation and the money was always deposited to our bank the next day.
      If you’re not something like a tarot card reader or a babysitter trying to run thousands you probably won’t have a problem.

    • Ruth

      Your comment will yield a lot of angry responses but I also have wondered about this. I have been using Square for 2 1/2 years after being gouged by another company who took at least 25% of my charges. I had no issues at all, after I process the payments, the money is in the account the next day. I’m a small business and set it up so my customers have to sign when they charge 25.00 or more. For me, my single charges are never over 200.00 which I think that it is the niche that this company works best for. The only issue I have is that credit card reader will stop working after a couple of months but I just go to Walgreens or Rite Aid and buy another one. For the savings I’m getting, the 10.00 I have to pay doesn’t bother me. When I contacted Square about the reader issue, they told me to just email them the receipt and they would pay me for the new readers, I just never bothered to do it.

    • Teresa

      I don’t agree at all and in fact I tend to think that this is not from a real square user. I have had the exact same issue that everyone else had here. The biggest problem is that Square does not have ANY customer service. This is unacceptable no matter how good or bad their service is. When you are handling people’s money and thus their livelihood you better be accessible. Can you imagine your bank not having a customer service number and service reps? No, I didn’t think so.

      I have been in business for 26+ years and have had merchant account services through my bank. I paid a very good rate but there was a monthly service fee for the account. I am an independent consultant and designer and many of my customers paid cash. I decided to try square because (though their fees are high) I figured the ease of use would at least compensate for the monthly fee I would be eliminating. I WAS WRONG!!! I can’t even begin to tell you what a nightmare they were. My bank actually warned me about Square! They said they have had many customers do exactly what I did and lived to regret it. Of course, I thought they just were trying to get me to stay with their merchant account.

      Anyway Square ended up trying to keep $7000 AND charge me 3.75% for no reason. Fortunately my bank helped me out and I recovered my money. These people are frauds, I found a lot about this company, much more than what they want you to know. All I can say is good luck because when (not if) they decide to arbitrarily hold your money you will have no recourse. That is of course assuming you are legit because they do have an army of spammers that create posts like yours to counter all of their bad publicity.

    • Laura

      I am sure Square has tons of “Reputation Repair” folks out there posting positive reviews trying to cover up the thousands of complaints. If Square is a swipe only $200 or less transaction amount niche company then they should limit their transactions to that and NOT accept card not present or higher transaction amounts. Unfortunately they choose to hide the facts until Merchants have built up thousands of dollars in sales and then POW square freezes those funds! For me they froze over $70,000 in funds and held much of it for over a year. I was able to refund some of the transactions and run them through another processor. The balance they would not allow me to refund, they held for over a year. Even after a year I had to send many e-mails and tweets to get my money back. They are indifferent to the fact that these tactics have ruined many businesses, families and lives. Their practices are abhorrent! It is truly my belief that they do this purposely to profit from the interest on funds held.

    • Sherri

      We started using Square about a 18 months ago at our local non-profit community theater. Our patrons enjoy the convenience of being able to pay with credit card and the ability to purchase tickets online through the Square Marketplace. We’ve never had any issues with Square and our money has always been deposit the next day. I love the reports and the breakdown they give, pinpointing exactly what areas our sales have been. It’s been a perfect match for us.

  • Windsor

    I have a square and I have had nothing but trouble with it since I got it. Won’t put money into my account are they are freezing it until I try to reach them. The web-site is down more than up to connect them with a problem. They also don’t supply a phone number to contact them with any issues with the product. This is very frustrating to me since I drive a cab and have know time for this nonsense.

  • Heather

    At first using square was great. That was until there was a chargeback on my account. I spoke to the patient that questioned the charge and he immediately called his bank to cancel the dispute. I have sent several e-mails on the contact page with no response and finding a number to speak to someone is impossible. They have the worst customer service ever! I spoke again with patient and his bank told him that the funds were released a few days after he spoke with them the first time and the dispute was canceled. Yet over a month later square still has not posted the funds back to my account nor responded to any e-mail. I even filled out two of their chargeback dispute forms and faxed it to them a week apart. It says you will receive a confirmation e-mail when it is received. That didn’t happen either. I have tried to get on the web site to cancel and remove my bank account info, and it wont allow me to. So once they have your account info there is no going back. They can take money out of your account at anytime they choose ( mine was three months later) for any reason and all you get is an e-mail saying they took it. I would be very surprised if I ever get it back.

    • Marilee

      I have had this same problem…chargeback, contacted customer, she reversed it the next week. This was in mid April, but the original transaction happened in mid February. She told me that she had taken care of it, and I waited awhile, thinking that it took two months for chargeback to happen, so it might take a little time for the refund, although Square assured me they were fighting for me. Right. So, I contacted them last week, and got a reply that the case was resolved in favor of the customer and the case was closed. I told them that the money had been released by Discover Card back to them. After several back and forth emails with pretty much the same answer from them, I was told that I would need a copy of the official letter (in PDF or JPG…really??). So, I obtained a copy which clearly states that the amount was once again charged to the customer’s account, converted it to the format requested, and emailed it all back. Today I received the standard reply, that the case was closed in favor of the customer. They keep telling me I need to contact the customer directly, which of course I have…where the hell do they think I got the document? This is the most frustrating thing I have dealt with in quite awhile. I called the company number, which directs you to their website, where they will gladly take care of my needs. This is not a huge amount, but it is now just the principle and I will keep after them. After reading many of these posts I am feeling fortunate that it isn’t more…I can only imagine what a nightmare it is for some of them.

  • Kim. B.

    My funds usually deposit Monday morning when a transaction is made on the weekends. This time no funds, I sent an email to the customer service support and received a reference number this morning and no reply. I think that was the last time I will ever use the square. Searching online now for another reader that has a live customer service contact number

  • Shaun

    I am a personal trainer. I used square 9-15 times a month for the first 2 months I had them then in January I opened my own gym. And started using square more often never having an issue. When we opened the gym the plan was to start auto billing the eft for march. Well the setup didn’t happen in time and I was in a bad spot so on Monday march 3rd I did the monthly gym charges manually so we could have the funds for rent ect. It ended up being 91 transactions so square notified me by email Tuesday of my account being under review and on temporary hold. I then submitted all the paper work they requested. Then I called them Tuesday just before close of business with my passcode and the gentleman was very weird and didn’t seem to want to talk to me. Then on that evening I recieved a call that I was deactivated due to being high risk and my $1716.20 was going to be held for 90 days until they would deposit in my account. I then spent all of Wednesday in between my busy day searching for a phone number. The email system they have wasn’t working. So on Thursday I decided to try the one number I found for them. And when u call in it loops you back to the message after every time it plays. So I started to play the extension game and after each time you press a button that starts to lead to am extension it would give u a pause. Well 2 hours later I got my first working extension and it went to tech support and I blew that extension up until they called me back and refused to help me. After hanging up on me twice. I then started my mission again. And this time I got to a live person name Shawn. Well after going back and forth he helped me. He worked for the IT department. He seemed impressed at how much effort I put in to getting a hold of a person. Within four minutes of hanging up I had a email that my funds were suddenly released. And then this morning march 7th the funds were in my acct. I would say that yes this was extreme but they had MY money and I needed it. I will never speak a positive word of square ever!! I would say if your in the same situation as me play the same angle I did. It worked. Any questions u can email me. Hope I helped someone.

    • Lozen

      Wow nice going!!! That’s fantastic… I can’t see why something can’t be done about square… They advertise it loads on tv. Too bad they don’t do it like commercials for medication with all the side effects…

      Square we help grow your business: side effects are we are a bunch of theives that take your money in the night and you won’t ever get anyone to help you…. Something like that… Putting it nicely

      Shaun I’m happy for you…. Would you please post the phone number maybe we some of us can get our money back… Thanks for the glimmer of hope.

      Take care Lozen

      • Christie Mitchell

        Maybe I should have elaborated on my comment. I am a freelance graphic designer. i have a very small company just starting out. I started using square three months ago. I have ran large transactions through and had no issues. All the sudden my account is deactivated as high risk and now im waiting for 5400 dollars. You may be angry with my post but seriously thats what Square is doing. I have found several lawsuits against Square and have shared my experience with the law firm. I personally dont care what the people have to say on here. I am just expressing my opinion of the company. Thank God we live in a country where i can do that!

        The just of this is you are mistaken if you think Square is not a fraud….because eventually it will happen to you. Wait and see( to all the rude comments I have recieved that “Square is wonderful”…well you will retract that statement when you are in my shoes!) I AM BEING HELD HOSTAGE FOR MY MONEY! That is fact. The customer service should be a clear indication on the shady operations of this company. if they had nothing to hide they would have a help line. Thats just common sense business practices. They are thieves plain and simple. I will be very surprised if I ever see my money.

        To all the people in the same boat as me ….I will share my info as I recieve it from the law firm. There is recourse. Unfortuantly it will not be a speedy process. i dont care! I just want MY HARD EARNED MONEY!

        Christie

    • Paul abbott

      Hello Shaun, same situation. Operate a legitimate auto repair shop and second transaction was held. We all need to use the blow em up approach so this doesn’t happen. If they think I/we are high risk, don’t process any more cards, but to without payment isn’t right! Please send me the number and extension so I can get my money deposited. Thanks

    • Mine

      PShaun,
      it’s been more than 12 months since $3,600 were held from us, and we are not going anywhere with this.

      Can you pls send or post the number that seemed to work? At this point I’ll try out every
      extension – if it takes me 4 hours.

      I read somewhere on twitter that a customer managed to get someone on the phone and
      threatened with the Attorney General. Her funds were released in a jiffy!

  • kevin stricker

    I verified my bank account several months ago but did no transaction now I have transactions and they want me to verify my account again yet its been 10 days and they have yet to make the required deposits and withdraws necessary to verify my account so they are holding my funds and I have left they many many emails with out even 1 response from them. I am not sure when or if I will ever get my $$ I will be contacting any and everyone I can to hopefully have these crooks stopped they are thieves. please do not use these guys they are the worst of the worst they should be in jail easily the worst company I have ever had the unpleasantry to work with.

    • Kimberly

      I am in the same situation and its bankrupted my travel agency. I’ve been a travel agent for over 20 years and this company destroyed it within 5 months. They withdrew thousands from my account and then deactivated it saying they were holding the funds for 70 days. Then 90 days, then 180 days….I don’t have the funds and it’s been 5 months almost.

      I’ve contacted the Attorney Generals Office in Ohio, Mike DeWine. They gave me a telephone number that redirected me to go to the website to submit my inquiry. As you all may know from your own experience, you’ll receive the same email over and over and over.

      I’ll add that now I am being sued by several people because their trips were lost, my reputation with my vendors that I have worked with for 20 years … Lost, my health lost and much more.

      Class Action Lawsuit is the only way to pull together and go after them. Please please someone email me, I’d feel so much better if I knew I was not the only one. I’m scared, very scared of these suits. I understand 100% why the clients are doing this but I never stole anyones money, square did.

  • Joshua g

    I used square to accept a payment back in June of last year. It was for a balance of $3000. After waiting several days to finally receive payment, the money did get deposited into my account. Approximately 3 months later I received an email informing me the money was being taken back out of my account. Apparently the customer was claiming fraud. Square requested any proof I may have had to defend my case. I emailed copies of receipts and signed thank you card from customer. I then received another email informing me, it might take up to 90 days to argue my claim. Now, in February of the next year square sends me a threat email, demanding payment immediately or face collection agencies! Customer service at its best! Loath not having a person to talk to about the matter.

    • Kimberly

      They have done major damage to me and I’m now going through an investigation with the Attorney General and the local sheriffs department for fraud because my clients funds were involved. I’m looking at jail time over this and I’m a single mother of a 7 year old daughter. My life has been turned upside down because I’ve tried everything known to get Square to give my money back. It’s a no win situation for me unless I want to go into a class action, which I would but I’ve only had 3 people interested. This is the worse thing I have ever been through in my life. No one, AGs office, BBB or the police believe this is happening to us.

  • Remini

    I have been a Square user for several years now, and up until a week ago, if asked about my experience with them, I — like Bruce — would have said Square is ‘a dream to work with.’ But as I have recently learned the hard way, Square is a dream to work with . . . until there is problem. Square may have no early termination fees and no monthly minimums, but it also has no customer service . . . as in zip, zero, zilch, nada, none.

    Oh, sure, Square provides the *illusion* of customer service: You can call its misnomered ‘customer service’ phone number and reach a recorded message that refers you to Square’s online ‘help’ center and then hangs up on you . . . or you can go to the aforementioned online ‘help’ center and find a form that allow you to submit your inquiry / request for help, which will get you an automated email response informing you that your request has been received and will be responded to ‘as soon as possible,’ and then you can wait hopefully by your inbox for days on end awaiting help that may or may not ever come . . . or you can attempt to connect to someone via their Twitter support service and experience radio silence there as well.

    In short, you can expend a lot of energy spinning your wheels, and in the meantime, your problem — which started out as a molehill that might have taken 10 minutes to resolve had you had the opportunity to actually TALK to somebody — is now a true mountain of epic proportions because it has not been dealt with in a timely manner.

    What an interesting business model . . . Square has obviously invested tremendous resources on the advertising/marketing end of things, giving short shrift to — if not completely eliminating — its direct interface with its PAYING clients; instead it publishes a plethora of information on its website addressing frequently asked questions and labels that a ‘support’ center that is intended, apparently, to completely supplant actual communication with its customers. News flash: This is not customer service . . . this is a farce. At best. Beyond that, it is a travesty . . . and totally unconscionable and unethical, if not outright illegal. One only has to read some of the stories below to see how Square’s policy to totally insulate itself from its clientele has caused untold grief and financial mayhem in so many people’s lives.

    I am still waiting for a response from Square on my particular issue . . . and to see what my damages will be at the end of the day. But one thing is certain: I am DONE with Square.

  • Max Q

    I have used Square for one year collecting payments for over 100,000 USD.
    In the last few days I couldn’t get payments with Amex and this is causing major problems to my business since my customers are not physically present and I just key-in their card’s info
    Square has a non existent customer service. Sent multiple email and called the USELESS phone # I have found on line. Nothing.
    I will give my 4,000 $ in commissions to some other company this year. It is unacceptable such a poor service especially for a device/system mostly used by small businesses like mine.

    • Christie Mitchell

      HI,

      I just recently started using Square my first payment and guess what account deactivated.
      NO FREEKING REAL HUMAN EVER REACHED! JUST STUPID MESSAGE. Also the 90 days to recieve my funds
      JUNE 10th. I read the fine print and it said nothing about holding my $$$. My customers have both been paid.

      We will see if that happens….. Mean while my business is suffering and my account became over drawn thinking I had threatened to sue and ask for court costs and punitive damages. I also reported to BBB and attorney general in my state and California. I believe if we can join together get a facebook going against them we will find so many people with same stories

      If we can get enough people we can get a lawsuit going. That will show their emails ect. I guarentee some atty would jump at this if we have enough people.

      GOD I WAS READY TO FLY TO SAN FRANCISCO AND HACK THE HECK OUT OF EVERY IP ADDRESS I CAN FIND!

      Ive tried hacking their system (no backdoor I can find. not what you know its who you know!) and have an even better hacker friend (hes really good!). We want to see what info we can get…… Dont erase any contact youve had with Square. We will need that if it goes to court. I dont know but you should mark your day for the first payment due and 90 days if you do recieve answer…We can move from there. Sincerely C Mitchell

  • Orlena Lawson

    I requested a square account over 6 months ago. I had to submit documents to verify my business and received a card reader in the mail. I did a transaction to test out the machine and everything was fine. I then used the machine February 11, 2014 and the transaction of $550.00 went through. The funds were supposed to be funding on my account the second business day being that the tranaction took place after 5PM. I received an email on the 12th stating that my account was now permanently deactivated and the funds will be held for 90 days. They stated that I have the option to refund the transaction back to my clients account but when I enter the site to reverse the transaction, they lock me out. There is no contact number where you can directly speak with someone and I keep getting responses that someone will contact me shortly. This is an embarassment to my business and has caused me irreparable damages. Thank God my business is not high risk because I am able to contact all my clients to dispute the charges on their account and submit proof and evidence in support of their disputes. This is deceptive business practices on part of square. This is a nightmare.

  • Gary Cairns

    I just got my card reader in October. I own an auto repair business. I rarely get asked to take credit cards and deal in checks or cash. I thought Square would fit my business well. I had a customer who did not have the money available to pay me and wanted to put it on his credit card. I swiped the card and it did not work. I then ran his numbers through. The payment was accepted and I got and e-mail saying so. The amount was for $1808.51 and the amount of $1745.06 would be deposited in my account in the next 2 business days. I was very pleased. The next day as I was getting ready to leave for a weeks vacation I received an e-mail stating the my deposit would not be made for at least 90 days and that they considered my business as a high risk and I could no longer use my credit card reader. The bottom paragraph then stated they did not have to tell me why they consider me a risk. I have no phone number to call………….no phone support…….and they even resist my online attempts to reach them…….can this really be legal?

  • JERRY SMALLWOOD

    I sell in a farmer’s market and have generally had no problems with square until about a month ago when the hardware stopped working. I have experienced all the same customer service problems that many of you report. It seemed just easier to hand enter the the card numbers until I find a better alternative to this company which I will stop using ASAP. My problem this morning is that when I go to the site to login the link doesn’t seem to work as I’m getting a “web page has expired ” page everytime I try to login. Is any bodu else having that problem and can anybody provide a solution?

    • TinyT

      Go buy another card reader. They’re $10. They sometimes fail after a lot of use. As for not being able to access the website, I haven’t had any issues, so I can’t help you there.

  • Bruce

    We’ve been using Square for two years with only one issue. We have worn out two card swipers. We click on the link on their website and they send us a new one. They charged us $10.00 to replace the first one, second replacement was free. We had to key in card numbers for a couple of days while we waited for our replacement.

    We run a couple thousand dollars in peak months and have never experienced any of the problems listed above. As a matter of fact, Square has been a dream to work with!

    By comparison, we let one of their competitors (Momentum) talk us into switching to their 4-year contract and it’s been a nightmare! They couldn’t get their swiper to work with our Android and sent us a second unit. It didn’t work either. Then they threatened to charge us “up to” $1,925.00 for the non-working unit if we didn’t return it. That $1,925 unit looked just like the $10 unit from Square and served the same function! We returned both of their units and cancelled the contract within our “free look” period. Six weeks later we are trying to get them to close our account and stop drafting punitive fees from our checking account.

    Square doesn’t have an early termination fee, no monthly minimums, we get two Emails for every transaction. The first shows clearly how much was charged and how much will be deposited. The second confirms that the funds have been deposited into our account. We always know how much money they are holding, and they never hold it longer than what we experience at our bank. Our Momentum experience has soured us on the rest of the card processing industry, we’ll stay a Square customer as long as they don’t become like the rest of the industry!

  • Manoel Pereira

    I sign up with them in october of 2013, than i have 3 transaction with them with no problems.On february of 2014 i have two more transactions with them that is when the problem begin. They acepeted the the transaction and they do not deposit the money but they did send me a email asking me now for verification of my account.I did send them all the information that they ask me for and then they decided to close my account because I was a high risk to them, wich is fine with me. What I did not liked was for them to not advised this before the transaction. Now I have create more problems in my company plus they are charge me close to $300,00 for refund fees.Make sure you read every thing before you sing up with them.
    Manoel Pereira
    ALLIANCE lIFT LLC

  • Darreld Starling

    i accepted charges from amex, a shady customer disputed the charges and they stole my money, i have all the documentation and square will not contact me so i can dispute the charge, they just stole my money out of my account. and i am just out or luck. don’t use them first problem and it will be you that looses their money.

  • Stephan Tobin

    I accidentally posted a payment from a new client for several thousands instead of a few hundreds. I received an email from square listing the incorrect amount and immediately attempted to contact them via customer support. I emailed the problem and was told that I would get a quick response. I waited several hours and did not get a response. So I got on their website again and found out I could refund the customer but, when I clicked on the Transaction link, I got the spinning ball. I waited awhile, realized I wasn’t going to be connected and finally gave up. I tried that soon after a few more times. Then when I woke up the next morning I got an email from them indicating they had posted the incorrect amount to my checking account. Minus a $618 fee! This should have been $5.63. I again sent them another email demanding an explanation and was again told, on their website, that I would get a reply soon. It’s now 10 hours later and still no reply.
    I intend contacting the BBB with this complaint and will certainly not use their service again. It’s unbelievable to me how they can get away with this. I’d like some ideas, if there any, about how I can get a refund of this fee. Or what other action I can take.

    • Ruth

      This is one of my biggest fears so I always double check when I entered the amount to be charged to the customer. I wasn’t aware that they can still charge you the full 2.75% despite the fact that you cancelled the transaction. Did you cancel the transaction right away after you realized the mistake?

  • Stuart Scheinman

    This is a warning to anyone and everyone that is using square or considering using square for merchant services. Please be advised that square is holding $12,000 for transactions that were done in the normal course of our daily business. We processed a transaction for $12,000, the client picked up their merchandise and signed for the merchandise. Square has decided to hold this money even though there are no disputes. After numerous calls and emails, all representatives of square state that they can do whatever they want. According to Ellwood, the last representative I have spoken to, they dont consider this stealing, really ?!? I am seriously considering a class action suit against square. Please advise if any other companies have run into this situation.

    Stuart Scheinman
    Managing Director, Movie Star News
    [Phone number redacted]

  • Ashley Mallett

    I just started using Square and I HATE IT! I accepted some credit card payments last weekend and the money never came to my account. Finally I figured out that they are saying it’s not a valid bank account which is hogwash! My account accepts debits AND credits so there’s no reason it’s not a valid account. But fine..I’ll play along and put in a different account. Only the problem is it won’t let me edit my account!! It just keeps rerouting me to the same “verification unsuccessful” message but will never take me to add another account. No one responds to the “online support” and there’s no contact numbers listed online. I had to google Square phone numbers just to get some kind of number. However, those numbers just take you to a freakin messsage that says to go back to the online support (newsflash I’ve already tried that!) and then it hangs up on you! So my money is hanging in limbo somewhere and I can’t access it! That’s MY money. My business..My customers and My customer’s payments to ME! I will NEVER use Square to collect payments again..not a single more swipe! I advise anyone who’s even considering it to use another company!

  • debra smallwood

    Square is hold your money with no explanation accept to say my account was deemed high risk.I have been waited 3 months for 1800.00. I am not a wealthy person and I need my money. I was informed by square via email that they were gonna hold any funds in my account for 90 days. I have struggled and waited..the 90 days have passed and still the funds have not been deposited into my account.

  • Shane

    Customer support is extremely bad. In the past I have received payments the next day. This time they arbitrary decided to held the funds. They are not a reliable company and they have lost my trust as a company that delivers. In the business community I need to rely on a company that delivers what they say they will do and have some kind of live customer service. Going to look for another source for CC merchants

    • Shane

      Update: I made a mistake, it turned out that entered the amount as cash, not as a credit card. They never received the payment. My complaint is still no customer service, it took 4hrs and another set of eyes to discover my mistake. When they did response to my original help request it was three days later. I entered in the payment amount again the day I discovered my mistake and received the money the next day. This whole cycle could have been addressed in a short amount of even with a rapid email response. I wouldn’t be eating crow at this time and time wasted.
      I found my bank offers the same service at the same rate. I would pay $10 a month plus a one time $25 devise fee and 24hr live customer help. Considering what I went through, it is an option I am most likely going to do.

      • TERRY BENNETT

        Shane how did you change it from cash to credit? I put 2 in 5 days ago as other, and need to change it to credit. Still no response from SUPPORT. I figured maybe I could get some help from you or someone could help me

        • Shane

          Nothing was ever deposited to my account. They just sent me a receipt saying it was run as cash. It took another pair of eyes to point out my mistake. The client was never charge because it didn’t take. I called the client and they verified nothing was charged to their account. They check with their bank and no transaction had taken place. I had to run the card again, this time I had to manually entered it due time constraint. I had a very understanding client when I explained the situation. I received the money the next day. If you can check to make sure your clients card wasn’t charged. If it wasn’t,run the card again.

  • Thuan Nguyen

    My Dealings With Square Support. Start From Bottom To Top.

    Unfortunately our return and refund policy are aligned with VISA’s return and refund policy. Which is any return or refund is to be credited back to it’s original form of payment. I’m unable to issue a return or a refund to a customer who’s payment is not in my possession. Simply put, I can’t return something I don’t have. I do not want those funds to be deposited into my account, because those funds do not belong to me, they belong to my customer. So if you are unable to provide me with a reason to relay back to my customer to excuse you from your choice of response, then I will be withdrawing my involvement in this transaction. I will inform my customer it is no longer in my hands and will be providing my customer your company’s name Square Inc, so that this dispute may be resolved directly between the involved parties; my client and Square Inc. My client will be contacting you directly and your failure to respond or resolve this matter may or may not result in law enforcement recovering missing/stolen funds.

    By the way, you should not assume that people will understand your intention to retain funds, or refusal to return funds for the reason of being unable to. It is an unprofessional response, not to mention your failure to provide a viable solution to resolve a problem that’s a direct result of your dysfunction.

    Sent from my iPad

    On Jan 23, 2014, at 10:34 AM, Square Support Team wrote:

    Hi Thuan,

    Thanks for writing back. We are unable to process this refund, and the funds currently in your account will be held for 90 days before being released to your linked bank account.

    If you are able, you may refund your customer outside of Square and then receive the funds in 90 days. Alternatively, you may wait 90 days to receive the deposit.

    Thank you for understanding.

    Crystal
    Square Account Services
    Accepting internet and phone orders? Please take a minute to review leading merchant practices when accepting internet and phone orders.

    thuanqyen
    JAN 23, 2014 | 06:18PM PST
    That’s hilarious. What is square doing hiring high schoolers? Jesus, that’s okay, I’ll give you another chance, here’s a hint: please refer to the original inquiry at the bottom of the e-mail, and for one million dollars… Is that your final answer?

    Whatever your answer is I would like to take a moment to educate you by providing you an example you can relate to. So Olivia, you owe your friend Griffin money, your too busy so you ask your other friend Dawn to help you return the money. Along the way, Dawn decides she has more important things to do and runs her own errands and forgets about returning your money to Griffin for you. Griffin finally calls you and asks when you will paying him back, You tell him not to worry and that Dawn should be arriving shortly to pay him back on your behalf. The next day you meetup with Dawn and she totally forgot to complete your errand. You ask her if she has returned the money to Griffin for you and she replies oh noooo I was unable to because you didn’t give me enough money to pay him back completely so I didn’t meet him up. Then Dawn tops that off with a, you should probably pay him back yourself with your money and walks off minding her own business without returning the money to you. So Olivia, what would you do in this situation? Obviously you can’t pay Griffin back the money that’s in Dawn’s possession can you?

    Ordinary Guy,
    Thuan
    Hello,

    Thanks for writing in. I took a look at your account and see that we were unable to process this refund due to insufficient funds in your linked bank account.

    If you would still like to refund this payment, you must do so via an alternate payment method, such as cash or check. If you issue a refund outside of Square, we recommend providing your customer a receipt and keeping a copy for your records.

    Please let me know if you have additional questions.

    Olivia
    Square Account Services
    Accepting internet and phone orders? Please take a minute to review leading merchant practices when accepting internet and phone orders.

    Hello,

    Thanks for writing in. I’ve gone ahead and forwarded your email to our Support team. A team member will reach out to you shortly.

    Thanks for your patience.

    Roxie
    Square Account Services
    Accepting internet and phone orders? Please take a minute to review leading merchant practices when accepting internet and phone orders.

    thuanqyen
    JAN 22, 2014 | 02:24AM PST
    Original message
    Hi just to make sure I prevent you from successfully stealing my customers money, I’ve been informed that I must notify you of any situation changes and in the event you do not return my clients money would you please provide some sort of reason my client needs to initiate a chargeback and is unable to recover their funds
    For your reference this is Case #: 2659903

  • SANDRA CHRISTAL

    I registered two days ago with square. I have had problems trying to set up and swipe cards. I have sent three emails and the only response is that they will contact me shortly. Shortly is two days ago. I really hate doing business with a company that does not have a phone number for you to talk to someone in tech support. I realize that the registration and the square device is free, however, they will be getting a stipend off each transaction, isn’t that enough for them to offer better customer service?

  • Jeff

    WOW at the comments. I thought the Square was a solution to the; annual fees, monthly fees, annual compliance forms and delay in deposits. Our single sales range from $65 to $2000. We settled a batch last Wednesday and it was just deposited today(six days, weekend and holiday), however it should have been there in two.
    We are not a fan of any entity having the ability to reach in to our bank and withdraw funds at will. Isn’t that what invoices are for?
    Thanks for the comments: the negative out weighs the positive, our opinion!

  • Francisco

    I sell at flea markets and take square
    I have never had a dispute before and I did with square for 400.00 dollars
    square does not take phone calls only emails
    I did all they ask me to do to prove that the person made the purchase I had the receipt which I resend it and the details of the transaction with the signature
    never got any email back, never got my money I regret to this day to use square, is a one way communication company like Ebay
    I did all they ask me through emails to do and I’m still waiting
    I lost the fur coat and the money thanks to square
    don’t trust this company if you use it, do wherever it takes to protect yourself from people wha knows who easy is to make a false claim with square and get away with it

  • Jake

    Please im being honest. don’t go with the square they are crooks. They took all this money out of my checking account. Then I got another business and they deactivated me and kept $700.00 If you know anyone that can help me get it back please email me at [email redacted – reply to comment for communication] thanks so much and don’t let them get your money like they did me.

  • Timothy

    Square is a joke. Customer service is non existent. The combination of payng them a fee PLUS a 30 day money hold is a ripoff. Their advertising never mentions the money holds or arcane operating policies. I had several sizeable amounts paid on the same day. I would have preferred not using Square but my customer wanted to pay before year end. Square froze my account. Then via email, Square had the nerve to ask for 3 months of my checking account statements and the contracts with my customer. Then they asked me how I knew my customer! (My customer is a $2 billion dollar/year publically traded company!) It is amazing to me that Square wants to be in this business but can’t seem to understand how to make it work or realize who their customer is. Hint: IT’S ME!. I paid them several thousand dollars in fees this year and yet can only communicate via email with someone who has no sense of business or customer service. Ultimately Square refused the transaction and told me to refund the money. Which I am actually fine with because I don’t have to pay them a big transaction fee and watch them sit on my money for a month or more.
    It reminds me of the old adage, “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen” Square offers them selves as a great innovator in our quest for a paperless e-commerce world. In reality, they are nothing more than a middle man making up their own rules. Who wouldn’t like to be in the business of getting paid to hold someone’s money for 30 days or more. Pay the extra 0.5% to a traditional card processor and at the least, you’ll get your money instantly. Good riddance Square

  • Timothy Walter

    Square has no customer service. Yesterday I received a disputed charge email which stated my customer was disputing a charge and if I wished to respond to the dispute provide invoice and tracking, etc. Within one hour of receiving the email I sent invoice, a fedex tracking number where the product had shipped and I also called my customer who apologized for his oversight in not recognizing the charges and filing the dispute and said he would contact the credit card company immediately. This morning I received another email from square stating they were debiting $1100 from my account, and after checking the bank, they did debit the funds. I called my customer and he reassured me he called the credit card company reversing his claim right after we spoke.

    While it is clear I have no rights and while I think I understand why they debited the funds what really makes me mad is the fact that I have been with them for more than a year consistently running credit cards with no claims, and I don’t have a voice, and further, there is no way to talk to anyone. I have sent three emails with 0 responses. I followed their process to include sending the requested documentation as quickly as anyone could, provided detail and did follow up, but nothing. It will be interesting to so just how quickly this mistake is corrected and they refund “my money” back. I’m not going to hold my breath.

    • Mike Cornwell

      I found Square phone # here it is 415-375-3176 hope this help my friend has been trying to get his money from them the last 2 Months. The same e-mail would sent him said that they are look at his account , but all fund have been held from his account.
      I think I want be using their service no more.
      Hope this helps dot

  • Denny Kainrath

    I am a new business owner opening a restaurant in August of 2013. I use the Square register and I am completely satisfied with everything involved with the system. The reports are nice, the programming easy, and the customer service is quick. For my business which is typically smaller transaction it works great and the money is in my account within a day or 2. I have read all of the complaints and I am truly sorry for your issues but I am being honest when I say that it is a wonderful tool.

    • Doug

      All is good until you have a problem, get a charge back, someone knows you use square and takes advantage of the chargeback procedures that are in Squares favor then your problem is multiplied 10x as you as a merchant are out those dollars and if you ever get to see those dollars again it will be months as Square HAS NO LIVE CUSTOMER SERVICE OR ANY CUSTOMER SERVICE IN regards to merchants at all……………..Dont know what you dont get there tough guy but good luck talking to an e mail when an issue does arise and it will sooner or later!

      • Bonnie

        You are so right. I had a charge back two days ago. Thursday Square told me about it and Friday the money was out my bank account. $401.98. I call the girl and told her I was on my way to see my lawyer with my receipt and surveillance tape and for everything that goes overdraft in my account she was getting sued for it. She claim she didn’t do it and call the card bank so now i’m waiting to see if Square going to reverse the transaction. But for Square to not even give you a timely notice to hear your side of review proof is bogus. I will not use this service any longer. I rather deal with PayPal, at least I know my money is secure.

  • Dean

    We’ve had no problem with square. But when it comes to bookkeeping it has been a huge problem. They end deposits around 6 PM, but when you get the account activity spreadsheets it shows only the activity for the whole day, so it has been a huge headache trying to figure out which transactions go to which deposit.

  • Hector

    I am a new business owner who is trying to get his business off the ground and square up card reading system has been a disaster. This is my second time trying this form of payment system and its been a complete unsatisfactory for both. #1, they hold your money for a good amount of time in the start-up, then they said they have to deactivate my account due to it being “High Risk” as they call it. What is the high risk?? They asked for proof of business asking you a whole bunch of questions to legitimize your business and they still label your account as “High Risk”. Then, on top of that, any payment that you have taken with this system you have to refund to your customer which is so unprofessional to your customers. will not recommend this form of payment for any serious business owners or entrepreneurs who are trying to start their business.

  • Ruth Steinberger

    Square creates and holds an account for each card user, whether or not they want an account with their card to be created. Unlike other large vendor services like Amazon or Overstock, you cannot delete an account. You are also not aware that you have used a Square vendor until the transaction has taken place, and then you suddenly get an email from them. If you use and travel with a debit card, this means that at any time, if Square is hacked, you will be a hacking victim. I asked them to delete my account, it cannot be deleted and there is no way to unsubscribe from their e-mail list.
    Essentially, Square is a transaction service that creates an account which you cannot delete and have no say over creating until it is a done deal.
    I would be very happy to join in a legal complaint against Square.

    • Ruth

      Are you referring to online purchases? Isn’t this the same thing that all retailed do, don’t they save your credit card information? Target just got hacked and the hackers also have all the information including pins which I think it is even worse. With Square, I only process transaction as credit. I think with all retailers even if you delete the account, the credit card information is already in their system. I have used Square for a year now and had no issues. After I created the account and entered all the required information and processed transactions, the amount was in my account the next day.
      I have been lucky so far, I’m a very small business and process small transactions so this is ideal for me. I hope I don’t have any issues in the future.

  • veronica

    Square is a fraudulent company. everyone should stay away from them. They have debited my client’s account on December 11, I still haven’t received the funds. It is impossible to reach anyone from this company.

  • Seth

    Recently and without notice, Square froze my account and blocked all deposits for approximately three weeks, holding a significant amount of money which I required access to during a period of expansion in my business.

    I attempted to resolve this by contacting Square customer services, but found that only email was available. When I attempted to contact Square customer service by phone, I was re-routed back to the only option Square provides, which is email.

    I contacted a friend at the Department of Justice who advised me that this is a policy issue that they have heard of before. I was advised to file a complaint with the San Francisco Police, Financial Crimes Division as well as contacting an attorney to discuss potential damages.

    After three days with response from Square, I wrote another letter demanding immediate release of my funds, referencing the above advice and my willingness to pursue all measure of legal remedy as well as sharing my story with contacts in major media both locally and beyond. Less than 15 minutes after posting my email, Square funded the entire amount and stated that no-more holds would be placed on my account.

    Without a change in policy that is both published and made clear to customers, and until this company understands that confidence is best bestowed when “risk management” takes at least an equal place to “customer service and satisfaction” they have lost my, and all my professional contacts business. Too bad too, because they have a really slick service and great potential.

  • Willliam

    Does anyone know if you can go to your customer and and have them stop payment so there credit card is refunded and they can pay a different way? Square has held $6600.00 for 17 days now and it has left me in financial ruin. I am a remodeling contractor that has used them for about a year for small transactions this was the first big one. After checking there BBB profile and reading comments here I am highly concerned about getting paid. THIS IS SHOCKING! You think you could trust a company that advertises on national TV.WOW!

    • teresa

      William, Yes, go right away to your customer hand have them cancel the transaction. This same thing happened to me with a $7000 transaction for flooring. My client cancelled the charges and I went to his bank and signed a letter stating that I was not going to dispute the action. In fact his banker told me that they have had problems with Square customers before. Once the transaction was cancelled, I had to go to my bank and (unfortunately) had to close my business account and reopen with a new account number. This was somewhat of an inconvenience but worth it in the long run. If you don’t do this Square will still keep a large percentage of your transaction even if you cancelled the transaction.

      I try to warn people whenever I can about using Square and in fact I refuse to do business with any merchant that uses Square unless I they will take cash. Please warn as many people as you can and join the effort to not patronize businesses that use Square. We don’t want to hurt the small businesses but a message needs to be sent.

      I would also post your dissatisfaction directly to their Facebook page as they don’t check postings very often. I know that I have saved several people from being scammed by Square by posting to Twitter and Facebook.

  • Tonya

    Square is bad for even small businesses. I learned this week that a transaction that had been handled, just like all of my other transactions, had been voided. I guess there is a void transaction X in corner of the screen, that the customer can hit at the point of signing for their purchase, either on purpose or by accident, that voids the transaction. And since I did not know about it, I was not checking me email immediately after each transaction to make sure it went thru. I am not out a lot of money, but for a small business, every dollar counts. Who would create a mobile credit card processing system that allows customers to void the transaction (after it have been “approved” or “authorized”)??? I have to hand them my phone to sign for the purchase. They can void the transaction instead of sign for it? Hand me back my phone, smile and walk away. Are you kidding me?

    • j

      This really does not make any sense, as after a customer signs their name, it goes to the reciept prompt. If that didn’t show up, then it should have triggered you about it.

      With that being said. I’ve been using square for nearly two years now, running a small business. I process small ammounts, about 1-300 a week, with an average sale of $20 and I have never had one problem with square depositing money into any of my accounts.

      My only complaint is the reader is terrible at reading old cards, meaning I have to type in the card and pay the extra percentages, but those rates are still lower than I was paying for my old credit services.

      • Ruth

        I used to have a lot of problems with the card reader. I bought 3 of them and after a little while they would stop working. I would have to run it 6-10 times to get it read. Recently I purchased one at Rite Aid and have no issues now. The card is read on usually the first try which makes it much easier for me and my customers. Try purchasing a new reader. If you contact square, they will give you the 10.00 back. I’m also a very small business and had no issues in two years. Love the flat fee and the fact that I don’t have to pay the 100.00 + compliance fee every year. I had another company who was robbing me blind.

        • Jen

          You know they are getting rid of the flat fee, right? I was a huge supporter of Square until they got so many of us to switch over by luring us in with the flat fee and their new Square Stand. I pre-ordered the stand, and then saw Best Buy selling them before mine was even shipped. Now they are nearly $200 less, just a few months later. Once everyone converted over to Square due to the flat rate monthly pricing, they pulled the plug on it and now we are all kind of stuck paying the per-transaction fee, just like with every other processing company. It’s total crap, and my opinion of them has totally changed. We, like so many other small businesses, will be almost forced to pay thousands of dollars more a year due to this. I never would have bought the system and invested in it only to pay per transaction pricing, which I was already doing. Square is now a company motivated by greed and has no morals. Sad and pathetic.

  • Ken Kloss

    I will never use this “service” again. I had a deposit done on the 5th of December and I still don’t have the money. The complete lack of customer service is atrocious. How can you not respond for days. Completely unexceptable.

  • Sam

    In my opinion, Square Up is a fraudulent company allowed to operate legally! I have a customer whose goods I shipped to Germany, he gave me a deposit via Square Up in September 2013. On December 15, I received an email from them that I have 15 days to prove my case to them. First, they deactivated my account so I cannot send them proof and today the 17th two days after receiving their email I noticed a debit in our account. I contacted my bank, on my way to them with all proof and to informed them that I need not order Square Up to debit my account and demanding they cancel the hold on my account. Everyone needs to do this. The bank on the phone told me that they will proceed with this once it is debited. I am on my way there to make sure that they hear it directly from me …. I did not authorized this debit and they need to cancel it NOW!

    I suggest everyone flood the internet to stay away from Square Up.

  • Catherine

    I have a small home based business and I think or thought the square would be a perfect way to add a convenient service to my clients. When I tried to download the app onto my smart phone the first thing that comes up is a list of “App Permissions that the user is required to accept in order to install the register on the phone. The list reads like this” APP permissions- Square register needs access to: Microphone (record audio), your location (through your phone’s GPS), Camera (to take pictures and videos), Phone calls (read phone status and identify-this one actually makes some sense), full network access to my Wi-Fi. At the bottom of the list to the left it says “See all”. When that area is tapped another list surfaces with a list of App permissions that actually makes more sense. Still the requirement is that I allow whoever these people are access to my audio settings, system tools (protected storage), affects battery, all of my applications Network communication (of course to receive internet data, view Wi-Fi connection and network connection, and access to all the accounts on my phone (of course so they kind find the account that is registered with them, but I have no intention of allowing them a general access to my accounts that I manage on my phone. I like the idea of this little CC processor but unless someone is willing to clarify these concerns, which means a real person to talk to I think I will wait until something comes along that doesn’t feel quite so shady.

    • Ellery

      Microphone: needed for reader, it’s how the data is transmitted from swiping the card.
      GPS: Needed for location of transaction, if tax is automatically applied, it pulls from this information.
      Camera: Can use the app to take photos/videos of items being sold.
      Phone calls: (no idea)
      Network access: To transmit purchase data.

    • anthony

      I COMPLETELY AGREE!!!! SQUARE is a HORRIBLE, unforgivable company. They should be removed from the internet immediately and not allowed to do business. The exact same things happened to me that happened here. SUE SQUARE, CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT – LET’S DO IT NOW.

      • Karen

        I will tell EVERYONE I KNOW how horrible Square is! I had a customer request what Square calls a “chargeback” in the amount of $602.97. The company didn’t even ask me about it. They chose to deduct the amount from my checking account! Does this mean that if a customer gets a burr up their butt that they can just lie to Square and automatically get a refund? I have tried calling them, filling out Cancel Account requests, e-mail…..you name it! Square is a crooked company and should be removed from all types of business!

  • Henry

    I bought the square stand. It’s a junk. There is no customer service. The program is garbage. I have a Bakery Cafe. It’s wasting time and money. I bought it for $299+tax after a month they are selling it for $99. BestBuy ssell it for $79.

  • Richard

    I wish I would have found this article before I signed up with Square. Seemed like a cool and hip company at the beginning, but they are truly misleading with their easy signup policy, only to embarrass you with a client when you need to process a bigger transaction.

    I had a merchant account with Elavon for years with my previous company. That worked great for the many transactions we were doing. Having sold that business, I am now an independent consultant and I thought it would be great to use a card merchant service with a pay-per-use model since I do not expect many credit card transactions. I had two transactions around $500, then about two weeks later, I had a client who wanted to pay by credit card for $2800. It was declined on the first try. Tried a second time, same thing. Went into my account and Square suspended my it, no reason other than they are reviewing my account.

    About an hour later, there was a message on my account as I logged in, that I had been permanently deactivated. Wow!

    I tried to inquire, first by phone (not one to be found), then through their support. My inquiry is clearly attached to an autoresponder which points you to the direction of their legal agreement. I went through it, and really, just as the article indicates, they can terminate for any reason whatsoever.

    To me, this is a company that might work for the small transactions, and not the big ones. Lesson learned on my part. Back to working with more traditional gateways.

    My suggestion is to thoroughly check out Square’s reviews, especially the BBB. There are hundreds of complaints scattered about, and these are initially masked by their own search engine positioning, by likely employing good reputation management experts skilled at burying negative reviews on deeper in the search engines. Do check out BBB.

  • Juston Smith

    If you process say for a lemonade stand or baked goods sale, by all means, use square. If you’ve got a company, expenses, bills to pay – stay far away from square. I so wish I had done my homework on this company. I hope they go out of business.

  • Sherri

    Square does business incorrectly. They dont even have a good phone line customer service help. Everything is through email. They issue refunds on the drop of a dime just to someone that wants their money back.

  • William Johnson

    Having used Square since April 2013 in my business, which is golf cart rentals to the public for driving on the island streets and beaches, I can honestly say I’ve got no complaints. All transactions, including refunds, have been handled quickly and efficiently. Yes, I would recommend Square for low volume businesses and transient vendors,sic flea markets etc.

  • Vicky

    I’m having problems with the stand not recognizing the iPad. I have to keep taking it in and out and finally, it will connect. I want to know if this is under warranty. Also, our business uses my personal iPad and I take it home every night. So, it is being replaced each day. Can the USB connection get worn out. We only started using it October 1st.

  • Stephen

    We may lose our biggest client because we chose Square Up to process our credit cards.

    Don’t do it, or look for someone else before it’s too late for you, and you experience something like this:

    …So our 10-year-old LLC started using Square Up back in April 2013 when we saw their funds delivery turnaround time and easy mobile app access, and everything seemed to be going well at a pace of ~$6,500 per month in transactions, until…

    …one of our clients needed ~$12,000 in equipment yesterday (December 4) to recover from a fire that has shut their business down until this equipment is replaced, and after approving the transactions where they intended to hold the funds could be held for three days even if we decided to reverse the charges, SquareUp sent us a permanent cancellation email with no explanation.

    Even after visiting the help section of their site, which was only a single point of contact in the form of a help request web page, and explaining our situation with a customer that they had been capturing funds from previously, they simply resent their original communication.

    I don’t know how we are going to get out of the horrible situation that they have put us in, but looking completely unprofessional is just the tip of the iceberg with our client.

    Be smart, and find someone else with a smartphone app to process your cc transactions.

    They didn’t pull this trick on us until we had already processed three transactions totaling ~$12,000 and unless you are able to function without an entire day’s number of transactions, plus the time to find another processor, I would strongly recommend anyone who sees all these frustrated people take a warning.

    …it’s definitely not worth the risk.

  • Ruth

    I use Square and love it because of the low costs. I haven’t had any charge backs and I’m a low volume service provider. However, it puzzles me that despite all the complaints, they still have a B+ with the Better Business Bureau. I read the complaints and they are the same, account termination and funds being held for 90 days. There is also a huge amount of advertising on their parts these days. Personally I love the service but it is scary to think that they may terminate the account on one issue if a customer does a charge back. I was paying so much money to standard credit card company and those costs were just outrageous. It really wasn’t worth it for to provide credit card option, Square really helped my business. Maybe Square is best for low volume merchants and service providers.

  • Keisha

    I run an online business and sometimes take payments from customers through a square reader. Everything was going great until I had a really good day of sales and square decided to “hold my funds for 90 days” without a valid explanation. This email was sent to me on the day that my deposit was supposed to go on my card:
    Hello ——,

    Our Account Services team has concluded a review of your account and has determined it to be high risk. For security purposes, we have elected to deactivate your Square account. From the date of this letter forward, you will not be able to process credit card transactions using Square.

    To learn more about Square’s Seller Agreement and terminations, please visit: Seller Agreement.

    Any funds currently in your account will be held for 90 days before being released to your linked bank account.

    You may also consider refunding the payments back to the original cards and seeking an alternate form of payment. Please note that we refund all the fees too.

    To refund a payment, please log in to the Square Dashboard on a computer at .

    Navigate to your Payments page.
    Click on the payment you would like to refund, then click ‘Issue Refund’ on the left.
    Enter the reason you are refunding the payment, then click ‘Refund this payment.’
    For security reasons, we cannot divulge the reason for your account termination. We apologize for the inconvenience, but our decision is final.

    Thank you for understanding.

    Sincerely,

    Square Account Services

    This was sent the following day after I asked exactly why my funds wasn’t released:

    Hello ——,

    Thanks for writing in.

    As stated in the email you received regarding the deactivation of your account, the funds will be held 90 days from the date of the deactivation. Since your account was disabled on November 25th, these funds are due to be released February 23, 2014. Typically funds will be shown in your account the following business day after they have been deposited, but keep in mind that each bank’s policies are different so it may take a little longer. You’ll receive an email as soon these funds have been sent to your bank.

    Alternatively, if you do not wish to wait 90 days for your funds to be deposited, you may consider refunding the payments back to the original cards and seeking an alternate form of payment. Please note, all refunds must be issued within 60 days of the date of the transaction.

    To refund a full payment from your Square dashboard:
    1. Login to your Square account at http://www.cardpaymentoptions.com/square_com/ from a computer.
    2. Navigate to your Payments page.
    3. Click on the payment you’d like to refund, then click “Issue Refund” on the left.
    4. Enter the reason you’re refunding the payment, then click “Refund this payment.”

    Refunds typically take 2 business days to process but can take up to 7 business days. The full purchase amount, including the fees, is always returned to your customer.

    Sincerely,

    Tristan
    Square Account Services​

    • teresa

      Keisha, chances are you will never get your money. Can you refund the money to your customer and get another form of payment? this happened to me as well but what I did was go to the customer and explain the situation. I asked him to cancel the charge with his bank. I also went to his bank and let them know what was happening. Surprise surprise they had other customers that were having problems with Square! Then I went to my bank and explained the situation and had them close my account and reopen a new one! A LOT of hassle but it was the only way to get rid of Square and keep them from going into my bank account. If you don’t do this Square will not only keep your money but if you process a refund through them you will be charged all of the fees! Your best bet is to try and recoup your money through your customer.

      The next thing you should do is warn everyone you know about Square! Good luck!

  • lesa

    Square is a rip off!!! I am a small business that is very new. I started using square until I could get an actual merchant account. Square is currently holding over $3000.00 of my heard earned money even after I received an email stating my account would NOT have any limits or holds. In my own ignorance I ran $3000 in sales after being told there would be No holds or limits. Then the next day I received another email telling me that my funds are now be held for a minimum of 90 days. This is crippling my company. I am going to the attorney generals to file a claim. I’m also interested in a class action against square but not sure where to start. If any one else is interested or knows where to begin for a class action please reply below. By the looks of all the comments I’ve read on the Internet I’m sure there’s more than enough people to start one. Let’s stop this fraudulent activity!!! Even if they have any legitimate reason to hold our money, we should at least earn interest on our money!!! This is bs.

  • Pamela Xiong

    ENTIRELY my fault for NOT reading the comments and looking for reviews before setting up with the square! They are holding my funds now because they need to verify my business? I’ve sent them everything I have, and they keep asking for the SAME information!! My client’s products have been shipped out, I’ve paid my vendor for the merchandise, but now I have nearly 5,000 that I can’t have access to for no reason. This is BULL.

  • Dave

    I have never had an issue with Square until this weekend. I opened an account for a partner who was working in NY, he made sales using the Square system. I received no email receipts, my money was not deposited into my account…perhaps there is something simple that could fix this issue??? I don’t freaking have a clue….I started emailing Square at 10:00am it’s now 6:09pm and the only thing I have received for 4 emails is an auto response. Not a good way to do business…as a matter of fact it sucks! I do business with several other companies who only answer via email and they get back to me right away if there is a problem…or they call me. Square get an F- for the lack of customer support!

  • Denise

    Do not use square!!!!!!! Warning,!! I had a customer do a chargeback on a service they received. I got a email from square saying I had 15 days to respond, guess what they toolkit out the next day. I had checks bouncing and returned, fees all over the place. I would not ever use them again!

    • Shirley Lessner

      They did the exact same thing to me. I photographed a persons wedding and after they received the photos, they did a chargeback, I was told I had 15 days to respond, I responded immediately and they still took the money out the next day. It was 1160.00. I am looking into every possible way to file a complaint against square (I even had a signed contract and proof the clients had their photos) This was a serious blow. I a changing credit cards companies.

      • melanie

        hello everyone-
        I hope that you read this regarding your charge backs, lack of customer service, and serious woes with Square-
        I used them and loved their service until I received a BS chargeback. It was documented- The customer had a personal issue with me- so he said it was a fraud charge. Totally untrue-
        So- I did the same thing when I received the email and they also too the money out the next business day.
        I was so disappointed-
        But there is only ONE way to insure that they are not in your business anymore-
        You HAVE to change your bank account that they have on file-
        They will NEVER delete your account info do you must do this to insure you do not get charged again and again-
        I told my bank about the “UNauthorized charge” I received from Square – and after they investigated the money was returned to my bank. Then- I told them I had to change my bank account – It had to happen to keep their paws out of my money.
        At that point- I swore to never use them again- Only a REAL Credit Card processing company if I ever should need one in the future-
        I hope that you read this – this is the only way- I am certain that this will be the death of the company and I am glad my bank was so great in aiding me with a real investigation- I never heard another word from Square or the customer-
        Best of luck to you all!

  • Tom

    Square is a complete disaster and a rip-off. You would think that a guy who has a net worth of over a BILLION dollars would take the time to ensure that his customers can call a real human for assistance with a problem. Apparently Dorsey is too busy reinventing his bank account (and stealing money from me) to take the time to ensure that the people who make this jerk rich are happy.

    I had one experience with Square and it has been totally unpleasant. Not only does no one respond to my email concerns about my issue, they also apparently do not know how to use a telephone as I have sent in my phone number but no one will respond to me.

    NEVER AGAIN with Square. Jack Dorsey and his company are JOKES. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Jack. You are an embarrassment. Hope you choke on my money.

  • Kevin

    DO NOT USE SQUARE. I PERSONALLY KNOW SEVERAL PEOPLE THAT HAVE MONEY BEING HELD BY SQUARE. I had been using Square successfully for over a year. Suddenly without cause or explaination they closed my account and informed me that they would be holding my funds for 45 days. These were swiped transactions and were not contested by the card holder. After 45 days I wrote to Square and asked for my money. They informed me that it would now be 180 days until I would get my money. I filed a report with the BBB. Square responded with a cut and paste response. They never addressed why they committed to release the funds after 45 days and then switched to 180 days. IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS WITH SQUARE, FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE BBB. You can do it online. It’s easy.

    • Angela

      I had a customer give my husband his AX number for a payment while he was headed out of town September 25th. My husband hand put it in the Square up payment app. Against my begging to go meet with him for physical card. I assumed that is why I got targeted for a 30 day hold. I provided all the items asked for to show a true business. I then got a email for a 60 day hold a along with a closed account for HIGH RISK?? I went thru proper procedures for a refund. Email from Square up said 2-7 days. It has been 15! FRAUD! CRIMINAL. After reading this, I’m worried I wont get my money!

  • Laura

    I believe that what this company is doing is CRIMINAL and the State Attorney Should definitely investigate. I mean they held over $70,000 of mine some of it for over a year (I refunded what I could but they would not even allow me to refund all). Now they are paying people in INSTALLMENTS? REALLY!!!! How can they still have a B rating with the BBB? Shows you exactly what they are worth!

    Thank you Phillip for giving their victims a forum.

  • Simon

    I left a comment 3 months ago. I’ve been trying to get money from square last 8-9 months. They were holdin more than 12K of my money. They told me i am high-risk customer. Because i dont sell cofee or donuts, they put me in high risk. I process yearly over 500k credit card payment and they think i am high risk?? After sending 30 emails to their customer service, they finally said they will release the money but it will take 20 weeks. They are going to deposit 500 every week !!!! Yeahhh!!

    This company do not know the business. They just know the software and use Chase for their processing. I just closed all my accounts with Chase, this shows how much i hate this company.. There should be civil case for this company.. But i forgot when you open an account you were agree that you will not be able part of that kind of action.. They are really smart!! Their holding cost me over $50K.

    I called all the places mentioned in this blog but i couldnt get anywhere. I will call my local News channel to tell my story. Please you all do the same. If they do not how to do business they shouldnt. They should pay for my loss..

    By the way do not go to their office in San Fransisco You can not pass the security, all they tell you is, there are many people comes here for the same reason (asking about their money) and you can not speak to anyone, you have to leave now or we are going to call police for tresspassing !!! As you can see i tries everything.. Please let me know if there is any civil case open against them.. Good Luck and never USE Square or Chase..

  • Corporate Greed at its Finest

    Now that all of us small businesses have built Square up to where they are now, they have decided to dump us by taking away the flat-rate monthly plan option! This was the sole reason many of us switched Square in the first place. We got the Square register, stand, printer, ipad, etc. , and were so excited about a company that seemed to finally “get” small businesses, and understand that we were getting killed by traditional credit card processing companies.

    This week, they notified us that starting in February of next year, they would drop the flat-rate option and make everyone go to their “per swipe” plan of 2.75% per transaction (additional fees for keyed-in cards). That will cost my business between and $300 and $400 ADDITIONAL each month (my fees will go back to where they were with my old processor-between $500-$700 per months). Guess corporate greed finally got the best of them, right? Thanks for screwing over small businesses, Square! I touted your company as one of the best, even with your lack of customer service, the program was simple, the design seemed flawless, and the rates could not be beat by anyone in the industry….guess I was wrong! I HATE YOU SQUARE!!

  • tim

    square has held nearly $2k undeposited for nearly 4 weeks.. I cannot get any help.. I leave emails, I have tried to call that 888 number.. NOTHING.. Who can this company be reported to? Do we have to spend money to sue to get OUR OWN money deposited? I dont know what to do… Besides never use square again!

    • Doug

      If you read the fine print before running your charges you would have found out that they allow you 250 a week until they get to know you. I went through the same thing when I first started with square. I over ran my charges as well but they did pay 30 days after I had run the charges… I also sent a message to them requesting to increase my limit. Presently I am authorized to run 5,000.00 a week. I have been with them almost three years. I dont like their lack of customer service as well and the inability to void a transaction… but presently if I run credit and stay wthin my limit.. I get paid the following day in full as long as the charges are processed before 5pm
      Doug

      • charles

        You actually can void a transaction. You cannot give a partial refund, which can be a problem if you make a mistake and the customer has left the shop when you discover it. Overall., Square is not a bad system. It just has poor customer service.

        • Patti Folkerts

          Actually, Charles, you cannot give a full refund. Square would not refund the customer because of their fees. So they refunded a DIFFERENT customer, transaction 6 weeks old with a lesser payment??

          This place is not to be trusted. It treats OUR money as if it were their own.

        • Doug

          Charles I disagree with you. I think you have the information backwards. The only thing I can do is a refund 100% percent which is correct if there was a void option then the customers would never be charged. That would allow me to erase the transaction and running the second time and no one would be charged for the initial incorrect transaction. The problem is the return requires somewhere between 3 to 7 business days to go back into the clients account so I usually end up having to give a cash difference on the spot if by accident I hit the wrong keys and over charged my client. it would not seem fair to have to make a client wait for refund when it was not their fault in the first place. And I agree Square has terrible to nonexistant customer service.
          Doug

  • Bob

    It is a terrible company to deal with. They hold my 12,987 for 8 months and after 10s of e-mail with their F – rated customer service they’ve decided to give my money in 20 weeks installments. 8-9 months + 5 months = 13-14 months to get my money. They hurt my business operation so bad, they actually cost me 5 times more than the amount they were holding. I complaint with any authority you can think of, and couldn’t get anywhere. I read their Merchant Agreement may be 10 times and they are so good to cover all the based you can think of.
    I even went to their main office in San Francisco downtown to speak to someone about my account, I got turned down by security downstairs (they also have security upstairs) and threatened with trespassing charges.
    I could never imagine something like this can happen in the United States. They make their branding – advertising so successful look, nobody really wants to believe you or reluctant to help you. I guess we are entering the new era of doing business in this country. Good Luck to you all for your getting money..

  • Maxine Anderson

    Is anyone planning on doing a class action Lawsuit against square? If so I want on the list. I do Property management and tried Square for the first time this summer. WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!! They say they only charge 2.7%. Guess again. Today is Oct. 18,2013. Still waiting for 1,500.00 since July. I went back through my bank statements from Square and they have skimmed so much money from my account. I am missing over 3,000. NEVER use this company!! I also had a charge back from a renter. Square just took 950.00 out of my account with no warning or explanation what so ever. I have tried to contact them several times to no avail. I had a back and worth with one of their employee’s she was so nasty I could not believe it. She than cancelled my account. I was shocked!! I am in the middle of transactions. I waited about a week than decided to run my personal card to see what would happen. It excepted my card. Not only is this company unethical they lack in people skills. They just down right SUCK and don’t use them. The BBB needs to change their rating to a F-.

    I would appreciate any feed back if anyone is going to sue this Unethical company.

    Thank you for letting me vent!

  • Catarina Miller

    Sqaure has absolutely turned my business upside down AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY!
    My complaint compared to all of yours is very pitty, Im sorry to hear so many good people are getting frauded out of there HARD EARNED CASH!

    I had a chargeback of $350 from my clients AMEX card. I accecpted the dispute and refunded my client.
    2 weeks later she tells me that AMEX contacted square and that square REFUSED to give her money back!
    After sending all of my proof and documents to my client that I accepted the charge back she finnaly understood and told me about this website!!!! After WEEKS of emailing square representative they FINLLY released her money, and 2 days later guess what…? THEY DEACTIVATED MY ACCOUNT WITH THEM!

    For no reason at all expect “High risk activity” …. I run a business…..people return things…want there money back.. IT HAPPENS! Why did my account have to suffer?!!!!! After being with square for 2 years I never had a problem. As SOON as I had a chargeback, they turned there back on me and left with no explanation and now no way to accept credit cards!!!!! DO NOT USE THEM!!

    • kathy

      Do not use square or anyone that has a square account. They took $875 out of my account without my permission and filled a claim with my bank. Three months later the merchant is stating I sent a letter to them stating it was ok to deduct the funds from my account, now having to start all over

  • robert

    had a great weekend of sales and look in the bank and no money. Then square says we are canceling your account and will refund my $4758.00 in 150-180 days or longer if they feel the need two. If you do business with them and they feel you are a risk with no explanation of what is considered a risk they will hold your money for 5-6 months. Hope you can afford to gamble if you use square you have no one to blame but yourself. Do business with a real company. There is plenty of other companies that offer better rates.

  • nikole

    DO NOT USE SQUARE!!!! I don’t care if it does save you money in the long run its not worth it!! i have been with them since January and they were fine no complaints, up until i had an issue with an un authorized charge back from a delusional customer who felt as though the price was too high for a job i completed and charged him for a month before he disputed it, but any-who the customer DROPPED THE DISPUTE and i actually spoke with the customers credit card company personally (via 3-way call with the credit card company, the crazy customer and my self) and they confirmed that the dispute was reversed/dropped as of 10-6 and further more square “has gotten the funds initially disputed credited back to them”. SO with all that said square is and has been holding my money and telling me (via email of course) that they have not received any documentation that the dispute was dropped!!!!!!!!! are you kidding i spoke with the company myself that dropped the dispute I got the conformation why cant they?????? long story short do not use them you may not have an issue for years but when you have one your on your own!!! we are not talking small things people we are talking these people have your money and you cant get ahold of them or even get a straight answer as to what the f*$ck is going on it sounds like a ponzi scheme to me………….seriously

  • Jean

    So glad I didn’t go with square. The main reason was that they have no live customer service. Read some horror stories about square. I’m an artist and do art shows full time. Most of my fellow artist are very happy with square, but if there is problems, ur screwed . I went with flagship which is rated number one. There customer service is really good and they helped me get all set up in the beginning. Pay 7.99 a month plus 1.75 percent or 3% if no swiper is used. Will highly recommend them.

    • Sharon

      Jean, have you had problems accessing the RoamPay app to process sales? I’m an artist selling at art fairs on weekends, and during peak afternoon periods, it takes FOREVER to log in, and even longer to actually process a sales transaction. Artists using other devices like Square seem to get instantaneous processing, and I have to apologize to my customers for the long wait to get approval and move through the steps of the process. Just wondering if other RoamPay users have had this problem.

  • Bud Haas

    My wife has a cleaning business and on weekends sells jewelry, scarves and purses at craft shows. We have used Square for a couple of years now. At first the money did not get deposited and we sent an email. I had not properly linked up our bank account to Square. Once I took care of that little detail, every penny we had coming was deposited into our account. We did two craft shows this past weekend, Saturday and Sunday. I checked today, Tuesday, and all of the charges made had been deposited. We ran some cards through and keyed some in. All were deposited. The only problem we have ever had is the reader sometimes doesn’t work so well. The original one always worked great but the second one came from Wal Mart and that one sometimes is stubborn. Count us lucky or blessed but Square has been working great for us.

    • Ruth

      I have a small business and my charges are usually small so this company has been perfect for me also. Like you, the only issue I have is with the reader. I changed it three times and it is still giving me problems. I have to swipe the card several times but sometimes it works on the first try, it is not very reliable. I haven’t had any issues with the funds being deposited in my account since I signed up with them. I was paying ridiculous fees with another traditional company so this company actually saved me a lot of money. I think they just grew too quickly and can’t handle the large volume retailers or sellers. Hopefully they will get their act together because it can actually save people a lot of money.

  • Bryan

    Square has no customer service, if I ran my company like they do I would be out of business. I guess there great if you never have to reach anyone or if there is never a technical clitch but unfortunately I’m dealing with one right now and they have no one to speak to, no one to email basically no one!!

    This company is the worst! hands down the worst! obviously ran by the laziest person and you can be assured that I will not only drop this app for another I will tell every person that will listen my experience

  • Dawn Gunn (Dawn's Whimsy

    I Don’t make much money at my business so far, but what little I make square takes it !!!! On 8/16/13 square kept 115.43 (which is in my history account) they said they sent but they never did!!! Today I found out they are only sending me the money I collected Saturday But they kept the money I collected Friday!!! THIS is CHUMP Change compared to the other comments!!!!THEY ARE DETROYING a potentially great business ( SQUARE) OVER CHUMP CHANGE?????

  • Marchelle

    I am writing, I need help with a transaction I did on Oct. 3, 2013 $5,389.00 with Square Reader. I processed my Aunt’s Funeral Payment for her burial, as of this day, Oct. 14, 2013 I haven’t received the money for her funeral. I need HELP our family needs closure.

    • Robert

      Not clear whether you are a legitimate merchant with a real brick-and-morter location (funeral home) or an individual who wanted to process cards for some other reason. The card agreement prohibits you from processing your own cards. Also, your card processing history means a lot. If this is your first experience and you processed your first card at a $5000 total, you may well wait a while for your funds. Ask yourself, under the same circumstances would you fund such a transaction with your own money?

  • William Cooper

    I likewise fell victim to the Square holding or at this point “Taking” $2500 of my money. Back in April 2013 I sold a customer furniture in which he paid with Visa Gift cards. The total was greater than the allottted $2001 (which I was not aware of at the time). As of today 10/14 /2013, greater than 6 months since the transaction, Square has yet to refund the money to my account. Of course there isnt any customer service available to help. I feel robbed, and it seems there is little that can be done about it. It seems implausable that a financial company exists that is able to operate in this manner. If anyone has gotten any help in a similar situation,please, please let me know how you managed to correct this injustice.

  • Antoinette

    Contact Telephone Number For Square & Email Address For Their Attorney.

    Daily I receive email from this website since I made my first comment on this forum back on May 22, 2013, about people having problems dealing with Square. Anyway I went back and found a contact number for Square which is (415) 375-3176. Go to this link and you will find their attorney’s name and address and his email address with telephone number:

  • Curtis Frison

    I have been using square for a couple of years now, and just recently my business started booming. So I take deposits over the phone and the customer pays the balance when their carport or garage is finished. I have never had a charge back or returned money.
    Square raised my keyed in amount to $10,003 in a seven day period, but they are still holding money. They are holding $5500, so I can’t order the product for the customer. I have sent square about 10 emails, and says they will get back to me in 1-2 business days its been over a week. No way to call them, they have the worst customer service I have ever had. Don’t use SQUARE it will cause you nothing but grief. I have paid them a lot of money over the years and they don’t care.

  • Patti Folkerts

    BEWARE THIS COMPANY!

    I just sent them this message through a form generated on their website because there is NO WAY to contact them directly:

    I took a payment by Square. YOU refused it.
    So I tried breaking it down into 2 smaller payments ($2000 and $1695) YOU refused the $2000 payment and accepted the $1695 payment.
    Since YOU REFUSED the full payment from the customer, I requested it to be refunded. YOU REFUSED to refund the payment. INSTEAD you REFUNDED ANOTHER CUSTOMER in the amount of $1100. What on earth??? You EVENTUALLY sent us $564.

    Now since you had refused payments and REFUNDED THE WRONG PERSON, I told the customer to cancel it. Now you are threatening to steal $1695 out of my bank account!! AND THERE IS NO WAY OF CONTACTING YOU!!!! You send me a threatening email with NO REPLY. What kind of shady operation are you running that you can wreak such havoc over one’s finances and be completely unavailable???

    Your representative needs to contact me ASAP. I am reporting you to the Better Business Bureau and the FTC and the FDIC.

  • Connie Burke

    Been using square 2 years with no problems all the sudden 2 days ago no deposits to my account will not respond to my emails. I have a small pet grooming business my biggest transaction 200.00 once in a great while. Someone needs to do something. won’t use anymore can’t be trusted and I use to rave about them.

  • Dani

    This company is absolutely horrible. They are holding our money right now and say they can’t verify our bank account which is ridiculous. I called the bank and they say Square hasn’t even tried to verify at all. The only way to contact them is via email and they only reply with form letters saying that we need to give them a different bank account because they cant verify it. I am so sick and tired of dealing with this company. How can a company run like this and not get shut down? They’re basically stealing from people. How am I supposed to get the money that I worked for from this company? So beyond frustrated!!! Don’t give this company business!!

  • Jim

    I love Square!!! I process 30-40 credit cards per day in a coffee shop. I always have my money by the next day when the bank opens. I give this review a C- for one big reason. It doesn’t explain how the great POS app for iPad is free and extensive even rivaling those you would pay $1500 for. (to be fair, even Square doesn’t promote this great feature)
    As for customer service, I agree Square customer service is practically nonexistent but then I consider this a small price to pay for all the convenience & cost savings over standard card processors.
    I estimate the “real” fee I was paying after factoring in all the fees for statements, batch, etc., to be 6-7% so I have saved a bundle.
    I process very few “card not present” transactions so can’t comment on this aspect.
    Definitely a great program for small business!

  • Scott Harris

    Email response to Square

    Reed, I hope you share this with others at your company.

    I get no less than 3 calls a day from companies asking me if I would take the time to sit down and look at their merchant services programs. They’re all sure they can save me money. For the last year, while spending no less than $2800 in fees with Square, I have told them all I was happy with the program I had.

    Since I have been a Square customer, I have required little assistance processing payments. For the most part, your program works; but when your customers need help, far as I can tell, it SUCKS!!

    After several failed attempts to get help, or even a call, I decided to try something different. Intuit.

    Intuit answered the phone after the second ring and after pushing a button or two, I was talking to a real person. They verified they had phone support and after I explained what was going on with square, they seemed surprised something so simple wasn’t possible to resolve.

    I signed up for service with Intuit in about 5 minutes and after waiting a 24 hour period for American Express to approve and setup my merchant account, I was able to accomplish with Intuit what I couldn’t do with Square….NO assistance even needed. My transaction came back “declined” just as it had with Square, only this time with Intuit, I was able to key in the Manual authorization code American Express had provided.

    Best thing of all; looks like I’m going to save a substantial amount by switching. So thanks. In the end, you really did help me out when I needed it the most.

    Sincerely,

  • Philip Holsworth

    Add me to the unhappy business owners who are more than frustrated with Square’s lack of customer service.

    I was unable to process a $1,470 sale yesterday because Square has added a new feature to their Android app that incests on having me set up categories for my charges. I only do one thing. I don’t need categories! Just let me charge as I have before!

    Think I can talk to someone to get this straightened out? No way. Do you think I’m going to tell a lot of folks about my experience? you bet!

    I signed up for Pay Anywhere today. It was simple and easy. Bye, bye Square.

    Thank you for your great and very informative reviews. They helped a lot!

  • Denny

    Do not use them. They have no one on one customer service. They do not answer online questions correctly. We had used them for about one year and the best I can say is that we are glad to be rid of them.

  • Laurie Spry

    I know what you all are talking about and feel fort all of you. I have been trying for the last week and a half to get square to get my bank account straightened out so the funds thy have pending can bee deposited into my account and they keep telling me to repeat the process and link my bank account(which has been done numerous times). I have sent them e-mail after e-mail account about the funds they are pretty much holding hostage. I have broken down and listed each transaction by date, time and amount of each transaction which was swiped and they still refuse to do anything about it. Their favorite saying is “:It can take anywhere from 3-5 Business days to verify your account.” When asked if they had a phone number they replied they are not set up to take phone calls. Today I found out they lied, they DO HAVE A NUMBER.
    Square is holding $229.00 of mine hostage. Square in my opinion is the WORST company I have EVER had to deal with. I think square should be made to shut their doors so no one else will fall victim to them and their scams.
    I feel Square is one of the biggest scam to ever focus on the market.

    • Rick

      Square held my funds the first time I used the service and that was enough for me. I dumped Square over a year ago and my bank had me complete some paperwork actually blocking Square from accessing my account. I switched to Intuit GoPayment and they are great. They have real life customer service that actually knows what they are doing. I have since added PayPal Here as well. I already had a regular merchant account so I can use the Authorize.net virtual terminal but they are a little high with all their fees. In fact, yesterday I signed up with PNC to switch the processing to them and lowered my fees significantly.

  • Donna Pfeifer

    So far, I have reported them to:

    Better Business Bureau – Square responded with basically the same email they sent me

    Federal Trade Commission – heard nothing back

    Florida Attorney General – helpful – they recommended the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

    California Attorney General – they responded that they don’t care about business problems

    Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – they forwarded it to, the FTC and are entering Square into their system to process the complaint

    Kim Komando – she recommended them in the first place so I thought she should know

    President Obama – via the email President Obama link – yeah, I know, but it felt good

    For the record, the “for the people” people are NOT for the people

    I don’t really expect anyone to care but my goal is to file two new complaints a week until I get my much needed money deposited into my account.

    Good luck to you all in getting justice.

  • Teresa

    I had the very same problems 2 years ago and I have been trying to warn people ever since. I tracked down the founder through Twitter and believe me he is a jackass! He doesn’t like negative publicity on his Twitter feed. Richard Branson is also a large investor n Square. I’m sure he might take notice if everybody bombards his Twitter feed as well. Absent of all that, there has to be some way to start a class action suit against Square. Are there any lawyers out there? And at the very least, copy the URL of this forum and post in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and everywhere else you can. It’s the only way to stop this rip off company!!!!

  • Kevin James

    DO NOT EVER OPEN A SQUARE ACCOUNT. They are currently holding over 5K of my money. They issued approval codes and then closed my account and are holding the funds. No explanation given. I have been doing business with them for over a year, have never had a chargeback and processed over 30K in transactions. Will not answer emails. Cannot be reached by phone.

  • Lynki

    Square card reader is a bunch of rip-off artists. If you are thinking about getting one of these, DON’T! If you have a problem with it, there is no way of talking with anyone at the company to resolve your problem- they permenantly deactivated giving absolutely NO notice, or explaination and the funds would not be released for 180 days (6 months) they would only be refunded to the card on which the purchase was made. Then they wanted a reason WHY- the customer is GONE with the merchandise, so you’re basicly SCREWED out the funds for 6 months while SQUARE has it in a account making interest off it.

  • Ruth Garren

    We have a vacation home in Florida. The property manager hasn’t been paying us regularly. He blames Square for holding the funds because he was taking the info over the phone instead of swiping the card. (We have yet to be paid for July and this is Sept. 9). I thought he was committing fraud, but after reading the comments here, I’m thinking it’s Square that’s committing fraud. Needless to say, he is changing credit companies. Too bad he didn’t do it sooner.

    • Laura

      Hi Ruth,

      So sorry to hear this but, rest assured, this company is a complete mess. We have a vacation rental management company as well and they held over $50,000. They finally paid us after a full year and hundreds of unanswered calls and e-mails. I even contacted Jack Dempsey, the idiot owner, on his twitter and facebook page. (No answer, of course). I believe they are holding funds for profit……file a complaint with the ftc and attorney general ………they won’t do anything unless the have thousands of complaints.

    • Doug

      Report square to the local Better Business Bureau in which its office is, I did this months ago after getting jerked around by square for a few months on a charge back issue that was refunded by Amex but Square never put the money back in my account. The complaint resulted in the refund. Company sucks no customer service and they could care less about their users

      • Angela

        I have had this same issue with Square, and more recently they rejected a refund (without any notice to me) that I issued for my 85 year old customer making it look like I am trying to take advantage of her. She is telling me to refund payment but I have not received payment from square they are just holding it and not responding to anything I do. So now I am stuck paying my customer for work that was performed and completed, that she was originally happy with, but Square has single-handedly ruined my business and my relationship with my customer with no explanation as to why. I am furious and will NEVER use them again and I will make every effort to let people know how shady their business practices are. Apparently the founder and investors have no ethics whatsoever. They are ruining lives all to hold money in their account that they did not earn.

  • Rose

    We use Square for our processing two days per week in a retail setting, always swiping through the card reader. We have used their service for a few months now and up until 3 weeks ago, had no problems. The charges in this instance appeared on our smartphone, but not on the computer dashboard area. We contacted Square via email several times to notify them of this and got no response. Then the data disappeared from the smartphone and Square is now saying they do not have any record of any charges during that two day period. I have no other backup information; being new at this I didn’t even think of emailing myself the receipts until I saw it in this forum. I can’t imagine they would not do data retrieval – originally they said they would be depositing the funds (they originally could see it) now, since it has disappeared they apparently are not going to do anything. It is in the amount of $1600, all small amounts.
    Any suggestions? We tried calling the phone numbers found in this forum and did not get a live person, only a loop – then they hang up on you. Not good.

  • melanie

    YOU MUUUUST READ THIS!!!!!! FYI!!! CHANGE YOUR BANK ACCOUNT!!! ASAP~!
    Here is the worst part-
    They will NOT allow you to remove your current bank account information-
    You have to change your ENTIRE bank account info because they will continue to have that info and there is apparently no limit on a CC dispute by anyone who claims a chargeback- it could happen at any time!!!
    In my case- I have emails and texts confirming the use of the clients card- but after a personal fall out with the client- 3 MONTHS later – he claimed I had committed fraud. Unreal! But I thought it would be easily solved with all of my proof.
    So I sent all this info via the questionnaire. They sent an email back within 8 hours saying they were taking the funds- I could not believe it. I tried to call. LOL- that was a mind blow.

    I am disputing the unauthorized charge from Square with my bank – and in the meantime- since I cannot remove my account off their site-
    which is insane to me..
    I had my checking account closed and opened a new one.
    Worst experience….. when I needed to talk to someone- no one EVER answered.
    So now- I only use check or cash.
    I would never commit fraud- so the fact that it is even on record somewhere that I did- is infuriating to me.

    • JJ

      Square was a great invention untill one day I noticed $300 were charged from my account to square.
      I asked us Ok what’s happening here??
      They replied that one of my client bought me a jewelry product weeks ago and wanted to get refunded.
      I then asked them back, what’s wrong with that person? She had my email address. I never once received any email from her and now, ONE month later, she wants a refund without contacting me? How normal is this?
      Her reason was that she forgot that she was allergic to sterling silver….
      It’s like going surfing forgetting you don’t know how to swim….
      I explained everything with proofs to Square services and told me they would contact me in no more than 60 days , time for them to get all the info and take the decision.
      Couple weeks later I sent another email. They told me to wait some more and they’ll contact me.
      I’ve NEVER ever been contacted by them and finally I emailed them and they told me ow well the bank solved the case, she’s being refunded so we cannot do anything anymore. If i want to go further I need to see with the bank….
      In final, Square allowed this person to litteraly steal my $300 piece of jewelry I spent a whole day to make….THank you Square…

  • Linda Bardell

    I received a call from a customer, that her CC was tapped 5 times for the one transaction, amounting to $2500 total. I was appalled….since I received none of the $$$$$. Square will not answer my question as to why they continued to charge even one amount, when it did not show up on mine and why they put through any amount to a customer bank. It may be terminology–lack of direct phone support—whatever it is, I would like to know if ALL “Declined” cards transactions are still forwarded to the bank as though they are BonaFide charges. Square is telling me that one of more of the “numbers” was keyed in wrong……If so , why was my customer charged 5 times????? I will print all of the correspondence I have had with Square, and forward it on to my customer…..to clear my name of trying to commit fraud. Bottom Line: as of this date, I have not received any money and my customer needed to DC her CC account and create a new CC account, causing great inconvenience.

  • David T.

    I received a call from a customer, that her CC was tapped 5 times for the one transaction, amounting to $2500 total. I was appalled….since I received none of the $$$$$. Square will not answer my question as to why they continued to charge even one amount, when it did not show up on mine and why they put through any amount to a customer bank. It may be terminology–lack of direct phone support—whatever it is, I would like to know if ALL “Declined” cards transactions are still forwarded to the bank as though they are BonaFide charges. Square is telling me that one of more of the “numbers” was keyed in wrong……If so , why was my customer charged 5 times????? I will print all of the correspondence I have had with Square, and forward it on to my customer…..to clear my name of trying to commit fraud. Bottom Line: as of this date, I have not received any money and my customer needed to DC her CC account and create a new CC account, causing great inconvenience.

  • William Greenwood

    F rating, for Fraud, Square disputed a $900 sale out of about $3600 submitted from a show in Philadelphia, they held the funds in “My Merch. Acct.” for thirty days and then supposedly returned it to the customer, all of this without any verification. They refused to supply me with any collected data on the sale, so that I could question American Express or my customer. To date I’m out an expensive necklace and $900.
    Square says in one email, dated July 2, they contacted customer and gave him my contact info, as listed on my Square Merchant page. No big surprise , I haven’t heard from him, and don’t know if any of this is true.

  • Michael

    DO NO USE SQUARE.COM! THEY ARE CROOCKS!!!
    I have a limousine service in NYCity.
    It was a job driving a client from midtown Manhattan to LaGuardia airport Marriott hotel, around 11:30 pm.
    Client paid $65 + $9.75 tip Total was $74.75
    Month and half later they send me charge back for $ 72.69, no explanation it all, Why?!!!
    I have a receipt and signature on it, and it was swiped on Iphone app. on a front of a client!
    Most annoying and disturbing part of all, they have NO CUSTOMER SUPPORT WHAT SO EVER!
    No body to talk to striating this out! NO PHONE NUMBERS TO CALL!!!
    What kind of business they run?
    Services were provided and I don’t get paid for it?!!!
    Working for free?!!!
    Square is total unconfident and worst kind of customer support I ever encounter.
    Stay a way from SQAURE!

  • Margie

    Square up has very poor technical support and NO phone number for help. They do it all through email and request security information that can be hacked with the potential of identity theft. I have had my identity ‘thieved’ once this year which makes me skeptical. Also, I cannot log in to my Square account on my computer, which means I can’t access spread sheets. I have to have those for tax records.
    The reader is easy to use which to this point is the only upside I can see.

  • Donna Pfeifer

    Here is a copy of the complaint I filed with the BBB. They have since responded with text almost identical to the email they sent me to advise of their action in the first place. In other words, no real response at all.

    Square closed my account with no reason given-funds held for 90 days.

    I first used Square on February 19, 2013, and have been using them since with no charge backs or other issues. As my business is growing steadily, I applied for an increase to the keyed in limit for transactions on August 1, 2013. On August 02, 2013 I was informed that my account had been judged to be “high risk” and my account had been closed. In addition, they were going to hold my transaction of $1060.94 for 90 days.

    I accept that they have the right to terminate for any or no reason as that is in the user agreement. However, I do NOT accept that they can hold my money for 90 days without prior notice. There is nothing in the user agreement that mentions a holding period of 90 days for ANY reason, I have never had a chargeback and this is a repeat customer that has charged with them many times. Their theft of my money which I placed in good faith with them will result in a financial hardship for my relatively new company. It is unacceptable when I have done nothing wrong.

  • SD

    PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT SIGN UP WITH SQUARE! I am a small business and have NEVER had a dispute or charge back in 3 years I have been accepting cards. I used to be with Merchant Warehouse… but Square seemed ‘new and cool’… I closed my Merchant account and went with Square. THE WORST… AND ONLY MISTAKE I HAVE MADE WITH MY BUSINESS! They happily take your money after you sign up on their ‘ever-so-sexy’ website… but then it’s like talking to a brick wall! I simply have questions… no disputes… and it is IMPOSSIBLE to get these people to call you or to get in touch with them. IT’S LIKE DEALING WITH SOME COMPANY IN A COMMUNIST COUNTRY! Heck… at this point I’d be ecstatic speaking to a human being in a call center in Bangladesh! Their service is DISGUSTING! i AM ABOUT TO CLOSE MY SQUAREUP ACCOUNT AND GO BACK TO Merchant Warehouse. Today is 8/20/2013… I just emailed them. And I’m going to call Merchant Warehouse tomorrow to reopen my account…

  • caroline

    These guys are crooks. Becuase you cannot resolve anything through email and speak to a live person I would HIGHLY recommend not using this service!

    VERY UNFAIR Business practices, and another example of big business stepping on top of the little guys to make a buck!

  • vitaly

    This company is a scam. We are a small business. Started to try Square a few months ago. They started a chargeback for a legiticate job. We emailed signed bill of lading receipt from customer, spoke with customer who did not authorize it (this happened on a friday afternoon) and monday morning they are trying to charge us back. No customer service, no phone number no business representative we could contact. It’s outrageous system.

    Do NOT use. Rather pay pennies more for better more secure service from other merchant service

  • Diane

    After 14 months of using Square I continue to love it and have not had one issue. I own a store and swipe cards everyday it is a blessing to me to only pay 2.75% with no additional fees. I love the way my sales are tracked on the web site. In the past I have used 4 other credit card processors and felt nothing but RIPPED OFF by each one. They all promised a great rate and then add additional fees depending on the credit card, batch fees, statement fee… Square is the only company that doesn’t do this.
    I’m sticking with it.

    • RHONDA

      I suggest that you trust but verify. The manager gets email verification of funds that are held. I know because I have gotten those emails. The property manager should be willing to forward that information showing the dollars amount and payor and when the funds are expected. If he is unwilling to forward that information, I would seek alternative resolution. I have not had funds held since about the 2nd or 3rd transaction. Mine are over 2 to 7000.00. Good luck.

    • Ruth

      I have a small business and I have been using Square for a year and had no issues. The average charge at my store is between $10 and 30.00 so I think it is the reason that I had no problems. I think the issues arise when the charges are over 100.00 or more. As a very small business, this company is great because I really couldn’t afford the fees charged by the traditional credit card company. The only complain that I have about this company is that the reader sometimes doesn’t work so you have to swipe the card a few times.

  • tam

    Square sounds like a nightmare, with all these complaints and to NEVER to be able to reach a customer service Rep, is ridiculous, I can’t even find a phone number to call.

    Any company that runs without customer support and can not provide customer service by telephone and deals with the most integral part of our business (our finances and funds) should be SHUT DOWN!!

    Everything today is electronic, there is no reason for it to take 3 or more days for funds to hit my account.

    I am switching as soon as I can.

    Tam

    • Wayne

      For the funds to take 3 days to reach your account is strange. We’ve been using Square for well over a year. When we take in a payment (keyed in always) in an afternoon the funds are always in our account the next morning. We take in payments nearly every day and the only issue we’ve had with Square was getting them to raise our daily transaction limit, but that only took an email and it was done.

  • Jan Esposito

    I have never done business with any company that does not have customer support. I emailed them and received a response that doesn’t have anything to do with my question. I have never heard of a company where no matter what you do, you can not SPEAK to ANYONE, that is ridiculous. Money was taken out of my account for no reason, the customer did not dispute the charge. Her credit card company has told her a few times that the money was returned to my account but The Square has not put it back in. It is a lot of aggravation for me and my customer. I will be looking for another company.

  • Rod David

    Do not use Square! My experience with them is an unmitigated disaster. Square do not even follow its own policies.
    I did not realize that Square placed holds on funds above $2,002 for credit cards that are not swiped and over the course of two months I processed $35,000 of transactions by keying in the credit card numbers of the customers from forms that the customers had filled in and signed. Square notified me that they were going to withhold the funds for 30 days before they would release them. Square then emailed me and required me to fill out more information which I provided including our contracts with customers and the authorization forms that the customer fills out and signs for us to process payment. Square states that for swiped transactions there is no limit and that payment will be provided within 3 days. THIS IS NOT TRUE. 10 days ago I swiped a customers card for payment and square is refusing to deposit the funds to me. Square have requested that I provide them with copies of 3 months of bank statements, a copy of my drivers license and a copy of my passport. Now any intelligent person knows that these key pieces of information allow anyone to easily steal a persons identity so I have refused to provide this information to square however I have provided significant other information. Square is impossible to communicate with intelligently and they have told me that I should refund my customers (even though they have already paid the card transaction to Visa or Amex) and ask them to pay another way. Putting my customers through this would be very damaging to my business’ customer service. So I let the 30 day cycle pass and now square have carte blanche refused to pay me because I wont provide them with the 3 month bank statements, my drivers license and passport. I offered that they speak with my Bank manger and lawyers but they are not interested in assisting their customers, all you get from square is No, No, No.. So square now holds more than $46,000 of my billings to customers which my customers have already paid their credit card providers for and they have refused to release the funds. My only available option is to now sue square which my lawyers have started.
    We are now using another provider for credit card processing services and their customer support is very good; do yourself a favor, if you are considering using Square – DON’T!

  • Emily

    FAIL FAIL FAIL. Cutomer service is non-existent. Have spent two weeks thus far simply trying to get MY MONEY. I will be looking at other services to replace Sqaure. So unfortunate since they did liberate many small businesses from big bank robbery.

  • Veronica

    Square is a ripoff… They took $435.00 of my money gave me the run around and kept it in the end… I’m an honest seller and work hard for a living… Companies like square haven’t helped their customers like us… They ask for endless proof which I gave them, no customer service, scripted replies only to keep the money in the end. The merchandise gets delivered to the clients I have giving them endless proof of that, they never giver proof to why they keep the money and never give straight answers… How can they get away with this? I’m not the only one they have done this to. My research has shown others with the same issues. What can we do to protect ourselves from this happening again?

    Veronica Ahlfeld/Chicago

  • Amber

    I have only run 2 transactions through Square in the last 2 weeks. I was really excited to be able to offer my clients the credit card option and now after only my second time using the Square, I receive an email Alert telling me the funds are being held and I need to fill out further forms, send proof of business…etc. WHY did they not require this before sending the square and enrolling me as a customer???? It all seems very suspicious! I guess they wouldn’t be able to hold my money or collect fees from me if Square had a selection process in place up front. When I did call the number they provided, I actually did get a live person on the phone, though she was clearly reading and STICKING to the script and was utterly incapable of having a conversation about what was happening to my money. The client signed for the transaction, it’s the same credit card I used the first time and the charged amounts are similar and well under $1,000. The email Alert said that “due to unusual activity…” I asked for examples of “unusual activity” to which her response was to hang up on me. As this is only the second time I’ve used the Square, I’m confused as to how they were able to establish “unusual activity” on my account. After the customer service rep hung up on me, I jumped on line to look into this matter and see if there are other complaints about Square. Obviously there is a large number of people with serious complaints and issues with Square. As soon as I collect these funds, I am moving on and looking to my bank to provide me more reliable financial service. And you can be sure, I will SPREAD THE WORD about the headaches of doing business through Square.

  • Sharon Bronaugh

    Square cancelled me for no reason. I am small construction company with one client. My client, The Vice President of Business Development for an international company wanted to pay my invoices on his company credit card. All within the guidelines and procedures of his company. All went smoothly for 4 months, then Square cancelled me due to “high risk”. I had one transaction a week, used the same credit card each time and never had a dispute. What is so “high risk”? I despise this company and the way I was treated.

    Customer service is non-existent. No way to get info except read their published materials. This sucks.

  • chuck

    Beware of Square!!!!

    Their system went down late one night, (I am a cab driver) and did not capture a charge even though my phone processed the charge normally. They just ignored my request for reimbursement and refused any communication. Judging from all the comments it can only assume that class actions suits and in process.
    I went to intuit.

  • Tadesse

    I tried to install the the Square register app on my Samsung galaxy s4 (Android) phone after I bought the Square reader device from Target store. The installation process prompted me to enter ‘user ID’ in which case it prompted me seemingly an email address suffex (gmail.com – email I never had). But when I tried relogin my real email address – with @sbcglobal.net- comes up. I got confused about what email address I am registered with, but after a long period of retrial and entering my name, residential address and bank account detail the installation of the App seemed right. I right away, as a test to the process, ran a small ballance from my chase credit card to go in to my checking account and similar amount to go from my debit card to same account. Over a period of couple days I started checking if any ballance coming to my checking acount and I have not found any fund comming. I ran a small ballance from my customer two days ago I have not seen that in my checking account. All the test transaction I made from my debit and credit cards are already pending for withdrawal. But no transaction is found in my checking account since my installation of the square app five days ago.

    I just wondered if I am not installed properly as no confirmation in five days and the Square App icon on my Galaxy s4 says ‘Register’ as if some completion is missing. My fellow business owners tell me the icon on their smartphone says ‘Swipe the card’ as seemingly a completed process, but they do not have legitmacy to confirm that for me. I could not find the contact of Square Agents, if there are any, to verify this. A couple emails I got during getting receipt says ‘noreply….’. I called 18886420662 (from this website) only to get answering mashine to give me instruction.

    I decided use Square after my last credit card processing company(which had been good for about seven years) lately deceded to keep all transaction for itself instead of letting me and other business owners cash them. Many of the business owners in this crisis made formal petion againt this company to the appropriate government body but I have not been notified of any formal action been taken against it. following its agressive advertizing,I resorted to using Square without not being sure how it is going to be better my last one.

  • Lisa

    I am a medium sized ecommerce business, 10k a month + non-swiped no card present – phone mainly transactions. I used square for about 4 months … I have a medium sized ecommerce business and I take a lot of phone orders. I never had any problems until I hit that magic “weekly” limit and I was placed at high risk. With no reason, no problems at all they closed my account. they are also TERRIBLE about just pulling money from your checking account with not notice at all … any customer breaths an issue for any reason they entire transaction is just pulled from your account … there is no ability to work out any issues. I have tried intuit, same if not worse. I have recently tried phoneswipe and I actually liked that one and have been using it for many months with out any issues really, never had any holds or limits, money was in my account quick. Recently I had a few chargebacks and they have put a money hold on my account, no notice, no warning, just no deposits. I am not sure that any of these “services” are really good at higher volume, higher volume of hand keyed transactions that I can find. IF ANYONE has experience with volume, phone orders (non-swiped) and having any real notice to work out chargebacks with a cc processing company, even if they charge a little more % per transaction I would like to know about it.

  • Secure One Technologies

    Square is a scam! Everything looks good at first… the money goes to your bank account pretty fast, they can send unlimited readers what makes easy to work with, since every salesperson can hold one, the app in your smartphone works just fine, etc etc etc….
    BUT, last week one of my customers cancelled an order which was paid in full with AMEX ($2,200). I proceeded to refund his money reversing the transaction thru Square, and the nightmare just started. They took immediately the $2,139.50 fom my bank account, plus they reversed the $59.50 in charges (awesome!!) and then after that they holded two payments, one for $500 and another for $2300. A total of $4,939.50.
    I tried to call customer service, just to realize they don’t have any number to call
    Researched online and found 3 phone numbers… none of them worked, just a recorded menu and hung up on me.
    Searched for the deposit holding policy…nothing
    Finally I had to send an email, just to receive an idiotic answer from somebody who instead of thinking about what I was questioning, was reading a manual and sending supid automatized answers.
    She (Olivia) said that they might hold mi funds up to 14 business days. When I told her that they already had whithdrown the funds from my bank account, she said “thank you for your patience”
    These people are criminals. I’m moving to Intuit now. I dont’t know if it will be a better experience with them. But I swear I won’t use square ever again.
    Oh!, and BBB is also corrupted… they give square A+… And I though we are living in the first world

  • Derek Kanady

    Haven’t had any problems with money being deposited in a timely manner but the card reader technology has been very problematic . Have been through three readers in not that many transactions comparatively.

  • Lynn

    Square is horrible……Do not use them for credit card services. We are a sole proprietorship and had used the card 4 times…..We did back to back transactions and now they are holding our money and keep requesting more information, like bank statements, purchase orders, and invoices. We get one email stating that all info is good to go and an hour later another requesting more information. When you call the number for verification they talk above your questions and keep telling you that they have to leave the line open for verification questions only. They do not explain the $2002.00 rule and take you in cirlces. You can not get answers and one tells you everything if good for agent review and then another wants more info. I am not sure if a rating is below F but they are not what they are described to be. They have cost us money for our business and now we are going to have to cancel this order and probably lose a company we do business with because of Square. Do not use them.

  • Mike

    UNBELIEVABLE…! This company put me at high risk and deactivated my account after I had GOOD transactions with GOOD customers doing GOOD legitimate business. I travelled from Ca to AZ and took a card by key in over the phone for $1615.00 Yesterday I shipped the product at my local FedEx store to a Missionary Reverend in NJ. I have done transactions through Paypal with the reverend in the past and there were NO PROBLEMS. The Rev is now in Nigeria for 6 weeks on a Missions Trip and it is very difficult to contact him. The square company asked me for some “quick” verification which included my receipt, my articles of incorporation as well as my tax return…! All of these items are legitimate on my part and in order and I provided them within a few hours. after all….I wanted my $1615.00. This company deactivated my account with NO explanation other than “high risk” WTH…? !!!! High Risk….? I have been doing legitimate business for over 25 years and 8 years in this existing business. Now they either want me to refund the money to the Reverend who is in Nigeria for the next 6 weeks. Who has NO OTHER WAY TO PAY ME FOR A PRODUCT THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN SHIPPED. or they want me to WAIT 90 DAYS FOR THE RISK TO BE LIFTED SO I CAN COLLECT MY MONEY. This company has thrown a wrench into my existing business and THEY DO NOT LET YOU CONTACT THEM. THIS COMPANY IS A LOAD OF CRAP.

  • Michael

    Square is a horrible service to deal with and tbey don’t seem to care about the complaints. Holding your money as if they own it and having no customer service number that works are just two of my complaints. There are better companies out there such as Paypal and more. I was a Square user from the very start and had one of the first readers but no more. I’ll never use them again and never give them a positive review.

  • Karen

    I am a new user and sole proprietor of my business. Set up was a nightmare linking with my bank because Square requires a tax ID and Sole proprietorships do not need one. NOW my Square will not swipe credit cards and they have to be hand entered, which, if I read correctly above, cost more? There is virtually NO AVAILABLE CUSTOMER SERVICE! I am NOT impressed and believe that I will be switching to the INTUIT card reader that my colleagues are telling me is much more reliable with better service. Long story short? NOT IMPRESSED!!

    Robertson Counseling Service
    Karen K. Robertson

  • Bill

    I put in the deposit amount they sent to my bank to verify my acount and it said my account i activated and I’m ready to accept payments.. So I did and now have no access to my money and nobody to contact.. It says my account is not linked.. This in my mind is in acceptable.. No live customer service just an automated response to emails.. Once payment is received I have no interest in doing further business wit square.. I would re consider of there was live support..

  • Helen Smith

    Its impossible to get these people on the phone and no mailing address, just email. I have a bad problem in that both times businesses have used my credit card, it spits out my daughter’s name and email and she is notified of the process., even though our cards are not connected at all. It seems ridiculous to me that when I have someone swipe MY Visa card – it comes up on their smart phone as my daughter’s name and email, not even my email which I give them.

    This is a horrible situation and I want it stopped!!!!@!!

  • Camilla Barry

    A follow-up to my earlier experience with Square, in which I noted that police were phoned when I showed up at Square’s offices in person, to get actual customer service. Within a couple of days, Square discontinued my services, siting “High Risk.” I have already discovered that B&B’s are considered low risk by credit card processing companies and I have only had one chargeback. Why do I care that Square disconnected me, when I was going to change companies anyhow? Because it is difficult to get a new service if you have been discontinued from another one for being “high risk.” Will Square get the last laugh? It’s scary playing against the big guys.

  • michael

    As a customer of Analytical 360 in Seattle, Wa, whom you cut off because of their involvement in testing cannabis (legal in this state!) I will discontinue the use of my square card reader. I have also posted a notice online with the 20+ retail locations of Seattle area businesses I work with & so far I have changed the minds of close to 300 customers that currently use the square card reader and they will also discontinue the use of their card reader.

    Before kicking a legitimate business to the curb because you don’t like their business structure you might want to consider reprecussions involved in doing so. I am on a campain to take away considerable amounts of business and $ from your business. Thanks for screwing a legal, legitimate, profitable business in the name of corporate America.

  • Kristin Robbins

    Ridiculous!!! Even if you call the customer service line they ask you to enter a form # that they claim is at the bottom of your Alert To Action email, but there is no # there so you just get hung up on. They are holding $822.00 of my money because I entered the same credit card # two times in a two week period. Like they can’t imagine a small business owner might have some regular clients that are constantly ordering jobs from you and just might pay you more than once for different orders. I have no idea when they are going to release my money, but after reading some of the other comments something is making me think my money is gone for good.

  • Marilynne

    After 13 years in business, I received a charge back notice from Square. I responded immediately that I would dispute the sale. Square refunded customer’s money immediately, before receiving my response.
    According to Square policy, vendor has up to 15 days to respond . Square did not follow their own policy,.
    The only information I received from Square is the date of the transaction, which happened three months ago, the amount, the last 4 digits of customer’s charge card.
    I did not keep a record of the customer’s contact information nor the recipient’s contact information. This transaction was phoned in and likely was the purchase of a gift certificate….as the amount was a round number.
    Did the customer contact me in the ensuing 3 months to discuss the issue? No or it would have been resolved successfully, Perhaps the customer forgot about the transaction, or maybe they don’t recognize the vendor name on their credit card statement or maybe the recipient didn’t get their gift in the mail.
    Meanwhile, my business is out the money because Square refuses to provide information that would allow me to determine the buyer.
    Do I document each and every sale now with complete customer contact information and recipient contact information in case of a future dispute? You bet I do.
    Since anyone can dispute a charge/debit and Square refunds without feedback from merchant, I now keep name, address, phone number, date of transaction, amount of transaction, type of transaction, phone number, and if its a gift for someone, I ALSO document gift recipients’ name, address, phone number, amount of gift ,
    who bought it. Lot’s of documentation for every sale .
    Square customer service has been exceedingly poor, sending me “form letters” with xxxxx’d out phone numbers. What the heck is that?

    • camilla barry

      I have had a similar problem and am now researching how to file a small claims action against Square. It has been difficult finding any information about how to serve the company: ie the agent of service. I actually drove directly to their corporate offices at 901 Mission Street and was accosted by security guards who phoned the police to rid me from their lobby. This was to discuss a chargeback I received, with no customer service from Square via email (and as you know, they have no phone number). After I made this visit, Square sent me an email saying they had discontinued my account. I intended to switch service anyhow, but this puts my chargeback in limbo-land.

    • L

      Same bad experiences with Square also happened to me 3 days ago. Still no where to have a human being from Square to actually talk to me.

      Square went ahead with a false “charge-back” without hearing the facts. Square did not care about what I have replied, did not bother the evidences and facts I had emailed to counter a false or fraudulent “charge-back”. Square went ahead with “charge-back” right away, and also “close” our account. Square totally dismisses and ignores all clear evidences I have provided and presented to dispute a fraudulent “charge-back”.

      I try to get hold of Square. But no where I can find it’s phone# or fax#, or any real human being’s email. Every time I had to “log in” to our account, write from there. But after I spend all the time to present our case, I still don’t have real reply except an automatic ghost email.

      I called the phone # posted on this article, but the recording asks for some “number” – there is NO SUCH number to be found any where. So the automatic answering system just hung up on you. What a sleazy way to avoid merchants and business owners?!

      Square is enabling consumer fraud, and abusing small businesses!!

      If someone file a class action lawsuit, count me in!

      DON’T USE SQUARE!

  • joseph laforte

    HORRIBLE JUST “F-in” HORRIBLE I am trying to do a large transaction and my account won’t open and I have this persons credit card and I cant get any help to do business. This just an aweful way of doing business. They should have a hotline for businesses trying make transactions.

  • Bruce Crossley

    First time I used the card reader it wouldn’t read the card. My customer and I tried several times so he says
    “Push the little dollar sign button” Oh great! a place you can manually enter the cards info.

    So after I get back to the office and go to my account, no money, but a request for a ton of info about my biz.
    Security? ok I’ll give them that but then to go to my Square account and find because it was a manual input,
    I would have to wait 30 days or more for my 6 grand.
    Had I known this I would have waited till a company check could be cut, saving me $300.00 and potentially stealing the rest of the $8,000.00 payment.

    Won’t be using the service ever again.

    • Jeanette

      I have been reading all these messages, and I too do not know what to do. We have had a landscaping company since 1991, and this is the first time we have had anyone (including banks) hol our money for 30 days. It is causing a great hardship for our business, and five families that were counting on this check. A lawsuit sounds like the only way to get some attention from this so called business. If anyone starts a class action lawsuit please post something, I wouldn’t know where to start. I’m sure the love to target honest people, that work hard to end meet..

  • Jason brooks

    Square has held my money even though my limit was raised and it has been over 30 days this is killing my company and they now will not return my emails square does not care about me or my company one bit and to think I have got so many others to join in and use square now this is what I get in the end while they hold 6000 dollars of my companies money now for 37 days this is killing me

  • Tammie

    I work in a salon and we decided to try square so that we could save money and do away with the credit card machine from the local bank. I signed up with square, got my device and used it for about 5 transaction. Well I never got 1 penny of my money. I keep emailing them and calling them. All of my result was a run around and now they are saying I don’t even axist. They need a class action lawsuit against these ppl. DO NOT USE SQUARE! THEY ARE BAD BUSINESS. The sad part is that I could not prove I didn’t get my money to my clients, so l had to eat the lost.

  • Paul Tully

    The most outragious behavior by a company ever encountered. I gave them my bank account number their process of depositing two small amounts of money and then withdrawing both was successful. My part of the secuirty is to enter the amounts given. I did so over and over again to no avail. Went to my bank had them do it. Entering my account number and rounting number that entered the two small deposits. Still no deposit from Square of an initial business transaction of $1,000.00 dollars and another deposit of $20.00. The money was taken from one account and from my customers credit card and not deposited to my bank account. This is going on three weeks this money has been trapped in the square account. The repsonse (customer service) was to tell me I must have entered the wrong account or rounting numbers. OUTRAGIOUS, TOTALLY OUTRAGIOUS. Square made two small deposits and then withdrew both of them from my account so if my account and routing number was incorrect how were the initial two small deposits and withdrawels successful. What is the solution to getting my money from square? Calling the police? Who polices these situations?

  • William Barrows

    Criminals………… without warning are holding $1500 of a $3500 APPROVED AmEx transaction. HOW is it possible the law allows them to keep MY money 30 days just because they said so??? I’m going straight to State Attorneys’ Office

  • Johana

    I have been using the square services for a year and didn’t realize that they have $2300.00 of our company’s money withheld. We are trying to contact them through their online support but not been successful in getting answers. i wont recommend them at all. i will be finding out my rights to get our company’s $ back. this is unbelievable hard working small business owners have to worry about this happening to them.

  • larry pack

    On the plus side, Square is convenient and easy to use. Use of the mobile phone to take payment is pretty nice.

    BUT, customer service is totally non-existent. There is no one, repeat no one you can get on the phone. If/when there is an issue, all their responses essentially say – read the website, that’s more convenient than talking to us.

    HUH?

    My specific problem? We rent out a beach condo. We take all orders over the phone, so we manually key the credit card numbers. There is no risk because customers have to pay weeks in advance. so if there were a problem with the charge we would know before they arrive. We’ve not had a problem in 12 years. EXCEPT WITH SQUARE – Ifyou do too much buisiness in a short period of time, then Square arbitrarily holds up funds for over 30 days. Huh???? This is the nature of a seasonal rental.

    Next year, we X off the Square.

  • Peter Sutherland

    DO NOT use this company! I used the card to sell my puppies and suddenly they decided in order for me to get my $850 (actually $820 after fees) I had to send them my government issued ID, last 3 bank statements, and an invoice of the sale. I was hesitant but they said they will not release my funds if didn’t comply, so I did. They then wrote my an email and said I was deemed “high risk” so they terminated my account and they was going to hold my $820 for sixty days and then I could have it or I could choose to refund the money to the buyer of my puppy, which I did. Now have have to depend on the buyers honesty, or I am out $850. I called and asked to speak to a supervisor and the person on the line said that there was no supervisor availble to talk to me.
    This company is a total fraud adn are out to rip people off or hold there money so that they can draw the interest on it. THIS COMPANY IS A LAWSUIT WAITING TO HAPPENING.

  • Stephan Boyer

    I swiped a credit card for a $1,700.00 charge and square software said approved. I never got a receipt emailed to me so I contacted square. They claim the charge registered as a cash sale? They keep no records for any transaction (yea right) and their customer service Sucks and were rude to me. In an email no less.
    This company is only interested in one thing, their cut of your money.
    Thank goodness there are competitors out there that understand what customer service is!
    Signed
    Running, not walking, away from this company!!

  • Pete Sutherland

    These theives will not release my $820.00. unless I provide a bunch of personal information to them, i.e. ID card 3 past bank statement, invoices, ect ect ect. and they claimed to only charge 2.75% per transaction, instead they charged me 3.5%. DO NOT USE THESE RIP OFFS!!!

  • dana

    My first use of square has me in a big jamb……. customer said card was charged. They verified with their bank. Square emailed me saying it was declined. Customer expects cabinets delivered tomorrow by my business; however, I have no funds from the transaction. I am afraid to protect my reputation and contracting license I may have to buy this customers cabinets and some day hopefully get a response back from square. I am a small business and without robbing peter to pay paul I can not afford to buy the cabinets.

    I really wish I could get someone on the phone with this company…… this was my first and last transaction with them. I just home it does not cost me $3,000 that it appears it will at this point to try them out.

  • Brian Molloy

    I own a Guest House rental small business and at times have lodging payments made with credt cards by my customers. In our lodging agreement signed by our guests it states regardless of the type of payment additional charges will be applied to their credit card for damages, violatons of the agreement or other financial impacting issues. We had guests that paid for 8, at check in there were 10, they paid the difference with a check in, at their departure there were more stacked in the house that requited an additional $250.00 charge that was applied to their credit card. They protested the charge with Square and I was notified that the amount was being deducted from my business bank account until it was resolved. I filled out all of the forms they sent fo me to prove this charge was legitimate. I fillede that out and sent 32 pages of documented correspondence with the person who’s card was charged that beyond question proved the charges valid and their attempt to steal lodging, goods and services from me. I have sent 2 email requests for status of putting my $250.00 back n my account or asking if they needed additional information and I can not get a reply after 3 weeks of waiting.

    The fact that I pay this company to provide a servce to my business and I do not get a responce in email and they have no phone number to call a human to get an answer to my question makes me wonder not only what was I thinking, but more so, why am I still doing business with them.

    An after thought is I want my money back, and I need to find another transaction providor that has a phone number I can cawith questions.

  • William Davis

    Square has held and is still holding my $236.00 for almost five months now. They won’t respond to me other than originally telling me that it could be 20-60 days that they hold my money. They are a bunch of crooks!!! Do not use Square unless you just like wasting time trying to get paid for jobs completed months ago instead of being out working and making money as a company should.

  • Likeith Robbins

    I feel that square is very unprofessional. There is no customer service to explain their actions. For instance, they asked me to verify myself using my license, invoices, and other items. I answered all the questions truthfully and they don’t explain why they terminated the account. I just started the job and they require you to get paid through square. As a result, I am without pay and there is no one available for me to speak to. I went to the onsite help center and filed a complaint. Instead of a detailed response, I received a similar automated email of the email they previous sent. The number to call just tells you to use the help center, and the circus continues. I think that for this to be a business their should be professionalism and customer service involved, especially when it comes to the finances of people and their families.

  • Mike

    What awful customer service. I breed reptiles and sold an animal at an expo in January. Six weeks later, Square said there was a chargeback stating “item received not as described” (when the card holder made the purchase in person). Square took my info, noted that the customer never contacted me directly and could have killed or resold the animal but were well past any health guarantee. A month later, I was told that the rebuttal was refused… I’m out the gecko and the money. The receipt on my phone just gave last four digits, date and time and amount of purchase, and that it was a discover card. I contacted Discover and was told the card was issued through a third party like Walmart so it is not in their system. I asked Square three times (the last time almost two weeks ago) and they have yet to provide any details of their conversation OR the identity of the financial institution so that I may contact them directly. I have filed complaints with the AG for California and Florida, the BBB and spoken with a few other agencies. My loss is in the hundreds, not thousands like some folks here, but on principle this company failed to protect me and I’m without the animal and the money. The fact that they cannot or will not provide the content of thier appeal on the chargeback or the info on the financial institution is shady IMO.

  • Antoniette

    Do not use Square (a/k/a) SquareUp period they are not the actual credit card processing company they wish you to believe Square is an Aggregator. I classify them in the same category as PayPal they’re out to make whatever it takes. Paymentech is the company that processes transactions for Square, and JP Morgan Chase is the company’s acquiring bank (also called a member bank). Go directly to Paymentech and sign up with them here is their link .

  • Erin

    I got a massage and the charge was done wrong so a refund was processed and the card was run again by my therapist. I got an email from http://www.cardpaymentoptions.com/square_com stating that a refund was requested and would be processed within 2-7 days. I still haven’t gotten my refund and it has been nearly a month now, and I have gone back and forth with the so called customer service department for square, and have gotten nowhere. I given them every bit of information that they could possibly need to see that it has not been refunded, but they are not helpful at all. I have filed a dispute with my credit card company.

  • Robert

    Summary: I came to Square with an 8 year cc processing history which I provided to Square. My transactions are typically less than $200 and very few charge backs. I get my money within about three days. Their email receipts are half ads for their service – which I would not recommend without reservations — and so I always email the receipts to myself, edit their crap out and send it on to the customer.
    Their lack of real-time customer support has cost me a government customer. The problem was theirs, could have been fixed quickly, finally was but not in time to prevent the loss of a customer. HINT: Always ask what merchant code they have applied to your business. The default of “GIFT STORE” will block many cards.
    HINT: Find a bank which will email you each time your account is accessed: When you find a barrage of queries within a few days, time to pull out all the money as it was probably Square compiling data.
    Observation: I have read many of the complaints here, and in Square’s defense cannot blame them for being suspicious of customers who seem to have little English language literacy. Square might worry (I know I would) that perhaps that illiteracy carries over into other aspects of their business as well. I also wonder about the real nature of businesses who process single transactions in the thousands of dollars without card present.
    Chargebacks: Don’t single out Square for not backing you. In business, you must follow the money. The money is from a credit card customer to their bank. The exchange of data is a dust storm to make you think there is impartiality in adjudicating disputes. There is not. The customer will, next to ALWAYS, win and not have to pay. Even if they fail to return merchandise, you have a slim chance, and unless the dollar amount is high, you will find it not profitable to pursue the problem. For potentially problematic cases, I send the customer a contract (via EchoSign) which guarantees collection costs in the event that the sale is not completed in cash within x days. You will need their complete physical address, preferably the employer, perhaps a checking account number — some asset you can attach when you win the small court case by default.

  • Tony

    THIEFS, THIEFS, THIEFS. What a RIP OFF service. I started using them to receive payments in a faster manner and when I manually entered a $5,000 transaction I was informed that they were going to hold $3,000 of my money for 30 FRIGGIN DAYS. I would be better off dealing with the MAFIA. Who are they to use MY MONEY for a month for FREE. Try going to a bank and take out a $3,000 loan for 30 days and see what they say. I am contacting my attorney to see if I can have CHARGES AGAINST YOUR COMPANY FOR THEFT of my money. Thanks for helping me out with cash flow

  • Frank Gomez

    SQUARE is horrible
    Simple Solution switch as fast as possible to Intuit or Shopkeep or even Groupon Breadcrums
    They all have 24/7 Support “Real People”
    They all have card readers
    Intuit charges about 1% less then square for every transaction and is only about 3.29% for AMEX transactions

    To who ever is an attorney looking for real stories here you go. I have A Café/Design Center/Concierge/IT Office
    Café uses ShopKeep They have an amazing POS setup with register and printer and cost $50 a month and they have an 800 number for support, real responses to email questions and something that seems impossible for square “Real People”

    I decided to try Square for the Concierge to test it out. No 800 number for when a transaction goes wrong. This means I have to tell my client “um I wont know for 24 hours if your transaction went through so I cant get you that Limo Service”. Also recently I had to do a few large transactions of $10K or more and Square decides to hold my money for 30 days. Now someone tell me why? they aren’t my credit card company and I don’t think technically they are even my merchant there just the software suppliers. I’m sure they use a 3rd party to do the merchant service. But yet they have some type of right in there terms and agreements to hold our money.
    Note this Square: For loss of Business from funds being held and for possibly taking money that doesn’t belong to you and maybe earning interest on it or making a profit from it. I see a large class action lawsuit coming your way. I’m not the only person with this pain in my side called Square as we can see from this great forum!

    For My IT office I used Intuit and they have the same as Shopkeep but no minus the register and printer. But they charge 1% less then Square and have never held any money.

    So my solution for everyone out there:
    Leave Square as fast as possible.
    If you need a POS system go Shopkeep
    If you need mobile transactions go Intuit (GoPayment)
    If you enjoy Headaches, never talking to people and trying to fit a square in a circle go with “Square”

  • Luis Gil

    I’ve used square for about a year, I thought everything was fine till I get an email from square saying I was a high risk they’re canceling my account but are holding $1300.00. This morning I come to find out they debit my account $2200.00 they responded by email that they recived notification of a billing inquiry regarding
    A mex transaction assosiated with my account from January. I called my customer and he told me that he did not initiate any charge back with Amex. I need to find out if anyone has any legal leads to attemp to recover any part of my money. Thanks

  • Melissa (on behalf of a non-profit)

    Beware of Square’s lack of customer service!!!! Square’s popularity and easy-to-understand fee schedule doesn’t make up for an utter lack of responsiveness if/when something goes wrong.

    I am on the board of directors for a non-profit animal welfare group. We purchased Square to process payments for a major benefit event. Square never verified our bank account, and notified us three days AFTER our event. Granted, they allow themselves 1-3 days to verify but went slightly beyond that time frame to alert us. No reason was given for their inability to verify our account. What we got for our repeated e-mails (for which they allow themselves up to 24 hours to respond) and all our trouble was a case number that we could plug in nowhere- as well as link to several possibilities as to why a lack of verification might have occurred. No explanation such as “Account number does not match what’s on file,”…”Account provided is a non-transactional account”… no clue whatsoever.

    Bottom line: For starters, we’re out $10 for Square’s initial purchase. And five days after our event, we have outstanding transactions that we are unable to key in. We must either switch bank accounts on Square’s site- and god only knows how well THAT would go- or purchase another card reader altogether. Our board opted to throw Square in the trash where it belongs & purchase a different brand of reader. We’ll still get charged more for card-not-present transactions, but at least we’ll have a responsive company.

  • Michelle Garibay

    In my seven years of business, I have never had a chargeback until now – simply due to the fact that the credit card processing on the end of Square and the potential client ended up debiting the potential client’s account FOUR TIMES what I entered – over $12,000!!! Some wacky tehnical glitch! The potential client sent me a text message photo of these transactions and in turn I immedately contacted Square to rectify the situation. We were on a very tight planning timetable (i.e. less than 5 months for an $80K wedding), so I got to work immediately and after 4 days worth of work on their behalf they canceled the planning contract since the groom got freaked out and thought I was frauding them, even though his account was straightened out. They initiated a chargeback for the entire payment, even though they signed a contract with me and it stated my fees were non-refundable. I sent Square a copy of the signed contract and signed credit card authorization form for them to challenge on my behalf. I even allowed a partial refund since the contract was cancelled so quickly, even though the reason was completely out of my control.

    It has been OVER THREE MONTHS and still NO RESOLUTION. I get the same canned email response and I am BEYOND FRUSTRATED that my funds are still on hold in my Square account.

    This type of service, or lack thereof, is completely unacceptable!!

  • Lisa

    It is virtually impossible to get customer service from Square. As an all-volunteer non-profit PTA, we need to be confident that our fundraising income is safe and that we can get assistance if we have a problem. $3,000 in fundraising income was missing, and I was unable to get any meaningful assistance. They do not have a phone number for customer support, and I’m not sure if the email replies were generated by a human or a computer. This was a deeply frustrating waste of time, and our organization will no longer use this service. We are switching to the mobile payment service provided by Quickbooks.

  • Sergio

    Square-up just sneaked in a new set of regulations, ways they could collect payments from customers but not release it to the vendor.

    Now without your knowing it you have “agreed” not to sell anything that could cause another person harm. Violate that and who knows where your money goes. What is on their list? Anything they want: guns, knives, bow and arrows, rat poison, baseball bats, and in New York City, a super-sized Coke.

    Once they have your money, who is going to win a lawsuit when you try to get paid?

    I just trashed my Square-up readers: going with another service.

  • James Jackson

    ***BEWARE**** if you are a small business with large sales. this company is not for you, they site security risks and hold your payment for 90 days.the only way to get paid is to refund payment and seek alternative payment measures. They also will not give a reason for deactivating an account. I ended up paying for merchant services thru intuit at a much lower cost. My business suffered greatly due to cash flow issues because of this company. They are not for a business but rather for the general public to accept an occasional crfedit card for small sales. I WOULD NOT SUGGEST USING THIS COMPANY IF YOU PLAN TO GROW A BUSINESS.

  • marilyn sturgill

    BEWARE OF SQUARE! We processed a $4,300 charge for a customer not knowing that Square was going to hold these funds for a month. We were not able to give the customer the merchandise till we got our money. The month came & went….still, Square would not release our funds without any explanation. We emailed Square daily & got computer generated responses. Finally, the customer cancelled the order! Never again will we use Square!

  • Blee

    Hey Dave I would have said the same thing 1.5 yrs into using square and now they still owe us for our Christmas sales! Square is the biggest rip off since Enron!

  • Donna Y

    A customer didn’t like the we wanted to charge for a service call, so when we left without doing the reapair work, the customer wanted a refund for services rendered (the intial install). I filled out all the paper work included the signed contract and show that we completed the work as per our contract and Square gave them a full refund of 1800. with no way for us to get our product back and after the terms of contract where fullfilled. I can not even find a phone number or anything besides an email. Even then they say respond with answering the dispute email by filling out the form, Which I already filled out. You get 2 options with a dispute 1 just aurthorize them to take the money or 2 file their paper work, which I did in clude the signed contract with our policies. thinking we where in the right having fulled ou part of the contract and the customer not fullfill theirs! Nope! square gave them every penny back, even when it states on our contract that they will not receive the labor back. This company is a joke we are one of 300 dealerships in the USA and I will let them all know what this company has done to us with no reguard to our contract.

  • nikita

    This is the worst customer service I have ever experienced. I still have no received my money from a transaction it is now 5mths later. I am really getting impatient on how they conduct business.

    Feel like contacting a lawyer!

  • Dorothy Nall

    An organization I’m in established Square for our fundraiser last Oct. All went well. So I did one for another organization to use at a fundraiser. At first it looked like it would work, then I made a change to the information on the account, and it has been a nightmare since. Most all of their email communications appear to be computer generated and have never solved my problems. We are going in circles. I’ve asked that the problem be elevated to a real troubleshooting dept, and no response since then. There is money in the Square account that can’t get to the bank account. I’m so frustrated I found this site.
    Who can we go to for these problems???

    • Phillip CPO

      Hi Dorothy,

      It seems that most merchants eventually get there problems resolved. It can just take a very long time. The best advice I can give is to remain persistent and patient. Please update this thread as your situation progresses. Thanks!

  • Ken

    Initially, Square seemed to be a great way for our PI agency to accept payment. We should have researched deeper. Then we could have avoided our terrible experience with Square’s customer no service. We’re dealing with a dispute/chargeback from a client. Upon receiving the email notification from Square, we contacted the client who stated she should not have disputed the charge. She contacted her Visa issuer and told them to close the dispute/chargeback on their end. We sent Square the relevant documents (contract, email from client, etc.) and have heard nothing back from them except daily emails stating “Square will be withdrawing (the disputed amount) from your bank account…”

    We move money out of that account for operational purposes so we were looking at getting hit with an NSF fee from our bank any time Square attempted to pull the money. Finally, we had to have our bank not honor Square’s repeated withdrawal attempts.

    We have decided to go back to the old forms of payment: cash, check, gold, etc. At least we have phone numbers to reach an actual live humanoid to address any issues with those.

    Customer service via hurry up and wait email is not customer service at all.

  • M Giardino

    Finding Square to be a terrible way to accept payment from customers as I’m a contractor and the average contracts are above $4,000.00 , Square only lets you deposit $2,000.00 and holds the next payment for 30 days before releasing another $2,000.00.
    I Do not recommend using Square unless for very small payments.

    Never AGAIN

  • Bud Haas

    My wife has a cleaning business and also sells jewelry at craft shows. We started using Square and found our sales went up. When we first set up the account everything went smoothly. After using the Square, we finally noticed no money was going into our account. We sent an email to Square and learned that we had not finished verifying our account. Once we completed that process all the funds were transferred the next day. It would be nice to be able to talk to customer service but so far everything has worked well for us. We recently had our garage floors redone and the business owner did not tell us until after the work was completed that he did not take credit cards, but we should have asked first so our bad. I then told my wife that the interest on the card is much cheaper with a purchase then a cash advance. We ran our card through the Square and the funds were there the next day. It isn’t perfect and our biggest complaint is that we have to swipe a card several times before it works but other than that we have had no problems. We have signed up with another device that we want to try to see if it is better as far as reading the card after one swipe. I also just finished building a photography studio and will use which ever reader works best for that business. So, no real complaints on this end. Just make sure you do your part to get the account set up right.

    Bud Haas

  • Phydeaux

    Avoid at all costs! After creating my account, verifying it (by minimal deposit/withdraws from my bank account), and getting the little card reader for my iPhone…I proceeded to take a payment. Here’s my story…

    My friend purchased an Alienware computer from me. He lives out of state now, but we’ve been friends for years. So, via phone, he gives me his credit card info and personal info. We verbally authorize the amount of $1,000. I process the payment, it accepts it, I mail the computer. A week later, the payment is still sitting in my SquareUp account, not my bank account…it’s supposed to take 1-2 business days. I also receive an e-mail that I have to verify some more info to receive this payment. Following the instructions given, I scan my State ID (driver’s license), copy the image of us texting back and forth for purchase proof, give item and payment method, and all the rest of the info requested. I submit this (on a friday). Nothing..says 1-2 business days…nothing…so I go back on their site, and it asks me to verify. So I do the same thing again….nothing….a week later I check again, it asks me to verify. Thinking it’s now Tuesday during business hours, I’ll do it again and also submit via e-mail support (no phone support AT ALL…scary). I instantly get an e-mail back that it’s been received. About 10 minutes later, I get an e-mail that my account is high risk and is now terminated. They are holding my funds for 90 days before releasing to my bank account (or I can refund the full amount to the buyer), and my account is terminated with no reason “for security reasons, they can’t give me an explanation”. Here is the reply I sent them:

    “This service is a joke. I sold an Alienware laptop to a friend over the phone, thought it an excellent idea to use your company (as others have, and recommended it to me). After charging him $1,000 for said laptop, shipping it out, and him receiving it, I still did not have the money in my bank account…but instead held in your “service” (and I use that term loosely). I found an e-mail stating I needed to verify information and submit my ID and further information (which I promptly completed….heard nothing…completed again as the website still said I had to verify…heard nothing….completed a THIRD time, receiving a confirmation e-mail). After doing this, SOMEHOW it was determined that this was a high-risk account, and you were holding my money for 90 days and terminating the account permanently. NO REASON GIVEN. I’m fine with this action, as this is the worst customer service I have ever experienced. No option to call support, no reason for closing my account with $1,000 in it from a legit transaction, nothing. Please remove ALL my personal information from your database, including the submitted images of my State ID, my transaction, and all personal information. Confirm by e-mail that this has been completed, and expect negative ratings on any/all review sites I encounter including (but not limited to) BBB, Vault, ReviewInc, Google, etc. Not only have you lost a customer, but also ruined your reputation to everyone I know considering taking payments via mobile phone. Paypal offers the same fee structure and knows how to take care of their customers.”

  • Gregg

    This is the WORST company ever! I have used this company since about August 2012, however, last week I charged 2 customers totaling $3300, my money is not there and I got no email saying they have sent the funds to me. I emailed them on Monday asking whats going on, my reply came on Friday saying they are holding the funds for 180 days!!!! Yet my customer has my goods!!!! Their response is to refund the card and find another way for the customer to pay! I am a seasonal business, the customers are back in Canada now!

    If i had not sent them a email asking where my money was, I would have never know where it was or when I would get it. This scam of a company are obviously investing the funds they hold and make interest on OUR money, do we get any of that?

  • Paul Katsimbras

    I am Pissed. I have been a square user for two years. I sold a part to a customer in another state. He got the part then desputed the payment. Square took the money out of my account. they asked for proof of the sale, the shipping and that the customer recived the part. I sent them EVERYTHING they asked for. Including copies of emails and text messeges the customer refuses to answer. NOW the wont wirte back, there is no nuber to get ahold of them. I can’t get any answeres to this or anything from them.1300.00 I am out and it put my bank account in the negetive and I am now getting fees from my bank for being over drawn. I am switching to Bank Of America’s card reader. 9.00 a month and only 1.6% on swipes. This is the worst customer service ever. I am thinking of getting an attorney and sueing the life out of them. I AM PISSED. DONT DO BUSINESS WITH SQUARE, THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF.

  • Michael

    Be very aware of Square… without warning Square will close your account for no “Just Cause”. There is no legal, professional, business bases or proper reaonable cause for Square closing our account as we have been in business since 1980 with no problems with any credit card processor EVER…

    Square simply sent us a e-mail with out warning at 9:47 pm on 4/15/13 to state the following; “we have elected to deactivate you Square account from this e-mail forward”. The e-mail went on to read, “For security reasons we cannot divulge the reason for you account termination”.

    What does that mean? No reasons, no bases, no facts, no findings and no phone call from Square customer service. That’s because they don’t offer a true customer service (no phone numbers, no one to talk to in which to ask questions). They hide behind their e-mail’s and market their product to the public under marketing that makes you believe that they are a up front credit card processor. Check the number of complaints filed with the BBB. I wish this firm would have taken the time to investigate Square before we invested this firms time and funds.

    Thank goodness this firm did not have any funds pending with Square, as we where also advise in the e-mail from Square that they would hold our funds for 90 days. Why would Square hold a business funds for 90 days?
    Are there financial problems with Square? Something is going on with Square and we make talk to the proper authorities with the Federal Trade Commission & FDIC that oversee Square’s finacial operations.
    ,

    • April

      I have recently used the square card reader for conducting business with venders that aren’t close to where we are located, fyi they pay over the phone. It seemed to me very difficult to understand their website, it felt I was going in circles not really gaining new information anytime I clicked the help button. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to key in a card or swipe a card, yet to my surprise square withheld my funds from my company for 4 weeks and counting. Claiming I must sign up for an extended yadda yadda to receive more money. When it clearly states on the sign up or sign in page to their website, “money in account next day”. I am still lacking two thousand dollars plus change owed and its been 2 weeks since I got half of my deposit I was suppose to. With no way to have contact besides emailing which takes longer then converting a nun into a housewife. I cant wait to be paid in full to wipe my hands clean of using the square ever again for my business.

      • Doug

        Sorry to hear about your bad experience. . . I had money withheld as well in the beginning, I went through their simple process and just waited out me not reading the fine print. I got paid. It will happen. I have been with them over 2 years. They customer service is greatly lacking since they don’t have a “live operator” and dont have a way to “void” a transaction like every other credit card processor does. Beyond that . .I ran over 1000 dollars of credit cards yesterday before 5pm and the money was in my account today…. If you go through the process and they have had time to “get to know you” then the money will be there . .if you get a lot of chargebacks or are trying to run credit cards with no money on them . .them waiting to get to know you is the only failsafe they have since they dont do credit check or any background on anyone… .your transaction history with them is they only way they can determine if they want to expand your processing level. Have a great day.
        Doug

  • Katie Stull

    I am so frustrated with the fact that this company has no problem taking my money but can not give a decent phone number to answer my questions. This is un-acceptable for a business to be run in this way with no costumer service. Their “email” support doesnt even work. Im looking at switching to intuit

  • V. King

    The company Square Register payment processing at http://www.www.cardpaymentoptions.com/square_com decided to deactivate my account without prior notice and without detailed explanation. I received an email stating for security purposes they could not go into detail for their decision to deactivate my account. In addition, the same email read they were going to hold the funds that were processed prior to their email in reserve for 150 to 180 days.

    We are a small business and we have financial obligations to meet. We called a telephone number listed to square at 888-642-0662, but were not able to reach anyone because the voice prompt requests you to enter an account,number which was never provided when signing up with them. We decided to request this information via email, but to no avail. Therefore, if we do not receive any assistance in coming to a resolution, we will be forced to file a compliant with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) .

    • Adriann

      Same story as yours, file a complaint with the BBB but you still won’t get your money. I am almost six months in to square canceling my account and holding 8k. Good luck to you, but you won’t get your money for a LONG time.

  • Dave

    Our business has been using square since Sept. of 2012 and have only great things to say about it. After 14 years in business it is the first cc processing system that has lived up to my expectations. Yes, there is a certain niche that may benefit more than another, but a business that does a high volume of card not present transactions already should know there will be limitations and restrictions on deposits. If you need a lot of hand holding and customer service support, this may not for you, but having deposits by the next day, no extra fees, saving money, and not having to be an actuarial to understand the monthly statements, its gold!

  • Sue K

    We are not going to use this service any longer. I believe they are bordering on fraud. Several merchants we know who use Square have had the same issues:

    A customer, who HAS their merchandise, decides to dispute the charge, and Square just either holds the funds, or gives them back to the customer without any recourse to the merchant. Normal processing companies file an inquiry, give you 30 days to respond, then in most situations, do not give the money back unless it is proved the person did not get what they paid for. There are lots of people out there purposely defrauding merchants in this way.

    We have tried for months to get somebody from Square to contact us or to see what needs to be done, to no avail. They have NO CUSTOMER SERVICE at all. It’s worth the little extra fees to use a reputable processing company.

  • jay bsh

    square is bordering on criminal activities, they are not disclosing fund holding policy until their threshold is met and then the account holder has no recourse to square’s hold policy except to have them hold funds for 30 days.

  • Angela

    MY DOWNLOADED SPREADSHEET IS CALCULATING SALES & SALES TAX WRONG!!

    TRY THIS AND SEE IF YOURS IS ALSO:

    Download the spreadsheet into excel (I used 1 month of sales)
    insert a column after the “total collected” column
    add “sale”, “discount”, “sales tax”, “tip”
    subtract “total collected”

    If the difference is anything but zero yours is being calculated wrong also.

    Here’s my problem with it…
    I use the spreadsheet to report sales to the management company
    AND THE BIGGEST PROBLEM I HAVE IS WILL THIS NOW BE REPORTED TO THE IRS INCORRECTLY ON MY 1099-K?!

    I just found this today and I would like to know if anyone else is having the same problem.

    Thanks

  • Linda Putnam

    We own a Antique/country craft businees and conduct 5-6 sale days per year from our home location and use this service at Antique and Craft Shows while on the road.. Square- Up has been a great tool for us to use for credit card purchases. We have not experienced any delays in receiving our monies to our account and have had no problems with support from the company. I have recommended Square- up to other similar businesses and maintain this is a good company to do business with. Thanks Square-Up for your service and availability.

  • Paul Borrelli

    We need a class action suit against this scam of a company Square. I made my first deposit from a cc transaction of $4635.00. Only $2009.00 was deposited to my bank account. I have not had a reply to any of my email messages with Square. I’m a small company and in this economy every penny counts. 60 minutes need to do a new expose’ on the founder of Square, and not the wonderful one that they did that i’m sure brought in thousands of new costumers.
    I will be contacting the Attorney Generals office in Rhode Island and also the US attorney Generals office in Washington. I will not stop until all of my money is deposited in my bank account, and I don’t mean in 180 days.

  • Julya Billhymer

    SQUARE HAS NO CUSTOMER SERVICE PHONE LINE. I am NEVER doing business with them again. They are holding funds for NO REASON.

    I have dealt with them for 3 months and it has been a total mess. It’s like a Seinfeld episode….they are GREAT at TAKING your money…..MISERABLE at FUNDING your account.

    I am a criminal defense attorney, researching….they have to be violating several federal statutes in Commerce Code.

    SQUARE SUCKS!!!!

  • adam

    I ordered and received my credit card reader within the time frame they promised. I used the reader several times totaling roughly $300.00 in fees I paid which I agreed to per user agreement but after several uses they wanted a lot more personal information which I gave them and 10 minutes after I sent them the information they requested they closed my account WITHOUT REASON and are holding 457.00 that I swiped for payment from a customer and told me they are holding it for 60 days. This is absolutely ridiculous and very unprofessional especially when I’m making them money. I urge everybody to NOT to use square. It may seem like a good deal if you get it online for free or buy it in the stores for $10.00 DO NOT USE SQUARE THEY WILL SCREW YOU. And customer service is horrible.

  • Bob

    WOULD NOT RECOMMEND SQUARE SERVICES TO ANYONE. They are quick to inform you how easy it it to use until you do a transaction. Then they HOLD YOUR FUNDS up to half a year, are unreachable, take forever to reply, demand all information from you. And after you comply and provide all information that they requested. They simply CANCEL YOUR ACCOUNT WITHOUT EXPLANATION and simply say its due to risk. Im not the only one that had this happen too. MANY OF MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS HAD THE EXACT SAME ISSUE. SQUARE IS A PROFESSIONAL SCAMMER.

  • MICHAEL PIETRI

    Im start using square and now its a nightmare the have more than $4,600 since january 2013 and i dont know when they release the funds. No customer service, bad communication, they collect his fees but they dont deposit my funds. NOT RECOMENDED FOR SMALL BUSINESS.
    MICHAEL

  • Ritch Rand

    Square has poor business practices when it comes to larger deposits..

    Our company deposited $14,000.00 in Credit Cards in Feb. and they have taken there fees and still not released our funds. Buyer be ware.. They will hold your money and there is nobody to call. You can only E-mail them. We are having our Attorney General look into this practice.. they say that if the think there is a risk,? they can hold your money up to 6 months. This has to be a theft issue. The credit cards are at risk for any charge backs ETC.. I feel defrauded.. Is there nobody that can help us solve this problem.. Do not use this service…

  • Donna McGee

    I have used square for processing for almost two years and would give it an A rating. Much more competitive that former company, Elavon, and far easier to use, complete with support spread sheets, etc. Once I charged a customer twice by mistake and he was able to talk to a rep at Square. Very easy. Little phone support because they rely on twitter.

    • allen

      Your customer did not contact square. They contacted the bank that issued their credit card. Please get your facts straight before posting. There are hundreds of square clients on this fourm that are being hurt because there is little to no customer service offered by square.

  • Michelle Henney

    Square’s customer NO SERVICE attitude compels me to say that if I did business that way, I would be out of business! I had a $2000 hold placed on any funds collected above that amount. I objected and after many emails and phone calls, I was able to get that amount raised to $5000. In September of 2012, I had a reservation for two families in my Bed and Breakfast establishment for 8 people. Ten showed up and I was forced to move them to a much nicer location for the same price as they showed up at midnight and I just wanted to make them happy and go to bed! Two credit cards were collected from two families and later, they reversed the charges! Instead of Square backing me, they backed the client, went into my bank account and attempted to steal the funds. Ultimately, it worked out where I received payment from the clients but Square, without telling me, lowered my transaction amount back to $2000, flagged my account as “High Risk” and is holding my recent $2860 payment collected from a client!! Here is the email they sent me when I demanded that my money be placed in my account.

    “March 28, 2013

    Hi Michelle,

    Thank you for writing in. Please know that when you received a chargeback on 9/2/12, we attempted to hold funds associated with that chargeback. These debit attempts failed 3 times, which is a violation of our Merchant User Agreement Section 28: .

    Your account will remain under review until it is no longer deemed “high risk.” For more information around this policy, please see Section 42 of the Merchant User Agreement.

    In regards to the payment taken on 3/21/13 for $2,860.00, you may issue a refund to your customer and re-accept payment another way.

    Let us know if you have further questions.

    Jordan
    Square Chargeback Services​
    http://www.cardpaymentoptions.com/square_com/

    I have contacted Square via telephone number and have been hung up on my an automated machine that asks for input of a customer number or account number which they say is on email correspondence. The number that was on my email correspondence, did not register in their system and it hung up on me providing nothing but frustration. I have sent a total of 6 emails to Square within the last two days and have received nothing but canned responses and unhelpful advise and no mention of how to get my money that they are holding. In EACH of the emails, I have requested supervisor assistance and have been ignored. Of course, they want me to refund the client! Then they get another transaction fee and rip me off even further.

    I resorted to researching my previous emails and searching for someone in Customer No Service that I actually corresponded with me and was helpful. That was Norm P. I sent him an email today with hopefully, a solution to this matter.

    In the meantime, I switching permanently to Intuit as Square is a a sham.

  • Sam

    Square ??? Stay AWAY !!!! They just show the founder on the 60 minutes (I was allmost breaking the TV) how he created and how smart and how unsocial. This is exactly what this company is. They are ve unsocial and ignorant. They are holding my allmost $12,000 which were all signed and swiped transactions. It really hurts my cash flow and quality of my business services. It has been more than 2 months I only get pre-written e-mails to my questions. They rated me high risk ? I really dont get it, how can you be high risk when your customers sign and give thier card to swipe ? I think this is the way for them to make money. ABC- 60 minutes was just the cover their stealings. I am really considering flying up to San Fransisco and going their office with the police or FBI. This is unacceptable.

  • Signmaker

    Square has repeatedly demonstrated a severe lack of customer service paired with very questionable money transactions that should be deemed unethical and downright shady. Regardless of their fees, they must provide customer service and accessibility to their customer as any company that HANDLES PEOPLES MONEY would do!

    They really should be investigated by a supervising authority for the simple appearance of impropriety.

    “If it walks, talks and acts like a duck, it’s most likely a duck”

  • Rj Denicola III

    Square has over 5,000 dollars in funds done over the last 60 days from a customer that is out of state. After a recent laptops purchase of 1500 i got an email stating i needed to basically prove my company is really a corp. i did that and gave all needed and requested info, today i got a notice saying my account is high risk, and will be deactivated and the funds will be held for 90 days but i can refund! I already spent my own money on 3 of these larger transactions and only got a portion of the money back and and SOL until the 90 days are up this is BS AND SQUAREUP IS A FRAUD AND HAS NO WAY TO ACCESS THEM EXCEPT THROUGH AN OUTSOURCED EMAIL SYSTEM!!!

  • Richard Joe-Leonn

    I’ve tried to use is it and can’t get anyone to tell me if visa gift cards work so far it hasn’t I can’t get a hold of anyone I’ve tried more than ten times I’ve done the wait for an answer thing no answer yet

  • steve

    Square…this company is awfull. There is no merchant support what so ever…everyone beware! They cheat you on your deposit and will not support or follow through with chargebacks. The only response from this company is the same email over and over

  • alex

    I am a contractor (tile installer) Subcontracted a job, customer paid with credit card used http://www.cardpaymentoptions.com/square_com machine did not plugged in all the way so it didnt work, tried entering manually, ended up paying $35 extra.. It doesnt say anywhere on the box that they charge extra for manual transactions. On the top of that have to wait for a month before i get my rest of the money…. What am i suppose tell the guys that did the work…. YOu have to wait until i get paid. NO CUSTOMER SERVICE., NO PROPER EXPLANATION OF THEIR RULES. tHATE THAT COMPANY.. PEOPLE USE PAYPAL, USE THEIR MACHINE WITH PAYPAL ACCOUNT SAMETHING., AND THEIR FEE IS SMALLER. NEVER AGAIN DEALING WITH THEM. HOPE TO GET MY REST OF THE MONEY ON APRIL 12, 2013.

    • Brandon Rinebold

      Since there is no ‘box’ you see until after you sign up for service, I assume you are using that figuratively to mean their website. Actually, it does specify that manually typed charges are 3.5% + 15c on their charges page

      They are, by far, more forthcoming and simpler with their fee structure than any merchant account I’ve ever worked with. There are legitimate complaints about the excessive use of holds and inability to contact customer service but you’re really stretching it to claim there wasn’t adequate notification of the manual fees.

  • beem

    Be careful before you start using the card reader from Square. This company looks like a one man company without phone support. They will hold your money as long as they want and release the funds when they want. I am just waiting to transfer my $7000 t my bank and I am done with this company

  • Bob Tumlinson

    I used this pack of thieves service two times . The first time they got their fee and deposited the balance in my account in two days, no problems so far. The next week I did a job for my customer and they processed the $800.00 and took out their fee leaving me with the balance of $789.99, everything seemed fine. Ten days later they removed the funds from my Chase business account with no contact, no email, no explaination for taking the funds. I complained five times as of this writing. They refuse to speak to me and will only email. They admitted they made an error and were going to redeposit the funds in my account. Instead the day before they said they would redeposit my funds they withdrew a second $789.55 with no justification or explaination. The next day they did make a single deposit to my account of $789.55. As of this date these thieving bastards have deposited $789.55 twice and withdrawn $789.55 twice. That translates to a $0.00 flow of funds to my business. I hold an Excellent rating with the BBB and have a Super award Winner standing with Angies List. I do not know, nor have I ever fail any of my customers. There is no justification possible for this situation but out and out theft my Square Register

  • Fethi ERON

    I have a business with a hospital’s buying dept and have made a wholesale for +$1400 Yesterday . This company, I am selling more then 4 years without any problem. The person in charge has paid the $ 375 with the visa gift cards that the management of the company decided to not use and the company credit card for the rest. We checked all the gift cards once more and put them in the garbage after being used. I have the proof of sale and the signature of the authorized buyer. How can they suspend my account ? HOW CAN THEY HOLD MY MONEY FOR 90 DAYS. No logical reason. There is also no phone number to communicate. My check is subject to bouncing and I lost my credit and terms with my supplier and may loose my buyer because of this silly reason. Cannot trust to square anymore. Better to pay a few dollars more but have a MERCHANT COMPANY YOU MAY TRUST.

  • Wendy Potter

    Unless you want to wait months on your deposit and unless you enjoy paying tremendous fees stay away from Square up. This is the worst decision I have made concerning my business. Not only can you not call them, the only way they communicate is through email. Responding to email requests takes days. I am so unhappy with this service. When I finally receive my last deposit I am cancelling my account. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY ! You will get the shaft.

  • desneige Datillo

    I have had my “square” for several months. I use it for house calls or people who only have Amex. I have been planning to use it exclusively after my current contract with a wired in terminal is over. I recently sold a piece of medical equipment to a doctor in Florida. All he had was Amex. I entered all the info on the square. I noted the doctor’s phone number if they needed authorization and a description of the item. They sent me an email asking for me to “verify my account”. They wanted my tax id (which i already gave to them) a copy of my medical lisence, an article of incorporation from the state. I told the “customer service- grade fail!” that my accountant had all that paper work could there be another way, he is busy with tax season and i have been in business for 20 years. She said “no”. I said, “isn’t there a way you can look up my tax id and see that i am a legitimate LLC? “NO” So I asked, ” How about if I send you a copy of my bank statement showing my name and business name?’ She said “Yes” I sent her a copy of the invoice as requested and gave her my MA Board of Medicine ID#. She said that will be fine we will release your money ($7400) in two days and you can expect my supervisor” Omar, to call” I waited, no call. When i got home at 9pm last night there was an email from square saying they closed my account and i couldn’t get access to the money for 90 days! The reason, ” Confidential” I was a “risk” When i called to inquire what the problem was a robotic adolescent told me over and over “we have no supervisors here, you are a risk” When i repeatedly asked why i was a risk she replied” that is confidential” I am going to spread the word on this game. Attorney General, this can’t be legal, can it? Don’t use “Square” I would rate them as a failure!

  • jerry

    square is a scam…..BIG SCAM…they have $900 of my money tyed up for a month, and will not release my money, will not tell me why they have it tied up, nor can i contact anyone…..customer service sucks…

    • Erna

      I just took a payment from a repeat customer over the phone. We have swiped their card several times and they called in for an URGENT re-peat order. We sell Safety Products for the Construction industry and TIME IS URGENT as our customers need to keep their employees safe! SQUARE ONLY DEPOSITED $2002.00. OF THE 7K.. I CANT GET AHOLD OF ANYONE AND NO RETURN EMAILS!!!!!!! SQUARE IS A SCAM… THERE IS NO REASON THEY SHOULD HOLD THE MONEY.. JACK DORSEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF HIMSELF!!! i am finding that most people are finding out about this AFTER ITS TOO LATE!

  • Jack

    This company, Square, is now holding over $5000 from me and I can get absolutely nowhere with them. They first ask for 3 months of bank statements which I supplied along with copies of invoices for work completed. I then get a follow up set of questions from them which I once again answer and fax info in as requested. Then I receive an email stating “I see you have accepted a number of payments from the same client, What is the full scope of work that you expect for this client?” What? We are a service based company and hopefully have a long term relationship with this client. They’ve charged my customer but will not release funds to me. Stay away from these people. I always thought this was an honest company but now have to wonder if I’ll ever see a dime of my money. Class Action Lawsuit, please count me in!

  • Remy

    I’m going absolutely bonkers. I’ve written a TON of e-mails trying to ask them for help, and their customer service is HORRIBLE! Every single card has been declined. We’re talking seven people. Not only does that make me look unprofessional as HECK, but after asking them repeatedly for help, they keep insisting that the client needs to contact the bank and it has nothing to do with them, their reader, or their program. -_-

  • Shean

    Square’s customer service is nonexistent and when you finally do get to speak to someone they are rude and hang up on you. They took my 7500.00 deposit and then sent me an email requesting that I send them 90 days worth of bank statements and all sorts of other crisp to “verify” my account. That should be done when you sign up for service. They have held my money hostage. Will not deposit the funds in my account and will not refund my customer his money so he can pay me otherwise. If I do chose to play Their game they are still holding 5300.00 for 30 days. Square is a scam. They tie up your money while collecting interest on it and to hell with you. Their deceptive practices need to be stopped.

  • Michelle

    Square is only good for small businesses. Their fee is too large for larger businesses. I’m a small business with mostly cash transactions but the few times a customer has a credit card its great to say yes we accept them.
    If the business takes off, I’m sure I will start looking for a larger company but as of now, I’ve had no problem with them.

  • Fernando

    One of our customers issued a charge back of $ 5,670.00 We disputed and we won, AMEX deposited the money back to the merchant Square Up on 2/07/13. Up until today 03/03/13 Square Up has not deposited that money back to us, and has not returned our several emails. No phone # to call (are you hidding?), no body to ask what has happend. I am afraid this is a SCAM and may loose my money. I am extremely upset, I will never use Square Up again. There other larger and honest companies out there that provide an honest Credit Card system with good customer system.
    Too bad Jack Dorsey, the idea and the business seemed to be great, but you or your people are screwing it up!! I will follow you until I get my money back!!

  • Bobby Steward

    We have been using Square for almost a year and always received payments into our account quickly but my problem is customer service with NO PHONE number. We moved and changed banks but can NOT get Square to deposit their test amount into the new bank so that we can verify the new bank account. No matter how many times I have emailed Square to tell them the 2 small deposits have NEVER arrived at my new bank; they continue to email me and explain how to verify the bank AFTER I see the 2 small deposits they are supposed to make. It is a complete run-around and I am really getting SICK of it. I am ready to shop elsewhere for a new card reader company as Square is not the only one and their customer service sucks with NO PHONE number.

  • Jay

    Square is not the way to go for credit card processing. We signed up with and have been using Square for almost a year. I had already heard from a friend, after we had signed up with Square, that a business owner he knew was having trouble with them depositing large transactions. Since we had already signed up and don’t usually run super large individual transactions, we decided to keep it. The first incident we had with them was a few months ago when a customer disputed their charge which was immediately charged back. Even though we immediately sent over all of the documents to show that it was a legitimate charge, it took over 90 days to get the money back. The latest incident was that we received an email from their compliance department stating that we were a non-authorized business type according to their user agreement. I read through their user agreement and our business type was not listed. Since there is no way to contact them by phone, we emailed them back and told them that this wasn’t right. I did receive a response saying that they didn’t know anything and that our account appeared to be active and asked for all of our info. I responded with what they wanted and haven’t heard back from them for a couple of days. Needless to say, we switched to a more reputable company, Intuit, where we actually had the ability to speak to them through live chat and by phone.

  • mitchell fike

    I checked out square online and how they pay.. 24hrs, right? No!!! And when I called the acknowledged that they advertise that but if I checked my user aggreement that they have the right to hold my money. My account was current and correct.. or so I thought.. then I used it.. now I have to verify everything under the sun. Information they shouldnt be asking for. And when I ask how long 1-2 business days… its been 3days… if I call .. one to two days. The operators cant access anything, cant help at all.. they cant connect you to anyone that can.. ask tospeak with a manager… can you believe they dont have one… they could make 191.00 off me overnight or they can hold my money for weeks.. I dunno.. two toes down for the poorly developed Square.

    • Tonya

      Yes I just started using square device myself, 3 transactions, & I haven’t seen the money yet, I’m a single mom I need my money, I won’t use them anymore…I can’t find a number to call or anythingterrible, ain’t nobody got time for this put me on the class ation lawsuit also

  • Mark Brooks

    I own Mark A. Brooks, Inc. located in Panama City, Florida. It is a marine construction and diving business. I have a particular customer that is an international customer for whom I do maintenance. It has always been this customer’s policy that they always take about 3 months to pay me, but they always do pay me in full. So, in order to expedite money, my customer offered a credit card to process my payment, with which my involvement with Square, I had never taken payment in this form. Six months ago, anticipating future work with my international customer, we signed up with Square Reader. And, as we anticipated, we were successful in acquiring another job with same customer for substantiallly more than $1000.00. Upon completion of the most recent job, we ran the billing through our Square Reader – the transaction was approved, money changed hands from my customer to Square, and as you already knowm, the horror story began.

    On the surface, I had not reason to distrust Square. I have friends that use it. It is advertised extensively on cable TV and other advertising mediums, and up until this transaction, I had never heard anyone complain. I guess they are not as angry as I am. If the law protects these people, I guess there are other ways to get my money…anyone interested?

  • Gail M Strieter

    On February 18th at 6 p.m.EST $4,482,100.44 was shown as a cash transaction in my square-up account.
    I have been trying to use the Square-up support team and they say they cannot do anything.There is no one to talk to and they said they are unable to delete that transaction. We did not have $4,482,100.44 cash transaction . We did not use Square-up on February 18th. Can you help me? There are no addresses or phone numbers. My bookkeeping is a mess because of this. How can I get this removed from my account.
    Thank you in advance. Gail

  • R. Goodfellow

    I experienced difficulty before the application for the account was even finished. I own and run a Metaphysical supply and gift store. Under item # 26 of statement 6 of the Merchant Service Agreement, the service can NOT be used for sales of “occult materials”. I have written (since NO TELEPHONE CONTACT IS AVAILABLE ON THE WEBSITE) SEVERAL times asking for a definite definition of the vague term and have recieved NO response other than “violating the terms of the Merchant Service Agreement will result in the termination of the account”. I used the number provided here and actually managed (after more than a dozen attempts) to speak to a live person. When I enquired about the vague terms on their website I was met with annoyance. After a LONG converstion where I explained EXACTLY what I am selling (giving details on almost 1000 Different Items) I was told that Some of my transactions would be OK and others were NOT ALLOWED. For instence: Herbs or incense sold because they smell nice are allowed, but those perchased to be used in spells or homeopathic healing were not. Bells bought for their appearence, OK. Bells bought to use on a Wiccan Alter… NO. A statue bought for decoration, fine. A statue bought to represent Godesss or God, NOT ALLOWED.
    So, if I don’t want to LIE about the purchases my customers are making then I have to Police Their motives and THEN not be able to process their purchase through Square.
    NO THANKS. I’ll find a more helpful and less BIGOTED service!

  • Michael Patrick Murphy

    I found another problem with having a someone else accept charges for my business. If they accidentally opened a square account outside the invitation from my business, they end up with problems using their email address. Again, there is no obvious phone support to void the one account and turn it into an addtional person taking charges for my account.

  • Tyear

    I am at a lost for words at the lack of follow up from square. I had a client lie to them after claiming they never received serices they paid for and money was removed from my account. When I was asked on January 3, 2013 to provide proff of which I did. I have yet to get my money returned from them or even a real rresponse. I’m Really pissed off and I dont feel like my money that they get on a weekly basis is even appreciated. Im really considering taking my business elsewere an letting my fellow designers know to do the same.
    Tyear McCrary

  • Liz

    I have been using Square for over a year now and I love them! Never had any issues with them holding my money and the fees are always correct. I have used GoPayment as well but their pricing structure is not as simple and they are not as fast to deposit funds in my account.

  • Bryan Illerbrun

    I have a small boarding house in an area which has a high demand for workers to stay. We had Square for about a month and we’re very pleased as many of our customers only had company cards to pay for their rooms. Without any notice, Square terminated our service and as noted above they are holding the funds for 180 day – 6 months! They state I can return the funds to the purchaser. How do you give back money for a service you have provided? This has caused me a significant financial difficulty as there are utilities and bills to pay to keep it open. I hope to be able to seek some kind of legal remedy here due to the disruption in our ability to rent rooms to people who are able to get the amount of cash they need to rent a room. I am appalled that they can do this and I will send this complaint to the better business bureau and consumers digest. Any other suggestion are certainly appreciated

  • Dawn

    I have been using square since May of 2012, mostly small sales but somewhere along the way my money stopped being deposited in my account. It turns out it was being sent to another person’s account at the same bank (Chase). Now they say they can’t get the money back because the other person does not have the money in it to reverse the charges. My business had been increasing with several large orders, but now I am out over $2,000. How it was verified and worked and now is going into someone elses bank account (who spent it) has not been answered. I was able to get in contact via e-mail with someone who did forward it to the engineers but they still can’t fix it. Well, I am going back to my bank to sign up for their more expensive yet secure Merchant account. I can’t risk not getting paid for merchandise; it will put me out of business quickly! Sign me up for the class action lawsut if I can’t get my money back!

  • Andrew

    Initially we thought Square would be fantastic for my wife’s cupcake business. However, there are MANY flaws in their system. Firstly, in the Dashboard, very regularly you will not be able to see all your transactions. Sometimes only credit card transactions are visible, sometimes only cash transactions. This is infuriating to say the least.

    It seems their software developers have no idea how to write stable software or thoroughly test their changes. Secondly, the only way to get your transaction data is to manually download a CSV (comma separated values) file. These files are not formatted correctly, in that text is not quoted and dollar figures have a text “$” symbol included, which will break many import programs due to data type issues.

    They also have no API (application programming interface) and as far as I know they don’t plan to implement one. This means that you will not be able to automate your imports of data – you will have to manually download, then manually “fix” the data before importing, then manually import it into your accounting software.

    Another huge issue is the customer service. THERE IS NONE! Good luck getting responses from your emails.

    I would not recommend using this service to anyone if they can avoid it. Yes their costs are lower than most but the headaches may not be worth it.

    • Masu

      I wanted to do my part in stabilizing the economy. I’ve been unemployed for 3 years. January 2013 I started a new business and I excepted my first payment through Square and it appears because they made a small mistake and refuse to admit it, I suffer, my customer suffers because I am unable to perform my business with the customer until the my account credited .

      I have 11 days of extensive email communication to a person who refused to provide a Supervisor, phone number or any information to connect me to the company. I have called the Governors office of Consumer Protection and filed a complaint and forwarding documentation. I have phoned Clark Howard (a Georgia consumer advocacy organization), I will be filing a complaint online with Georgia and California’s Attorney General immediately.

      Square does business with STARBUCKS. I believed if a company of that size trusted them, as a small entrepreneur, I could too. I wonder if Starbucks can reach them, contact them? I’ve ask the local stores but no one has a number or name either. Wow with a capital WOW!

  • Jonathan

    This company is a total joke. I suspect the extent of their so called customer service staff is an answering machine on the floor of some abondonded building. Someone needs to report this scam to the authorities they are absolute theives. I can’t beleive they are still in business. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY you will regrete it, I promise you. They are completely aware of the issues and just dont care, period!!!! If you want to piss off your cutomers and have these people sit on your money as long as they want go for it otherwise choose ANYONE else because square is the absolute worst CC processing company EVER!!

  • Matt S.

    After reading all your horror stories I feel better about only have been taken for $100. Exactly one month after I made a $100 sale to a friend, ( 8 hours of yardwork) Square sent me a email saying that transaction was reported by the bank as bogus and I had 15 days to respond. I emailed square immediately and also contacted the customer who called her bank to fix her end of things. Square never responded to my request to challenge this. Less than 24 hours lapse and I get another email saying they are taking the $100 from my bank account and should happen in a day or 2 which it indeed did. I have sent 5 additional emails concerning this and have only been replied to by robo-email telling me to check out their customer service page. They have no phone number listed anywhere I can find. Its now been 2 months since the charge, and one month since they took my money from me. I have yet to hear a word from Square. Long story short, I’m out $100 and 8 hours of work. I couldnt imagine if this was a large job, I just cant have them going into my account and taking my hard earned cash (which usually would have been spent on bills.) I have since stopped using square and got a intuit.

  • Mack

    DO NOT SIGN UP WITH SQUARE.
    Company has been holding over $1100.00 of mine for 92 days now for no explained reason. I signed up with another processor after they began holding funds and have had no problems. Pathetic customer service. After 3 months of providing documents and getting the run around I have yet to receive my money (which my customer paid for long ago).
    This is a total scam. Who holds someone elses money for no reason and gets away with it?
    PLEASE SIGN ME UP FOR A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT.

    • Lisa

      Same problem here. holding 1000 of my dollars for WHAT? idk, My customer paid ME with this and they get the money. mine was only a week ago but i got the email where they wanted all my info, some of which i dont mind but bank statements and things i will not send. i was able to refund my client but i reallllly hope he gets his refund as now i am personally responsible. DON’T USE THIS COMPANY!!!! who else can just take your money and get away with it, your right Mack!! im NEVER using them again and advising everyone i know to do the same.

  • Joe

    I keep getting notifications about these comments and so I feel I should chime in again. I have been a Square customer for many months now and though I had a few problems at first, I am now humming along with pretty good consistency. I put through transactions from $200 to many thousands and have no problems with them holding my monies. When I need an increase I write them from their site and get an answer within the 24 hours they allocate for that type of response. I have gotten used to not reaching them by phone as that is not a service that they offer up. Over all I have been happy with the service, as I get my monies quickly, and the fees are reasonable. I realize that others are having problems but I am pretty happy with the service. I think if you have a stable base of customers that are themselves stable, you are likely to have a good experience. That is my experience anyway. I am not a shill, I am a real customer. I just think you should here both sides.

  • Pete Woodworth

    I am consumately disappointed in Square, in addition to being mis-led. Here’s the deal: Bought an HTC One V (4.0 Android) so that I could use the Square Credit Card scanner @ 2.69 % fees. The problem is that the friggin scanner won’t work which means that every transaction must be input manually. Oooops… Different fees: 3.75% plus 15 cents. Complaints to Square fall on deaf ears… Apparently, they like the fact that they can charge me more. I’m on the hunt for the first credit card scanner that actually works with my HTC One V. BTW, HTC is no help either. Square points a finger at HTC – HTC at Square. If anyone out there can help me solve my problem, I’m all ears!

  • OSJ

    Hay, you guys scaring me. I have been using square now for 4 months. I have not had any problems so for. However, I don’t like the no phone customer service contact. Also I am a small volume, small transaction merchant. If I process by 8:00 PM My funds are in my bank the next morning before the bank opens. I use an IPad mini with DSL wifi, no problems so for. The card has always swiped if I do it correctly. Before I recommend square to any one else I will surely advise them of these issues that you all have so kindly shared. Thank you!

  • Jesse L Johnson CEO

    I purchased Square last year. I found it was a great way to conduct business. This month, I swiped a card from a client. I would not work. So they tried another card. Again, no go. So we proceeded to punch in the numbers manually. The card was approved by Square, then brought up the signature page. The customer signed on the phone for the total amount of the sale. We then emailed the receipt to him.
    SQUARE now says there is NO recored of this transaction. I have a printout from my customers bank and it clearly shows the transactions. But the continued emails from square claim there was no such transaction. ALSO, I have to figure this out via email alone.

    I live in an area with 6 military bases and allot of small businesses. I will forever give square a thumbs down! This money is allot to me as being a sole Owner and Small veteran owned business! I make very little so every amount counts. If this cannot be repaired by Square,. the next step is small claims court!
    Sincerely disapointed! Jess Johnson CEO Umbrella Tactics

  • Pamela

    My problem with Square is from a customer standpoint. I ordered something online, and when the merchant processed my payment using Square, Square sent my receipt to my husband’s email address instead of to mine. I clearly had used my own email for the purchase. My husband had made a purchase elsewhere a couple of months before, and that merchant also used Square. Obviously they are storing credit card info. I’ve been exchanging emails with their customer service, and I can’t seem to get it across to them that I don’t want our credit card info stored *anywhere.* He says it’s to make it easier for a customer when they make future purchases. Forget that, I don’t want my info stored, I don’t care how inconvenient it is.

  • Karen

    Communicating with “Square” is definitely a problem. Having technical difficulties with the phone results in lost sales because of the lack of customer support. Also, the square prong broke off in my phone and they have basically said,” Good luck. Take it to a phone repair store. That very rarely happens.” The prong is made of plastic, so it would be easy to break off in a phone. My phone has been rendered semi-usable because the headphone port thinks there is a headphone plugged in. They have not been helpful with this annoying and crippling problem.

  • Yellow Blue Stars

    I also have a problem with Square.
    They hold took money from my bank account and hold money more than 2 month.
    Even I tried to call their customer service, they hang up.
    Even we send some question to customer service e-mail address, they don’t pay attention our last e-mail and never answer our question.

    Sign me up for class action suit!

  • Native7

    Square has held my funds for 1 year now. They no longer respond to my e-mails at all and of coarse do not have a phone that anyone answers. I, like everyone else was lured in to this scam and the first few transaction went ok………..then ran over $40,000 in 2 weeks and they froze our account, demanded extensive documentation (which we provided) then still refused to pay us. Our customers have all been charged and paid their bills long ago. We were able to issue refunds to the majority of customers (which made us look VERY UNPROFESSIONAL) and charge their cards using another processor, but they are still holding over $6000. on Feb 21st it will be a full year. Don’t believe any comment that is positive toward this company as they are probably paying someone to write them. NO ONE gets on the internet and writes comment on a complaint board unless they are FURIOUS. I have contacted three attorneys about a class action. As soon as I sigh with one I will post on all board so everyone can join and stop these idiots. Good luck to all!

    • susan miller

      I cannot believe these people get away with this. Back in December I was advised of 3 chargebacks and was told I had 15 days to respond with documentation. After having submitted the said documents they emailed saying they would support me in this case (I never even received a depost for one of the transactions!) but they withdrew the funds anyway. Now after reading several complaints I have come to the sad realization that I will not get paid but can add my self to the long list of other businesses swindled by these crooks.
      Hopefully there will be a lawsuit against them

  • Richard Monteforte

    I am in the same boat as most of you. I took a $4K plus payment from one of my customers in December, and had $2K plus withheld now for 25 days. When I questioned this I was instructed to send in copies of bank statements to be reviwed for a deposit increase. I did. This was their response on 12/31/2012. (Hello Monteforte, We’ve received your completed form. We’ll review your information and get back to you within 1-2 business days.)
    Sincerely,
    Square Account Services (copied from their email)

    On 1/13/2013 I received the following NOW saying they did not receive the documents.

    Hello Richard

    Thank you for writing in. We do not show the additional information form has been completed. We had requested the following documents to review in consideration of a higher manual entry limit:

    – Your three most recent bank statements for the bank account linked to your Square account.

    Once you send us these documents, we will continue the review of increase in your payout amount and release any deferred payments for deposit to your bank account. You can send the documentation to us via this email thread with file attachments. Popular formats are PDF and JPG.

    Sincerely,

    Square Account Services.

    I strongly believe there is an unstated motive of using these undistributed funds to bolster the Company’s bottom line and parlay the unreleased funds to make additional money through interest or investments.

    [contact information redacted]

  • Doug

    Company is an absolute JOKE, they could care less about the merchants and have no clue on how to handle, respond to unsubstantiated charge backs from customers. They have taken 348.00 from us for a AMEX chargeback that AMEX found in us the Merchants favor back on December 6th it is now January 19 and we have yet to receive this money back from square who promptly took the funds out of our account but cant figure out a way to put it back in. A JoKE this company is, you cannot speak to anyone and they hide behind e mails. DONT Do business with this company if you are a merchant

  • Tim Pearson

    Do not sign up with Square!!!
    Everything was fine for almost two years at a low volume.
    Now my sales increased and all of a sudden Square is sitting on $6000 of my money!
    They say 30 days that’s BS!!!
    They took the money from my customers, they took their cut, and now they won’t release my funds??
    They are thieves!! Does anyone know the physical address for this company?
    I will get my money!

  • jjj

    customer services sucks they hang up on me twice they are holding alot of my money for 90 days and they don’t have a reason why its like them getting there paychecks hold for 90 days how would they like it they won’t even talk to my lawyer they hang up on him what they are doing is not ok i think we all should open a class act law suit the problem is they have no manager when asked to talk to one they hang up on u I am done with company but i am not down with put a law suit on them they should shut this company down

  • Steve

    I have a small business and signed up with Square about 8 months ago so that I could offer this payment option to my customers. I have had two good experiences and now-I am so frustrated! My customer’s card was charged but Squre has not released my funds. They required me to send information (over the net) about my business and as of two days ago, posted I could expect payment in the first week of February—-In the meantime I am working for the same customer who hired me based on the assumption they could pay with their credit card. I think I am in DEEP!

  • karen rocchio

    Not a good start. I entered my business address instead of my personal address on the sign up page, so Square would not let me accept payments. On the troubleshoot page, it mentions to just go back in and change the address, but I cant find a way back to that page. I emailed Square, they have not gotten back to me yet. I called Square, but they basically direct you to send them an email, and the automated system hangs up on you without notice.

  • Don

    I have been with Square for at least 10 months now and such a big savings over the traditional methods. Some of the reviews’ comments is just why I like them. I have a small business, less than $1000 per month and usually small transactions. They never asked me for detailed information on my business or persoanal information like Intuit and Goanywhere, which saved me a great amount of time. In over 1000 transactions my money has always made it to the bank with days, as they promised and mothing missing. Only one hold for a +$1000 transaction, which is rare for me, but still only was held for less than one week. THe ease of use (although having to swipe the card several time using my first generation iphone) but with the ipad, very quick, done with 10 seconds. Payanywhere advertises a lower rate, but it took them 15 days to send me their swiper (two days for Square or pick it up at Radioshack, Target, etc) and once I got the goanywhere swiper I had to make a call to their customer service to get logged on. I was on hold with Goanywhere customer service nearly 15 minutes and finally hung up, waste of time. I have never had to call Square’s Customer Service, so have not experienced that. Their web site allowed me to see all transactions, fees, so quite satisified (although would like a lower rate). Keeping Square!

  • Everett

    Have been in buisness for over 15 years signed up for the square no problems at first then all the sudden we are not getting our deposits, no way of a contact number to find a reason wh ,yno way of talking to a personand we all know we have credit card problems, we thought this was a better way to go but we will no longer use the square due to lack of every thing, we run a buisness and if it was done like they do we would be out of buisness as they will be soon, i know alot of people using the square and im putting the word out every where i can possiably put it, DONT USE THE SQUARE YOU WILL GET SCREWED.

  • Ruth

    I have a low volume business, less than 1000.00 a month so this credit card processing is perfect for me. I have been with them for 4 months now had no issues and I’m very satisfied with their service. The fees are very low and they are perfect for a business like mine. I read all the reviews here and I don’t think it is suited for a business that does high volume credit card processing. I love the convenience and I have repeat customers so chargebacks or high dollar charges are not an issue with me. I was paying over $200.00 a month just for processing fees with another company so for me signing up with this company was the best thing I did for my business.

  • bitash

    I could not be more UNSATISFIED. This is FRAUD. These morons have NO CUSTOMER SERVICE NUMBER! How the hell is that possible? When you call customer service you cannt get through to anyone and they just hangup on you. So its a FAKE number. No one to talk to. Square has been holding on to our money since Oct of 2012! When I inquired about why there has been No deposit, i get an email back in 4 days stating, oh…there has been an inquiry on your account so we are holding on to the payments!!!! what? why was I not informed? Why did i not get an email stating whats goin on so we can resolve this asap. Instead, they just kept collecting my $ and now they keeping it! This is FRAUD. I will contact BB, this is terrible customer service. I would sign up with another company. I am done with square!

  • creative consulting group ov

    We are a small business and have been signed to square.com for over seven months. We were apprehensive about leaving a comment because it appears the majority of recent comments have been negative and bad experiences. It made me think are these comments from competitors.

    We have not had one transaction not process within two days maximum.

    The comment by a poster regarding the use of WiFi and disabling we found to be accurate in our case.

    We realize that paypal offers a .1% difference but the issues that we incurred with paypal allowing
    an unauthorized vendor (domain company) to automatically debit our account monthly without a contact
    eliminated paypal from our choice. If anyone can post an alternative that is proven reliable besides
    paypal let us know. Thanks

  • Adam

    Awful experience just signed up and had all my bank information verified and reived a complimentary deposit. Once I attempted collect from a customer with a credit card they hold the funds and say my bank is no longer verified. I try with no avail to update information and only get e-mail responses dancing around the fact that they will not release my funds to me. I have made multiple requests at this point to close the account and the only response I get is to give them more banking information. This company is a scam

  • Chris

    Going on 2nd week of no monies for transactions
    Made with square and will not return emails and will not
    Tell me why I am not being paid my $2000+ pay pal
    here I come! Sign me up for class action suit!

  • Steve

    I am finding a lot more problems than were discussed in your review.
    The set up page for receipts has very limited options for putting in your logo with regard to the size and layout.
    It required that you use Firefox instead of internet explorer.
    The card reader virtually doesn’t work with the ipad mini or the regular ipad. I think I got it to read 1 time out of 50 tries. It never recognizes the “swipe” However, it seems to work fairly well with the iphone.
    Customer support has been horrible!
    And I haven’t yet had any real transactions……

    My rating is an F for this reader! I do not recommend this reader to anyone!

  • Marlie D

    Square is a joke, tried for 6 days to update bank info and they kept saying verify by emailed link. Nope never was sent. Went through new years not being able to accept mobile payments. There is no contact # just send an email then get some idiot who repeates themselves. Cancelled our account and went with Intuit Go Pay

  • rafael

    i used square for about six months & everything was going well. on two occasions i made deposits from my account to another account & although they withdrew the money form my account, it never deposited the money in the other account. for 2 weeks ive been trying to find out whats the problem & even by leaving email ive yet to talk to anyone. i ended up having to pay this person with my own money. they have no way of contact. once i find a way to get the withdrawn money back, i will throw the square card reader in the trash where it belongs. would not recommend this company to my worst enemy.

  • Calvin Brackins

    Square card is a scam…I have over 900.00 that they are holding for no reason at all. I was sent an email saying they are closing my account and the funds are being held for 180 days. six months…If you are looking to use square card, DO NOT DO IT. Find another company or another provider.

  • Chris Spence

    I have been trying for over a week to get a reasonable answer out of the company about their latest app update. I actually read the update before clicking AGREE.

    The latest app update has a provision for the app to access the camera,audio and video recorder on your phone, and I quote, “at any time”. Now, I understand being able to attach a picture of a product or a customer to a transaction. I don’t understand and I question the wording “at any time”.

    The email exchanges have been insulting, frustrating and amusing. With the feeling that they are intentionally dancing around my question. After no fewer that half a dozen exchanged they have yet to acknowledge my question of why I should give permission for the app to access those features “at any time” or why they would need to be accessed when I am not processing a transaction.

  • David Saxby

    As a Canadian I have discovered when you go on line to sign up for your account the sign in page asks for a ZIP Code. We use Postal Codes in Canada. The system will not accept postal codes. Square was launched in Canada and there is no Canadian office or support line for the Canadian market.
    Also, when it asks for bank account information the numbers we have for bank accounts don’t work.
    And trying to reach Square is only through email. No chat line and no phone number.

  • Shawn Miller

    I recently started using “SquareUp” service and card reader. I provided all information and documentation required on initial application. My application was reviewed and approved. When I received my card reader, I tried a test transaction, which was successful. So, I felt comfortable completing my first transaction with a customer, for the services that my company provided. After completing the $2,500.00 transaction I received an e-mail from “SquareUp”, requesting that I provide additional information to verify my business, and that the $2,500.0 payment would be deferred till I provide this extensive list of documentation. It was very difficult to get live customer sevice, all of their phone numbers seem to lead to mailboxes. I provided all of the 40+pages of documentation for review, and was ultimately deemed “high risk” and service promptly revoked, without explanation. It is their,initially undisclosed, policy to hold the money for 180 days (six months!). Now my payroll checks are going to bounce, a week before Christmas! My complaint with “SquareUp” is that all information/documentation should have been verified prior to accepting my application and providing service. Also, they need to disclose all of their sketchy policies from the onset. Getting customer service or technical support is very difficult, and to hold my money for six months is outrageous. I feel I have been defrauded.

  • Purnima som

    There is no customer service. I refunded a credit to a client for two 25000 on his credit card. Money was taken out of my account . My client didn’t receive the money for three weeks. I was told two many sales were done for one year I need to do a llc. I just did that the very first sale for 12000 they will not process they want to hold the money for 180 days. I am calling attorney generals office. I just found out lot lot of people are having the same problem with them

  • Cass

    Can someone tell me if manual payments are deposited at the exact time of keyed? If entered on 11/13 at 1:45 PM should I not be expecting the deposit until 12/13 at 1:45 PM? Not seeing a deposit and after reading all of these concernes I am starting to get worried.

      • Wayne Guy

        Same with us. All our transactions are manual entries and we receive the funds the next morning.

        As I said, I don’t think Square is for everyone, especially if your transactions vary wildly and you can’t establish a pattern early on.

        Square, unlike banks, seem to accept anyone and his second best friend as a client. It seems because of that that they are unusually cautious with their security. Early on we encountered that and they were going to hold some of our larger transactions. After emailing them we got those freed up and we haven’t had any issues in a long time.

        Right now we are happy with them and have no inclination to move elsewhere, so for all those merchant account vendors that phone after I comment, please don’t.

  • Barb

    I ordered my square just the other day (haven’t received yet) as well as a new phone (apple 5). After picking up my new phone I realized that head set jack were the square is to be inserted is now on the bottom of the apple phone!!!!!!!!! I hope this isn’t a problem for swiping!!!! Does anyone have any feed back on this?? I did hear when you are swiping the card reader with a phone that has a head set jack on the top of the phone you have to hold it steady with your thumb..How is this going to be done when the head set jack is now on the bottom!

  • DAMON JAMES

    Square was good at first but now not so much I been using square for almost 8 months I have mobile computer and cell repair even was great especially since I didn’t have to deal with cash all the time and out of nowhere square just decide to hold my funds next the ask for bunch of useless information like your facebook and or tweeter account your business info which I provided next thing I know they said my business is to high risk and that they are deactivating my account the will hold the fund for 45 days if i can’t wait 45days i should refund all the payments to my customers and have them pay me another way. I decide I’ll just wait, after the 45 days was up I emailed them so they can release the funds they sent me an email 5 days later telling me they released the funds and I will get an email once the deposit has been initiated 10 days later still nothing until I took DAVE CHAFFEE advice and told square i was going to file a complaint with the attorney generals office and start tweeting COO Keith Rabois @Rabois and Jack Dorsey and flood there tweeter accounts with complaint my funds were released the next day. if you are looking for to take payments for your business don’t use square they are plenty of other processors you can use with better customer service actual people you can talk to with a number to call rather than emailing back and forth for days

  • RT

    I am surprised to read so many negative posts about Square. After accepting credit cards for nearly 15 years, Square is the fourth merchant service I have used, and the first that has not ripped me off. Their rates are low and the money is usually sent to my bank in one business day. They immediately notify me how much of the charge will be deducted for their fee. No surprise fees have popped up like I experienced with other merchant services. I have not processed any unswipped amounts over $ 2,000 so I havn’t experienced any of the problems some users have complained about with funds being held. However with all the credit card fraud that goes on I find this reasonable so they can keep their fees low. Maybe the Square is not best for everyone but I give it an A+ rating.

  • AV Los Angeles

    Another dummy to fall victim to the Suare Scam. I used them for about 4 months. Every thing went great but then out fot he blue, the deposit stoped coming. All transcations were under $100 but only one was over $100. 15 days went by and no deposits were made, I emailed them and they replied that my account was under review for security reasons. They asked for all kinds of doucments to verify my business. I supplied every one of them ony to be sent an e mail that my account was being closed becaused it was high risk. and they would be holding my money for 120 days. Can you believe these f**n idiots. How is my legitimate business high risk, I have no charge backs, no complaints all my business documents are in order. Now I need to get my money and have no clue where to turn. For the looks of it, they do this sort of thing too often. That cannot be legal, there’s got to be a away to bring these crooks to justice. IF YOU DONT HAVE SQUARE, DONT FALL VICTIM TO THIS SCAM. YOU WILL REGRET IT AS MANY OF US IN HERE ARE.

  • Tony

    BEWARE OF Square USER AGREEMENT.They cancelled our account.because we own a head shop and it seems this is immoral or something. Seems.
    Pretty ridiculous coming from the most liberal pot smoking
    city in the world. Locked me out and because of their nonexistent customer service I had no idea what was going on and so I set up again and it was cancelled again. I GUESS THEY DON’T WANT TO GIVE BACK ALL THOSE FEES TOOK FROM MY ACCOUNT. I WILL TAKE MY BUSINESS ELSEWHERE. PLEASE CHECKOUT THEIR USER AGREEMENT IT IS. SO FUNNY.

  • Alex

    My small business had an order online for which we ordered and sent merchandise to the customer well after the money cleared in our account for safety. Then because we wanted extra assurance we emailed Square to inquire about the possible fraudulence of the transaction. Square replied informing us this is business as usual on this date within a couple days. We then shipped the merchandise insured via USPS to customers supplied address. The day the merchandise was signed for and received the customer applied for a charge-back stating he did not receive the merchandise. The customer never spoke to us prior to issuing the charge-back. We have ALL documents to prove we accepted the payment, purchased goods from our vendor, and sent the merchandise accordingly as directed by the customers needs. As a small business owner I’m sure the only thing we could’ve done to improve our security would be to only accept cash or money order. Now the full amount of the merchandise has been debited from our account by Square and we feel we have been taken advantage of. We of course immediately attempted to dispute the charge-back providing the tracking number of the goods and now the invoice and emails of the customer. Only after hours of searching did we find Square’s phone number. There appears to be no customer service number listed on the website at all. Now we are left with no funds and we also already shipped the merchandise. The customer is completely unresponsive. Square has as far as I can tell done nothing to help us. Because we are a small business we do not have enough money to cover all the costs. This leaves our business with a negative balance and cripples our ability to continue to do business.

  • Dane Chaffee

    An update from my review the other day. I contacted the California Attorney general’s office, and the San Fran district attorneys office. I also tweeted COO Keith Rabois @rabois.

    I told them they had one day to release my funds or I would file complaint with the AG office. Next morning my funds were released. Everyone needs to tweet Jack Dorsey and Keith Rabois.

    You cannot let square get away with holding funds from your accounts.

    DANE CHAFFEE

  • Stephanie

    Square was great for the first few months, and then everything fell apart. If you process larger transactions, do yourself a favor and use any company BUT Square.

    First problem with Square- you cannot initiate a partial refund. I had to refund the entire amount a customer was charged, then I was told it could take 5-7 days for them to get their refund. That meant we had to wait 7 days to charge the customer’s card again. Email support, when they finally answered, was woefully uninformative.

    Next issue- we keyed in a card for over $2k because their shoddily constructed reader would not work. For “security purposes” they are holding those funds for 30 days. Nice, right? How can a small business survive while a company like Square holds the money to gain interest from it? Isn’t it enough that you charging rather high fees?

    Issue that sent us over the edge- first chargeback ever happened recently. Still in dispute. Now they are holding all of our incoming funds (without warning us, of course). Our Square balance is now $2,121.25, and yet I get emails that our Square balance is negative and that they are debiting our BANK for the amount of the chargeback. Since they are holding $2k+ of our funds, why not just debit the chargeback from that? Greedy much? Also, they have done nothing to help us dispute the fraudulent chargeback against our account.

    Square may give you a free reader, but you’ll pay dearly for it!

    [Sentence redacted for promotional violation]

    • Bill

      Stephanie,
      I had the same issue with Square a few months back (the bad review is on here somewhere). Square never did anything about what I called fraud charges (almost a year with no feedback whatsoever from them). Fortunately, my bank (Chase) agreed with me, and took care of my finacial losses, and handled the issue with Square on their own.
      Ive needed the credit card ability, and decided to use Intuit’s Go Payment. It has an A- rating here (Square has C-), and its only an A- because some peoples reviews are negative because they dont know how to use the APP or dont like the reader…. (the APP is easier than Square).
      Anyway, Intuit is so far the bomb. Ive charged several thousand dollars (10 transactions) with only one issue. And that issue was I charged a customers card twice in one day (my first transaction with them), and a red flag went up. I got a notice from them for me to contact them, so I called, and after a little wait, I got a live person who was the most friendly woman Ive ever spoke to on the phone, and she took care of it immediately! Now get this, in a few days, she called me up for no reason, other than to make sure Im happy, and to let me know the funds should be in my account now! UNREAL. Im very impressed.
      I thought Id share this with you, so you can try another card swiper company, and know another Square victim found something better. I hope you like them. Their gig is the same as Square as far as sign up. Just sing up, get your free reader, download the APP, and your ready.
      I hope this helps you :)
      – Bill

  • Michael

    Hello everyone,
    I had square for a year now, and worked fine with it till now. DO NOT USE THEM!! out of nowhere they closed my account and took my funds without a concrete reason. They do not have a legit phone number and their email communication does not help. I am a Reverend, and do not have to lie.
    Please if you value your money do not use them.
    God bless

  • Dane Chaffee

    This is a warning for anyone considering using squarepay for credit card processing. Don’t ever use them for anything. I have had funds held now for over 45 days. Square won’t tell me why they are holding funds. I sent them a noter i zed contract for the charges in question over a month ago. Jeanette keeps asking for documents that have nothing to do with this company. They are by far the worst company I have ever dealt with.

    They dojo have a 1-800 number, or, any number for that matter. I have filed a complaint with CA Attorney General’s office. Also with the BBB.

    Find somewhere else to run your cards. Jeanette and square aren’t worth the hassle.

  • Laura

    I obtained a Square for business at tradeshows for our company. There are international tradeshows that occur over the weekends not allowing direct connection for credit card approvals via the home office. The device seemed easy to work with, spoke of direct access to depositing funds from the charges at these tradeshows into our company account and provided professional receipt correspondence to the customer on each transaction.

    Collecting funds from Square has proven to be a nightmare. The amount of information they require to verify the company is more than I have ever experienced. Despite providing them with latest advertising materials, specifications of our company, copies of all invoices from the show, descriptions of what we do and why we do it, to name a small few, we complied with their requests in attempts to collect our funds. The company had major concerns when asked for the last 3 bank statements from our company, confidential information that should be contained in a CDA, post tradeshow. To date, funds have not been collected and our company currently is in limbo with collecting $15,000. Square has no direct contact to any manager by phone and the response our President, Controller, Accountant and I received when requesting to speak with a manager was that she only responds in emails and would get back to us in a “few hours”, leaving our company no comfort in knowing Square had any concern over discussing this issue. The call-in number, we were told, was only for technical support and their was not direct access to any management.

    If there are any thoughts of moving forward with using Square, I would recommend reconsideration. My personal experience left me disgruntled and in an age where customer service is so important, very unimpressed with Square’s attempts to satisfy their accounts.

  • teresa

    These people are crooks! They ar not a banking institution. They are money aggregators and do not have to follow the same laws that legitimate financial institutions do. I had the very same problems everyone else had with them holding $7000. It was a nightmare but fortunately my bank helped me out. I had a regular merchant account for many years and had a great rate. I thought I was avoiding th monthly fees by using square. I was wrong. If you are a legitimate business and you are processing larger transactions use a bank the fees are lower and there is recourse should something go wrong. Richard Branson (Virgin) is a major investor in Square. If people start boycotting all Virging projects in protest, I bet something will be done. In the meantime social media can be the great equalizer. Go to the founders Twitter account and start tweeting away. We need this to go viral!!!

  • Jack

    C- is too good for Square. Here is the scoop …. A card was presented and swiped, it was a much larger than our usual dollar amount and the Square software asked for the # to be keyed-in, the clerk didn’t think anything about it and keyed it in with the expire date, etc, the customer signed it and drove away in their new used car. That should not be the case and I believe it was done on purpose by Square to attain the larger fee. Square did release 2k but I have to wait another month to receive the balance on the transaction. Can you say fraud? I’ll be looking for a new processor. I’m on the fence as to reporting to the FBI.
    If they are allowed to use my money for a month then they should be required to pay me interest.

  • Kevin

    I am a new user. Square is holding $16,000.00 of my funds with no explanation.

    After three weeks I have received absolutely NO communication. They do not respond to email. They do not answer the phone.

    I made $16,000.00 in sales using my Square card reader.

    Square has paid me $0.

    I guess I have to file a police report and/or a lawsuit to get a response from them.

    • Douglas

      I had the same issue when I first started with square. I called them and let them know that I was going to be running much larger amounts through my account and the 1000 a month was not going to work . . .if I remember if you swipe the card instead of keying it in you get paid the following day. My understanding is that they do this to allow a relationship to develop otherwise any scammer could run false cc for 30 days and take the money and stick square with the bill. So you need to let them know you need to increase your limit and I think they pay out 30 days from initial charge . . .gve it another week .. .at this point you are still within their rules and regulations so a lawsuit will do nothing but make you feel better…
      Doug
      P.s. square needs to have a live customer service line or they are going to start losing clients …if they have not already

  • Kelly

    I love using square to process our credit cards , as long as you know there terms it works great ! I usually have my funds the next day! I used a major credit card company before for processing and was always charged a crazy rate and then a monthly rate as well, with square I know what I am looking at! Just wish they had a call center for customer service but I have only needed to call them once for a question I was able to find in the support page!!!
    Highly recommended

  • chucke

    When Square works, it works great. When it doesn’t, good luck with customer service. I suspect they use bots to answer questions, because after a week of email exchanges, they are clueless about my problem. A retarded monkey in a coma could provide better customer service.

  • Ed

    If you forget your password and you select the forget password link….you will NEVER get response and you acn then never access your account or close your account. This means they have your account information and you are now helpless.
    Countless emails and messages and no response.
    This company needs to get investigated by the commerce department, FBI and BBB.
    It is borderline fraudulent.

  • CB

    I have commented before on Square and not been completely dissatisfied but certainly when it comes to customer support it definitely suxxxxxxx . Switching to payanywhere. Created an account, have talked to a real person on customer support and sent an email with a couple questions. Very quick and informative response. Was unable to use Square’s Register because it is not supported with Android. Payanywhere does seem to have an inventory/pos in it’s app so looking forward to using it. or not???

  • Tom Crowe

    Square is a great idea and very convenient for small business owners like myself. However, they have NO customer help line and little explanation as to how it all works. They withheld ALL my income from my summer seasonal business. It took me weeks to find out where the money went. They finally sent me an email saying that all my money was finally deposited in my bank account. I still am not sure it has been deposited.

    The whole time I was using Square there no mention of any problem. I think that they use the money and collect the interest leave the customer in the dark. As convenient and a break through in credit card processing, Square deserves an F in the way they take advantage of their clients. I am sure that there are other companies out there that will offer the same opportunity with realistic service. I will never use Square again. I would not recommend anyone use Square. It is a total rip off.

  • JC CONCRETE

    Square says they charge 2.75%for swiped transaction and 3% fee for manually input transactions but charged well over that amount. Our company has been trying to contact them regarding this matter but has not gotten a response as of yet. We disapprove of the fact that there is no customer service telephone number to resolve this matter.

    • Phillip CPO

      According to Square’s terms of use, you agreed to allow them to withdraw chargebacks after you close your Square account. If you close your attached checking account, you will still be liable to reimburse them for chargebacks.

  • Joe

    I have used Square for almost a year now with NO issues even the knowledge of their less than stellar rating with the BBB.org. It was brought to my attention by a VP of a bank. My transaction amounts rarely surpass $199 at a time and do not exceed $1200/month. That being said. I love using Square. Thank you Square.

    • Mark Brazo

      Good luck with Square when you actually have a problem or question, they dont have any live customer service and they never answer their emails, your a fool if you think they are a good company, I have had nothing but problems with them!!!

      Mark

      • Wayne Guy

        Mark, I agree when you say that Square seems to have no live customer service. But, we have emailed them on a number of occasions and have always received a reply within 24 hours.
        We put through maybe $20,000 each month with small to larger transactions. No problems.
        Square is not as straightforward as your local bank with their expensive merchant services, but if you learn their peculiar protocols you’ll save a bunch of your money without any issues. Just make sure you email them in time to request projected increases in weekly transactions.

        • Robert

          @Wayne Guy: The common thread here is that everyone IS trying to “learn their peculiar protocols.” If they put everything out front in large type, their wouldn’t be much to learn, peculiar or otherwise. I don’t think anyone has accused them of being more problem prone than other processors—it’s just that there is no chance at a meaningful conversation to resolve an issue when it arises. (24-hr email response time in 2012 is akin to carrier pigeons.)

          I suspect the reason for great disparity between those who have a problem and those who seem not to, lies in Square’s internal and secret risk analysis. The factors may include a credit report, banking history, years in business, nature of business, prior processor relationships, etc. Even though they may not ask about these items, they may factor them in. You will NEVER know. It seems no features can compensate for their lack of on-line (even chat) immediate customer support.

  • Livonda Williams

    I cant believe a company working with something as important as someones money didnt cover every aspect of the buisness. This is terribly rediculous. I am another square card dummy to scan my account to test didnt get the reciept text back though o well it may take 24 hours went ahead serviced a client and took their payment showed them my email as I was embarrased and now the money isnt in the account and I dont have no one to cleared up everything. Its called tech Support / customer service/ billing. I totally dont believe this. Who do we report this to? BBB Federal where do we go from here?

  • duanne

    I thought square would be a good product how ever if you have problems there is no one to talk to help. They are quick to get the money but hard to reach. We have emailed and even changed accounts thinking there is a problem. I guess the take the money and run

  • TE

    WARNING. Don’t use square for any large sums! After I had customers swipe their cc and had several thousands of dollars in square account, they (square) asked for tons of private information. I didn’t feel they needed but I gave it to them anyway. They finally emailed me after my numerous attempts to reach them by email or phone. This email said they(square) have decided to hold my money for 6 months for an undisclosed reason! I just had to disclose my entire life to them and they won’t disclose to me why they are holding my money…hmmm. They gave me the option to refund my customer but by reading thru the above, doesn’t sound like they honor that either. Now what? Isn’t there a law that if you are a company whos business is to hold other peoples funds, collect interest, you must pay out that interest? Holding yours and my money collectively while we go borrow to cover the amount being held… Just does not seem right. And by the way, all their advertising and statements online say they pay out next day or Monday if on a weekend. NOT SO! I sure wish some attorney would get ahold of this! All you tweeters…look at this and know the type company you are supporting. I don’t tweet and if I ever get my money, I will not “square up” either. Anyone in this funds holding scam, I would hope will be reporting this to better business bureau and consumer attorney general.

    • Joseph Abbott

      We’re in the same boat…can’t get our money. My wife has a one man business that relies on cash flow to keep it going. Square is holding several thousand dollars of our money and ruining our business. Square won’t call us back, they only respond by form letter three days later. We’ve been fighting with them for over two months trying to get our money back. Square offers no explanation why they continue holding our money, even our bank can’t get through to them. What a mistake my wife made getting involved with Square.
      Do NOT get involved with Square!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are filing a complaint with our state’s attorney general, may he can put a stop to Square doing business in our state.

    • Judy Mast

      Too bad, this company sounds just like a clearing house. Processing payments takes time and they really do take their time. And yes they do get interest on the holding money in accounts besides the interest charges they get up front. That’s why it takes at least thirty days for them to transfer funds to their clients accounts. Also on suspicious charges they will hold them for a period of time, but at some point they must be released or process them. Most card processing company’s-example AmEx will contact the card holder of the charge to be sure it is a valid purchase. It’s a way of protecting the company from fraud loss. But to hold funds with no contact to the card holder or their client’s the merchant I believe has some really big drawn backs. I would strongly suggest that merchants use a different source or company for processing purchase payment transactions.

  • LT

    I am extremely disappointed in Square’s service also. A customer wanted to pay a big ticket item by credit card so we thought we would try square. What a mistake. We were approved and told to begin using the reader. They are holding several thousand dollars of my money now. They have ask for way more personal information than needed and drug it out over several days saying “they need more information”. They are slow or unresponsive to any email support. I finally received an email in which they have decided to hold my money for another 180 days. They offered the option that I could refund the amount if I didn’t want to wait the 180 days BUT they will take the funds from my account in addition to the funds they are holding. Then I would be out double the thousands of dollars and that will still take several days/weeks. Is this even legal?
    It has been ridiculous and instead of running my business, I am trying to obtain my money. I would strongly recommend not using them for anything over a couple bucks. Which by the way they are also still holding my couple bucks from a week ago. The advertising of nightly deposits, not so. Beware.

  • Robert Werner

    My experience with Square has been mixed. The good is that they have a clean-cut constant discount and that they pay my small amounts (< $100) within a few days. The bad (and it's very bad) customer service (having cost me several repeat customers) is due to their stupid refusal to open a real-time support service to solve the occasional problem.

    My first problem was their lack of notification that processing would be locked up until an unannounced update was installed. Second problem was my inability to give credit to a customer who had accidentally been double billed. They could/would not tell me why a credit was impossible. I had to get the customer to call their bank and start a dispute. The customer's bank representative was who explained the process to me!

    Third problem was their error in assigning an inappropriate MCC (Merchant Category Code – same as SIC code) to our business. This prevented a long-time repeat federal government customer from being able to rent a room at our motel (inexplicable to him after using the card for meals and fuel). Their default assigned code is 'Gift shop'. It took a barrage of uncomplimentary emails to get them to acknowledge this, again explained to me first by my customer's bank service department. We were finally changed to a 'Travel Agency,' not accurate but better.

    Square was started to solve credit card processing for a glass-blowing street vendor. Their folksy, black shirt and sneaker mentality persists. For that class of merchant, they are to be lauded in bringing them cc processing, a service all but unavailable before Square. Their business model did not include the level of support required by merchants who process a large number of transactions per day, or high dollar transactions, may need authorization software or need immediately help when a problem occurs. Their goofy receipt is one half advertising for them. It may not even be a legal receipt as I did NOT find my customer's name on it. I always send it to myself, cut their ad off and forward it to my customer. It is necessary to use the Description field to enter customer's name and an invoice number – stuff a glass-blowing merchant or cinnamon bon-bon vendor might not care about.

    In conclusion, if your business processes small or numerous swiped charges and an occasional glitch would not be catastrophic, you will probably find them satisfactory.

  • Phillip CPO

    Hi Everyone, I would like to invite you to checkout the new “Square Troubleshooting” forum we’ve recently created. Many of you have attempted to have more in-depth conversations about Square in this comment section, but we try to limit the number of comments by the same people in order to avoid too much clutter. The new forum will allow you to post as much as you want and discuss the topics that you want.

    Check it out today!

  • Bettina D

    In the light of all the negative posts re Square, I wanted to share a more positive experience. I did send an email asking for info on some payments made earlier this year. I sent my inquiry to: Square Support Team on Oct. 31st and received a detailed response the next day. Just wanted to share this email address for those who have had trouble reaching customer service for Square. Unfortunately, unless you track your own payments and who made them, Square does not hold a history of payments made like Paypal. So, make sure you enter your own history with names attached.

    Bettina Devin

  • CB

    I have used Square maybe two dozen times. Yes I got my $$ fairly quickly. Nothing over $68 bucks though. Without it I would not have made those sales. I do not advertise it for them. Only when a customer asks if I can take a debit or credit card.

    I did have issues with a reader. I got a stupid response by using their Facebook Page. At least there they read the comment, complaint, b**ch. Which often just refers you back to the dumbest help pages on the planet.

    Going to leave Square very soon, proabably for another devil we know….Paypal… but it is that they do have a customer service that does respond. For the very few pennies more I think it will be a better way to go.

  • Cheri Vilona

    Square has not responded via email to my requests for several days, and has removed funds from our account without allowing my detailed information to show that the chargeback has indeed been resolved by the customer. They are impossible to deal with, no phone number is innexcuseable, and I will cance my account immediately and tell all my customers and vendors not to use Square.

  • Matt Mahoney

    I agree with the article that customer service is extremely bad. I have not had any held fund issues but getting customer service is impossible. The Square process is great and the price is much better than my business bank was charging. They need to greatly improve customer service.
    Thanks for the good information here.

  • Joette Dorosheff

    Biggest complaint I have is that the Squareup Readers have been defective. I’ve gone through three of them in swiping about 25 transactions. The readers are free, but when they fail in the midst of a transaction they “cost” me a sale.

    • Jack Shelton

      I have found the the big problem with readers that plug into the headphone port is that your volume has to be all the way up as it functions like a fax and if the volume is down the program just does not hear what it needs to. So Turn your Volume up all the way an see if this helps.

    • Rick Emery

      Square users beware! The Square contract allows Square to access your bank account even after you stop using Square because of the terrible service. I had to go to my bank and sign a document barring Square from accessing my bank account. Laurel Redd has long been a proponent of Square and I am happy that she has had good luck but there are far too many complaints about Square’s customer service (or lack there of) to dismiss. Square notified me that I would have to wait 90 days for funds and I was unable to reach anyone at Square for an explanation. Inexplicably, the funds were released prior to the 90 day limit but I never heard from Square even though I called 23 times, left a message each time and sent numerous of emails. Needless to say, I dropped Square like a bad habit and switched to GoPayment by Intuit, which is a real company with real customer service. Since then PayPal has also introduced a service similar to Square except that they actually have customer service, too. There is no reason to settle for a questionable service like Square when there are other reputable options with superior company values.

  • Jeremy

    I see I found this page a bit too late, like most of you. I’m waiting on 2 customer refunds I processed on September 19th. Over 1 month, multiple email and being hung up on by there voicemail system, I still have no refund. Do not use these guys if you are here considering them. Without a customer service to talk to how can they truly be taken seriously. Looks appealing but you will certainly pay for it in the end.

    • Laurel Redd

      I am not sure why you are having issues, I have used Square since it came out and have had zero issues, the one refund I have done was completed on time with no issues. I keep posting my experience on here hoping people will see it and give Square a chance. Also all the vendors that I know personally have not had any issues and absolutely love their Square!

      • Wilburn Hilton

        The problem I had with Square was that I do a lot of extended warranty work in the RV Industry and the warranty companies pay by faxing us the credit card information to process. No card present charges results in Square holding funds. Found out by reading complaints after I got so pissed off. My Square account showed that they processed the total amount, however my bank deposits were not the same. With NO One to talk to about this, you and I are left to sift through Square’s help files until you come across the explanation. I guarantee that if you come up several hundred dollars or more short on a deposit, and NO explaination, you would be upset too. I was sent a questionaire with NO explanation of why. After searching several google responses, I think it was some kind of survey to determine if Square will up my “no card present” charges. Still don’t know if they have yet…

        • Tom Crowe

          My business is seasonal. I used Square to process credit cards in the field. I worked seven days a week in a remote area. All the proceeds were to be deposited in a separate bank account. When I returned at the end of the season, I went to the bank. Only about 1/4 of the transactions were deposited. I have called Square/ emailed Square several times. No one from Square has even tried to solve the problem or acknowledge that I exist. It’s like the money evaporated. I guess the next step is to initiate an investigation of fraud. I will not use Square again and recommend to anyone to find an alternate credit card processor.

      • Richard

        Laurel, with all due respect… I don’t think you’re getting it.

        The problem is NOT that Square has issues. All companies have issues.
        The problem is that Square has ZERO ways to talk to a live person. They hide behind an email address. When there’s a problem there is NO way to actually TALK to someone.
        THAT’s the issue here, that Square has zero customer service, hides behide an email address and voicemail.

        It amazes me that they’ve been able to be successful and have some major names investing in their service.

        I had to wait months to get a lousy $200-some charge that was mistakenly disputed by my customer sorted out. Was no big deal money-wide. Was a huge deal trying to get it resolved.

        I can tell you it was with great satisfaction that I literally took a hammer to their neat little white and square gadget! I should’ve recorded it and put on YouTube. :)

  • Steve Kassa

    This company is a joke and wont last long once people catch on to there antics, such as NO customer support!! you would think a company like this with the same CEO as Twitter would want to better serve there clients??? They with hold peoples funds with no real explanation!! With the fees they charge you would think? making millions on other peoples money being held collecting interest?? is a scam!! I cant believe the BBB even rates these guys!! BEWARE LOOK AROUND THERE ARE WAY BETTER COMPANIES THEN THIS!!!

  • Mike Wood

    Count my company as one of the many small companies injured by Square’s less than transparent policies regarding holding funds. I have been injured both as a consumer and as a retailer. See below:

    I purchased a new shop truck for my business. I did not have the cash on me (weekend transaction) so I helped the seller set up a square account. We then manually entered my CC info and processed a $10,379 transaction through square. This was on September 15. Square had debited my credit card within the hour for the full amount. Yet, it is now October 22, and Square has yet to pay the seller.

    Not realizing what a problem this might cause, I had paid off the credit card transaction three days after making it. Now American Express (an investor in Square, by the way) says that there is nothing that they can do for me because, by paying off the debited amount, I “authorized the transaction in full”.

    I am now having to borrow the money from another source to make the seller whole. This will put me out almost $21,000 with no idea when I will get the “fronted” money back.

    Then, as a seller, my wife took a SWIPED transaction through Square for $4,000 on Friday, October 19. Square debited the buyer’s credit card within one hour of the transaction. Their policy clearly states that the money should have been in my account this morning and that there are “no limits on swiped transactions”.

    Not only is the money not there, but Square actually withdrew $400.00 from my checking account. My wife had inadvertently run the sale at $400 instead of $4000. So, she issued an immediate refund of the $400 and re-swiped for the $4000. Again, not only did Square NOT deposit my $4000 transaction, they WITHDREW the $400 for the “refund” from my checking account.

    Then, Square sent us a “congratulations” e-mail saying that our CNP (manually keyed) limit was being raised to $3,003 per week.

    What freakin’ difference does it make if they never pay you? It could be $1 or $1M…what would be the difference if you never get your money?

    These two sets of transactions have crippled my small business and basically locked down my personal bank account.

    They are impossible to deal with. The phone number is a joke. The voice mail goes nowhere and hangs up on you each time you call. I have called over 200 times and it has never been answered. Each time you e-mail, you get an auto response with a “case number” that is a joke. It changes each time you e-mail, even if you reference every “case number” from your previous complaints. This company is a scam.

    This company is a predator. They are trading with your money and not paying out.

    I challenge Jack Dorsey and his co-conspirators to disprove me with my own account. They are a disgrace.

  • Wil

    I ended up here because I just got the square and was having trouble getting the card reader to work.
    It seems from the comments that Squares business plan is to distribute card readers that don’t work or rarely work, prompting the user to enter manually so they can put a hold on your money while they collect interest and invest it in other ventures.
    At some point in the near future, they will be so initially popular that they will be withholding millions of transactions. At that point, and before the BBB and FBI have a phone number to investigate, they will file bankruptcy and be laughing all the way to the Caiman Islands.
    My reader just landed in my trash basket.

  • Solar Deal Usa

    This was a big mistake. Do not use this guy they will rip you off. They took a deposit from me over 1000.00. They locked my account for no reason and then said they was going to deativate my account. They are holding the money for 60 days. DONT USE THEM>>

  • Daneil

    STAY AWAY FROM SQUARE!

    I have only had square for 1 month but already it is by far the worst product available. When I first logged on and swiped a card I thought it was amazing; with reports, summaries etc. The fees are unbeatable and so is the fact I can charge a card anywhere.

    However…one day my money didn’t hit my account so I checked my email and saw that square was holding my money for an undiscolosed reason. I tried calling but nobodoy would answer. When I finally got someone they just kept repeating the same words in the email over and over and hung up. The manager did not take phone calls.

    In short – it’s been three weeks and square still has my $3,000.00. American Express okayed the charge, the customer okayed the charge, but square is holding the money. If this happens to you expect to wait 30-60 days to receive any funds from square. The best part? They’ll let you keep charging cards…you just can’t receive the money.

    Squre does NOT notify you when you swipe they are holding your money, and they may request 10-15 documents just to verify you deserve the money. They also give you the option to refund your customer which may take 10 business days to do…but even if you refund your customer there’s no guarentee they will pay you.

    The biggest issue with square is that they beleive they have the right to withold my money, when in fact they don’t. If American Express okays a charge, they are in affect agreeing to pay that money whether or not the customer pays it. If AMEX agrees to pay me money, sends the money to square, then square has NO right to hold the money. What Square is doing is acting like a bank. Imagine you put $10,000 into your bank. A week later you go to withdrawl $1k, and the bank says you have to wait 30 days. But they tell you you can deposit as much as you want, you jus tcan’t withdraw anything for 30 days.

  • Fernando M.

    Warning! Stay away from Square! I for months told all my friends that Square I thought was the best thing since sliced bread, and I actually thought so for over a year, then that all ended in a chargeback I have been unable to resolve that cost me $1850. As a small business owner this represents an entire months salary for me and I do not have the resources to recover from such a loss anytime soon!
    Theere customer service is almost non-existant with no phone number to call, everything must be handled via email, and you get partial answers to your questions when they bother to respond at all. Very poor way to run a multi-million dollar business that Square is supposed to be. What are you guys at Square doing to yourselves and your business?
    I for one will NEVER use you again, recommend you to anyone. I am going to my lawyer but have a snaeky suspicion tht that will just cost me more losses with no results.
    The saddest thing is I do not know anything. They have kept me so much in the dark with respect to thier chargeback defense team – that I don’t know if they just kept my money and are laughing all the way to their bank or what.
    Do yourself a favor and avoid Square at all costs.

    Good luck

  • Melody Fortier

    I’ve been using the Square for nearly a year now and I have a mixed review. The fees are lower and there are no surprise charges like my last two credit card services, thats a big plus. However, I am very dissapointed and a little concerned over their lack of customer service. There is virtually no way to contact them in a timely manner with any issue. I am currently trying to contact them about the holding of funds from recent sales, ostensibly because the sales were entered manually. The company will not be releasing my funds for a full 30 days from the date of sale. This was not made clear when I signed up. ALSO the reason I had to manually enter the sales was because my Square reader did not work. This is the third one I have purchased one never worked from the beginning the other two just up and quit. I finally gave up and just started to process the sales manually. Had I been aware that the company would be holding back my funds I would have purchased yet ANOTHER reader.

    Their website provides an application to have the manually processed fund limit raised which I filled out with no response. I have no way of finding out what the status is, meanwhile Square has my money which is affecting the cash flow of my business. :(

    • Melody Fortier

      Update on this review: I found an e-mail address online to contact Square ( I could not find one on their website) and this issue has been resolved. Resolution took about 4 days. Square approved my applicatipn to upgrade my deposit limit for manually entered sales and released the funds being held. I do wish they provided more immediate customer service and access to an actual person. I hope they will work to achieve that but I am happy with the outcome of this issue and am comfortable in saying I will continue to use Square as my credit card service.

      Melody Fortier

  • dee

    Square has a lot of great benefits, but when i have no number to contact them when i have questions then i may need to look elsewere. We own a furniture store and have some large tickets and when i run a card i cant get number to find out why the money has not been deposited.

    • Paula

      I can answer that because you went over 2002.00 or manually typed in the card vs. swiping the card they do not tell anyone this when getting the square up device and no you can not talk to a live person because there is none and good luck with the email stuff no response to that either good luck

  • Roger

    Let this be a TRUE and HONEST WARNING to anyone who is considering using SQUAREUP.COM or to anyone is currently using SQUAREUP.COM.

    I have been using square for 9 months. Never once has there been an issue. One night recently I saw there commercial on TV and googled it. I was shocked at the amount of complaints I found. Well here I am saying I’ve never had an issue…Till 5 days ago. They did not deposit a 1k charge as they normally do.
    Well you guessed it after 3 days of no response via email they tell me they have the right to hold any amount for 30-90 business days. I am in SHOCK. I demanded the refund my customer and told them to close my account immediately. Well what does Squareup.com do respond in NO LESS than 20 mins telling me they have decided to close my accounts because NOW I AM HIGH RISK. They will be placing a 180 day hold on my funds. Shock ? Words cannot describe the anger I am feeling right now. They have basically stolen 1k from me and will use it some offshore interest bearing account along with god knows how many other millions of dollars from other customers. This my good friends is FRAUD at it’s finest. How there is not a class action lawsuit against I don’t know. If you are using them get out now. They could be heading to bankruptcy and stealing all the money the can. There is no way a company who processes millions of dollars cannot have a phone number. I guess until you have an issue you would never think to check in this day in age of the internet. Buyer Beware ! Cancel your account today or you will be next.

    • john

      Problem is Roger they are all the same and I mean all. I have had 3 different services in 15 years and they all go bad at some point, some after years of decent service. Up till now I haven’t had a problem with square. I had a customer make a mistaked charge back, with in hours he reversed the chargeback and had his credit card service contact square thet still took out the money Square said it would take 10 days for the funds to be deposited back into my account. OK fine but after 15 days I asked when I should expect the funds, I was told in 3-5 days more. That was almost a month ago. I received the :Good News: email stating that all was good but no money still and no answer, They stopped answering my emails. So now what do I do ?

  • Barbara

    I’ve been using Square for about 2 years, and love it. The only thing I expect for the extremely low cost is for them to process the funds and deposit them to my bank account. They do this exactly as promised. I read all the information on their site before processing any payments, and was still surprised at the 30 day hold on certain funds. Since it’s not my only payment processor, the hold wasn’t a problem, and I’ve learned which transactions to send through them, and which make more sense with another processor.

    Some of the problems people mention are not unusual when you’re a new client, as they do have many anti-fraud procedures in place. With history, I’ve found they now don’t hold my processed funds, even after processing a refund.

    I’ve discovered the problem with the card readers is often dust in the card slot, or in the earphone jack on my phone. I regularly blow both out with air in a can, and no longer have problems swiping cards.

    As I mentioned, they aren’t my only payment processor, but for taking payments on the spot, without all the assorted fees a traditional merchant account generates, they are a smart choice.

  • sebastian

    We used Square for a high volume festival as a vendor this past weekend paying for our inventory upfront. Now we are stuck with the $2000 hold limit because we had to key in the majority of our sales due to the readers being unusable! So now we are not only hit with the higher rates but we can’t access our funds for another month while our inventory invoices are coming due now. HORRIBLY frustrating. We will certainly be looking for another mobile platform for our next event! Has anybody used intuit’s go payment?

  • Jeff

    I just signed up with Square this week and I am already going to find another processor. There was absolutely no mention of thier $2,000 limit on manual charges. I am now waiting for the balance of $1,700. I ABSOLUTLY DO NOT RECOMMEND SQUARE. NO CONTACT NUMBERS, NO EMAIL SUPPORT.

  • lucy nathan

    i have, as of today october 13, 2012, been waiting 2 weeks for a payment of $81. from Square up. i have received no less than 4 emails from them since these charges were make on september 29th, telling me my money is now in my bank. in fact, it is NOT in my bank. i have responded to these emails each time, telling them the money has not arrived. i have not received any answers. i now have a phone # for their offices in san francisco, but have been warned that no humans will answer and only voice mails will pick up calls. i am getting frustrated and angry & i wonder what to do.

  • Linda

    How can Square possibly have an A- rating with the Better Business Bureau? When I contacted the San Francisco BBB, to find out why nothing has been done since I filed a complaint against Square in August they said that they have so many complaints about Square that they had to go to the District Attorney to just get a phone number so that they could contact Square. They have held on to almost $9000 of my credit card payments with absolutely no explanation at all. I have never been given any reason at all. When they asked me for all sorts of documentation on my business and business licenses, (I have a retail store), I gave them exactly what they asked for. They still have released my funds and it’s been two months since they started withholding my funds and 1 month since I sent them everything they said they needed in order to release my funds. Square have no one who you can call or talk to. No phone number that leads to a live human being. They haven’t answered any of my 30 e-mails I’ve written in the last month. Somethings very wrong with a business that withholds others monies for no reason! In their Merchant User Agreement it says they can hold on to your funds IF your transactions are not swiped. I’ve had no charge backs, all my transactions were made physically in my store, all were swiped and signed. I do no internet or phone sales, and I’ve told them all of this when I sent them all the documentation they requested. Still they won’t release my funds. I’ve contacted the District Attorney, filed a complaint with the FTC, BBB, and have called the FBI. So please, advise any business that does a moderate number of credit card sales to stay away from Square. They are trouble!

  • Paula

    We are a small business and we use the square up card very little and we were in need of some money quickly so we had a customer run a credit card for the amount he owed on his ticket and we got online the next day and found a portion of the money in our account. upon reading reviews on this company and trying to contact a human (IMPOSSIBLE TO DO) to talk about the account. The number is pointless and leaving a message or email stating we will get back to you within 24 hours well, who wants to wait 24 hours for money that is our money!! Some one needs to shut this company DOWN FOR GOOD> He is not hurtng he has everyones money and interest. I am calling the better business bureau as NOW!! I will be the one to keep pushing on to get this company shut down you can count on it

  • susan

    My customer was double charged today. By SQUARE not me. No quick way to deal with problem. Email may take days, phone is useless. A message to hold then disconnects within 1 minute. over and over again.
    I will not be cancelling my more expensive system. Wish I had looked for complaints instead of going by word of mouth.

  • Amanda

    I love the concept and easy use of Square.

    However, it let my non-authorzed mobile staff member enter a credit card and take payment when they were’nt linked tov our bank account.

    I am now finding it impossible to contact Square (no email or phone number anywhere on their website) to find out what happened to the money.

  • Jolene pond

    I singed up for use of the square at the end of September and have had no luck with contacting the business as to where my money is at. It has not been turned over to my financial institution. I am highly disappointed in the square at this time. I definitely would have gone with a different company had I known all the hassle I would encounter.

  • Benjamin Plum

    DO NOT USE SQUARE. They have absolutely, without a doubt the worst customer service i have ever experienced. It is literally IMPOSSIBLE to get someone on the phone (they have an email only policy), and a response to even a simple question can take days, sometimes weeks. Great marketing, nice ease of use, but HORRIBLE once you scratch the surface. Avoid at all costs.

  • Dave

    We are a small vendor and only use the device on weekends, we were without the use this past Saturday and most of Sunday. We gave up trying to contact the useless e-mail customer service. We have been researching alternative credit card processors and we probably will make a change soon. We are not in a position to play email tag with a company that doesn’t respond, and the loss or delay of revenue would not be acceptable. We have not been in a position where funds have been delayed but have been in a position of lost sales because of system issues.

  • cheryl

    I have had the square for a couple of months now and so far have had no problems with it. Would highly recommend it. My deposits have been put in the next day without fail. I am a hairstylist and accept the payments on my htc one x phone and my customers love it. The only complaint I have is that I would like to have the tips to be customized so customers can put whatever dollar amount they would like for tips. Other than that love it. Very easy to use.

  • connie

    I read in the business section of my local paper that Starbucks was now exclusively doing their credit credit card processing through Square–I though this was something maybe I should look into..I ordered the “square” and have many questions….can not find a phone number ANYWHERE!!!! My monthly
    credit card fees average $700.00–so a flat rate of $275 looks very good..but if its this hard to simply ask questions I can’t imagine how hard its going to be when I really have a problem…bottom line–I pass on this one

    • Wayne Guy

      We (Edge Graphics) were with a large bank for our credit card processing. The rate was OK but we realized we ended up paying our customer’s rewards programs on top of the transaction fee. That made it really expensive.
      We moved over to Square and we had a couple of issues till we got used to the system. We’ve never been able to find a contact phone number but have been using their rather obscure email help system.
      After overcoming a couple of issues where Square were going to hold on to some larger amounts for a month we managed to get the hang of it.
      You’ve got to request a turnover limit increase if you’re going to be processing larger amounts. We’re up to $7000 a week with no holds.
      Yes, it’s not like a bank where you pay for phone help in their fees but Square’s really inexpensive processing is a money saver for those who are prepared to learn how they work, and don’t need any hand holding. We’re saving MANY hundreds of dollars every month.

  • John Yezeguielian

    Like so many others, we had GREAT experiences with Square for the first couple of months. I was bragging on them, spreading the word that they had our money in our account the very next morning. Since we’re in the Automotive & Truck repair business and one of our main customers likes using his company card to pay for repairs, it seemed like a perfect solution… and ended up being a perfect storm.
    We had already emailed for a raise in keyed limits and they bumped it up to $3000 a week. Apparently somebody didn’t tell their system? No, couldn’t be that, because out of a $2300 transaction, only $1700 was made available to us the next morning. The remainder, they THEN announced, would be held for a full month. I emailed, explaining that our limit had been raised, but a full business day (and another email) there is still no reply. The funds being held are a parts deposit. So now the commercial/fleet customer’s parts are also in limbo, as well as the repair on their vehicle.
    I found this site while looking for a phone number. Just as all the others described, they simply are not accessible by phone. A recorded announcement tells one to check out the website and use email.
    They charged us $80 to process that charge. Over 20% of it is being held a month. The way I see it, even if they release it in a month, they still ripped us off big-time by charging such a fee and then holding our money for a month. More importantly, they put us in a bind with the customer. I will now have to take that money out of my personal budget, so that the customer is cared for properly. Yet they’re not even answering emails in a timely fashion, after charging for their “service”? No thanks. Good idea gone bad. When I get done typing this, I’m looking for an alternative solution. Or maybe we’ll go back to just cash and checks from big clients. What’s certain is that I won’t be trusting them with my money again.

    • Mike

      Why would anyone let someone have their social security number and checking account information without talking to a human?? Let me guess, because of a TV commercial. If you are doing over $20 per transaction and doing some volume – $5,000.00 and up Square is not a good deal. Square has a great marketing campaign, 2.75 and No Customer Service. You get what you pay for.

  • Diane

    I have been using Square for appx two months. I’ve had no problems what so ever. My transactions are small amounts usually 25.00 or less, I have a small store. I never key in cards. I think these are the two many problems that I’m reading from other comments. The transactions are each sent to my email with a running total for the day and then the next day the money is deposited. I never had them take more than the 2.75%. So people with small transactions like flee markets, cabbies, small stores this will work for. This has saved me 1.25 percent over what I was paying and for a small business that can add up to a lot.

  • Paula Miller

    What company in this day and age does not have a customer service number!!!!! I needed to contact Squareup regarding an issue. I searched their website for a phone number. There is nothing on their site to indicate how to contact them via phone or email. I spent 10 wasted minutes on their site searching for customer service and contact info. You can search for a topic which gives you a list of various scenarios to choose from. When you click on a scenario, the site takes you to a faq sheet, none of which tells you how to get live assistance. I then had to search Google for a phone number. I found a phone not from any Squareup publications, but from word of mouth…such as Yahoo answers. The number I called was 415-375-3176. The phone number was for Squareup. I get this recording giving help options, one of which was to hold the line for assistance. After a minute or so, I get this recording for help…email [email protected]/square_com to receive an answer in 24 hours. For such a large company, their service stinks!!!! Worse than any I have seen and believe me, I have had a lot of BAD service in the last few years. Good service for many companies is a thing of the past…but this one takes the cake. You may not encounter rudeness or ineptness, just NO service. I will be contacting an alternate vendor for future service. To the executives of Squareup, I do not know how you have grown and stayed in business…Keep it up and one day you may not be in business. There always comes a company out there ready and willing to take your customers by providing superior service.

  • Yvette Burford

    I have installed my square, and wanted to use it at a festival today. However after taking a transaction weeks ago, it shows the item was purchased and charged, invoice was sent to customer (with my name on it, instead of my company name)which I have been trying to correct. The other big problem the money has not shown up in my bank account even though the transaction was done 10 days ago. During set up it did show it was connected to my account because they took out and put back the small amount of test money that would show everything was linked and working. There is no company help what so ever. I need to talk with a person, I see that’s not going to happen. I am ready to dump this square and discourage anyone and everyone I talk to, not to use the square.

  • Greg young

    I am currently caught in one of squares undisclosed fund hold situations. The customer response is zero The company is obviously designed to not allow you to communicate to a live person as far as I am concerned they are engaged in fraud. they’re holding a major amount of my money for
    Weeks without prior dosclosure. Your review is dead on. I would have been charging upwards of $200,000 a year with square. Now Iam thinking of a law suit. NO SIZEABLE SMALL BUSINESS SHOULD USE SQUARE AS THEY CURRENTLY DO BUSINESS

  • Steve

    I had no charge backs and a perfect record for several months. I had $21,000 in charges and they said I had to verify my account…OK…I send bank statements, AUDITED financial statements, etc. Then they said they were canceling my transactions. So…the customers took the merchandise and I am out $21,000. WOW! This is sure a convenient service!!!

  • Wendy

    Very glad to have found your website. I have had all the positives and the negitives stated in your article on Square. It works until it doesn’t. So the solution is to find another resource for a small growing business that goes from retail to wholesale. Larger volume sales. Your website is such a wealth of information, just in time for the next step. Thank you.

  • G

    It is crazy, you cannot get help from anyone. I can’t sign in into my account sent email. No response, no help line. All they have is email, this is very lousy service.

  • Davius Billingslea

    I recently began using Square. I followed the procedure of linking my bank account to receive payments. After finalizing my first transaction and waiting a few business days, more than the required amount, I decided to check for the money owed to my account. The money was not there. Now I can’t even talk to a real person over the phone. This is ridiculous. Square takes their money immediately, but I’m left waiting and researching several days later about how to collect my money owed.

  • AMANDA

    Business owners beware, I was unaware of the $2002.00 weekly limit for manual entering of credit card data. Since none of the three square readers I have were working I paid the additional transaction fees and entered a purchase manually with the client standing there, she even signed. Needless to say I was shocked to learn Square would be holding 1/3 or the total sale for 1 month from purchase date. This seems to me as a very suspect way to float funds for an unreasonable amount of time, what guarantee do I have that I will actually get these funds deposited in my account after the month is up. What if Square becomes insolvent during that time. Huge risk for a small business owner. Read the minute print, wish I had, I would have never agreed to these terms. If they do not resolve this situation ,I will not only be reporting them to the Better Business Bureau but also to the State Attorney General’s office and the Federal Trade Commission. Would certainly suggest finding an alternative credit card processor.

  • RUSSELL SULLIVAN

    Would definitely stay away from this company. I ran two deposits totaling more than $13,000.00 and they are still on hold and they have no one to talk to. DO NOT USE THESE GUYS, try someone else. I thought it was a great idea at first, not anymore.

  • Lutie Batt

    I am having a hard time finding any way to contact Square to correct the address for my business as it shows up on a customer receipt. It is showing up with the wrong state. Other than that I love the ease fo using this product.

  • Beautiful Diamondz

    I got my little reader in the mail downloaded the app logged in set everything up then it logged me out and now I cant get back in I sent out the help email to try to reset my password I got no reply or anything its like everything went into cyberspace or something. Now while it was set up i swiped my card for $1.00 to see it works it did and I did get my .97 cents back into my account the next day. yeah its set up but whats the point it I cant log into it to even use it.
    My Husband says try Intuit I did I talked to a live person got everything confirmed was able to log in and get started now Im just waiting for my reader. I think Square could be ok if they had a customer service team that actually works I might as well just have a dead account not that I don;t want to use them but I literally can’t good luck to you all

  • HIGH RISK

    I was referred to Square by a professional business owner. He told me how square was better than all of the merchant services that he’d previously used. I planned on using square for personal use to sell items that I make (jewelry, clothing, etc) or items that I bought previously that I no longer found use for. I figured it would be a time saver and safer then someone giving me a bunch of cash. I dont not operate under a business which I clearly explained to a representative of square who stated that it is not a problem. I did not use the service until about a year after signing up. my first payment was for 1900. the card was entered in manually, etc. That night I got an email stating that there were suspicious transactions on my account and that I needed to verify my account (completely understandable since I hadn’t used it since signing up). Upon verifying, I noticed that they wanted me to sign in using my facebook account, upload legal documentation, and invoices, etc. Like I stated earlier, I dont work under a business and was just using the service for personal use. I called a representative again and was told to upload my drivers licence and an invoice which I promtly did. The invoice had all of the information necessary to verify that the payment was legit. 24hours later I get an email stating that my account was being deactivated because I was “high risk” and I had to wait 90 days to recieve my payment. I called the rep again to ask what was going on/ why was I determined to be “high risk”, but she had no answers. She instead became very rude and said “Is this it because I have to hang up on you to keep the lines clear”… I asked about the refund policy and she spoke to me like I am incompetent saying “if you use your mouse and click on refund…” … … … any way… Their customer service is horrible and so is their process to determine if you are “high risk”.

  • Roger

    I have been using this company for months only to find out within the last few they have withdrawn $4627.93 from my account in a single month. We are a company specializing in customizing car parts for customers all over the country. It seems that these people will not answer the phone at all! Where are the customer service reps? I have called the only two numbers that I could find. One 415-375-3176 just is an automated voice message telling me to email [email protected]/square_com to get prompt answers. I have emailed them and no response at all. The other number I got from their bank thru mine (JP Morgan Chase) 877-417-4551 and still the same crap as the 415-375-3176. Their company ID is 9424300002 and leads to no where. I am fed up with this company and want my money that I earned legitimately. This company spends all their money in advertising instead of hiring CSR’s to help with issues like this one! DONT USE SQUARE!

  • jodilynn

    Square really messed things up for me. They were not clear on the needing to swipe over 2000.00 and mind you I didn’t have a square reader after asking serveral times. I finally got 3 of them after putting through about 10000.00
    these people are just awful. they held my money for no reason at all and no one to call. I got over 500 worth of fees from my bank and another 200 because of the lack of service that they gave and mind you didn’t put the money in my account. I would have signed up for the bigger account if I was told that this needed to be done and this was up front.
    I am so upset at square and I WILL NEVER USE THEM AGAIN…I WOULD ADVISE THAT YOU DO NOT AS WELL. They will do great then one day when you need it they will mess you over and any savings you would have got you can wave by by !! They are an aweful company and I hope they go out of business very soon. GO quickbooks. I would rather pay a little more for someone who will answer the phone..and oh yeah who has a phone number..BE WARE DO NOT USE SQUARE. I will go on every site I can to let eveyone know.

  • Jessica Norene

    Once again, I am dealing with Square holding money. I have quoted their own website back to them, and ONLY after writing about oh, I don’t know…. maybe 45-50 nasty emails to them today, I’m still getting the runaround.
    They’re blaming it on my bank now… Except that my bank can’t hold funds that Square won’t release to them, so that argument doesn’t hold water.

    MERCHANTS BEWARE!

    DO NOT USE SQUARE! IT WILL RUIN YOUR BUSINESS AND YOUR LIFE, MARK MY WORDS… DO YOU SEE THE ALMOST 800 COMPLAINTS HERE? TAKE THIS AS A SIGN AND RUN AWAY WHILE YOU STILL CAN!

    I don’t know much about Intuit yet, but I can tell you that when I called them, I got a real LIVE person on the phone, and she answered all my questions, told me they’re available 24/7 for merchants and will ALWAYS communicate a REASON if there’s a problem.

    Personally, getting a real human is enough for me. I’d pay twice the fee just for that peace of mind to know where my money is – and my clients’ money…

  • Rey Phung

    Square is a waste of time and a major loss of profit for my business. First, instead of qualifiying someone for use of square, they let you activate it immediately. Then send an email stating the need to answer a few questions to secure account. All the while still allowing me to take payments with no indication that I would never receive these funds. i am a small independent business owner, who just started my own company. I do not receive credit card payments very often, just occasionally. I figured square was an ideal service for me. Even with all my legitimate information, I was denied service and my funds were being held for 120 days! Several other friends of mine I bragged about this product to, went out and got it, only to have the same thing happen; ranging from 30-90 day holds on funds. Second, how am I suppose to get repaid for service or products rendered to clients that I may meet only once? If I returned their money, what gaurentee do I have they will re pay in a different form? I really feel Square is a scam and hold multiple individuals money for unexplained reasons. Who knows how much that totals to. It could be $1000 or 100,000 but holding someone’s funds for more than a month should be illegal. How do I know they are not using those funds to invest in something for that month and earning on the interest?
    I feel worse that I promoted this product to several friends who don’t have the liberty to havel $100-1000 withheld for 90 days and never was warned before this action took place. Other people’s money, right?

  • Linda

    I forgot to mention that the entire time I used Square I never got a charge back or issued a refund. All credit cards were run in person by cardholder & a signature was received. I rate them an F-.

  • Linda Becker

    Square is the worst experience I have ever had since starting up my business 6 years ago. With absolutely no warning or no reason, Square decided to hold all my money from credit card sales. Credit card sales are at least 65% of my business. I tried calling them but their number does not get you a live person, nor can you leave any message. I tried e-mailing them at least 20 times, they never responded. They are withholding almost $9000 of my money. Finally after filing a complaint with the BBB, they responded to me with a computer generated letter that said they needed copies of my business licenses, after licenses, an explanation of my transactions, etc. I process approximately 35-40 credit cards a day and they are telling me they need detailed explanation on my credit cards processed? I wrote them & asked which ones, they answered me after 2 more weeks. They gave me no fax number, no address to send them this information. I scanned the information but they said they didn’t get it. I finally got a fax number and I could not fax the documentation the transmission report said their fax was not turned on.. After notifying them of this I guess they turned it on and I sent them all requested documentation plus some extra proof that I’m running a very legitimate business, if they were in doubt. I asked them to acknowledge receiving all my documentation. They never did, I have written them at least 30 times since sending them all information they requested and I HAVE NEVER HEARD BACK FROM THEM TO DATE. They still have all my money, which I desperately need to continue running my business to help pay for cancer treatments for my son. They have totally ignored me and after reading their USER AGREEMENT I can clearly see they have absolutely no reason at all to keep any of my money. I swipe all my transactions and always have. All purchases are made in person by the credit card holder and all transactions are signed. I have had to drain my savings and spend countless hours trying to figure out how to get my money back. I believe they are committing fraud because they have simply taken my hard earned money without any explanation or reason and they are sitting on it, while I desperately need the money to continue running my business. I have contacted the BBB and the FBI. I don’t know what else I can do, but I’m looking into it. I strongly urge everyone to stay away from Square. They have no customer service and in my opinion are unethical and are conducting business illegally by withholding my $8769.76.

  • Bernie

    I was using Square for my business, and gave the company nothing but rave reviews, until I had to deal with . . .

    DISPUTES: Immediately after a dispute is filed on a credit card transaction by a customer, Square will automatically (with little notice) debit the dispute amount from your account, or your Square balance even if the dispute is unresolved. They claim it takes anywhere from 60-90 days to resolve a dispute, and when a dispute is in your favor, it takes Square another 30 days to credit the funds back to your account. Unless most well established merchant accounts, there is a process to be followed, paperwork to be filled out, and only when the dispute is resolved is the appropriate action taken. In other word, if the dispute is in your favor, then no money is taken from your account. I could only imagine the amount of money Square is making on disputes when they hold on to your money for as long as they do before finally returning to you. I currently have a dispute right now with them, and it’s been over 4 months. Which leads me to . . . .

    CUSTOMER SERVICE: Despite the numerous email messages I have sent to Square requesting status on a currently open dispute, they truly have stuck to their commitment by responding within 24 hours with the following response “Thank you for contacting Square. We are committed to responding back to you as soon as possible. In the meantime, feel free to return to the Square Help Center for instant answers to frequently asked questions.” How frustrating is that.

    I had the great fortune of finding out what Square’s telephone number was by reading this review, but when I attempt to call the number, a recorded greeting comes on indicating that if I needed further support to stay on the line. Finally, I think I’m going to reach a live person, but next thing you know, I am disconnected. Thinking something had gone gone with the call, I tried again, only to be disconnected again. I tried again the next day, and the same thing.

    Unless you are running a part-time business (e.g. Craft Shows, Art and Wine Festivals,) stay clear away from Square. It’s worth paying the monthly fee’s.

  • Fulvio Ortega

    I t just joined square , after I signed on one time put all my banking information, I have been unable to logg back on. They made the 49 cent transaction to show it so call works . But their is no one to speak to about this probllem. Here is a great idea for all. since this company has numerious individuals banking information and we have no human to speak to it is starting to look like this is a scam, report them to the better business bureau, Attorney general in your state.

  • Paul

    It is IMPOSSIBLE to get a human response for the simplest question! I like the service being an infrequent user but when you need a simple question answered it is ridiculously impossible. I do not need to wait 24 hours for an email to answer why I cannot access my account and take a payment! Convenient or not there is competition in the marketplace. This will cause massive customer shifts if you do not get this customer service problem fixed ASAP!!

  • Mike

    Wow! I just read all the reviews and am glad I did. I just signed up today and finally got all the way through. But, when I tried to sign in, no luck. Not only did it not accept my password but upon clicking on the forgot password, I did not get the promised reset password e-mail. I’m quitting while even.

  • sandra

    I have been using the square registery for ONLY 1-week and 2-transactions were NOT deposited. Know, there were only a total of 8 transaction. There is NO customer service to speak to, only email, which I haven’t received an answer from….I’m very fustruated. It would be highly recommended for a customer service phone line to be available. HELP !!!!

  • Wilburn Hilton

    With reading of your information, I think I believe I have found out why we are short on two of our deposits for the month of September. No help from Squareup! we noticed that our deposits do not match up with Squareups account activity. Without a way to TALK to someone, we are left to ASSUME that there is a major problem with someone’s accounting. We have a Credit Card Merchant Account that we have been using for years and because we are a Mobile RV Service, decided to give Squareup a try because we did not like the idea of having to obtain the customer’s Credit Card #’s and wait until we got home to run a credit card. Squareup leaves a lot to be determined later. I guess if I were a Lawyer and had read the entire file of their help and FAQ swction, I may have known of the holding of funds that is mentioned in this article. We do a lot of Extended Warranty work and accept payment from the insurance companies by credit card, which is faxed to us by the companies.

    I think we may look into Intuit’s credit card reader.

  • cb

    I confirm Square most certainly deserves a big fat F for customer service. I literally received the worst customer service of my life from this product.
    I have been working for the past couple months to start a nonprofit organization with a few other founding members. We decided to have a fundraiser to kick things off just recently. Several weeks before the fundraiser we bought two Square readers to take credit card donations during the fundraiser. On the Square reader box, it says it only takes a few minutes to get you up and running and accepting credit card payments (They are flat out lying about this; total false advertising here.) So a few days before the event we decided we should probably get the square readers set up so we didn’t have to do it last minute. Then the nightmare began….
    There is no possible way to get the Square reader to start accepting credit cards in a matter of minutes because you have to wait 1 to 3 business days for them to deposit two test deposits into your bank account to verify all of your information.
    Because it was going to take 1 to 3 days, we freaked out and tried to contact them directly. As mentioned in the review, they have no customer service number where you can actually talk to someone. All they have is a number with an automated message telling you to contact their customer service email and you’ll receive an email back within a “prompt” 24 HOURS!!
    So… emailed them with an urgent request to get our accounts up and running asap and to contact me via phone so we could get it all figured out soon. NEVER received a phone call, only sporadic emails over the course of 3 days that were of absolutely no help. Actually, we finally received our test deposits and had set up our account to receive credit card payments the day of our fundraiser and then I get an email back from the “customer service” person that he found something wrong with the information I gave him and so he DEACTIVATED OUR ACCOUNT on the day of our fundraiser and said he could try again within 7-10 business days!! Are you kidding me?? He never tried to verify or confirm any of the information I gave him. He probably inputed it wrong since we were able to do it on the website ourselves. Yet, he took the liberty to deactivate our account and make it impossible for us to receive credit card payments on the day of our fundraiser.
    The day of I received NO response from customer service although I flooded their inbox with between 75 to 100 emails in hopes of getting it all figured out before our fundraiser began. Again… this was by far the worst experience in customer service in my life. I highly suggest waiting until there is a direct customer service line before ever attempting to use this service.

  • Becky

    Square is terrible! They have no customer service! Their website says they respond to emails within 24 hours – this is just a bold faced lie. They are holding my money – which has not met their amount criteria for holding funds – just because, evidently, they can. I have sent mulitiple emails and attempted to reach a human at their support number 415-375-3176. They don’t respond or seem to care about their customers. I have used square for all my business for two years and I have now switched to GoPayment, where a real person answers the phone. Run from Square!!!!

  • michael

    AMEX says my client’s card was charged twice for $5500. I did not see the screen for the client to sign and was unable to offer a receipt. In fact I kept getting a “Sorry cannot process” message. Anyone experienced this problem? I never heard about Square holding money. Nothing shows up under transactions. thanks

  • Stu

    Just wondering from all the complaints with delayed charges, large amounts ($15K is pretty big for a CC) , did you key in the charge or swipe the card? Did you have a sudden shift in charged amounts? Do you have a traceable business name, location, and physical mail address. If your business is not your name or doesn’t include your name, are you registered anywhere as “name” DBA “business”?

    • Cythina

      Those are good questions Stu because every time I read these comments I wonder if they are maybe missing something that they don’t realize. And I don’t mean that negatively or anything so I hope no one takes offense. But I know when we first signed up, I didn’t realize about the dollar amount limit and potential for hold. Once I noticed it, I immediately emailed and had the limit increased. I must admit after being turned down by Intuit and seeing how easy this was I was nervous that something would go wrong down the line. Then I read all the negative comments and got even more worried. We don’t process transactions daily since we’re a fairly new swing set company but our first transaction was $7500 and we add the funds within 2 business days (I actually think it was 1). Since then we have processed 3 more transactions and without any problems. So I can’t help but wonder if maybe some of these complaints are due to valid fraud concerns on Square’s part. I agree that there should be a better method communication between the company. I’m glad you brought up those questions because some people might not think to check on those things. Since our business is registered as a DBA with the state, we have a physical business address, and a federal and state tax id, I will be sure to post here if I have any issues going forward. FYI, all of our charges manual and still no issues but again we notified Square upfront with all necessary information about our business.

    • Barb

      In my case I have a brick and mortar store for the past 17 years. We sell high end mailboxes, house numbers, weather vanes and other cool outdoor accents. I took about 20 small orders over the first 6 days while tending my booth at our WI State Fair, using Square, and the total dollar amount was about $1,200. This is not high risk stuff like electronics, and I have a history of less than 2 charge backs per year over thousands of transactions. I did go into Squares Web Site and entered in the 2 small transactions like I was supposed to do and have yet to see a dime from them. VERY disappointed. When I didn’t see any deposits from them in the first few days I was wise enough to stop using them and go back to a traditional credit card machine. Good thing or I would be out a lot more. For some reason I believe I will still get paid, but I think their growing pains are giving them a terrible reputation. They better get on top of this or the word of mouth will be their doom. Wish I could understand WHY they still are running TV ads advertising their faulty product. Cut the ads and pay more people to get the money for their current/former customers straightened out.

  • Maha Saadeh

    While I understand your lack of experience being in business a short period, and believe in due time
    you will have devoloped better ways to please every one, it is to professional use these excuses at any given moment non the less especially doing it at the merchant’s expense. Let your merchant acknowledge and agree to your not so good policies before you tie up their money for months at a time, It’s bad enough you get a good chunk of it up front, if you suspect fraud or other wise, you should not eccept the charges made especially the larger amounts as I have experienced with you because
    It can put any small business out of business. Thank you for your interests, M. Saadeh..

  • tj

    I have swiped using an LG 4g lte phone. It worked great and i wore out two swipes then bot the third and now i can no longer swipe. i returned it to best buy and got another one and still does not work. All transactions must be put in manually. sucks! Of course square does not respond to my questions. i going to quit square and find another.

  • Laura

    It has now been 9 months and Square is still holding Over $6000. They originally held over 50k until I had to refund all charges to customer and rerun their cards using another processor. Even though they told me they would hold it for 90 days, they have still not paid us. BEWARE! If you need to be paid DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!

  • ro

    I am giving you a real persons experience with square. It has not been good. I recently took a payment that was in the neighborhood of 2900.00. What we found out after we took the payment, in fact days after we took the payment, is that we would be credited with 2000.00 in days. We would be credited with the rest of the money within 20 or 30 days. We were not aware of this policy but it is definetely a deal breaker for us. We will no longer take payments of this amount with square. If you want to talk to someone at square, this is not even possible. They only deal with humans by email. When we initially started taking payments we had a significant amount of trouble and our client finally just sent a check because we could not get his payment. We are going to use a different service because we have not been at all happy with square, also known as square up, I think. That is another issue. Why do they give themselves a bunch of different names. This just creates identity issues. I give them a half a point for being a viable business and that is about it. They have a lot off issues to overcome if they are going to be rated any higher by someone who is trusting a company to get us money into our account through a credit card transaction.

  • Maria Brophy

    I have used Square a little bit over the past year for small orders. I just decided to shut down my traditional Merchant Account and use Square full time. But now I regret it – I just took an order for a $4,000 painting. Square is holding half the money for a MONTH! Now, I can’t ship it until the funds are received. My customer is angry, and Square hasn’t responded to my email (48 hours ago).

    I called the number you posted – it states that you have to go the their website with your questions, then it hangs up on you.

    For a small biz owner, this is very bad for me. I can’t afford it!

    I’m not going to use Square anymore – I’m back to looking for another option. Bummer.

  • Carla

    I am not a merchant, but I received e-mails from Square Up saying that I’ve successfully signed up. Then I started “receiving” payments. They had my correct credit card number, my name and e-mail address. I reported this as fraud to my credit card, even though I was receiving money, as it was a mistake. I don’t know how it happened, but I would not trust this company with my business. I believe there is great potential for fraud. Trying to get them to answer the non-existent phone number or e-mail address is impossible. Seriously, bad company.

  • Rnadler

    I am extremely disappointed in Square’s service. I used them for a government contract I did. They wanted to pay with credit card so I tried out Square. What a mistake. They are holding over $15000 of my money now for over 2 weeks. I have a business to run and have changed the amount to release on teir website and have had token responses from their support people. Still no money.
    They took out their percent right away. I manually put credit card in but can’t understand why I would have to wait this long. They are slow and unresponsive to email support. When dealing with finances you should never have email support only.
    Thank you for giving their number as I will try that and contact better business bureau to file a complaint and contact my lawyer. In today’s world this kind of service is unheard of. I would recommend not using them for anything over $100.
    Thanks

  • Darci Davenport

    I have been in business for close to 10 years and Square succeeded where even other Merchant Service Crooks had failed… They caused me to stop taking credit cards. I had the unfortunate need to give good customer service and issue a refund to a client whose dog was unable to stay with us after he had already made payment. Square took the refund money out of my bank the next day. I noticed a couple of days later I wasn’t getting a deposit but it was a Friday night I though maybe just a policy change well by Tuesday morning and still no deposit even though they had a $1000.00 of my money I started to try to find answers. I have a VERY busy dog care business so it’s not exactly conducive to exhaustive Internet searches so I start looking for a contact on squares website… I was unable to even find a contact email I had to enlist my geek husband who found this website and a customer service email for me. I sent an email and the next day I got a response that square put a hold on all funds for 7-10 days after a refund Doesn’t matter the size of the refund or the amount you have in credit card sales…with absolutely no notification they hold all your funds for 10 days. This shouldn’t even be legal. I fortunately figured it out about 3 days in so they only had $1000.00 not several thousand of my money but I’m through I’m just not accepting credit cards anymore. They’re all crooks and Square claimed to be different and they are different just not in a good way they’re Worse! Beware

  • Valerie

    My square reader was unusable on 9-5-12. I wonder if that was the same issue that other people were mentioning, it did not update so wouldn’t work. Seems to be working now, but it was difficult for client’s who normally pay this way.

  • M Frazier

    Square lives up to all the poor reviews. Sure wished I had researched into this company more before arming my service and sales staff with the Square Card Reader for point of sale credit card processing. Sure, you get an much lower rate with SQUARE than other merchant processing companies, however:

    1. Never at any time can you get a live person on the phone. All calls to their phone number, which we had to search to find, for it is not listed on their website or on any packaging, are answered with no option to leave a message .
    2.All communications with Square are either fax or email. When you email you get an auto reply that you will hear from them in 1-2 days..We are still waiting. When you fax.. well hold onto those fax confirmations, you may need them in court.

    3. Most important, THEY KEEP YOUR MONEY!! We have THOUSANDS of dollars they are not releasing into our bank account. We have submitted documents to “verify” our business as they requested and still no response or MONEY from Square.We have never had any chargebacks or issues with customers cards.

    Don’t be fooled, it all starts out fine, then they will randomly start holding funds.
    Numerous (HUNDREDS) of complaints on the National BBB site, more complaints on Pissed Consumer Site. If you too are a victim, Please contact the State Attorney General in California, The State Attorney General in your State, Federal Agencies governing interstate commerce, banking and internet fraud divisions and all the credit card companies directly: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover.

  • David

    Recently we started using Square. It appears to be easy to use and pretty timely in processing payments. However we encountered a problem while we were at an event. The device would not accept cards, either with a swipe or manually entering it. Not being any kind of geek or IT person we were without credit card sales for the show. We are not, by any stretch of the imagination, a large volume user, but we may use it 10-15 times a day for a craft show. So, while we were at a show over Labor Day Weekend we lost the ability to process credit card sales. My initial thought was the card swipe was damaged, or cell carrier was not working properly.
    Upon returning home I was checking the device again, still no luck, but maual entry worked. I then tried to order a replacement device, I thought I could not, but found that an upgrade to the software was available, and to my dismay THE DEVICE WILL NOT FUNCTION IF AN UPGRADE IS AVAILABLE. REPEAT, THE DEVICE WILL NOT FUNCTION IF AN UPGRADE IS AVAILABLE. What kind of business stops the equipment from even functioning if an upgrade to the software is available. They receive an F- for this action, plus there is no way to contact them if there are questions, again an F- for this. After upgrading the software everything seems to be fine, but this can be a problem for users because they did not even notify us of the upgrade, they need to work on their customer service.

  • Diane

    I started using square a month ago. I love it. I’ve had no problems and each day they deposit into my account the transaction amounts less 2.75%. Each time I accept a card I receive an email with the transaction amount and the total so far for my charges for the day. Then the next day I receive an email telling me that they have sent a deposit into my account and the dollar amount.
    From reading the reviews people seem to have problems with manual swipes (which I clearly saw on the website that there was extra fees associated with these).
    The other problem I see people having problems with are due to large purchases. Perhaps then Square is not your option. As you know they haven’t been in business too long and need to also protect themselves. Lets face it, a large transaction manually keyed in can be a fraud problem. I, don’t do a large amount in each transaction, I own a variety store and usually the charges are lower compared to what I have read others are doing, who are having problems.
    I can bet that Star Bucks will not have a problem using square because the charge amounts are not large.
    This is the forth company I have used for processing. They understate their charges and then add line charges, when you complain they state “that not part of OUR fee, that’s a government fee or some other agency fee.” Then there if the compliance fee. All they want is our hard earned money.. Some say 1.5% transaction but then charge tons of extra line charges and what not. The 1.5% is then really 4.05%. Okay they have customer service, Square doesn’t. They say 20 cents a swipe fee, next thing you know they upped your fees. They charge a monthly service fee. I can not tell you how many times I read my statement and there was ALWAYS an additional fee for SOMETHING.
    Last company National Merchant Services (NMS) in Brooklyn NY was a total rip off. Promised me .10 swipe with 1%. Got my statement, yeah they charged 10 cents but charged multiple times for the same swipe and multiple times for the percentage. They turned out to be 65 cents a swipe and 4.5%. You have to watch your statements. Keep track of all your transactions, swipes, etc and compare your records to your statement. Now I’m fighting with the company that bills for them over a bill that is inflated. Of course now Arthur at NMS won’t call back, but was up my butt when he wanted my business.
    It is hard enough to make it in business without these *** trying to rip us off.

  • Concealed Handguns

    At least I am not alone in my complaints against Square, Inc. Like many others here, I have had my own run-in with Square, Inc. using their Square credit card processing device. I signed up for Square and received the card reader in the mail within a few days. After installing the app on my phone, I tested the system by processing a few transactions over a couple of weeks time frame. These low dollar amount transactions went through without a hitch. Thus, I cancelled my Authorize.net account which we were paying on average, around $500 a month in fees and charges. And for the next few months had no issues using SquareUp.

    My problems began when I attempted to process an order from three individuals who were all friends and wanted to purchase the same item. In this case the price of the item(s) were $1,616.00 each. As I was unaware at the time with Square, Inc’s policy of holding any funds over $2,002.00 within a rolling 7 day period for a period of 30 days on manually entered transactions, needless to say the first $2,002.00 was deposited the next day, but the remainder of the transaction was going to be held for 30 days.

    A little digging and a few emails later, I rudely found out that my funds would indeed be held the 30 full days. Being a small business owner, having to eat $2,846.00 in overhead was hard to swallow. What was really the kicker is that I could have swiped the credit cards that I had manually entered, but my card reader was in my vehicle and just didn’t take the time to go get it. I certainly would have done that if I had known the reprocussions of that decision.

    I ended up refunding all three credit card transactions, refused the UPS delivery of their merchandise, and planned to just re-purchase the item(s) after having the customers pay by cash. It took 4 business days for the first to refunds to be credited to the customers credit cards, and an additional 4 business days for the third refund to be processed through. Meanwhile, the item(s) they were wanting to purchase had been sold out and are no longer available through my distributor. Talk about leaving a bad taste in your customers mouth.

    That started me dong a little research, and I discovered there was complaints all over the internet regarding SquareUp and Square, Inc. There is a video on SquareUp Forums on how to accept credit cards without a card reader at: [redacted – solicitation to 3rd party forum] , which was created by Square, Inc., but nowhere in their video did it explain that there was limitations.

    Regardless of who the master mind was behind Square, Inc., which in this case was Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter. I cannot see them staying at the forefront of mobile credit card processing without an actual customer service department and a method being able to contact them via a telephone call, whether that be a toll free 800 number or not.

  • Charles Hooper

    SQUARE UP NIGHTMARE! We signed up for Square a couple of weeks ago. I must say the process was easy and straightforward and we received the Square card reader a few days afterward. Our purpose was to process a large number of prepaid Visa giftcards that we have acquired over the past year and a half totaling $2150. Our first transaction was a week ago on a Friday and worked well, simple to enter and the card reader worked fine. Two or three hours later, we decided to complete all of our transactions. Again, the system worked fine.

    Now the problem begins late Monday. We received an email from Square stating their Account Service Team has “determined our account to be high risk. Any funds currently in our account will be held for 90 days before being processed to your linked bank account.” We determined the first $50.00 card was processed and deposited in our linked account, less the 2.75% fee, but the remander would be held for 90 days.

    We now attempted to talk to someone and searched for a phone number. This was difficult to find, but we finally came up with 415 375-3176 which provided only voice mail suggesting a website for canned answers and email contact promising a response in 24 hours. Well, the email responce took 26 hours simply stating our account cancellation was not reversible. Also, “If you do not want to wait, you may refund back to the original cards.”

    Fortunately, we still had the original cards and opted for the refund.

    We have now signed up with Intuit GoPayment and our account has been approved. We have not yet received the card reader. We have, however, processed our first card by manually inputting the information and the process went smoothly without a glitch. The biggest advantage with the Intuit Go-Payment system is that there are real people who can be reached by phone for questions or problems. Prior to signing up, I contacted them twice just be sure. At this point, I expect a good relationship with Intuit Go-Payment which was not my experience with Square-Up.
    Charlie, Stuart, FL

    .

    • Ohio Biohazardous Recovery

      As the owner of a business that does many transactions out in the field, the SQUARE seemed to be a convenient way for my customers and me to do credit cards.
      Two small transactions actually went well, then the third one of $6,500.00 became the nightmare everyone talks about.
      I recieved an e-mail from square requesting information that I could not answer. Example; they wanted my California CPA#. I live in Ohio.
      I called square, but noone works phones. I sent e-mails, but no answers. I got my money back by having
      My customer put a hold on her card. Long story short, her card was credited and I recieved my money.
      SQUARE is not a good method for doing business. That easy swipe they claim, will cost you a major headache in the end. Check with your bank, to see if they have merchant services. HUNTINGTON, and CHASE have very nice machines for use in the field.

  • Jason

    Square lacks transparency and has no zero access for customer service. when you sign up for an account, it is near impossible to find information on charges and fees. They advertise 2.75% fee for transactions but actually charge 3.50% plus $.15 for manual entry – something they don’t represent when you sign up. In addition, the only support they have is through twitter, which is a completely inadequate amount of access to handle problems. I don’t have a twitter account so I have zero voice to resolve an issue with them. I would not recommend Square because of their questionable transparency and complete lack of customer service.

    • Gretchen Legg

      Yeah, I’m in the same place as you. I just signed up and was hoping to get a lot more info in the mail, like pricing info and a copy of the terms, and contact info for customer service, maybe some set up instructions would have been nice. I navigated it all on my own. Now I’m trying to set up my account so people can find me (and so a certain customer can pay me from Canada using Pay with Square so I don’t have to pay the higher fees). I can’t upload a photo as a logo and my business is mobile so I check that box. It keeps saying I need to update my logo and provide an address. Neither 415 number will get me to a person or let me leave a voice mail.

  • Nirvana Smoke Shop

    I own a small retail store that does a high volume of credit card purchases. I recently signed up wIth Square. The first week of doing business with square they deposit all credit card funds the next day in my bank account. To date, August 23rd, they have not made any deposits into my account for over 1 week & are holding over $8300 of money. I need this money to pay rent, payroll, sales tax, etc. I gave tried to call Square over a dozen times & have never been able to reach anyone & all calls are cut off without taking any msgs. I have written at least 5 e-mails & none have been answered. I have received no letters, e-mail or notifications as to why they are withholding my funds. I will go out if business if they continue to hold my funds. A small business that does over 65 % in credit cards must be able to access their money to continue. They have no customer service at all & the guidelines they have on their website gives one a false representation of their true business practices. I cannot imagine anyone ever using Square that runs a busy retail business.

  • Luis

    People…….Do not use Square…
    i have a scooter store and i’ve been using square to receive payments…
    i sold one scooter on july 27, i received $360 from one costumer everything was fine until now…
    The costumer opened a dispute with his credit card company and unfortunatelly, Square took the money out of my account without my permission, and without hearing both of us….
    I do have receipt, title and all the things that prooves the purchase, but they never did anything….
    DO NOT USE SQUARE AT ALL PLEASE….THEY DON’T EVEN HAVE COSTUMER SERVICE

  • Robin

    I am really rethinking using Square. We have ran a patient’s credit card 3 times, Square has taken the money out of his account each time but shows the charge as declined.

    When I try to get in touch with someone it is impossible….this is ridiculous, they won’t answer emails and the phone numbers tell you to email. I have a patient with $750.00 tied up for days and I need to talk to someone. Why all the secrets…..no phone number, no email response?

    I will say this in their defense they have always, up until now, been very good and we have been happy.

  • Francisco Gomez

    We have used Square, Shopkeep, and Intuit. Here is my experience with all of them.

    My favorite is Shopkeep

    Shopkeep:

    Reasons I use them:
    Contact number easily available
    24/7 live person support
    Cash drawer that actually keeps track of your cash
    Amazing customer service
    Dual printers
    Really low swipe and no swipe fees
    Export to excel and can then import to quickbooks
    Keeps track of cash in cash drawer
    You can open and close shifts 
    It tells you how much should be in the cash drawer when closing a shift
    You can make employee ID’s to better figure out who sold what
    You can put notes on the receipts that print on the remote printer for the cook or coffee maker to see
    Receipt number so you can yell number 102 your order is ready. (Five Guys)

    Bad things:
    Technical support is lacking 
    $50 monthly fee per iPad setup we have 3 so $150 a month does add up for services. But when your in a jam and need help that 800 number is worth every penny
    (in respect to there low swipe fees the $50 monthly fee is worked into your monthly expense when reviewing the high swipe fees from other companies such as square.
    Initial investment is expensive for cash drawer, printer, swiper ($1000-$1500)
    I have had issues with the printers disappearing from the network
    (we have them on static IP’s and we have those IP’s excluded from the DHCP Scheme)

    Good news:
    They are working on techical support
    They release updates monthly for there app and all the updates are actually usefull
    Customer rewards system is coming soon

    Square:
    I currently am testing square

    Reasons:
    No monthly fee
    Starbucks decided to use them
    Mobile apps for iOS devices
    They have a location app for using there services where people can do a search and find places to pay using square
    Apple sells there products in the store and to me this is a sign it may become integrated into the next iOS software upgrade. Starbucks switching to square is another sign of this possibility.
    The same app for locations allows my customers to pay through the app, see our menu (not order from the app just view the menu), but my customers can start a tab from there app and on my iPad register I can see who has tabs open and close there tab when they are finished.
    You can add pictures to the items
    Customer rewards built in

    The bad:
    Horrible customer service (I can’t stress horrible enough)
    They hold your money 30 days or longer if it’s over a certain amount we do $20,000 transactions and sometimes it takes a month to see the money.
    No contact us number 
    High per swipe and no swipe fee
    Can’t do dual printers (1 for customer and the other would print near the coffee maker)
    Does not keep track of cash in cash drawer
    Does not have a way to do shift change
    Issue with location of one of my cafe’s on square app. It thinks my address is down the street so sometimes people cant open a tab because it says “to far from location” when in reality they are in my cafe.

    Good news:
    With Starbucks investing in square and the surge of additional capital to square there is hope they will solve the contact number issue and customer service complaints. I am hopefull that as a company square can at least notice that they have a major issue with customer service.

    Intuit:
    Currently using for my other company for mobile IT services.

    Reasons:
    I still use this for the mobile side of one of my companies
    Low swipe fees no monthly fee or you can pay $15 and get a 1% discount on the per swipe and no-swipe fees
    Easy to create new items on the fly
    Good for simple quick transactions that have to be done in person but at different offices using my iPhone or iPad.
    All tax information is automaticly handles and sent to you at the end of the year
    Built by the builders of quickbooks
    Again I only use this for mobile sales for my IT business

    The bad:
    Not friendly for a cafe environment
    No cash drawer ability

    Good news:
    I noticed they came out with a POS package at office depot
    Not sure what it contains but maybe it will be usefull to some

    I hope this helps you guys when decideding which company to go with. Feel free to message me with questions it’s slow season for my right now so I’m glad to help.

  • Alex

    can anyone clarify this, please. as you will notice, a browser search yields isq, accompanied by the subheading, “sign up for free”. so i did. i now find a page submerged on their site that invites me to sign up AGAIN for $275 monthly. what gives? have i just signed over $275.00, after being promised i could sign up “for free”? and the fact that they are barely accessible to communication is not boding well. are these people just inefficient or cons?

  • Steven

    Chargeback reversals ,
    I am involved in a chargeback gone wrong. My customer paid me 1900.00 and when they were unhappy with my service they complained to their credit card company. I immediately recieved an email that there was a problem with the charge. Before I could respond the monies were withdrawn from my account. When my customer contacted their credit card company for the 2nd time one day later. They informed them that they were mistaken and basically cancelled the chargeback so now everything should be fine. Now my real problems begins no one to call no response to emails just a simple email telling me the quickest resolution is to do a refund and than rebill the original amount. So we attempt the refund and first it’s pending than the refund becomes rejected. So now I am emailing every day trying to find out how to retrieve my money. This type of not being able to simply resolve a dispute will ultimately hurt the square. My general rating is good. Problem solving is terrible

    • Adam

      I went through them holding almost $11,000 (net after their fee). I went to war basically. I eventually researched the company and contacted the COO via his personal Twitter. I received an email within a couple of hours. Within the afternoon my funds were promised by the next day. So as a public service the department I finally got a hold of that helped is (415) 946 – 4087. But you didn’t hear it from me ;-)

  • Business Owner

    After having funds held with Square Up for several weeks I now only use Square Up for small business transactions. They requested we send a load of sensitive company infomation on email so we could have our limit reviewed. With no way to contact them except a generic email address I refused to send such information. Have now gone with Paypal Here and also use cardlink.com.au for Australian transactions. They pay all funds straight away into your bank account (no matter what the amounts).

    What I want to know is why don’t Square Up pay business owners their funds straight away. They must be doing short term 30 day trades on the stock exchange.

    Square Up are definitely not worth the hassle especially if you take alot of orders on email and phone and have to manually input the transaction like I need too. They go on national TV raving about their partnership with Starbucks, yet have the worse customer service ever. There is no way you can get in touch with these guys except by email. With no visible customer service contact details, it leaves me feeling very uneasy about Square Up.

  • Bettina Devin

    Despite my excitement at the arrival of the Square, I am experiencing ongoing frustration re: the fact that I cannot get a response from the customer service. I am unable to sign in for one thing. When I click “forgot password”, I keep getting a message saying they have sent an email to me, but those emails never show up. I am unable to go in and look at my history… a BIG no no for any financial software company. I am going to try the # you provided here… I would never have known it existed, so thanks for publishing this. But something tells me it might not make much of a difference.

    Frustrated

    • Small Business

      Sounds like the same problem as I am having. Use my phone for my transactions, had to do a reset on the phone. Now it won’t let me log into my account and they will not respond to any emails. I am waiting, but have limited faith in their customer support.

      Also the card reader (all 3 of them) have never worked.

    • BUSINESS OWNER

      Hope this helps anyone that is still having their money held….

      Square was was holding $4500 of a $6500 transaction.
      I emailed and faxed them every form of documentation they said they needed to verify transaction,
      then they said they will still have to hold it for 30 days!!

      So I went onto their facebook and twitter accounts and posted that they are a fraudulent company beware to all new users and I did this every 15 minutes for an entire day.
      I also reported them to the San Francisco
      FBI white collar crimes division, and filed a report with the FTC

      The next morning I got a call from a Square supervisior and he was very friendly and apologetic and he said my funds would be released and they would raise my limit. They were all realeased the next day.

      I really think they have a good business idea, but the guys in charge never really learned that taking care of their customers is key to any business.

      They also gave me a number to call other than their “so call customer service line”
      it worked at the time it was 415-946-4087.

      So I think the key is if you “publically” expose them then you will get their attention.

      also I contacted an investigative new program that was going to research and do a story on this company because of all their customer complaints.

      Anyway, hope this helps anyone who is still waiting for their money.

      • Classy Carz

        I am a small business owner and have been a Square client since April 2012. Until this week I havent had any issues with Square, Now I have BIG issues with them. Something is going on within their company, perhaps they are getting ready to go under and are trying to siphon as much cash as they can lay their hands on. There are an awful lot of recent complaints identical to mine. I have been making charges all week, small ones all under $200 each. I have not received ONE deposit! I emailed them and have received NO response. I tried this number 415-946-4087 and it actually was answered but the rep was very rude. Talked over me, kept repeating she couldnt help me. says she is for ” verification only ” Then started screaming at me when I told her i was recording my calls. Tried to tell me what i was doing was illegal. (In my state you CAN record any conversation in which YOU are participating.) Illegal? What Square is doing is illegal, they are collecting merchants funds and KEEPING them. Didnt banks get in trouble for that? I think it was called “Floating” Square is also putting my business in a bad position becuase they arent allowing me to do any refunds. I lose credibility with my customers when I cant give a refund. They also are putting me in a position to receive chargebacks! My next call is to the state attorney generals office. Square is destroying small businesses with this practice. Any one know of any class action suits against them? If you have the same problems, call their only number that a live person answers. 415-946-4087, perhaps they will start to help their merchants, the ones they actually make money from and keep them in business!

  • Jean Houndsome

    Signed up for square via mobile and never even received my free card reader. E-mailed them 2 or 3 times, no response. Couldn’t find any phone number for them. Eventually a month later bought my own card reader and now it’s not working. I read from other people on here about Intuit that got great reviews, so I will take my business there. Thanks Square, but even bigger NO THANKS!!
    You guys have no customer service,so you will not see a penny of my hard earned money!

  • Mike

    They keep taking refunds out of my account and will not stop.
    The problem was fixed with the customer but the square keeps taking money from me and will not stop. No number to call them also. DO NOT USE

  • Brad Brown

    Swiped a card last week for $5,400.00. Found out four days later they did not process it saying they need additional info about my business. We have already been using the service for six months and why did they pull this on me now. If you need the funds in your account, do not rely on Square.

  • C.McQueen

    Square is not working at all.Horrible experience I must say. I do not recommend square for anyone. I have a business and uses square.I purchased it, had the customer sign his signature but card number had to be keyed in because the dern card would not swipe and it is new. So, my customer is on hold because we cant start the customers car because the funds have not cleared. It has been a week and no response and cant contact anyone. Except, I am getting plenty of emails for me to submit verification, in which I have and still no money has posted. Wtf!!! Please read all reviews before you purchase square. I did my research but evidently not good enough. This is a disaster and I will not use them anymore

    • Barb

      Square is not working at all. Horrible experience I must say. I do not recommend Square for anyone until they get their act together. I have a small business and used Square for a few days at our booth at our State Fair. Had the customer sign his signature on a piece of paper because the card number had to be keyed in because the dern card would not swipe and it is new. I am getting plenty of emails for me to submit verification, in which I have and still no money has posted. Wtf!!! Please read all reviews before you purchase Square. I did my research but evidently not good enough. This is a disaster and I will not use them anymore. I need my money NOW!

  • Rose

    Square has been holding $3500 of my money for over 180 days even though they said they would release the money last week. In addition, I never had any chargebacks in the first place and I used the card swiper. My account was randomly flagged as high risk 6 months ago and my funds are still frozen.

    • kirk

      i was also flaged a high risk after many transactions my account was all in line and in good standing and they are holding $3,000 from me i received a e mail stateing they would be released in 30 days then 1 hour later i received another e mail stateing they would be held 180 days they said i could seek other optiuons to receive my funds to go about doing a refund i did the first one and informed the customer why i received a check from my customer. i tried to do the other refunds to seek other payment options then square blocked me from doing that . i shouold of been a more educated consumer a read the hundreds and hundreds of negative reveiws one reveiw said they are holding $19,000 im temepted to show up at there door!!! to get there full attention in addition it says this is your case number and you will receive a return reply!! i have several case numbers and no returns they completly shut me out!!

  • Melissa

    OK So here goes my rant……….. We sell custom golf carts, at trade shows and soforth. I started using them over 1 year ago and thats when I learned they put a hold on your non-swiped funds. I called and actually got through to someone. They had me e-mail in several business related items to them. THEN, they had me scan all of my receipts where the customer agreed to purchase the carts, I did. After only a couple of days, they increased my line to $20,000.00. I hadnt used them in a while as we just started doing trade shows again, and …..guess what?? Tried to use swiper and it wouldnt work, so we had to key it in manually. The customer even called their AE BEFORE and told them the amount of the charge, and even gave them our name and invoice info had to key it in and BAM, now they are holding all but $2001.00. Bull crap! Sent them an message, today. Going to see how long it takes for clear this up. Thanks for letting me RANT……lol

  • Pectolite Inc

    My wife and I own a natural skin products business called Pectolite Inc. Our Brand, Oh Honey, specifically works with handmade all natural soaps made with all natural oils and lye. We started using Square as our merchant solution. In the summer, we sale our soaps, lotion bars, and natural lip balms at farmers markets and festival events. Square has been great. We are able to accept credit cards with nothing more than our telephones. The cost of using square is close to any other merchant account provider and is their fees are more simple. We have more customers, because we can accept credit card and debit cards, when many of our competitors cannot. We sell more natural soap at the farmers markets, than on our website at http://www.soapguildstores.com/pectolite. The receipt can be emailed or texted to the customer and you are able to and should always put in a description of the purchase. This will let the customer know exactly what what they purchased. I would recommend Square to any small business. It has helped our natural soaps and lip balms company, Pectolite Inc, grow faster.

    • Cindy

      I have been using Square for almost 2 years now. I have never had a problem that couldn’t be resolved with them. I am a small business owner, my transactions are small so maybe that is why I don’t have problems. This has really increased my business by being able to accept credit cards. I have recommended Square to many vendors at farmer markets and craft shows.

      Cindy

  • Laura

    UPDATE ~ Over Six months and Square is still holding over $6000 of our money. Original hold was for over 50K! The only way I got any of it back was to refund all the charges and then re-run them with a new processor. The last $6000+ they refused to allow me to refund and they are still holding it after SIX MONTHS.

    This company is HORRIBLE. It has so many complaints and the way they hold peoples money is unconscionable! They have NO regard as to how this effects a small business! In my opinion they are probably robbing Peter to pay Paul.
    They just partnered with Starbucks who is investing another 25 million. Maybe then we will get paid, Otherwise they will probably declare bankruptcy and we will get nothing. WARNING ~ STAY AWAY!

  • Chris

    DASHBOARD DOESN’T WORK! I used Square twice this last weekend but have no way of finding out from Square if they’ve deposited my money. When I sign onto the Square website absolutely nothing comes up on the Dashboard page. Nothing at all. I can’t even use the back arrow to return to their home site. Without the use of the Dashboard, I can’t personalize my phone app, can’t follow a transaction record, can’t do anything. After reading all these complaints, I don’t think I’ll use Square any more, and am more than nervous about whether I’ll ever see my money at all, or will be sure that if deposited, it’s truly there to stay!

    Given the ease of actually using Square for a transaction, this lack of customer service, lack of communicating with their customers, and the withholding of funds is so disappointing.

  • Karla

    I LOVE SQUARE UP. When my business partner and I first opened up our auto repair business, we needed a way to accept credit cards. We couldn’t stand all of the merchant sales people trying to sell us merchant packages that we didn’t need, so we googled merchant packages and found Square Up. It really seemed to good to be true at first, but we have been using it for all of our credit card processing needs for over 7 months now and I have NO complaints! Easy to set up, the processing card reader gets sent to you FREE OF CHARGE, there are no other fees other than the 2.75% per swipe. I personally couldn’t be happier with Square Up, best processor ever :)

  • Mohsin Zamir

    Square is the worst service ever. They don’t pay you on time except for the first payment. They don’t get back to you or follow up on anything. You have to wait for weeks to get any type of response from them. You won’t even know what’s happening with your account. Please do yourself a favor and DO NOT GO WITH SQUARE!!!

  • John

    I was told how great this system is….. Well I bought the reader at Best Buy (worst electronics store ever) and it got worse from there… after 20 times of deleting all the info & app., reinstalling it all again and getting the same error message “The operation couldn’t be completed. (kQHTTPOperationErrorDomain error 422) I sent an email each hour (for 6 hours) with no response, then I found your site and have been calling ever since (just two days)…. With the same results, no response, at least I only got burned for 10 bucks….. Cheaper than a bad movie & I wouldn’t EVER DO BUSINESS WITH THEM NOW

  • Gretchen

    I process cards without the card present. Many for outside of the US. Australia has only a four digit postal code. Canada has six characters with three letters and three numbers alternating. The Square system insists on having a five digit numerical zip code entered with no work arounds. This is a defect in their system and a problem. Sometimes you can get around it by entering a US code but this doesn’t always work. Have had two customers that cards used to work with Intuit that now won’t work with Square at all.

  • Shirin

    I have had problem with square since two years ago, no way of contacting them, they keep my money for says, now since 10 days ago did not deposit mt money I. My account and they are not contacting me either, I am all for suing them now

  • Mark

    I learned about Square Up last year at a Locksmith meeting from a fellow Locksmith who began to use Square for his credit card processing. I used Intuit via my computer at the office. To become a “mobile” credit card acceptor (I’m a mobile Locksmith) it was quite cumbersome and would have to subscribe to a cellular telephone contract with the purchase of a cellular credit card processing machine. Pay the telephone fees and such.
    I had a laptop computer in my truck and decided to try a swipe reader with a USB plug. You had to have an internet air card to be able to go online then go to the site then swipe the card to process…..WOW!
    I gave up on all that and just took my chances by accepting the credit card number and signature waiting until I got to the office to key the transactions in my computer. Intuit as well as many others knew they had you and really took advantage of this in their fees as well as service. I would do my best to stay clear of any intuit products of services if I can help it. I use Quickbooks Pro out of necessity though would be hard pressed to say it is the best accounting software. It isn’t.
    I skeptically began using Square Up. I liked the fact that they charged one fee for all cards, had no monthly fees or contracts.
    When you sign up with Square they keep a certain amount of your earnings for a period of time then release it. I was furious. Not only are they making money on the fees but keeping billions of dollars throughout the entire user system earning sick interest on our money made me ill.
    I was confused at how they processed as well as the receipts and statements.
    To communicate with anyone with Square was only through Twitter. I hated it and still do.
    The dashboard has been changed multiple times. Oh forgot to mention that often when I go to accept a card on my telephone I have to sign in. The customer waiting while I enter my info. Just keep me signed in and leave it unless I say otherwise.
    2.75% is okay rate. Not great or even good. 3.5% plus 15 cents per keyed in transaction is ridiculous.
    I want to print the transaction receipt for my records from my computer and just want the basic info on it (you can see the customers receipt in your account dashboard but try to print a simple copy) and I have to put it in Excel spreadsheet? I just want to have a simple receipt to staple to my invoice that the customer signed. They don’t have a print button on the page.
    Yes, they are getting better but as for now it is an option I have and when another opportunity (other than the thieves at Intuit who stole the idea Duh Intuit, I continually complained about the service and prices and I hope this hurts).
    So, I will use Square Up as a means to an end but will jump ship as soon as a better product becomes available.
    In a nut shell:
    Square has a decent product. The service is one of the worst I’ve dealt with as far as simple communication. They distance themselves from you voraciously.
    It works.
    Cost is okay.
    Swipe is finicky and does not work as well as it should.
    Convenient.
    After they scam you for a few months or so you will begin getting your money quickly and regularly.
    All in all I would give Square a 6 out of 10

  • Jeri

    Has anybody received a receipt showing that a charge was made that you didn’t make. It looks like a credit card that I keyed in 5 months ago. I can’t find anywhere to get help!

  • Kazi

    I use square for my business and it is a great Disappointment lately when it comes to customer service
    I use swipe and my app is up to date but the Manual entry option has disappeared on my app
    It does not allow one dollar minumun for cards and even no support for it
    EMail replies not coming i am thinking changing to anothere company where atleast i can have Email or phone help if meeded
    It has become a lousy company trying to save money on most important feature that is customer service
    Out source to any 3rd wolrd country like India for cheap labore may solve this issue

  • Dan Robinette

    I have been experiencing many customer service related issues or lack thereof customer service. I have been caught in their $2002.00 rolling every 30 day trap and they are litereally holding thousands of dollars in THEIR account. Another major issue for me has been their follow up on funds being available. On many occasions, 10+, they indicate the funds will be available on a certain date, again due to the rolling $2002. policy and the funds do not show up. Of course as a client, there is NO access to customer service, they say its better that way!

    Also after using their system for more than 60 days, their response to my complaints was to send me an email asking me to send them my FEIN and State tax certificate, send me my email address or vailidate my business through the yellow pages or other sources, they asked for 3 months of bank statements and asked me to send them all of the invoices and/or statements for all my client billings. Totally unacceptable and to date I have spent more than 12 hours trying to resovlve these issues. I’m no closer to closure than I was 12 hours ago. I’m a small business and having funds on hold is a BIG deal for me. I would not recommend this company to anyone looking for a CC processor. For all the hassles of doing business with them, as they say in the south…it just ain’t worth it ya’ll!!!

    • Cynthia

      Have you applied for an increase? My products are high priced items and range from $2,000 to $20,000. So I immediately applied for the increase. I received up to $10,001 in a 7 day period. I have had 3 purchases in the last 6 months and in all cases by funds were received the next business day. I have not have an over $10,000 situation. But I would suggest you apply for the increase if you are going to go over that $2000 limit on a 7 day period.

  • Crystal

    Overall, I am happy with Square’s service. So far, I have had no problems with funds being held. In general, the program works wonderfully, and I really like the register. However, the one time I needed help because the answer wasn’t available on their help page, I couldn’t find any way to contact Square. I had a customer call about a charge that showed up on his credit card statement but didn’t show up on our transaction history, so I couldn’t refund it. Square’s shoddy customer service makes mine look poor when I can’t do anything about it.

  • SM

    Not a fan. We have charged $100,000s of dollars and when I needed service, I couldn’t get a phone call. A customer disputed a charge and my e-mails to Square resulted in return e-mails 1-3 days later that were unclear. I included in my e-mails MULTIPLE times “Please call me so we can resolve this in 5 minutes”…never got a call and it took months to get the issue resolved.

    I would pass on Square. If you do go with them, MAKE SURE YOU NEVER DO A PHONE CHARGE AND HAVE EVERY CHARGE SIGNED. IF THERE ARE CONNECTION ISSUES, HAVE THE CLIENT DO A SIGNED CC SHEET AND IMPRINT THEIR CARD.

    • randy

      We decided to try out square when we saw the product at a local apple store.BIG MISTAKE!!!!After 3 months of ok service they decided we were a high risk.They held over 10,000 dollars of our money.Customers got their products and are happy and square got paid.They stated that they could hold our funds for 180 days.Well its now been 185 days and quess what.When we inquired about when our funds would be released,4 days later we got a e-mail stating we are still a high risk and they would review again in 3 months.How is this allowed to happen is this America?

  • Daniel

    If you get paid more than a couple thousand a month DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT. I am fighting them at the moment about a VERY large amount of money being held for at least a month. Due to fine print policy. There No. is 1-415-375-3176 ext 181 took me a lot of foot work to even find this.

    • Reyn Mansson

      I sell advertising. I did a bunch of $300 to $500 charges and they are went smoothly, never more than $2000 in a week I guess. Then I got an annual renewal for $4500 and discovered the over $2002 rule. They got the money from the clients card but were going to hold it for 30 days. After the ads would have run. No phone number, 36 hours to reply to email.
      I cancelled the charge and then recharged $2001 and they locked that up for 30 days too.

      I found Intuit Payment Solutions, they gave me a $15,000 limit and they have lower rates. With a $12.95 monthly fee they charge just 1.7% for swipes and 2.7 for key in charges

      DO NOT USE SQUARE, Go search out GoPayment Intuit Payment Solutions.

  • J Greer

    Negative review after negative review… What? You think it’s just a few rotten apples? Well then feel free to read yet one more negative review on Square. Is it easy and a convenient way for a small business to charge their customers? Yes. Would you think that in a service provider business where the sale is your services not an item that Square would perhaps be more protective that once services are rendered the Buyer should be disallowed from claiming they didn’t get the service? Well it seems not to matter. Seven months after providing services it appears a customer can dispute a payment and Square will, just like everyone states, immediately take the money right from your account with no forewarning or allowance for the business owner to provide proof of the services or contract for same. No warning. Zero, zip, nada. You provide the service. The customer receives it. You think you got paid but noooooo, think again….months later they snatch it right back when you least expect it or are prepared for it. But hey, the customer got the service and Square got paid. That’s all that matters it appears. Like others I disputed the charge back of thousands of dollars, provided contract documents to Square (after the charge back hit), followed their procedures and even provided written documents from the customer showing they did in fact approve of and receive the services. You would think that would be sufficient evidence right? Months later after disputing the charge back, here I still sit. Still waiting to see the return of the money earned at the first of the year. Oh did I mention I am also out the commissions paid to the sales agent on this? That is of course in addition to the money lost to Square. Will I recommend Square to anyone? NOPE. Have I used Square since? NOPE. Will I use it again? NOPE. If you can use another processor do it! Or better yet just take a check and cash it. My new method of providing services. You want services? Great. Cash or good check only please. At least with a bad check I have the local law enforcement to help out. Apparently business owners are the low people on the totem pole these days. No wonder there’s fewer and fewer jobs and our economy is a mess. Between the politicians and various financial muggers not much positive left.

  • MYP

    I never seen anything like this before, square will have to change many things, specially customer service system and responds system to different claims or we will take them to court. I as a business owner of 3 different companies use them as my merchant services because of the convenience I saw in it but I now regret because funds are holding, funds are been withdrawn from bank account with out any explanation, takes weeks to get any response. We all ready looking into their Privacy Policy and Commercial Entity Agreement very carefully studying every detail. Hopefully judgement system will help protect small business owners from discrimination.

    • Craig

      Yes I believe this company is much too big to not offer a better customer service solution. Who ever heard of a bank that you cannot call? I believe this company is setting themselves up for a huge class action lawsuit. It also appears to me that monies held for excessive periods of time should be paid back with interest. Just my simple observations.

  • Vibhakar Modi

    I signed up for Square for my small real estate business. I learned first hand what the elitist, pompous, Silicon Valley thinking and attitude is all about.
    There is no phone number anywhere on the site to call, no cheap customer service people in India or Phillipines chat your problem away, and certainly no help on the most fundamental of all help topics: My Card Reader Does Not Work.
    I think Square will disappear as a company (not by being bought out, but by being outdone by other more customer friendly companies) in due time. For now the pomposity and elitism seem to have won, but you know what, they have also got a rabid badmouther working against them now. This is a message to the 22 year old paper billionaires who, upon receiving 100 million in VC funding, start to imagine themselves to be sitting next to Gods. I wish they would understand that their riches and success depend on this one small thing in the entire process, called THE CUSTOMER.

  • Vincetta Thompson-Othman

    I have lost all of my patience with Square. My husband and I operate 2 buisnesses 1 Taxi Cab (medallion owned) 1 Catering buisness which go to separate banks and secrete accounts. We unintentionally mixed up our devices which made the customer name different. Simple hahaha NOT!! I emailed my hard copy of the original transaction in March well in July they put a hold on my husbands account holding over $600 without warning. They want access to my account which the accounts are not linked. I have been waiting over 4 months for a resolution. BEWARE OF THE HELP DEPARTMENT BECAUSE THEY DO NOT HELP THE CUSTOMER. I AM FILING A COMPLAINT WITH THE BBB. WATCH OUT!!

  • Richard Affolter

    Recenty began using Square and am mostly pleased, except the unavailability of actual support. Twice credit cards did not scan. Repeated swipes then went instantly to cash transaction, I cannot get someone to remove this from my records. Why would a specific credit card reader even use dash? Square needs to offer a way to contact a person to handle issues.

  • Mumtaz Wani

    It is almost impossible to contact Square. There is no telephone number on their site. There is no company information and address. If they fail to deposit your money in the account how can you reach or sue them. Is it a scam?

    • Arnie

      You can cell their number which I found online. It is (415) 375-3176. The automated computer basically hung up on me after providing me with an email address which is [email protected]/square_com I had a transaction that was supposed to be deposited into my account and never was. It says it was on the site and when I checked my bank statement, nothing. I’m waiting to hear back from them.

  • Robert Refugio

    I have had nothing but problems with this Square company. charge a client a credit of over $3000. and Square went back and forth with me on line only, now 2 weeks later and not getting any of my money and no human contact i am not using them again. I still have not received my money.

    Robert Refugio

  • Angela

    I wish I would have known how horrible the “customer service” would be with Square Up before signing up. They are impossible to reach someone live and if they respond to an email within 24 hours, it usually takes 3-4 clarification emails to get a clear answer. I’m switching over to a new system immediately. It’s impossible to run a business effectively with such poor customer relations.

  • Tom's Service

    The fee’s were not spelled out when I signed up to get a card reader. I had to do research to find that manual card number input charges 3.5% + .15. Also I did not know that they hold funds that are over a certain amount. I got an e-mail that a lesser amount would be issued and could not at first figure what that lower amount was. Checking your web site answered it. Not pleased with Square’s practices and no live support. Not a way to operate a company. I always had good relations with all my customers doing service work. May look into another company to do credit cards.
    Thanks for your site.

  • Nikki Wilbanks

    I have had square for about 6 months. I quit using it 2 months ago and now there saying someone from 3 months ago is disputing a charge. So they froze my BANK account and took out close to 300.00 and sent en email asking if I wanted to challenge this to email them and wait for a response. I tried to call but got hung up on. I didn’t read anywhere that they can freeze your bank account!! That is my money not there’s. I want to close my account with them after this is over but just like trying to talk to a person I cant find where that is possible. I don’t know what to do. I cant use my debit card for anything no groceries no gas nothing! Wtf I just might have to get a lawyer. Do not use square. Use intuit go payment.

  • cindy

    Got it thought it would be great,,,that holding funds thing???? THE WORST! The Square is only good if you sell vegetables at a farmer’s market.
    I sell big ticket items and a lot of orders over the phone so the whole concept falls short for me, because a lot of my sales are keyed in.
    Now I am waiting 30 days for money I need now,
    I might use it here and there with only cards present, other wise I am a slave to the old fashioned terminal.
    so much for cutting costs in my small business and getting money into my account faster.

  • Derek Smart

    Square started out awesome, but with 12,000+ of my deposits on hold with no disputes, refunds or credits make one wonder. We have had no issues with square since sept of 2011, all of the sudden and thru no fault of my own, my account is under review and they are holding my money. We have over 10 case numbers pending and all we get is a generic computer generated response. I would only recommend square to someone that might have an instance every now and then that they need to accept a credit card. Do not expect your money in a timely manner, especially I’d the transaction is significant . To Square, u suck!

  • Bill's Repair

    Square is the worst decision we have made with this business! We had several transactions back in May with one of them over $2800, one for $500 and one for $51. They told us that we had exceeded their $2002 policy and that if we didn’t want our funds held we would need to refund the $2800 payment to the card holder (even though we had the legitimate charges for it and verbal permission from the card holder to run it). We did refund the $2800 payment that same day and took a different method of payment from the customer. That was May 20, 2012…here it is July 23, 2012 and we STILL have not been deposited the $551 payment that has been held for over two months now.

    As stated by others, Square’s customer service is non-existent and they have REFUSED to answer my emails that have been sent weekly.

    DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY IF YOU DO ANYTHING OVER $1000!!!!!!
    ~V~

  • david k

    i have a small auto repair shop in the redlands,ca area. square up is good in the beginning only. they have NO CUSTOMER SERVICE THAN CAN BE REACHED BY PHONE AND ONLY BY EMAIL. EVEN WITH EMAIL THEY WILL REFER YOU TO THE ONLINE WEB SITE HELP SECTION, THE COMPANY SUCKS, GO WITH INTUIT PAYMENTS BETTER BY 1000%

  • B.Johnson

    Ive had Square for 6 months, & found it easy to use, & convienient. I have an ocasional need to accept credit cards for usually 1000 dollars or less. It does take a few days to have the money deposited into your account, but its no big deal.
    However, I’ll NEVER use them again. They initiated a “chargeback” for almost $1000, over 3 months after the transaction was complete, with absolutely no explanation to this date (over a month now). For those like me who do not know what a chargeback is, its basically they reach into your bank account and rob you of your money without warning. Of course, when you try and contact them, there is no response, and no “human” to talk to. I personally got the e-mail run-a-round – basically a bunch of smoke up my —. I had no money in my account, so I was overdrawn by $1000, which meant more fees. My bank Chase, thought this was b.s., and replaced the funds, pending a dispute charge by myself, as Square repeatedly took THAT money, 3 times total!! Finally Chase got with it, & changed the account number, and it has stopped. All the while, Square’s e-mails keep coming,”sorry, we are working hard to resolve this issue for you” – what jerks! It turns out, the customer who I had charged the $1000 in the first place, decided 3 months later, that he would like his money back, and simply told his credit card company (American Express), and the rest is history.I definately felt that the time for any “disputes” with my $1000brother charge was long passed…..
    DO NOT USE SQUARE if you are like me and cant afford to take a hit like this!

  • Mamaral

    Squareup.com is the worst experience I ever could have had. They violated the trust we automatically give credit card processers, at least the trust I gave them. Shame on me. I had a customer that in my opinion, was trying to pull a fast one, get me services for free, get reimburse through their cc provider and also our company.

    We were notified by square asked to respond, which we did. They immediate debited our account. Letting square know We decided to reimburse the customer, because it wasn’t,t worth the aggregation or potential negative reviews. We provided square with the information and a copy of the customer acknowledging receipt of payment from us and Sqare still has our company money weeks later. They stated the had the release from the other Big cc processing company and have not refunded us-customer has been paid over three months. Truly a unprofessional company with the worst customer service I have ever experienced.

    They ruin it for other companies that are Internet virtual companies, by violating the trust factor, not making it possible to speak with them on the phone etcc I feel like they ripped is off and there is nothing we can do.

    Still waiting for our money.

  • MARIO

    We used Square on our online website because we were having trouble with paypal and we were trying to find a solution with Square but all we found was a $2415 on HOLD for the next 6 months thank you Sqaure.

    i tried to call but a get a machine and then hangs up.

    Dont ever used this type of card processing company.

  • Lisa Council

    I am wondering how long it will take for the funds to be processed to my account, I never received the 10.00 that was redeemed for buying the square. Lets not start off on the wrong foot I am all for supporting but I dont need to be beat in the process

  • Mike Elliott

    Square has been a nightmare. No phone support and their online support may not actually exist. Don’t use this company. Pay more to a company that can actually support you and stay away from Square.

  • Doreen D

    I own a game ranch and needed a way of taking credit cards. Square seemed like the ideal thing, WRONG !!! With partial payments being received how are we as business owners suppose to buy the necessary things to run a business?. Someone needs to come up with a better idea as this one is NOT going to work. Maybe when and if this thing gets worked out in a positive direction it will be a good thing, I have over $5000 floating out there that I can not get my hands on.

  • Jon

    After the confirmation deposit in my bank I thought I was ready to accept cc payments only to find after my first transaction of $2,500.00 with a swiped cc they wanted to confirm again.This time with 2 (instead of one like the first time) small deposits into my bank. I’m still waiting for this to happen so I can collect my payment!

  • marlene marshall

    I felt surprised to find that Square charges 2.75 percent plus 15 cents which I did not know plus days before I even made my first transaction with the square .49 cents was charged to my bank account . Now I know that is not a lot of money but will they do that every week or month…..and if you multiply that by thousands of members.it does add up. I do not like their easy access to my account and it is hard to find a contact number.

    • Gene

      The 49 cent withdrawl was the second step of Square verifying your bank account.
      The first step was a 49 cent deposit. (+.49 – .49 = $0.00)

      This isn’t a recurring charge, it occurs only when you add a new bank account to Square.

  • Steve Doriss

    I used Square for the first time today and will not use it again. The card reader didn’t work with my client (although it had checked out prior to that,) and since I had to enter the card number, funds are being witheld for a month. This doesn’t work for me. And as others have mentioned, customer service is non-existent. I immediately switched to a company with a lower rate, 24/7 phone customer service and no witholding of funds.

  • Brian

    I just ran my first square transaction yesterday at about 3:45 PM. Today at 11:30 AM the funds are in my online account showing as a pending transaction. They wihtheld the the 2.75% just as we agreed. This system is wonderful as compared to the prior processing company and the leasing company that I had rented my terminal from for $45 per month for 4 long miserable years. Square is helping me so much and is so perfect for my business that I just cannot say enough good about this. I love it!

  • masons limousine

    Please deposit all my money. I have product and bills to pay. It’s been waaaaaasssy over 7 days since a deposit and yes it’s been under 2,000.00. I hate your company. I will encourage all my Facebook,twitter, yelp, instagram and clients to not use your services. It’s the worst. It’s not fair this company pays me it decides to. I have been in business for over 13 years and I have never know a company inconsistency that has been as poor as this square company. I’ve try to email and you send me every excuse. None in which reguarding to my deposited in my account. I sent the square account verification numerous of times and it keep saying “there are a few erroros”. I am a dissatisfied customer all around the least you can do to help me with depositing my money in my account ASAP. I can’t describe how disappointed I am in this company.
    I am not happy with not being able to speak with a customer service. Also you send me an application after you have taken my money and now I can’t get my money because you want me to verify more information. This company should have asked me for all that information at first before you start accepting my payment, I just want my money deposited so I can move on.

    • James

      This company is LOUSY. Absolutely NO SUPPORT. You cannot get through on their “support” line. They do not answer emails. They hold your funds. They do NOT deposit within 24 hours as they are contracted to do,
      They have MANY, MANY Better Business Bureau complaints.

  • Michael A

    Terrible, non-existent customer service. Just got the device and attempted to register. Register failed due to a “domainerror”. The Square Ap offers no work around, no direct recourse, email or otherwise, for help with such registration glitches and I’ve waited now two days sans any response to my detailed error report to them. Now, after learning about their non-disclosure complaints, their F rating at BBB, their capricious, algorithm driven hold backs, I’ve decided to toss their reader in the trash and move on.

  • Brian

    Even though I had previously used my Square, they wanted to re-confirm my bank account info, supposedly taking 1-3 days. After 5 days with ZERO communication from Square, I looked into it. Square has NO CUSTOMER SERVICE PHONE NUMBER. They don’t post one anywhere on their site, and the one that I found via Google search only gives you a recording with their web address!

    The information that Square already had for my bank account and had successfully deposited with is now somehow inadequate. There has been no attempt to verify my account according to Bank of America. As it turns out, the info IS all correct, with the only discrepancy being that I didn’t include my middle initial under the name heading. Again, Square had already deposited successfully with this same information, and suddenly decided that it wasn’t good enough, not bothering to tell me while my funds from a client were frozen!

    I like the flat 2.7% charge, but it’s hard for me to imagine that I shouldn’t switch to a slightly higher rate to ensure that I can actually get to my money! i usually appreciate and go with market innovators like Square, but if they can’t successfully administer their business and everyone else has caught up in terms of technology then they deserve to be passed up by established companies that understand customer service!

  • Scott

    Square has indeed held up our deposit, but worse than that is the fact that we cannot even get them to refund the money to our client. We used them for one transaction and we won’t use them again.

  • kenetra maffett

    Please deposit all my money. I have product and bills to pay. It’s been waaaaaasssy over 7 days since a deposit and yes it’s been under 2,000.00. I hate your company. I will encourage all my Facebook,twitter, yelp, instagram and clients to not use your services. It’s the worst. It’s not fair this company pays me it decides to. I have been in business for over 13 years and I have never know a company inconsistency that has been as poor as this square company. I’ve try to email and you send me every excuse. None in which reguarding to my deposited in my account. I sent the square account verification numerous of times and it keep saying “there are a few erroros”. I am a dissatisfied customer all around the least you can do to help me with depositing my money in my account ASAP. I can’t describe how disappointed I am in this company.

    Please deposit my money so I can be done with your I don’t understand. I have been trying to send you my verified application but it keeps saying error. What government issued documentation. I just want you to deposit my money and I do not want to use your service anymore. I don’t like you this company conduct there service.

    I am not happy with not being able to speak with a customer service. Also you send me an application after you have taken my money and now I can’t get my money because you want me to verify more information. This company should have asked me for all that information at first before you start accepting my payment, I just want my money deposited so I can move on.

    This is my 10th email and 1st reveiw

  • Herbert Guinup

    I am a mobile notary for 28 years in Tampa, Fl., I came accross Square through a neighbor who has a small business and shared his experiences with me in using Square. All positive!… I do alot of Notary Weddings, and find this added convience for my customers allowing them to pay with a credit card has increased my volume and bookings. My only complaint is tech support. In setting up my profile page both my logo and feature spaces are overlapping and I can’t seem to get them apart. Thanks Square for providing a means of taking credit cards without monthly fees. For a small business owner in the new economy, every quarter saved, helps…… I look forward to a long business relationship with you….

    PLEASE HELP ME FIX MY LOGO AND FEATURE PROBLEM….

    Thanks,

  • Erich

    Successfully and happily used Square to process credit card transactions for three months and suddenly the terminal required me to make my location available. Likely through an update I had just done. I don’t NEED location tracking for any of my other software and I consider it an invasion of privacy to be FORCED to activate for a program I had already used for 3 months without activation. Tried to contact Company and realized all their support was self-help and no cust service phone number was available. Cancelled my account and signed up immediately with Go Payment through Intuit. Slightly higher percentage but the 24 hour live cust service is worth it. Just started with them. Hope they won’t disappoint me as quickly and severely as SQUARE

    Check out Go Payment…..Cancel Square!!!

  • David

    Unbelievably horrible custoemr service! Not only did they place a hold on the funds, but the hertofore mentioned 2.75% transaction fee jumped to 3.5% because we had to manually key in the card number. Even when the funds are deposited there is yet another ‘Transaction’ fee to do so. Despite emailing for the removal of the hold [which they ask you to do] no one has gotten back to us. When you call their phone number you are asked to stay on the line for assistance or dial the extension of the party you are trying to reach. Don’t bother becuase you are then transferred to a voice recording telling you to go on line and submit your question. Don’t try pressing “0” for the operator either! I tried that and pressed 1, 2, 3, and so on but it kept going back to the recording. I doubt we will continue to use Square unless someone calls and “Squares” away these issues.

  • Douglas Hume

    We used to be able to contact them on the customer service number . .they closed that back door for some reason and that concerns me … I also wonder why they have no “Void” option for a mis-run cc. Every other company I have been with has a void transaction option. A “Void” and a “refund” are two totally different things . .a void erases the transaction . .wile a refund is issued when the is a customer service issue.
    I am nearing the end of my rope with square. I have been with them over 2 years and without direct access to a live human when I have an issue is inexcusable. They are a business and should have 24 hour support for those who need help or a way to have someone call you back immediately. My customer simply put the charge on the wrong card . .busy people do that . .now he might have to wait 7 days to get everything straightened out . . some people cant wait 7 days to have 500 put back in their account . . anyway . . If the do not fix this . .I will be looking for a new provider who is willing to answer customer concerns on a phone rather than trying to save money by doing everything over the internet . . .
    Douglas Hume

    • Debbie Lehmer

      Thank you, What do I do now? I just canceled my other debit service. They will not verify my bank
      account and no $ has been transferred. I knew it was funny when I canceled my other service,
      she did not say a word! Damn! Is there another phone service? I invested in new phone and internet access to have this Square?
      Please, Help
      Debbie

  • Jim McErlean

    I have been trying to contact Square.Com for 5 days. There seems to be no customer support or any way to contact them, Their customer service number just hangs up on you. This is a very shoddy way to do business. This could be a great service , but it seems like they are really dropping the ball.
    I have payments to process, but will not do so until I can speak to someone live. Email responses have come up to 3 days later , and then do not even address the problem. So you need to send another email and the result is a simple problem still unresolved after weeks.

  • Carrie White

    Same thing here, I made a large “Swiped” transaction, money held, sent everything they needed and no response….NOTHING other than an automated message. Does anyone know of a way to cancel the transaction safely so I can go another route with the Customer? I cant even get them to respond!

  • Eric Johanson

    THE SQUARE IS THE WORSE DECISION I EVER MADE! These jokers have held my funds for two weeks! I wish I could get an explanation. However, the customer service is so convoluted and rude I cant get any “square” answers. They say a “flat 2.7” its just not true they are adding in other costs and disguise other charges into visas cost on their bill. I hate them! I’m getting a merchant account next week. Any one know any good companies?

  • John M

    Help anyone,

    Here is my issue. Two weeks ago my I phone was stolen out of my truck and I use square for my merchant processing. Yesterday I received a call from one of my customers lawyers threating to file a law suit against me because I use square for processing and they are not PCI compliant or something like that. He stated that his client’s credit card info was on my phone and the people that stole my phone got his credit card info off of the phone. The customer of mine had over $9000 in fraudulent charges to his credit card and now he is stating that the credit card company is not going to cover them. The lawyer is saying that I am responsible for these charges but I don’t have that kind of money and my insurance company is no help. All I sold to this customer was some baseball cards for $75. Anyone have any suggestions, is this even true???? There would be no way the customer could know my phone was stolen, so that is why I kind of believe it.

    Thanks John,

    • Phillip CPO

      Hi John,

      Based on my understanding of the Square app, it does not store credit card information on the phone and therefore the data can’t be stolen if you lose your phone. I would proceed with caution because it sounds like this could be some sort of scam.

    • Matt123654

      Sounds fishy… Tread carefully! Be careful what you say, because it is up to the lawyer to find out the source of the leak. Don’t incriminate yourself in any way (telling them your phone was stolen definitely won’t help you!).

      Square doesnt store credit card numbers on your device. He is right in that square is not PCI compliant, because credit card info isn’t encrypted when swiped. The only thing I can think of is if someone who has access to your phone installed a program/app to “listen” in on the square card swipes and store the card info (the card swipes are converted into simple unencrypted audio anyways!). Then that person could later plan to steal your phone once you’ve collected enough card swipes, giving them access to that cc data. That’s really the main risk w square I believe. Do you associate w any shady or potentially risky people that may participate in this sort of behavior?

      Be very careful my friend. It is the responsibility of the merchant (YOU!) to ensure they follow pci compliance. Users of a non PCI Compliant device could be open not only to lawsuits but can also be held personally liable for any and all costs associated with a data breaches that result in credit card fraud. If you can verify that this is not some sort of scam but rather a serious legal issue, then get a lawyer! The lawyer will have to prove that it was your transaction with this individual that caused the cc data leak in order for you to pay the $9k. But, if other customers come forward and claim something similar, you will be in trouble, bc the cc companies will then be able to identify you as the source of the info leak.

      Best of luck my friend.

    • Kirk b

      We have been dealing with our current merchant for years we found out that square was cheaper than other merchants.we switched big mistake!!!!!! We have a plumbing buisness and our transactions are any were from $500.00 to $10.000 on a good week we were in compliance and have been in buisness fir 29 years .next thiing I know they say we are at high risk? And shut our services off and we have to wait 30 days gor our transaction funds to be deposited to our bank. This crazy!!!

  • lisa

    BEWARE of Square Up. We use it for two of our companies. One company usually has charges of around $500,,,,and Square has worked every time. Our other company process much higher ticket items and we currently have $19k sitting in our Square account and no way to get the funds. SQUARE UP HAS NO COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT. It looks like everything is automated by email. I am done waiting on them and I am gonna talk to the Attorney General tomorrow. My advice is NOT to use this company,,,,,,the are deceptive and dishonest.

  • peter

    Please ..Do You people actually read any of the disclosures…This system is not meant for large transactions, but Mom and Pop shops like deli’s, bake shops, and face to face businesses, not online businesses. just look at the commercials they run..and the type of business they’re showing .. really stop trying to make out its the company fault for doing what every one wants online protection for on face to face transactions… I process 10-30 transaction a day and never had any problems with next day deposits.

    • crystal

      peter!! well good for you!! but Iam a smalll business..im a Hair stylist and i made up to $400 in deposits and my funds didnt hit my account!! i made sure my account was linked properly with Square..i recieved the “micro deposits so i know that my account is linked properly with Square!! they have my money that i worked hard for and SQUARE deserve to be sued!! people work hard to make money to provide for our families!! they dont even have a legit Customer service to help us out so it a fishy business!! you can continue to use them since it works for you!! but for us that has been frauded!! I NEED ANSWERS in why MY DEPOSITS DIDNT HIT MY ACCOUNT I HAVE A FAMILY TO TAKE CARE OFF!! not TO BE RIPPED OFF BY SOME SMOKEY MIRROR COMPANY THAT IS TAKING MY MONEY!!

      • Donna

        I have used SQUARE for 2 years now….. Never had a problem I see face to face and do about $500.00- $1500.00 a day with no deposit problems…It is a breeze using them on my iPad . Love the square.

    • Jan

      I’ve been using Square the past year for our farm. I don’t think we’ve ever had an individual payment over $100, and most are less than $30. We sell a lot at farmer’s markets and out of our greenhouse. Never had a problem, so far–knock on wood–and deposits are quick and without issue. I have to say that Square works well for our small transactions that are simply too few to warrant spending the $ each month for a regular credit card account. Frankly, I am surprised that folks would use it for large transactions, and not surprised that there are problems associated with those.

  • Larry

    Quit simply this company sucks. They screwed up My VERY FIRST TRANSACTION! Because it was $3200 they sent a message saying that because of suspicious activity my account was on hold till they obtained verification from me. I sent them numerous items and none were good enough. They finally sent a reply saying that after review they decided that I was a high risk! AND you cannot contact them! They cost me the account and I am in the process of suing them.

  • Anna

    Is there anyway we can all come together and lawyer up against this company . They are also holding my money . I did everything I was supposed to and still I’m denied access to recover my money, they got there’s so they could care less to give me what is mine:(

  • Erinn

    I am a new business that accepts credit cards, unfortunately, I signed up with SQUARE. Square has been taking a $10.00 fee out of every purchase I charge, regardless of amount. I ran a card for $21.00 a couple days ago, they deposited the entire amount, then immediately deducted $10.00 from it. I will NEVER use Square again, ever. There is NO customer service, NO way to speak with a real person and NO way to get help without just scrolling through numerous other complaints…what a a SCAM! My review gives them NO STARS and an F- I am returning to Intuits GoPayment, they were AWESOME! low fees, phone customer service and free readers in unlimited amount…sorry I ever left them to begin with!

  • Jane

    Square has been a NIGHTMARE to deal with! I had one client who decided to cancel her website after a month, and I wrote her a check to refund her. Well, she still went to AMEX to dispute it, then Square contacted me for the dispute and asked for copies of the check that I refunded her and I sent them, along with an email from the client acknowledging receipt of the check. Guess what? They took the funds out of my bank account anyway, and still have not refunded it to me as of yet! This is going on a few weeks, and a lot of very angry emails and responses are slow, phone calls go to voicemail… Don’t do it! Square will totally rip you off!

  • Ken

    We really like Square…EXCEPT customer service. It is as bad as portrayed online. Almost zero way of contacting and the phone # just gives a 20 second “Thank you for calling. Visit our website.” then hangs up.

  • Jay Shew

    ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE IN PROGRESS…….

    So i was fooled into using square like many of you before me. I was unaware of their hold on anything over $1,000 on keyed transactions, which is 100% my own fault for not reading the fine print. The part that sucks is that they HELD ALL THE MONEY >>>OVER 3,000<<<
    That being said i thought i would receive my money after the 30 days waiting period.

    After the long waited 30 days passed, i still had not received my funds. After numerous emails, i was contacted by someone requesting a government issued ID and invoices for my sales. FINE, i was pissed off that they didn't request this information earlier but WHATEVER.

    I provided the information that they requested and had to follow up over and over and over for another week, until i got another email requesting my business registration. OKAY… WHY DIDN'T YOU GUYS ASK WHEN WE SET UP THE ACCOUNT?!?!? Let me remind you that its already been 40 days since the day of the transactions.

    Realizing i had no chance to argue or fight these guys, i complied and forwarded them my information. After another week of emailing them over and over and over, i finally got a response yesterday (47 days from the transaction date). They sent me the below response:

    Our Account Services team has concluded a review of your account and has determined it to be high risk. For security purposes, we have elected to deactivate your Square account. You will no longer be able to process transactions using Square.

    Any funds currently in your account will be held for 90 days before being released to your linked bank account.

    ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!??!?!?!? AFTER HOLDING MY MONEY FOR ALMOST 7 WEEKS YOU GUYS TELL ME THAT YOUR GOING TO HOLD IT ANOTHER 90 DAYS UNTIL YOU RELEASE IT???? THATS ALMOST 5 MONTHS!!!!!!!

    THESE GUYS ARE CROOKS!!! SURE I MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN SO KIND IN MY EMAILS TO THEM, BUT WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!?!?

    I HOPE THIS COMPANY BURNS IN HELL!!!!
    (AFTER MY 90 DAYS ARE UP AND THEY RELEASE MY FUNDS)

  • Jennifer

    Square does not deposit our money into our account the next day. If we go over our $2002 limit in payments taken the remaining amount in a 7 day period is held for 30 days! Yes 30 days! This is awful service considering one payment from a customer of ours can easily exceed $2002. We have about 10 angry customers because they have paid for their orders and its past the lead time but we have no money in our account to pay our shops for the completion of these orders. We have over $6000 on hold! We also cannot get new orders going because we cannot pay for the components of our product. To top off this huge inconvenience, When we tried to find a resolution or try to get an increase in our deposit limit I found it takes over 12 hours to get a response from their help desk. Awful Awful service! This situation has caused us to lose business and lose the faith of our clients. We will be switching to a service where we actually have an account rep that we can email directly and has a direct phone line, as well as doesn’t give us a limit of how much of our own money they will deposit into our bank account.

    • feathers edge painting company

      Had the exact same thing happen to me with my customer. I gave them a full refund from my phone and had the client issue me a payment by check. There money will be credited to their account in a few days. I’ll never use this company again and will spend much time telling the world using face book and other media about Square Up. In the long run they’ll suffer more than any of us.

  • Velmaa Walker

    My question is does anyone know how Square would deal with a non-profit fundraiser on one single night for $40,000.00 to $60.000.00? Should we use Square or another merchant account for this fundraiser?

    • Jay

      Hey Velmaa,

      I would highly suggest you use someone else. These guys will hold on to everything past $1000.00 for what could turn out to be months. They have had my 3,000 stuck for the last 45 days, and now they said they will take an additional 90 days to put the funds in my account.

      Very good sales tactics, dont fall for them and have your fundraised money stuck for half the year.

      Good Luck

    • Scott

      Yes their are some complaints on PCMagizine’s website following the shining review they gave the company. In addition to never using square again, I will also never buy one of their magizines again. Shame on you PC.

  • Mono Loco

    I signed up with Square because of their fee structure and speed of payment . My company uses First Data and Sega, but these processing companies hold the transactions for three days before they deposit it to your account, and there is a monthly fee. This is where Square is more affordable.

    Everything went really well for me with the swiped cards, and I have heard of the 30 day hold on non-swipe limit over $1000.00 in a 30 day period. For this reason, as a small company, I used Square for swipe card only and there is no terminal charges.

    Now, this is what I don’t get. I knew about their rules and requested for an increase in non-swipe amount due to the fact that I had over $3000.00 called in orders came in. Roberto who was the person I dealt with emailed me and said he had reviewed my account and now my non-swipe amount is now $2000.00. So, I was happy and took up to $2000.00 worth of non-swipe sales. Guess what? They emailed me and said they are holding the $1500.00 because I had exceeded my limited.

    I emailed Roberto and asked why they are holding my money after they increased my limited. Roberto copied and pasted a block of answer from their website for me to read. Now, I had already read all that and requested an increase which Roberto emailed me and approved.

    So, I emailed back asking why, and he said he will check into it, but never heard back from him again. I looked at my sales history and it says the money will be deposit in 30 days. Yes, $1500 is not much, but the idea that they hold your extra money after they promise you an increase is not correct.

    Communication is really poor. Phone number does not work and all answers they give you if any are canned from their website. So don’t waste your time. If you can swipe a card go for it otherwise don’t.

    Besides, their fees are not all that great. Today, most companies do not give any service that you paid. First Data outsources their answering service to India- have you even talked to the someone from India. I would rather not deal with it. Nothing personal, but I just don’t have the time.

    Overall Square is way better than PayPal. PayPal is a thief. They can hold your money indefinitely and there is nothing you can do about it. They still have $1000.00 of my money, and no one is claiming any responsibility.

    Square has no customer service, if you have a problem, lord and behold, get on your knee and say a prayer. It’s like a million to one chance that it will be resolved.

  • Howard

    This company has me extremely frustrated. There is NO support. It had me reset my password by supposedly sending me a reset password within 24 hours. I’ve now asked 3x via email to do this and it’s a week later and I still can’t use my merchant account! The phone number I found via google is just a voicemail that doesn’t even let u leave a message. It cuts u off referring you back to email support which as described above isn’t answered either. What a fiasco.

  • Diana Bennett

    I signed up for the card reader on June 19th. I was able to track the package to the post office the next day through UPS. Once it was delivered to the post office there is no way to track my device. I still have not received it and it is the 28th. Being Naive, I went to the square website to try to complain or at least contact someone to help with the problem. There is no telephone number or e-mail address anywhere that I could find. I need this device for a July 4th event so I am very frustrated to say the least. I’m not sure I should use the device if the other problems stated above are prevalent.

  • dan

    I have never had such difficulty trying to find a phone number for any company I have ever worked with…at the end of the day, we are all judged on how we treat our customers and is obvious to me Square is NOT about customer service…whatever you do, do not make it convenient for a client to talk to anyone live…that would be well, too much like customer service. I think the C- is a very genorous grade. I am taking my business elsewhere.

  • shirley

    my first experience with the Square was at a lost. I lost $51.00 because I did not get a signature from the customer on my phone but did on paper. i emailed the company and to no help from customer service, i stood at a lost for my money and help. i like the service but it really need a lot improving.

  • Donald ODell

    Square is horrible. I have written them 6 times concerning one single issue and it seems they send automated responses that do not answer my questions. They do not read my messages that are not complicated. After a few transactions they asked for allot of extra information to “verify” my account that is ridiculous. Now I have pending charges they won’t pay to me. “Iffy” refunds and…exhaustion is setting in.

    I will finish this transaction and run, run, run!

  • marion barnett

    Square has worked well for me UNTIL I wanted to call customer service and found I was unable to talk to anyone. This left me frustrated and wondering why a company would not have a customer service line. I will continue to use the service and pray I do not need to contact them!!

    • Jennifer

      I would suggest changing. We switched to Pay Anywhere. The only difference is we pay $5/mo, we have a customer service line, tech support line, and a specific account agent. There is also no hold or limits for our transactions. We receive all of our money usually in one business day, two at the most regardless of the payment amount. The extra $5/month is worth the peace of mind of having our $$ available when we need it and having someone to call up if there is a problem.

  • O Randall

    Theres no way to contact square but through e-mail, They do not respond back. My money has been on hold since May 2012. Same here every request they want i send in information. Now when i login in to account it sends me to the dashboard. I can’t even get into my account to fill out paperwork square say is needed before square (say) funds will be released (deposited)

  • lois b

    While I’ve found Square to be very user friendly and innovative and have had no trouble having money depositied in my account, I have had disturbing problems with customer service. It is practically non exisitent. Beware of charge back disputes since customer service is a joke. It is donewith emails, often weeks in between correspondence, wiht no one who seems very knowlegable or who seems to care. Square sided with a customer who had no proof of his complaint. Square had little interest in my side of the story. I was appalled at how it treated me -their merchant.
    I will definitly switch as soon as another competitor has a good system. For me, Intuit is not there yet.

  • Carol Johnston

    My deposit for our school has not been reflected. No number to contact after 3 email attempts, and that State will be wanting to see it deposited and we have no deposit records at the bank for $4000.00 . I need someone to call us as this has placed us in a situation that should not have happened.

  • william lincoln

    We used this system for a fund raiser and were approved and told that all charges would be deposited in our account. The one night event goes of perfect except for Square up. Now they are holding our money and making numerous requirements, some of which are not possible. There contact is non existent. We will see where this goes

  • Robert Werner

    After 3 mo of using Square in my motel business:

    Customer support, for all practical purposes, is non-existent. I have had trouble running a card because Square decided to break old versions of apps the second a new version is released. But they did not provide any warnings of this and no error messages identifying the problem.

    Could not give a customer a refund due to Square software issue. The suggested giving the customer back the money via some other means. (Such a refund violates the Merchant Agreement.)

    Square transactions are not recognized as valid for some government cards.

    As a merchant, I need these issues resolved in real time. Unfortunately, their side-walk sale and art festival mentality is not suited for the commercial world.

    To their credit: a complete analysis of all transactions on your merchant account. Have never seen anything like this with conventional processors. Never the less, I am looking for a more responsive company.

  • Gary Rex Erickson

    We were having trouble with holding the connection, so had to run the card twice. We only got the charge to show once on our account but our customer was charged twice. If I credit it back I will lose my money. At this time they were going to talk to their bank and get back to us. This was our first time with the square and we are not very happy with it. We will see what happens this week. We may look at the intuit.

  • Gaspar

    SCAM, SCAM, SCAM!!! Do not waste your money or time with these fxxxxx guys!

    They have had a review of my account for the last 3 weeks, meanwhile my funds are being held.

    I had processed several transactions until they decided they would like to hold on to my money for a while.

    They sent me an email requesting EIN, Articles of Organization, Delivery Confirmation, Company Ads, All because of supposed unusual activity.

    They claimed review process would take a day and my funds would be released accordingly. I faxed all the documents they requested and I still have not seen my money.

    No phone number to call, customer response is non-existent, they hide behind fake help center on there website. You even waive your right to file class action law suit when you set up your square account and agree to there terms.

    I filed a complaint with BBB today. Will post an update as it becomes available.

  • John Tackett

    I’ve never had any serious problems before today, I lost alot of sales today because no matter what I did it would always time out, if it keeps happening I will have to go with someone else.

  • Brooke

    This review was a huge asset to me. Thank you so much. After seeing other reviews, yours rounded out exactly what I needed to know and was straight to the point. Choosing square vs. other credit card readers was a big decision for the future of my business, so thanks again.

  • Kerri

    My only advice to you is to stay far far away from this card reader! I have funds that have been on hold for over a month, and I cannot get any customer support. The only way to reach them is via email and you only get automated responses back. “Yada Yada we care about our customers…..blah blah blah”.

    From the looks of it, they bit off more than they could chew. Our firm has decided to cease using this service. Don’t be surprised if you hear about them getting in a class action lawsuit. That is the direction they’re heading if you ask me!

    I also plan on reporting them to the better business bureau. Save yourself the headache, I wish I would have read more about this before I got myself into an accounting nightmare. I thought this card reader was too good to be true when I got it, and I was right!

  • Margaret

    I was initially thrilled with Square card reader. My first transactions were relatively small, so there was no problem. I got my deposits quickly and the fee was as stated. Recently, a client paid a large bill over the phone. Her card was not present; however, the charge was authorized and legit. First Square made me verify my account by providing documentation I didn’t need to open the account. Then, they authorized the transaction, and put about 15% of the funds in my bank account and are telling me I have to wait another month for the remainder of my payment. I have reviewed all of the advertising I received prior to opening the account and there is absolutely nothing said about withholding portions of my funds (especially, not withholding 85% of it!). I was promised that the funds would be in my account the next business day. Unless I get some resolution quickly, it’s going to be more like 6 weeks! That’s going to make my life pretty darn difficult until Square decides to let go of my money. There’s no phone number to call, so you can’t get a quick response (sorry Square, waiting 24 hours for an unhelpful email is not going to be enough for me). Unless I can come to some fast resolution with Square, I’m going back to my merchant service provider. They’re more expensive, but I’ve NEVER had to wait for my deposit from them AND I can call them 24/7.

  • Alex Car Sales

    Hello before you get involved with square try to educate yourself about them as much as possible they let you charge all your clients and then never make the deposites into your bank account!! Then after you have that problem you literally can NOT get ahold of them by phone because the number never works!! you even try emailing them and they dont respond!! So before they steal your hard earned money in front of your eyes read up on them as much as possible!!

  • CharlieJ

    This is the SAME exact thing that PayPal did to me a few years ago. It seems that they question a transaction and PERMANENTLY put your money on hold. PayPal still has over $6000 of my money — since 2004. Never released to me.
    I complained to several states attorneys general, the FTC, the BBB and fraud.org. NOTHING was ever done. PayPal still has my money. I’m guessing Square is heading down the same path. Question a transaction and take your money — FOREVER.

    It’s the same scam, under a different name. There is NO oversight and NO regulation of these businesses.

  • Rachel

    Ive been waiting for square to deposit $40 dollars into my account for over 30 days. I sendo more than 20 emails, nobody answer!!! I dont know what to do anymore. Please someone help me!!!

  • Elisabeth LaMotte

    A cardmember questioned a charge in mid March from her Discover Card to my Square account. When she realized she questioned it in error, she immediately contacted Discover and Discover contacted square requesting that they re-issue the charge. Here we are in mid June and they have yet to do so in spite of numerous calls from my the cardmember to Discover and my numerous emails to Square.

    The really disgraceful thing is that there is absolutely no way to call Square. They pretend that there is, but the number directs you to their web site and then promptly disconnects you!

  • pete abele

    as a seasonal small business owner, I have to say, over the past two months of using square card reader and square register, I’v been very shocked. No problems, almost all of my payments the CC is present. the next day the funds are transferred to my account. It doesn’t matter is if its $45 or $1500, If the cards present it’s transferred. I feel bad for people who didn’t read the information or are trying to use it for active internet businesses for which it wasn’t designed. All I can say is smarten up. It’s designed for small store front or walk-up businesses. I absolutely love square register is made it easier to train employees and reporting is a breeze. if any has questions please feel free to call and ask, i’m not an expert, but it works for me with less hassle.

  • Rebecca

    I don’t want you to hate me either, I did so much research on a merchant service provider before I selected Square. I had read all the negatives, but had a friend who had used it in the same venue without a problem of any sort. So I took the plunge. So far, so good. Here is what I think makes it smooth for us….we are a private physical therapy practice, 90% of our patients pay with cash or checks and 90% are in the range of $100-160 per swipe. So for the 10% who do use a card there are no charges nearing the $1000 mark that appears to be causing so much havoc for folks. Additionally, for us, we had a low volume of people wanting to use their cards Square worked for us because we did not have to have a minimum amount volume per month and thus avoided the monthly fees. We also tag the 2.75% on to the client and therefore it is merely a vehicle of convenience for them. I simply have not had any issues…….. (yet !??#@!) I did email them regarding a status for FSA (flex spending accounts) and have not heard back from them, however, it hasn’t even been 24 hours. Who knows I may be back on here with a different story in a day or two. As a small business owner I hate to see folks in this predicament, lack of cash flow can kill you.

  • Pat Clark

    Square has shown itself to be no responsive, unavailable, and dishonest. There is no voice communication available with Square personnel or management. Count on lots of boiler plate form answers.
    Most of our transactions are by phone so the card is rarely swipped in the transaction, and that concerns them. The transactions are B to B. We had $3,000 of a $3,600 transaction held for 30 days without prior notice. Over the period of 10 days I explained the nature of our business, how fees are collected post transaction, and that we have not had a chargeback with our current processor in 7 years. We added Square as processor for convenience as I travel.. They agreed to move our unswipped transactions without hold for up to $5k per day. YET, less than a month later they are holding $2,600 of a $4,000 transaction for 30 days without explanation of hey have not responded o correspondence in three business days.
    I have reached to the State Attorney General for support for actions that should not and will it be tolerated.
    AVOID THEM!

  • Brian in NJ

    I have been using square for about two months until about 1 week ago when I received an email stating that my account showed unusal activity and therefore all deposits have been suspended. The funny thing is that it also tells me in the same email, i can continue to charge my clients credit card but no deposits will be made to my account. This is RIDICULOUS…. They are currenly holding over 8000 of which 5k was due to me 2wks ago

    I have sent several emails and the will not respond to none of them. I have contact the district attorney, and have a meeting on Jun 21 with my lawyer and telivision station about their behavior.

    We have to take this further, than just emails and lawyers, this needs to be a national campaign for just, since they have started also advertising on major televisions as well.

    Anyone wants to join this, please call me 201-364-4577.

    • Mersadies B~Philadelphia, PA

      B. I will be calling you this upcoming week. I got my reader from the APPLE STORE, here in Philadelphia. I am contacting Apple’s corporate on Monday morning too. I am going to be making a lot of calls about this. I see u are in northern NJ. I am no too far. My number is 267 639 9400 (business line). If no answer LEAVE A MESSAGE, I WILL CALL YOU BACK FOR SURE.

  • Miss E

    WOW! I am so upset that all of you have experienced these stammering issues! I am so glad my issue is less than $20. I am so thankful that I stumbled upon this before my business started getting in the thousand dollar range. This is sheer madness! Due to all of these comments I will be ceasing the use of Square as soon as this last payment is deposited. Its really sad that they have no regulation for companies like this so they would be required to have live customer service. I kept searching the site trying to find a number for my issue of my bank info change being declined and came up with nothing, which led me to check for Square reviews….Thanks for sharing your plights! Just know that there is such a good thing here with these comments, you are saving new business owners a world of headache. I will be posting on my facebook page and tweeting this info Shame on you Square and I wish all of you the best in your outcomes!

  • Elisabeth Soechting

    BEWARE OF SQUARE!!!
    It is my personal experience – and my suspicion that this is the company’s true “business” – that Square freezes customers’ money with dubious arguments.
    I have only made 3 transactions with Square before the trouble started. A friend paid her contribution to my rent because she stayed in my apartment for over a month. And I swiped my own credit card to transfer money from my European bank account to my US one. This was actually one of the reasons why I got Square at the Apple store. I am always interested in new gadgets, and this one seemed handy and useful. When they sold the device to me, and when Square took my money, noone told me that I have to be a business, that all transactions have to have goods and bills – at the Apple store Square card readers are sold to naive customers like me without any explanation.

    However, I immediately followed the request to undo the transfer of my own money. I had no idea this was against the rules ofSquare. But despite my immediate compliance, now the real action of the Square Security Department started:
    First, an investigation that even for someone from Europe where privacy is not such a sacred good as here in the US, went much too far. What are the transactions for? How will I use Square? Scanned documents of my business (who told me ever that I need to be a business to use Square??? In fact, I have businesses but that’s not the point here.)
    And second, “For your security, we have temporarily suspended deposits to your bank account. ” I have over $ 1,500.- in my Square account. For over a month, Square is profiting from the interests of my money, and causing a predicament for me, their customer whom they should serve instead of restrict. To me their statement not only sounds sarcastic – the only security risk to MY money is Square who has been withholding MY MONEY for months now!!!! – but like malversation.

    Correspondence with the Square Support Team gives the impression as if these were virtual characters. They don’t even have full names.

    The only thing I ever want to have to do with Square again is to get my money deposited and to close my account with them.

    If there is, as I suspect, a large number of victims of this company’s malversations, I would be happy to find a way to take legal action against them. At least, I want to warn everyone to stay away from this system.

  • Van

    Square is a joke. no customer service and when i called it told me to use the online customer service which doesnt answer my question at all. Read a report just now that they have had over 120 complaints filed in 36 months. I will be deleting my account and bashing them on my website. Im a clothing designer and thought it would be easy to do transactions when im on the road. Another Scam here folks. dont get it

  • Linda Brawner

    Terrible customer support. I have been waiting for a response to my email for over week. I keep receiving automated emails that make it appear that they have not read my email.

    I was not aware of the $ 1000.00 rule until it was too late.

    I am trying to make sure that they do not withdraw funds from my customer’s account. It has been a week and I still do not know if they have done so. I guess I will have to call my customer to find out.

    I wish I could talk to a live person so that I could get this resolved.

    I do not like doing business with a company I cannot talk to in person !

  • Iris

    Don,t even think about doing business with this square credit card . They are the worst i have ever seen. They hold your money for weeks ask you for all kids of unnecessary paper work that shouldt concern them. they r holding my $5150.00 for 3 weeks now . i will newer ever do any business with them again.

  • James

    DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE. Since May 21, 2012, I’ve been waiting for these folks to release my funds. They are currently holding $2275.00 . Square contacted me with a lame excuse they were concerned about fraud and asked me for all this information: IE: Business license, picture of my business location, and how long I have been in business, and a signed contract from buyer and his CC info, stating that the charges were legitimate. .
    I sent all that with the following: A BANK LETTER FOR CREDIT for $250,000. A BANK LETTER OF GOOD STANDING WITH ENDORCEMENTS FROM BRANCH MANAGER, ASKING ANYONE TO CALL HIM TO VERIFY. A COPY OF MY CURRENT CREDIT REPORT, SCORE 854. A LETTER FROM THE CITY STATING THAT I WAS A BUSINESS IN GOOD STANDING FOR OVER 10 YEARS.

    I am currenly considering sending them my FIRST BORN, with an American Birth Certificate, but that might not work.

    The only other alternative I have is to go to the District Attorney, and have them do a retail theft investigation on Square.

    PEOPLE DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE…..BEWARE: YOU GET NOTHING FOR FREE: They send out that little swipping machine, so they can STEAL YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY.

    • Kim

      Has anyone been contacted by a sales rep named “Sunny” and had success answering questions and getting money deposited? We’re having this same issue all are writing about. We’re tempted to answer the questions and cross our fingers, but we’re fearful this Sunny isn’t a Square rep and is, in fact, fishing…

  • James

    OMG
    This is my first review
    This is the worst company I ever had to deal with
    NO phone support ???????
    They ran my customers card and won’t transferoney to my account
    Going through hell to refound my customers.

  • Joe Sobodowski

    Strongly discourage anyone with $1,000 or more per week in transaction from using Square as a credit card processor. The company does not provide clear information about their policy of up to 30 day holds on release of funds to Merchants They do not provide direct contact for problem resolution. Very dishonorable company!

  • Carla Boyd

    I can see why Square has a C- rating. YOU GET NO HELP FROM THEM!!! I have been trying since last week to contact them get some kind of answer from them. NADA! Nothing! I was trying to switch from Intuit to Square because with Square your money is deposited the next day. I think I can be inconveinanced with waiting a extra day. Intuit is so much more easier to navigate and when you need someone you can actually talk to a warm body!! Saying goes why fix something that isn’t broken. I’m staying with Intuit.

  • Rya Boyce

    I completely agree with all of the other negative comments other merchants have made. This company is terrible, has no customer service, and is completely misleading about their business practices and methods of releasing payments to merchants. Currently, they are holding nearly $5,000 from our business in one of our busiest time of the year and we can no longer fill orders. I collected funds today from a client that I am not able to access for a month? In the meantime, I’ve had to use money from my personal bank account to fill client orders??? Absolutely ridiculous. I cannot even believe that this is legal. Does anyone have ANY advice on how to close your account and receive your funds? Future merchants DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.

    • Dan Ferry

      Take it to Twitter. It worked for me. State your case and accuse them of the fraud and malpractice that they engage in! They are @SqSupport and @Square

      I gave them a public verbal lashing and had my refund processed in hours.

      I had read the horror stories from this board and knew i had to take drastic action.

  • strikers detectors

    Terrible the worst. Do not use they will keep every dollar you charge to them. I cannot believe this is legal for them to do this. No phone number and High fees They will change rate and not tell you. Then hold all your funds for 30 days or more. With out a reason..DO NOT USE!!!!!!! I HAVE FILED A COMPLAINT WITH THE MANY OTHERS WITH THE BBB.

  • Brenda

    SQUARE IS HOLDING MY DEPOSIT HOSTAGE! I have been trying to get Square to RELEASE MY LARGE DEPOSIT THAT THEY HAVE HELD ONTO FOR 8 BUSINESS DAYS! I have complied with their requests for information about my company. Interesting, as I have been using Square for about six months, now they need additional information. What? I already gave them my information!!!

    You can imagine my frustration. They are holding a large deposit of mine to which I have seemingly no resolution but to contact my clients and ask them to repay me. Ya, like that’s a great option.

    I have sent numerous emails to Square, no reply. I actually found a phone number (thank you) however, I can’t get anybody on the phone live. I have simply messages which have not been returned. ‘Customer service’ is an oxymoron.

    On a lighter note, they did offer to continue allowing me to accept charges/deposits from my clients while they are “resolving” my issue. My only issue is I want my money. Yes, my money. Money I earned and they won’t even communicate with me about. Ugh

    If anyone has any advice, I incredibly open to it. I just want my money.

    Until this past week, I have been very happy with Square. Now, my advice is RUN….after you get your money of course.

  • guy phillips

    I thought square was pretty good until I made a transaction for $5000 ( I have an A/C company, this is a common amount) and they held it for two weeks while asking for a plethora of proof that I exist. They said there was “unusual activity” but thats bs. I think they hold money (as does paypal) to collect the interest. If they were really wanting to validate I am who I say I am, then do it before I get paid, not after. To date they have only released $2000 to me and are holding the rest for whatever reason. ( and they wont answer calls or emails, either). In the meantime, my bills are overdue and this puts a bad credit rating on me. Screw Square. I will not use them again.

  • JAY

    VERY BAD BUSINESS!

    I was sold on Square by their very smooth sales tactics. What i was not informed about was how they HOLD YOUR MONEY FOR 30 DAYS!!!! This is absolutely ridiculous. No word on anything like this when your signing up. Plus it says they will deposit the first $1000.00 within 36 hours TOTALLY FALSE INFORMATION!!! IT HAS BEEN 20 DAYS AND STILL NO DEPOSIT.

    Good luck trying to get someone on the phone to even discuss this. They have a very nice automated system that will ring 4 times and then tell you that no one is available to take your call. Leave a message. So i did, over and over and over again. 4 total messages and THEY STILL HAVE NOT REPLIED IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS!!!!

    Use your bank, pay a little extra for a wireless terminal and dont get yourself involved with this bullsh** service.

  • Deana Bass

    Square is a JOKE. It sounds innovative and clever. And it may work for teenagers with after school jobs earning pocket change. BUT THE $1000 hold that is not in plain sight is RIDICULOUS for small business owners. I would rather pay the fees with my bank’s merchant account than to have my money be held HOSTAGE.

  • Kim

    Yesterday I received the “canned” email from Squared that everyone seems to be talking about. I do not use this for business purposes….I utilize it for personal use….I seel/swap/trade Pandora, Trollbeads, etc. with friends, coworkers and family and have them pay me using the card reader. I then transfer the money from PayPal to my checking account. I did not register as a business, I registered that it would be for personal use. They are now holding $350 and I have no way to go through the “verification process” since I’m NOT a business. I responded to their email, but based on what I’ve read here I probably won’t get anywhere with that. I also “refunded” the money in the hopes it will reverse back to my PayPal account….. am I out of luck? If this was ONLY to be used for “businesses”, I had NO idea….since I was able to say it was to be for “personal use”. Does anyone have any suggestions, insight, advice, anything they can offer to help me or direct me in this huge mess??? I just want my money back, and I’ll trash the card and never use it again if it’s not meant to be used as I was doing.

    Hope to hear from someone, would greatly appreciate any information or help from anybody who can give me some advice.. Thanks in advance!!!

    • David

      I had no idea they were going to hold my money. I am a business and have vendors to pay. Let’s just say it’s not just a couple hundred bucks. And they don’t get back to you with in 24 hours. They said they are holding it for a month! Are you kidding a fricken month?!! Lame, can’t conduct business this way, a big mistake on my part using Square.

  • Amanda

    In case anyone is wondering, the BBB updated their rating and gave it an A- … this post is over a year old, so I’m really glad that the BBB had updated it since then. Thanks to this post, though, I’m on the fence about using Square.

  • Tanya in FL

    I own a small business (salon)..After seeing the advertisement for Square I thought that it would be ideal for my business. I was actually in the process of signing up with Square when I decided to find out information on the company.I am soooo glad that I read these reviews before making that commitment!! Thanks to all for having the courage to post your experiences with Square it helped me dodge a bullet..

  • Fred

    I am thoroughly frustrated with this company. They are holding $3000 of my money and I am unable to get anywhere with them. I have left many messages via e-mail and phone to no avail. I would like to get in contact with anyone from California so we can take our complaints to the state attorney general. In addition, we can also contact ABC’s 7 on your side. I’m sure they will love the story. I can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].

  • Christine Altmann Art

    Wow, I am soooo glad I have researched this new company. I was all set to upgrade my phone (more expense) and to read of these enraging practices by Square have convinced me that you and all the others are correct. Several business I know are using Square and some are coming into their busy season as am I. I am going to direct them to this site so they can decide whether to keep it or not. Thank so all so for this enlightenment.

  • phil

    We have had 2 transactions with Square since acquiring our cell phone swipe gadget. Needless to say, both transactions were not satisfactory. The first took over a week to get our funds credited. The second was a card not present transaction and was keyed in manually which cost us $344 on a $2344 transaction, almost 15% charge! This is totally a ripoff. We also have PayPal which we are happy with but they don’t take transactions when you do not have the card security code available.
    Unless Square makes this right with us, we will never use them again.

    • Deborah Norton

      Contact Morgan & Morgan Law firm in Florida even if you do not live here. I am implementing a class action lawsuit. As I have read 546 comments. Mine is the same story as the rest. Forward this on I will contact NBC News next.

  • Joe

    I have to be honest here. I have read with fear all the stories and was sure I would be lending my voice to the chorus. I will, but not in the way I thought I would. Square just answered my email and cleared my account. I sent them the info they requested and called and left a few messages and sent some more emails, all in one day mind you. And sure enough they figured it out and go my going again with just one day down. I am not saying all the others aren’t having these problems but it gives me hope that Square is just going through some growing pains and will likely catch up with the astounding growth they have experienced lately. I hope they do because I do like the way the system works for the most part. I am a general contractor and don’t take more than a few transactions a month but they are usually bigger than a small business might usually take and Square makes that pretty easy. I hope they get it together and keep offering the service.
    Please don’t hate on me for this comment I do not work for Square or anybody else for that matter. I build stuff and just want to make a living. I was going to flame them if they did not come through, tis only fair I give them this comment as it is due.
    Joe

      • Joe

        I was able to get through the menu once and I left a message. The best communication I had with them was the email. I replied to the email they sent back confirming my submission of the information they wanted. I also sent a note through their system on the site. I dumped all the information about my business in that note. Once that my information they acted pretty quick.

    • scott

      If I did not read all of these stories I would think square is the best thing ever.
      I’ve used it for 6 months without a problem.
      I read about all the problems on the Iphone app when I got this thing and I decided to try it anyway as a secondary solution to my online cc sales account that I use pro pay for. Pro pay limited my per sale to $500 and so square looked appealing to me because of the no limit part. I did read the $1000 rule on their site and I use it mostly at my auto detail shop for small “upsales” for $10 to about $100.
      I have never had a problem yet and I think after reading all these comments, it’s because of my small transactions.
      About a month ago I was hurting for cash and needed a short term fix while I was waiting for some money that I was expecting. My girlfriend was nice enough to help me out by letting me swipe $1500 and it was in my account the next day.
      I guess I just got lucky but after reading all these horror stories I would never run a large transaction again until they get through this growth problem or whatever it is.
      I hope that these issues are growth related but after thinking about it I started to think about the demographic that square must appeal to. Me…..business owner with bad credit and they don’t care?!! and I was desperate to accept credit cards at any rate. It seems like I’m the perfect target to be taken advantage of in this area.

      Food for thought

  • Trevor

    The concept is great but the service is terrible. There is almost no way to communicate with Square once you are a customer. They are terrible about resolving chargebacks. They will let you know they are removing money from your account but they will not respond once the money has been removed. DO NOT USE SQUARE!

  • Charles

    Square is not delivering as advertised. Sales made on Saturday are not processed according to the schedule they say in their FAQs. The wait for the deposit takes far too long. I am talking about a small amount under $25

    very disappointed here

    • Charles

      Update… still too many days late. No deposit to my account. Have a big crafts event this weekend and between a rock and hardplace. Geared to being mandatory to take credit cards. I did get an automated response with “Case #” but still cannot talk to someone. I looked into paypal and when it is launched another 7-14 days I was told yesterday. Paypal said it would not be tied to my bank account but go directly into my Paypal account. Problem I have is accessing the cash. IF I want to deposit to my bank account will take 2-3 business days to transfer those funds. Paypal does have a no fee debit card, so will have to get one of those too. So remains to be seen if I either will be a satisfactory deal!!!???!!

      • Dee

        I have used Paypal for years and really HATED the 3 – 4 day wait to get the money into my bank account. But that is NOTHING compared to the hold that square puts on my money. AND when I have questions about paypal, I am able to talk to a person….Yes, sometimes I have trouble with what sounds like an out sourced accent and they have problems with my southern drawl….but they are friendly and helpful. I also have the Paypal debit card that I can use to access my money immediately. Paypal is FAR FAR FAR more efficient than Square. It wouldn’t be so bad if they offered a way to actually speak to someone.

      • Charles

        I have used Paypal for years and really HATED the 3 – 4 day wait to get the money into my bank account. But that is NOTHING compared to the hold that square puts on my money. AND when I have questions about paypal, I am able to talk to a person….Yes, sometimes I have trouble with what sounds like an out sourced accent and they have problems with my southern drawl….but they are friendly and helpful. I also have the Paypal debit card that I can use to access my money immediately. Paypal is FAR FAR FAR more efficient than Square. It wouldn’t be so bad if they offered a way to actually speak to someone.

  • Kris

    A one-time enthusiastic user of Square, I was forced to switch to an Intuit account today, and me and my customer are still out $13,200. Any business processing more than $1,000 per month or handling large transactions should be warned! Square accepted my large transaction only to later ask that I refund my customer’s money. Note: my customer did not request the refund. I’m out of product and Square has charged my customer $13,200 but has kept the money. Worst of all, they have not returned my phone calls or emails. This is the MOST disturbing aspect. Totally unacceptable and possibly illegal business practices. Anybody have a direct contact or know where complaints should be directed?

  • Kelly

    Has anyone retained an attorney to sue them? I see mention of it but would like to join the suit. They took me for 3k, and I lost my biggest client. Please email me if you have retained counsel.

  • Yolanda

    Thank you Albert for posting your comment. It helped my husband and I to come to a decision about this product. I am sorry you are going thru this experience. I hope it is resolved in a positive way.

    • Kim

      Hi Albert, this just happened to me yesterday. They are holding my funds as well. I processed a refund today and it’s pending….did you do a refund and did it go through if you did so?

  • Art of Dance Designs

    I can only echo all of the complaints that have been written. I run a design and event management firm. Many of the events we manage take a least a year’s worth of planning and during that time we process multiple charges from the client. We have been working with a client on his event now for 7 months with no problem, and then the other day, without cause, the funds are on hold. I have provided them with more documentation than necessary and invited them to just contact the cardholder directly. That was five days ago. Now with the money in limbo, I may have to pay for contractors out of my pocket. I can’t look bad to my client and stuff like this has to stay stay transparent to my customers.

    In the meantime i was able to open an actual merchant account with Phone Swipe. (Phone Swipe also has a service much like Square except it has legitimacy call Pay Anywhere). If paying a monthly fee and having a credit check is what I have to do to avoid this BS again. I have no problem.

  • Jeffrey

    Problems with this company and a recent change in my account has them holding funds all prior reactions were paid in full with no problems

    Trying to solve it with their customer service….impossible

    You get canned generic reply and it doesn’t address your issue

    Done with this provider going to Intuit

  • JC

    I signed up with Square on the recommendation of my IT guy. My first swipe was $12,500.00 and the money was immediately transferred to my Square D account but the next day I got an email from Square that the swipe was suspicious and they were holding the money. I freaked out and went to the reviews here AFTER I used the account. It seemed to me that they were possibly a scam and I had lost my money at the most and would have to wait a long time at the least for my money. I called the phone number that is on some of these reviews and got run around, no phone customer service. Now to be totally truthful here is how it went. May 5, 2011 signed up, May 8, received swiper in mail, May 15, swiped for $12,500.00, May 16, account frozen and request to go to my account on line and Verify questions, May 17, a request for my bank statements last three months, copy of agreement with customer and previous processor info, all sent that day. May 21, money released to my bank account and an email saying my company is approved for the large amounts. May 28, swiped $45,000.00, went into my account the next day, I swiped at 730pm, money in at midnight. I am convinced they are a legitimate company that may have some startup issues but in my case they really needed to check the validity of my company and my track record with my customers. I believe this is fair considering the large amounts I am processing in the first few weeks. I highly recommend this company.

  • Doorstep Grocery Delivery Service,LLC

    It is unbelievable that a financial company with such popularity and with very high prospects of growth could be doing business with no telephone support team. I just learned today that square will hold my funds for 30 days after I’ve been trying to contact someone for the past 5 days about why my funds were not released to my bank account. Initially, I was asked to furnish all sorts of documents to prove that a credit card payment was authentic; and even after all what they requested were sent in, I still got no reply from anybody. I gave them my phone number in two of my emails asking them to call me; … I am still waiting for that call five days later. I would highly encourage this company to establish a good customer service support system in place if they want to continue carrying out business with its current customers and prospective ones. There is competition out there already. Intuit Go Payment is awesome…!!!

  • James F.

    I recently opened up an Espresso business at a Food Pod in Portland, Oregon. Being a new business I was searching for ways to increase sales without too much added expense, such as monthly or added transaction fees. My fellow “Pod” members highly recomended the Square as a great option to accept cards. By my second week I was ready to roll and started accepting cards, it increased my sales slightly but it was a major selling point for those whom never use cash, which in turn brought me new customers that were searching for a new coffee place with good coffee, since they have been severly limited. Since it’s nearing the end of the month I was reviewing my Banking account(s) on-line yesterday and noticed that ther was a major descrepancy with my deposits. Despite having been sent numerous emails that Square has deposited monies into my business checking account there was no record of such in my account. Next I called my Bank and they did a search of my account and had found no attempt to deposit money into any of my accounts, business nor personal. So then I got back on-line to the Square website where I reviewed my banking information, I noticed the last 3 digits they had listed were not my account, or even close. I could understand if I had made a mistake, such as entering a wrong number or out of order, but these were not even close. I then contacted my bank again to have them research this even further (I bank at a CU therefore when I call I speak with someone whom I know), The lady at my bank found the account with the same last 3 digits, Now here’s where it gets interesting, This account was NON-EXISTANT until last Wednesday. With all these “Safeguards” they say they have in place how could this happen? How did my account information get changed and why would they even set up a clear line of transfer when something at the other end doesn’t even exist. I still have had no response from them even though they said it would happen within 24 hrs. It is now Hour 26. UNTRUSTWORTHY, HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE, DO NOT DO IT. There are others out there and they maybe slightly more, they still work on your mobile phone and are long established companies with a proven track record. Square is taking advantage of the people at the bottom of the chain, they do not deserve your business. I’m going with Intuits “Gopay”, The company that developed Quickbooks.

  • AlamoCityJim

    I had been using square since January with no issues. Money was in the account the next day. Then, in one seven day period, I took payment of two $1000+ purchases. The first one went through. Then I got an email telling me they were holding my money for 30 days. Then they said they needed me to supply more info. I supplied every thing they asked for. Next day I got an email telling me they were cancelling my account because my business was “high risk.” Most merchant services have a list. If you’re on the list, don’t sign up. Square has no such list that they make available. I’ve been with paypal for two years and never had a single chargeback. My volume should be near $100,000 this year. I will never do business with Square again, I am building a website to show what a scam they are. I want to drive as many people as I can away from this rip-off.

    • Rigol5660

      I went through hell with square, Their e-mail customer service sucks a ton!!!!…. I lost money and customers thanks to this “Square” bunch of misleading dirty tactics filled company. I think a class action is on order. shall we?
      We got an enormous amount of power against this companies, lets use it wisely!!!!!!!!! anybody? please let me know!

    • Aaron

      Hey the same thing just happend to me they just re- enabled my account after sending in documents they requested and later that night they said they were closing my account due to high risk and I hat two options refund customers and ask for a different form of payment or wait 90 days and the will deposit the 22,000 that my event made into my account how do I confirm that this is legal and if I have any rights for lawsuit . This is putting me out of business. How did your matter end up ? Email me direct at [email protected] please

  • Kenny

    I was thinking of it, but now have many second thoughts. The lack of service and holding back my funds are bothersome.

    But my question for those of you using Square is, with American Express charges do they come to you directly and separately from American Express or through Square? Do you still pay Square, 2.75% on top of the American Express interchange fee of 3.50%?

    I was told that with Visa and Master Interchange fees, about 80% of those cards being used are below far below 2.00% and debit cards below 1%. Leaving a lot of my money in Squares pockets, but I am just building my business.

    Bottom line. Can any one confirm if Square’s 2.75% fee is on top of Visa, Master, Dinner or AE interchange fee’s?

    Thank you,

    Kenny

      • Kenny

        Phillip,

        I have to ask this question. Are you employed by Square? Really. Read there help page. They make no direct comment on interchange fees.

        How is it that with American Express, everyone complains that their fees are 3.50%? Are you telling me I can accept AE all day long and only have to pay 2.75?

        If this is true, I believe you made my decision very easy. 75% of my clients use AE cards. I am saving 0.75% on every transaction.

        Besides all the other horror stories that I keep reading, only charging 2.75% on AE or Dinners is a good thing.

        Anyone else out there?

        Thanks

        Kenny

  • Carla

    TERRIBLE COMPANY…their cardreader never works which makes it nessesary to type in number. They charge more and then…. last week we used it for $2300.00 and they emailed to say the money would be held for 30 days. Now they are saying $2002.00 will be put in our account in the next 3 business days. This will be the last time we will use this company.

  • Elizabeth Beale

    I agree with the easy of use for aa occasional merchant such as myself but the very first transaction I ever accepted with square got a charge back 4 months after the transaction and none of the documentation got me my money back. I had the persons card in front of me but no card reader so I input it manually. If it was a fake transaction how did I get their CCV code from the back of the card? I also think its crap that square hides the email address where I sent the reciept for the transaction, so I will now have to copy all email addresses in case someone tries a chargeback 4 months after the fact next time. What really pisses me off about square is that in the past couple of weeks I have seen them on tv advertising their “service” ( more like lack of service ). If they can pay for national tv commercials why can’t they pay for real people to man their help line? Or outsource it to India? They have to be making millions but they are still cheaping out on customer service. Total corporate greed in my opinion.

    • Will.

      Hello,

      Just because you send in “documentation” does not mean you will win a chargeback. Visa, MC, AMEX, and discover all have different ways of dealing with chargeback’s. Even if you send in all of the information so that you can win the chargeback, the cardholder can still dispute it. A chargeback is initiated by a Bank or a cardholder; this has nothing to do with Square.

      After they dispute it again it turns into a second chargeback (or rebuttal). At this point you can still win the chargeback, but just in case you don’t you can always pressure the card holder directly. As per visa and MasterCard regulations, any time you take a credit card manually, you must also have a signed imprinted sales draft. Without that draft you are almost guaranteed to lose your chargeback. An imprinter is about 40$ and sales drafts are very cheap, spend the money to save your money.

      The CVV code means that the CC number is correct to that card, but that does not mean the person using it was the correct person. This is why a signed sales draft is important. The bank wants to know that SOMEONE was there and used that card, without that sales draft there is no proof the card was there.

      But what if you can’t get a signature such as a telephone or internet order? When the item is shipped or picked up, always require a signature and ID and confirmation upon delivery.
      If you would like to learn more about chargeback’s, please visit this visa website:

  • Ivonne

    SQUARE has NO customer service what-so-ever. So, things may happen, and if for example your money get lost, good luck. Square support is nowhere to be found and neither is your money. Their customer support is literally non existent / zero / none.

    Honestly, the stress is not worth it. There are plenty of other payment systems out there that stay there for their customers. If you are thinking about trusting your money to Square, think again. You will save yourself many, many hours of stress and anguish. After they get your money you are totally left alone. Not worth it AT ALL. Technology is great, but still humans are better..

  • Jason

    I just have to comment, after reading all the other comments, but you people who are using Squared for $1000+ transactions are being really naive. Squared is for little charges, not $1000+ per week in transactions. You use Squared if you are selling a little bit of jewelry at the local “Farmers Market” not charging multiply $5000 transactions for your construction company. When you start charging over $1000 a week on credit cards, you go with a real credit transaction company. And if you have to manually type in a credit card, you don’t use Squared!

    Think of Squared as the corner liquor store of credit card transactions. You get little things there and if you start doing big business, you go to a big grocery store and if you even need bigger than that, you goto Costco, Sam’s Club or a Whole Saler. Would you buy $25,000 in product from a corner liquor store? No! So why would you run $25,000 in credit card transactions in Squared?

    • Phillip CPO

      Thanks for the comment, Jason. I agree with you that Square is best used for small transactions and a low volume of sales overall; however, the issue that is becoming apparent is that Square does not market the service this way, nor do they do a good job of educating users about the types of transactions that will cause holds. It could be as simple as popping of an alert to warn a merchant that the transaction will be held before they finalize the sale. This way, merchants would have a choice before moving forward with the transaction rather than being surprised by a hold later.

  • Paula

    DONT USE SQUARE. Square is holding $1000 on my very first transaction. I haveprovided them with my tax EIN, business license, signed invoices, signed contract agreement, 2 months of bank statements, business website, and they are still holding my money. I used the swipe method to process the transaction too which is supposedly “unlimited”. It has been over a week and there has been no response and there is no phone number to call. I just get robotic emails back saying they will take care of my request in the next 24 hours.

    • alicia

      Has anyone told their clients/customers to dispute the charge with their credit card, and that way, they get there money back? That way the credit card company disputes with the merchant, square. I was suppose to get our money today, and no luck from it being deposited by Square. I can’t believe I didn’t read enough information.

  • Artem

    I’ve been processing through Square problem free for 6 months without any chargebacks or customer service issues. One day I received an email that my account will be deactivated and funds frozen for 90 days. Only now I come to find out what everyone else seems to know already – nonexistent customer service! Tried calling the number on the BBB page (415) 375-3176 like 20 times, cant get through to anyone! My business is at a standstill and I lose money every day because I’m not able to process payments!!! I want the whole world to know that if you go with square, the livelihood of your business to depend on some “voodoo magic” and you’ll have no-one to complain to!

  • Glenn

    Square sucks. They just keep on billing me for the same chargeback from Amex even though it has been credited twice without a single explaination. Of course you can’t get hold of anyone. Why doesn’t San Francisco have a law against bad businesses like this, they have a law against everything else? Grade is F

  • Will

    In reviewing the reviews for Square, it seems as though many others are having the same issues that I have encountered. At first, I thought Square was great…my business is small and I liked the quick swipe of the customers credit cards and then deposit to my business checking account.

    However, out of the blue, Square put a hold on a deposit. It has been many emails back and forth, submitting ‘proof’ of my business, documents…and still no release of funds that have been charged over 2 weeks ago.

    Poor, poor, non existent customer service. No published phone call to reach anyone. Emails go into cyber space. I would not recommend this company or service to anyone. There is too much competition and other services that are glad to help out and provide customer service. Rating: F

  • Winston C

    If you’re even thinking about using Square Up – DON’T. This is possibly the most frustrating service I have ever used. They have held my money for 7 days and there is no number to call. When you write them they will send you an email saying they will respond within 24 hours. It’s just a robot response. The support staff doesn’t even read your question. I wish I had done my research sooner on the internet ,Square Up is absolutely the worst company ever. Out of frustration i signed up with Intuit GoPayment – there is a NUMBER you can call and talk to someone. GoPayment is .1 percent higher in transaction fees and guess what, that is well worth the money to me to be able to talk to someone when there’s a problem.

    Do NOT use Square UP. Worst Company Ever.

  • Marie

    I love my Square and have highly recommended it to artists who exhibit with me.
    One problem was taken care of quickly (before I was aware that a customer had been double charged) and I received a quick response when I sent an email and tweet.
    I do wish they had a dedicated live phone person to talk to. That would have been easier than emailing and tweeting to get a response to what could have been a problem.
    I will continue to recommend the Square to all I deal with…..and my customers think this style of credit card reader is very cool.

  • PD

    Square up is a company that “STEALS MONEY”. They are “FRAUDELENT” and find ways to hold on to money that is large and not pay. They use the “PRETEXT” of verifying funds. We are going to file a lawsuit (Class action) at the Attorney General’s Office immediately.

    They are the WORST PAYMENT PROCESSOR. PLEASE BEWARE

  • BUSINESS OWNER

    I ran a credit card purchase for $6926.
    they Deposited $1905.95
    they said they have to hold $4777.49 until June 16th

    Who does that ? This is CRIMINAL ACTIVITY !!!

    I tried to issue my customer a refund and the website said they will take the full amount of the transaction out of my bank account even if the full amount has not yet been deposited.

    SOMEONE START A LAWSUIT – I WILL JOIN YOU!
    I AM DEVASTATED. NEVER BEEN TREATED LIKE THIS IN BUSINESS BEFORE.

    • Bryan Talbott

      Did they fix the problem ? I am dealing with a similar issue, They have yet to deposit a single dime however from a 3650 charge. They claim they are going to deposit 2002.00 and the rest will be deposited on June 25th. I run a leasing business that charges peoples leases much like that of a Hotel stay for a weekend of week. In my case the renter will have stayed, rented, left. I refund 500.00 of their money as deposit as long as they dont mess up the beach house. I am now forced to pay the 500.00 out of my own pocket. Since I own this house and run this business to support my retirement I felt using Square was a secure method making my clients think they had security in using their credit card for a nice weekend or week stay on my beach house. I have tried to look thru all that I agreed to as I printed it down,, and you cant find this so called HOLD. Holding your money for 30 days, is fraud as far as I am concerned, the person whom you charged has been billed and WE have not been paid. I dont know what to do at this point. NO customer service I found the number called it but is merely voice activated BS no one ever answeres its a joke. I could never run a business like that and not be in jail.

  • Sompong Payne

    Don’t use square ,after I lose my job ,lose my home I make jewelry to sale at art fair,it’s only way I can survival,I have one son learn hight school. And my husband have no job. My friend told me to use square ,I very happy because no free every month. After I used with my customer. They hold my money ,I tried to contact someone but no phon only email.i email them manytime they said my account risk and I email them back ,ask what do you need me to do ? It’s silent , I need cash flow for buy my show and my food my supply.

    I’m cring ,strain ,no one can help , give up for everything .

    ,if someone have attorney please tell me I want to joy .my email [email protected]

  • Pete W.

    I sit back and I read all the complaints that people are having and I’m saying B.S.!!!! I have been using Square now for a year and a few months and have had zero problems. I have not experienced a non-swipe $1000.00 Plus transaction so If for someone reason people are having problems with that area than just make sure you swipe the card! I can honestly say that my biggest swipe was $12,300 with no problems. I swiped on a Monday and had funds in account before Tuesday 6am!!!! I first receive an option to send an instant receipt. It records my destination where the swipe took place. I can take a picture and match it up along with the transactions. It tells you right away that square has charged their account. Just so you people all know that it really depends on your bank and how long they get to their deposits!! FYI Bank of America works like this. If All of my square swiped transactions are done before 8:00pm than All of my money will be their the.next morning usually around 6 am.. It works.. The people who have problems I wish you better luck and you also might want to check you local and state banking laws because that could be a Reason as well. Some banks without you even knowing it will have security limits on purchases and withdraws. So when they see a big transaction they accept the purchase but wait for the funds to be verified. Any questions send to email.

    • NaplesNative

      I really have to question any positive reviews on this company.

      First of all why is someone who is Soooo HAPPY with them even checking out the background of this company? Most people don’t do that until they get burned and definitely not when they have been using them for over a year with NO PROBLEMS. I know that some people make money writing positive reviews for a living. That would be the ONLY reason I could guess as it is obvious how awful this company is. They have an F RATING at the BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU

      They held over 50k of our funds and it was THEM who held it. It had nothing to do with our bank or state banking laws as you suggest. We refunded as much of this to our customers as they would allow us to and recharged using another merchant account. It has been OVER 90 DAYS AND THEY STILL OWE US OVER $10,000.

      We we e-mail and ask the status their reply is “Check your old e-mails to see the status”

      Yes ~ great company ~ NOT!

    • ed

      Pete W,
      I applaud your good fortune! However, the good folks who have commented here, myself included, are not idiots as you seem to imply. I do not know where you are located but I am an hours drive from Square, I also have a merchant account with B of A, and in 20 years of business have never experienced such blatant disregard for others, particularly customers, in a business setting. They have been holding a mere $2500 of my money for the past 30 days (today is the moment of truth) and repeated attempts to resolve this issue and communicate with this company have been futile. I am furious with Square, but particularly myself for not carefully reading their legally questionable contract. I am sure that had 90% of the folks who signed up for this service made themselves aware of the details of this unscrupulous company, their contract, and their customer disservice, Square would no longer exist.

  • Barbara

    DO NOT USE SQUAREUP! They are AWFUL!!!!!!!!!!
    Do not use this company!! We decided to use this company because the rate was good and no monthly fee was even better. We ran our first transaction (over $1000) a week ago and nothing has hit our account. Let’s see here…they used the “24 hour deposit” as a great selling point. This is a bunch of BS! There is a phone number that I had to search the internet for (nowhere on their website) and EVERY option you choose gets you to an answering machine. We have sent multiple emails, phone calls, messages…any way to get in contact with a live person… and guess what….NO LUCK! DO NOT USE SQUAREUP! They are AWFUL!!!!!!!!!! There number is (415) 375-3176..GOOD LUCK!

  • John Littlefield

    Square is great for my business. When I’ve contacted customer support, I’ve been happy with the result. The first point of contact with support is through the website. If the problem cannot be resolved though email I get a call. Everyone I’ve talked to has been very helpful and professional. Our charges are typically low volume and low value so I can not speak to some of the complaints of those with large value transactions. I’ve been using it for more than a year. I’ll also add that we sell antiques so the ability to take cc transactions on phones at our shop, at shows or upon deliver at a customer’s house is very helpful.

    • Joan Furlong

      I have no confidence in Square or any financial service that does not provide telephone support when my bank account is involved. I signed up on line and received the square device in the mail a few days later. After I signed up Square was supposed to put a test deposit and withdrawel to my bank account . They keep “emailing me” that they did , but two months has gone by and there has been no test deposit to validate my bank account. Worse, takes them 3 or 4 days to even respond to an email and even though in every email I ask someone to call, I have never received a phone call., . In every email, I asked the question “do you offer phone support?” The question is ignored. I am mailing back the square device today.
      I do not recommend this company that provides no customer service.

      • John Stefani

        Joan,

        I couldn’t agree with you more! I moved to GoPayment by Intuit and very happy with them. Always get a live person on the phone. The discount rate might be a point higher on manual or non-qualified swipes, but that’s a little deal to me. I have another consultant friend who tried Square and had one transaction well over $1000 and they put a big time hold on the money. He also the same issue with e-mail support versus phone support. I also use QuickBooks and they have a service where you can download your GoPayment mobile transactions directly into QuickBooks ($9.95 /mo and well worth it). They also provide you a free card reader as well.

  • Suzanne

    I am disgusted – we should have researched this company more prior to signing up. We run a small business and work payment to payment, as we are still growing. In order to pay for an install next Monday, we receive 50% of the total job cost on Tuesday (the 8th) and it’s not even in the list of transactions on our Square account. Did I get lucky? Maybe it didn’t process? I’m afraid to ask our client to see if there’s a pending charge – for fear he’ll be double charged! Can anyone else tell me – the funds that were being “held” – did they at least show as pending transactions on your Square account? Of course, I haven’t heard back from their “customer service” yet……

  • Teresa

    I just filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. They track the number of complaints against a company to see if there is a pattern. PLEASE file your complaint to get some action here is the link

    I also just saw that Richard Branson is part of this company. I am starting a complaint chain to him and all of the other investors in this company. Use your social media contacts on Twitter and Facebook to pass on the information to boycott these companies until Sqaure Square up!

    Here is a link to all the news agencies that are talkiong about square. I am sending a press release to each of them. If you want to be included in this please let me know.I’m n!ot putting up with this fraud

  • Teresa

    This company is horrible and I would say borderline fraud! My first transaction was for $7600. The reader did not work on my Android although the company advertises that it does! I was forced to make a manual transaction and key in the information. After I left, I tried to contact customer service and found they don’t have a phone number. I went through ther troubleshooting and discovered that my phone doesn’t work with Square! The reader was not compatible with my phone jack. Then I discovered that the manual transaction cost me 3.5%!! I immediately emailed the company. No one has contacted me yet. But to my horror today when I went to call the company, I found out that they are holding the funds for one month! DON”T DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!!!! They will take your money and run!

    If this company does not resolve the issue by the end ot the day. I will be reporting them to the FTC and BBB. I will also start a social media campaign to warn people not to do business with them.

  • Ron

    I never really write anything good or bad about companies on review sites and places like this but this time around they pissed me off enough to add my own two cents!

    I have a couple different businesses that do about 3 million a year in sales each. In both cases, most of the funds come in by wire or check so we never had a need for credit card processing. When we found out how easy Square seemed to be, I got a reader for both. On one account which is still ok, we have charged over 130k from different cards without a hitch. Yes they do hold it for 30 days if the card is not present but that was not an issue for us as we have enough cashflow to cover it.

    The other account, however, after having charged about 40k over a period of 3 months gave us trouble. We charged 10k for one order and 2 days later received their email asking for more information. Again this was a keyed order and we have no issues waiting a month or responding to the email that requested more information. I sent all the information and an automated email came back saying they would review everything within 24hrs. That was b***s*** as 4 days have gone by and not a single response! I have tried the 415 number and tried multiple extensions. (220 works sometimes, and a couple of other ones do too but ultimately, when a human transfers you to the support group, you end up in a the voicemail trap)… Basically 0 support….

    I know that with that kind of business volume I should be processing it with a proper company and in fact we have since established a relationship with a major bank to do that. Regardless, this is no way to treat a customer. If you accept customers that do large transactions you are responsible for accommodating them!

    I would not recommend square to anyone else at this point. Even small transactions. No company has the luxury of shielding themselves from very basic customer service. No matter how large or small, specially dealing with money, they have a responsibility to provide very basic lines of support and reachability.

    I have since also refunded that particular customer’s card and will get a check from them. But what about all the small business owners out there that do not have the luxury of tracking down a customer and getting them to pay by a different means!? I know myself if that had been me when I first started my business it would have nearly put me out of business so I do feel the pain of most on this list.

    If they do not respond before the end of this week I am seriously thinking about funding google ads to point to some sort of “The truth about Square support site”

    Good luck to all of you !

  • j in pa

    We run a co-op on the weekends, and do an average of 1-200 in credit sales. Switched to Square because all other services require a monthly fee that was out surpassing the benefit of credit sales.

    Have not had one issue yet, with average transactions of $10-20. Money is always in my account the following monday.

    I think square is excellent for small volume, which I believe is it’s original intention.

    When I whip out my iphone with the little swipe reader, my customers are amazed at the new technology. When I ask them if they’d like a reciept mailed ot them, it is a new feature they’ve never encountered before.

    Again, I can not speak for high volume/high total sales, but for the average small business who processes the occasional credit sale, this saves me tons of money. I have not encountered a single problem, so I can not speak of their customer service.

    My only qualm is with the reader, as it takes a few swipes to be able to read some cards, but I have yet to have to manually enter a card.

    • Isaac

      I saw your post, and had an idea to help your card reader issue. Believe it or not I learned the following idea from a store cashier. The customer in front of me could not get her card to work after several tries and the cashier did it in just one try. If you take a plastic bag like that found at your local grocery store and place the card into the bag then swip it while tightly inserted into the bag it usually works. I would not try anything other than a Grocery Store Bag, simply it is so thin, anything else might be to thick. Good luck.

      • Tiffini

        I actually really like Square. I am a new Mary Kay Independant Consultant and just used it for my first customer. I agree it seems that the people having the most trouble are those with HIGH volume of sales. For super small companies like mine it is great!! Still waiting for my card reader can’t wait for it to come in!! Good luck.. Oh PS yes the plastic grocery bag trick does work at the grocery store. So try it on the reader and let me know if it works.

  • Robert Mcinvale

    I hate this company and am glad that there are options. My reader has never worked, I ask specific questions to their suport team and get form letters back that do not answer my questions, They withhold my money for 30 days, Now I am having issues with the rolling seven day pierod which is not seven days but 8 days. Every possible way that this company can take extra money from its clients, it does. Also the fact that they do not have a customer suport number and that they do not even give there name when they respond by email is really poor buisness. They were the only company for a while and they could make there own rules but they are not now and I am leaving.

  • Michael

    The customer service at Square has been horrific. I am a physician and exclusively key in credit cards rather than swipe them. I have no intentions of ending a session with them by asking them to take out a credit card and swipe it, etc., it’s inappropriate. I bill my credit card patients altogether 1x/month for clients/patients who have requested to billed by credit card and have signed authorization forms. Wow! They are holding back a lot of $$ for 30 days! I contacted Sqare by e-mail (via their site) requesting the increase the limit I can process at one time without having funds held back for 30 days. They responded promptly–it said on their site they would always do so within 24 hours–telling me if I wanted them to review my situation they would. I responded immediately saying, yes please, send my request on for review. It’s been nearly a week now and I haven’t heard a word. I sent them a second request two days ago, reminding them of their promise to provide prompt customer support, but nothing still. Meanwhile, they have my funds and collect their fees up front. Despite searching everywhere I could not find a phone number contact them. What kind of a way it this to run a business? I’m rethinking using them and looking for alternatives.

  • crossroads

    Wow I should have read these first! They are holding over 20,000 and I can’t get ahold of anyone! Has anyone s lawyer been able to do anything? This is definitely fraud. Can the fbi actually do anything? Help!

  • Joy

    The customer service is horrible: Replied to 3 emails and no answered and tried sending a direct email and got a email back right away saying I would have a response within 24 hours. When that 24 hours passed and still no response I finally found this web site with a phone number. Finally got to talked to someone and they had no reason for the emails not being answered. It sounded like I was talking to a robot that was picking up on one word and giving the same answer but not answering the question. Poor customer service.

  • Joe White

    Do not use Square!!!!!

    We are a HVAC company. So, we handle very large transactions. Any transactions over $1000 are held by Square for 30 days!!!! This was not clear to me until after we processed the card. Now they have $5000 dollars of mine that I need to pay my techs and the creditors for equipment. Square promised if I supplied certain documentation they would up my limit. Well, I have provided the documentation twice!!! 5 days ago. They promised to give me a response within 24 hours….Todate, there has been no response from Square. So, Square may be fine for small transactions, But do not use it for large ones. I don’t know if I will ever get my money to pay my people and creditors. But, I do know I am done with Squareup!!!!!

  • Dave

    Square has taken a payment of over $10,000 and held it for going on 6 weeks with no reason as to why except for their “internal policies”.

    They refuse to give me an answer as to why they are holding my money.

    They refuse to pay my partner on the other end.

    They have no phone support.

    They do not answer their customer service emails.

    Run Forrest Run! Do not ever use Square.

  • chris o

    square started out great until they began holding funds , the most annoying part is not being able to get phone help promptly. keep in mind if you process a refund they will freeze your funds for over a week. if you process 1000 manually withing in 7 days they will freeze funds for 30 days. who does that ? need less to say i am quiting square for now it causes more damage than good.

    • ejaz

      Its technology and never perfect. You can always get a new reader from retail location. If you don’t like square than get PayPal launching at the end of the month.

  • Tim - Masterpiece Sales

    OMG!!WOW!!! I wish I had seen this site earlier!! My wife and I own a sale business, we do estate, moving, down-sizing, liquidation and demolition sales. We had several customers who wanted to use credit or debit cards, so in an effort to appease our customers, we signed up for Square. We used the service in December for a few transactions at one sale with no hitch. Our business has grown dramatically this year. We had a sale for a very important client a few weeks ago and advertised that we would take credit and debit. We used Square for over 50 transactions. We were swiping the cards as we need to then our reader broke. I had to manually key in the cards. Square has only paid us for a portion of the cards. I have sold a dining room set that is in Chicago now, and have not been paid for it. I have e-mailed Square DAILY and was asked for more information. I called my accountant and my attorney. I answered their questions as they pertain to my business per my attorney. The funny thing is that I was in banking for many years and dealt with credit and debit cards both on the merchant and the cardholder side. Also I worked for 6 years for the largest aviation credit card in the world who also does processisng for other card labels both on the merchant and consumer sides. Also, I was a VP of Client Services in the banking industry. These people think we are all either stupid or blind. I used the swiper they provided and it broke. I had no option but to key the cards in. In all my years in this industry if a merchant had to key cards due to faultly equipment we supplied we paid them as normal and apologized for the inconvenience. I had to cash in a CD and take a HUGE HIT, just to pay my client, also I have accounting and attorney fees associtated with this matter. I called tonight after getting their number and left a messsage that I am sure will go unanswered. I have contacted the Attorney Generals office for the State of Missouri and they informed me that a reputable company would have a number to call especially when dealing with credit cards. They are sending me the paperwork to complete a formal complaint and ask for an investigation. I am also filing a complaint with the State of MO division of finance, and have contacted the Missouri Bankers Association for help and guidance in this matter. There are so many of us who have been victims of this company that I think we should open a forum and form a CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT maybe that would get their attention. We all know what they are doing… using the float on our money to line their pockets. I am closing my account and closing the associated bank account per my attorneys advice once this matter is finally resolved. The truth is that untill these guys have to pay for thier crimes it will continue to happen. IS THERE AN ATTORNEY WHO WANTS TO TAKE ON THE CASE? CONTACT ME PLEASE!!! I will be filing a suit against them.

  • D. Blakey

    I should have read these comments before I relied on this system. I used it for the first time at an International Conference in LA and on day 3 after a $5,000 purchase, my account was frozen. Of course I didn’t know that, all I new was my password & user name was not recognized–I could not long on to the system. For 7 days I didn’t know where my money was–I figured this was some “fly-by-night” business and my money was gone!!! I was sick, I didn’t sleep for days. I kept emailing the “Help” center and would get an email back to expect a 24 hr response from Square–not so, that took 5 days. I’ve had Paypal for 2 years and have had no problem. They now have an app for a smart phone—which I will be getting. How can a company like Square get away w/this. Are they pocketing all this money for a week–making money on interest/or short term investing? I can’t believe w/all the complaints they haven’t been investigated.

  • Sam

    My home repair business was growing. Many of my customers are folks having their new home remodeled before they move to my area. In order to do the work requested, customers called in their CC information so I could get the money for materials and supplies. My first charge was for $1796.00. It went in on a Monday and was in my bank on Tuesday morning. Hurrah!
    That afternoon, my own mother asked me to take over repairs to her rental unit and requested I accept payment for materials in the amount of $1100.00. I ran the amount, it was accepted and then,……absolutely nothing! Having expected the deposit to go through like the previous one, I went ahead and purchased the supplies out of my own funds. Two days later, with 50% of the work done, my subcontractor finished his part and asked to be paid. Problem: They still hadn’t cleared my payment.
    Only after searching all over the place did I even find the “holdback” crap about swipe versus non-swipe transactions. That’s ridiculous. I purchase things on line all the time without swiping. I order pizza and have it delivered without swiping. I buy stuff over the phone without swiping. Now I can’t finish the job and my parents are going balistic as they need to rent the place so they can cover the payments. I have workers ready to kill me because I can’t pay them now. I stand to lose my business. After multiple emails, I get one back from some dim bulb who signs it “Derek” and all he says is go on the site and request an increase in the non-swipe amount limit. I immediately did so and its been two more days without any response.
    When I first went online and ordered the gizmo, filled out the info on my business, and eagerly began looking in the mail box for it to arrive, I got several calls from SquareUp. I even backtracked my caller ID to those calls and can’t get through to anybody. Those numbers are apparently one-way only.
    Thanks SquareUp. You’ve destroyed another small business. If I ever see my money back, I’ll be only too glad to run and not walk away from doing business with you. I can already see several UCC violations as you have accepted payment of the non-swipe fees from me without concurrently fulfilling your obligations. That is called fraud plain and simple. I paid the higher fees, you accepted them, now you are just holding my money so you can earn interest on it from your bank. SquareUp, please square up accounts. Don’t penalize the consumer any longer. You are ruining their finances, too, not just mine.
    How can any company be so horrible at customer service? Fool me once!

  • Seze

    Do NOT use this company. Aside from the fact that they never get back to you, they hold onto your money and never give you an idea when you can get it back.

    I have over $18,000 owed to us and there is no one who will say when I will even get it. Over a week I am waiting for funds!

  • John Stefani

    Square “Pay with App” has issues finding my company in the Square database. When I put my company in the search window, it displays the first 100 closest business only and mine isn’t listed, however there are businesses listed that are thousands of miles away from mine. Also, there are companies listed that have no match to my search criteria. There is no mechanism for sorting by distance or alphabetical by company name. Although I like the flat-rate model, the overall product is very weak. I can see why it receive a “C” rating.

  • Siobhan Boudreau

    Square is holding over $1,000 dollars of mine since April 11th. I own a small tree business and a customer paid $1,200 on her visa. They held funds questioning my account. They asked for further info. I gave it to them. Still no money. I have been back and forth with Better Business Bureau who just act as mediators with nothing solved . Now they have closed my account so when I log on they show the money there but they have blocked my account so I can no longer email support. I don’t know what else to do.

    • Austin

      You mentioned “Excellent”.
      How did you get the service? Did you get e-mail reply on time?
      We have kept sending e-mails for the last 10 days.
      They just ignore, no reply.

  • Michael

    Square has absolutely no idea of customer service, I have $26,000 worth of “swiped” card transactions that I can’t seem to get deposited even though the money has been taken from my customers credit card already. I strongly suggest the use of a traditional credit card processing company. I am a small business and cannot afford to not have these funds

  • Beth

    I am a small business that does not accept credit cards and I don’t plan on it any time soon. I am looking for a very simple POS system to use with an ipad. Could I possibly sign up for Square Register, never accept a credit card and essentially use the POS for free?

    Possibly wishful thinking but just thought I would ask.

  • pam

    Do not use this company they have no phone number. I was told that if my customer swipes the card my funds will be in my account the next business day. I have done two payments and funds were released now I made a 25,000 payment and they won’t release my funds until I send all my business information. Are they crazy they have no phone number to call and they want my information. I called that number and they lady is a robot saying over and over give them the information and then they release the funds. My business as a small business owner has been shut down because of this last payment. If anyone has phone numbers to them please please give it to me. This company is not god, they are breaking the law not sending me deposit from my customer to til
    I give up all my private business information. DO NOT USE THESE GUYS!!!!! Who does business with no customer service number. Now I do not get money from them. I plan so suing the hell out of these people. My customer is being charged $250.00 per unit due to no fuel that was stopped because square will not release funds. I plan on calling the FBI on this crazy business they call e-mail customer service and they respond within 24 hours. I do not know of any company in America that you can’t discuss your money that they are keeping from you unless they get what they want. SEND MY CUSTOMER A REFUND THEN!!!!

  • Reggie Thomson

    When you sign up it seems great when dealing with small sums of money. They are holding a substancil amount of my money and are asking for alot of information that I cannot provide. I cannot talk with anyone and they answer any email with please reply – never answering any questions. I don’t know if they have a history of keeping people’s money but am afraid I will lose my money. It was a terrible mistake for me to use this service.

  • valerie

    I havee been using Square since 2010 and love it – wish I had an e-mail address or phone number I agree poor customer serivce but I have never had issues with payment.

  • Pete

    They verified my bank account, then when I had to use them (for a substantial amount) they then needed information I do not have, and will not deposit money into my bank account. They are pretty much unresponsive, and I have hired an attorney to sue them for MY money they won’t give me access to. My attorney is also going to sue for damages since my business is being hurt by this company. If anyone else needs the company information it is here:

    ADMINISTRATIVE CONTACT INFO
    Square, Inc.
    Domain Admin
    901 Mission St
    Suite 104
    San Francisco
    CA
    94103
    US
    Phone: +1.4152813976
    Email Address: [email protected]/square_com

    Good luck.

  • Chris A

    Square is AMAZING, Use it for all our street fairs and craft shows and not a single problem. When we first started using them it would take a 3-4 days to get funds now if we are at a show on Saturday or Sunday we have the funds on Monday. Square is for the SMALL Businesses… If you can do charges over $1000 you don’t use Square that would be throwing money away.

  • AL

    This company is a joke. They do not have any staff to handle verbal communication. They have stolen money from me. They have received money from my customer’s credit services and have refised to dispurse the funds. The individuals that correspond via email do not know how to spell nor do they use proper grammar.

    I have provided them with the requested documentation several times over the past month. I still have not received the remaining $2000.00 of my funds. This is THEFT. I WILL SEE HOW FAST THEY RESPOND TO THE FEDERAL AUTHORITIES.

    • Me Too

      Been using it since last year on and off. I finally started using it every week for my company with an offsite transactions and BOOM… I get the email asking for documents right when I should of had the deposit into the business bank account. Yup, the client credit card was CHARGED ( not pre-authorized) but fully charged. Now, what if I was a stylists or ran a company or just a small business that required the me to use the funds immediately to provide a service? How could I? Wouldn’t that result in a charge-back BECAUSE OF SQUARE? They clearly are not thinking. Why do a final charge and the “suspend deposits?” Let’s see exactly how long it will take for me to get the $2000 (minus fees) used during a SWIPED transaction.

      Its just really stupid because they have the business tax ID and they could of pulled a DNB report, or any other business credit report at that.

    • Alex

      Same situación, it just happen to me and it was only 5k transaction, they asked for all the documents and them only 2k on the account, it’s been more than 10 days and NO RESPONSE. Does anyone has a phone number where they can be reach? Definitely I won’t be using their services any longer.

      • Taylor

        The only telephone number they have is 415-375-3176. You will NOT get hold of a person unless you are super lucky. I left at least 10 messages and never got a return phone call. They held $16000 of ours for a long time. When I finally sent them our Articles of Incorporation and our business license they released our funds. But it didn’t happen without serious stress. One thing is for sure, saving the percent we were saving was not worth what we just went through and we will certainly go back to intuit. I would rather pay the extra fees and KNOW my money will deposited and KNOW I can call on the phone and get someone on the other line. This company won’t be in business a year from now.

  • Irene Spiegel

    SQUARE has NO customer service. I have had funds on hold for over a month. I have sent emails with no response and phone calls with no response. Seems fraudulent to me. I have dealt with our merchants and you can always get someone on the phone. NOT SQUARE. NEVER using them again.

  • Sid Smith

    Overall I have had a good experience with Square up, until recently. If you get a payment over $1,000 they will hold the amount over $1,000 for 30 days. This I did not know until I had to figure out why our funds were not fully deposited in our account.
    Why would any business hold funds for 30 days? This is a bad business practice and I am not new to Square up. We sure wish they would give our money back.

    Sid Smith

  • gregg ricca

    i can assure you , you willk not be satisfied with square . you will NEVER get a human on the phone EVER and email response is poor at best . You will be sorry you did if you do signup . STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS .YOUR SANITY IS WORTH MORE .

  • Mary Liebhold

    I did a test charge of $11.00. No problem. I SWIPED two charge on April 20. One for $4000.00 and one for $25,000. On Friday night I was asked (via email) for a number of supporting documents for the $25,000. Scanned and sent them Monday AM. Today is Wednesday and I got another email asking for one of the ones I sent Monday. Cannot talk to any one. Neither payment is deposited. My reply today to look again at mondays documents received another “you are important and we will get back in 24 hours” They did not get back in 24 hours on Monday and I can’t find why they have not deposited my funds. The cards were swiped. nothing in their promos or agreements indicate that they will ask for copies of contracts, tax forms or business licenses, copies of my print ads and my website address. That could have been set up ahead of time to avoid these delays that are going to last who knows how long.
    The phone # doesn’t even allow a message. says to send info via email.
    No wonder they have a lot of money. Its mine.

    • Laura

      Don’t Look for your funds anytime soon….I am going through the same thing and they finally told me they would hold almost 40k for 120 days…Sent them all docs as well!

  • Ben

    Square up is not all it’s cracked up to be. When things don’t go well, tell your customer you’ll get back with them in 24 hrs after square up is in touch with you! See how that goes over. It didn’t work on my android, as they claimed, even though it’s listed as. Kudos to those that claim it works well for them. I’ll seek a better, effective alternative.

  • Matt

    CUSTOMER SERVICE NUMBER (415)375-3176…….Wait for the shpeal and then it’ll prompt you to press #? for this, and # for that….Just press 7 and you’ll either geta LIVE PERSON or a voicemail directing you to leave a message……If you get the voicemail just keep calling back and with a little luck you’ll get a person but no matter what happens they will not be able to assist you and will simply read their script for complaints which goes……………..”I strongly recommend that you contact account services by email and provide the documentation that was request”…….>EVEN IF YOU GAVE THEM WHAT THEY REQUESTED…….This service sucks!

  • Mike

    Not sure why, but they have sold or just gave out my email address. This is my finnancial email, I don’t give it out to ANYONE, but since I signed with Square, I get almost 100 junk/spam/phishing emails A DAY! What a waste of my time.
    F- = Get a paypal reader, they may charge a larger fee, but they don’t waste your time!

    • TRUTH

      ****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****
      DON’T NOT USE SQUARE for large transactions!!!!
      $1000.00 MAX per week!!!!
      I use them on my small transactional retail business and they are great.
      So I decided to use them on my larger transportation business, that requires larger payments. They ARE NOT MEANT to be used for LARGE transactions. They have been holding my money (an amount well over $5000.00) for almost 2 weeks. I have sent all their requests for documentation, with NO RELEASE of funds. I understand their need for safety with fraudulent transactions. However, they assured me that once they recieved the documents they would release the funds. I’m STILL WAITING.
      SQUARE has a good concept, and is great for small transactional type business. Hopefully they will rectify these larger issues and become and even greater company.
      However USE CAUTION ON LARGE TRANSACTIONS OVER $1000.00.
      I’m glad I use them for small transactions, or I would think they are a scam.
      Truth is, they are not. I don’t like their customer support reaction time on the larger issues, but they have served me well on the smaller transactional business.
      IM PISSED!!!!!
      But I understand.
      SQUARE, PLEASE FIX THIS ISSUE. You’re a good company!

    • David

      If you would like to call them on their 415 number, the extension is 202 and I got a hold of someone. I’m currently on the phone with them right now trying to sort out the bs they put me thru.

  • Happy with Square

    i hve used Square for several months and have had no problems. In Florida we have seasonal sales from November thru April. With the old companies we had to pay fees each month we were not doing business that amounted to about $70 per month for a wireless terminal. By the time we paid wireless access fees, batch fees, non-qualified card rates, high rates for American Express, etc; we were paying much more than the quoted rate of 1.69%. The 2.75% across the board rate for swiped transactions from Square computes as a better deal and since we sell at Craft Shows it is much more convienient than carrying a bulky wireless machine. Also, since the customer is right in front of us swiping a card is not a problem. We also get our money deposited so it is normally available the next buisiness day for transactions done before 3 pm est.

    I am very happy with Square for the volume of buisiness I normally run through on swiped charges is about $1,000 to $1,500 per week during “season” and we do no charges that are card not present.

    • M

      DO NOT USE SQUARE !!!!
      We have used them for a few times only but they are very bad.
      They have several of our payments for over 20 days. It was a $300 and a $500 charge. They do not respond to emails and never return voice mail messages. Their only response was a generic email. I sent them a letter from my customer that they are happy with my services and they want the money to be released to them or to us. Nothing happening.
      Never ever use them!! I used other merchant services and never had this problem, I will tell to everybody to stay away from a company which is irresponsible. Everything can be worked out with good communication, it is frightening that they are in business and nobody stops them. Now it seems like I have to take them to court to get my money. I am in business for much longer than they are, our corporation was founded in 2001, never one complaint against us. Why Californian tech. companies think that they are so HIP, that they are above the law?!?!

  • JG

    AWFUL COMPANY! This is a great company for garage sales but NOT for a real business. They suck when it comes to fighting charge-backs too. They only correspond through email which is insane! Do not make the same mistake as me! Use a solid bank merchant service NOT SQUARE

  • ed

    Foolishly, i was just swept into the $1000 non-swiped limit, and they are now holding over $2600 of mine.

    Considering this seems to be a massive problem for everyone, AND Jack Dorsey of Twitter is the founder; the greatest pressure that can come to bare on Square can be social media. It is time to saturate all outlets, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., and especially Twitter alerting everyone of this shameful business and their unethical practices. ACT NOW MY FRIENDS! THIS IS WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA WAS DESIGNED FOR!!!

    • robin varian

      I use square to my frustration. they have not made one deposit yet. i expected 24 hour deposit. they requested company documents to verify our government authenticity. we supplied it in one day. THEY DO NOT CARE. THEY WILL KEEP YOUR MONEY FOR AS LONG AS THEY CAN. It is frustrating that we can not speak to then EVER! Please tell every one that you know. Post it on all websites. Square is a scam. I have accepted small dollar card transactions and still not one cent has been deposited. they do not reply to emails. I have requested a phone call from them. They have not responded. Has anyone started a class action suit against them? Robin

    • Kelli

      Ed,

      I did a Twitter blast abt (hashtag) #SquareUp & #JackDorsey…I was sure 2 make note their BBB rating is an F….the only reason it’s better other places is because of the manipulative sales tactics they use. We found the cust srv number here…THANK GOODNESS! And after 2 VM & another call that was rerouted many times until my husband just guessed an extension…And when they answered they were obviously surprised to have a consumer on the line! But after 2 wks of steadily keeping after them thru phone calls & SOCIAL MEDIA our funds were released!!! These are things that HAVE to be brought to social media’s attn…that’s what it’s for; and I firmly believe you reap what you sow in all facets of life! Thanks to this outlet and review from Philip Parker or I would still be ill-informed!

  • DO NOT USE SQUARE!

    Used square a few times and they suck! It has taken me weeks to get any kind of reply, other than an auto reply, to find out where my deposits are. THEY HAVE AN -F- RATING WITH THE BBB!!!!! And for very good reason. After finally finding a phone number online for them someone had posted I called and left multiple voice mails with NO, yes NO return call or email. FINALLY heard from someone after randomly guessing extension numbers, which starts at ext 200 if anyone needs them moving forward, only to be hung up on! So after calling literally time after time after time after time until someone answered they then told they needed to hold my $5,700 for 180 days to make sure it wasn’t a scam???? I have been in business 5 years longer than square has been, or will be if we are all lucky, I have an A+ rating with BBB, unlike square, and they STILL wanted to hold my funds even though I could provide 50 times the prior transactions through another very reliable company that I never should have left. THIS IS THE BIGGEST SCAM that should be illegal!!

  • Beach bldr

    Square is holding $7000.00 from us for 30 days. This should be illegal,they have all the documentation they need and have charged my customers credit card in full. They don’t have a customer service department to even ask if I can refund and recharge my customer after I swipe their card. I will never use this again

  • Siobhan Boudreau

    I am fet up with Square. First use and a deposit of $1,200, seven days later still not in my account. All I get are emails from them saying they are looking into it. As a small business starting out, I have paid workers based on this income and now overdraft fees because of it. No offense but paypal is way more reliable.

  • Jenny Hurst

    We picked up a Square reader at our local Wal-Mart to use with our small company. Generally an online store, we sometimes needed a card reader for walk-ins. We signed up to use it, and started taking credit card orders through Square. There were issues with the money being transitioned into our account. After sending emails inquiring about the issue, with no replies for 3 days, I began looking at Square reviews online. What I found were horror stories. I was very nervous, and couldn’t afford to lose the money that was suspended indefinitely in a cloud. I started emailed Square every hour. After doing this for several hours, they returned all the money. Not ONE personal reply, no acknowledgment of my frustration, no explanation……. The worst customer service, and a very sketchy way to take credit cards.

    BUYER BEWARE.

  • Carol

    I am extremely disappointed with their customer service (they don’t seem to have one), We have been trying to resolve a charge back issue for several months now and we have only gotten 2 emails that you can’t even respond back to because it comes back as “delivery failure notice.”

    What can we do to get a live person to respond????

  • Very Very Angry

    7 days ago Square received a payment from my customer of $12,000.00 This being my first transaction with them I was hopeful for a quick turn around as promised in all of their marketing. The idea of starting to take credit cards was to increase cash flow and broaden our customer base. This is not the case. It is not until you are wondering where your money is that you find out their real business plan. I have not seen any account activity, I have been unable to contact anyone via their phone # that you have to track down or their auto reply BS from Michale K. They have basically taken my $12,000 dollars and disappeared leaving my company in a big mess. If I do not hear back from them today my lawyer and I are going to file a police report in San Francisco. This is not good business, it is thievery.

    • Luca

      Did u fixing your problem with them? U can see your 12k on your square account?
      Its a week they been keeping 10k from me, and 5 days trying to get in contact with somebody with no
      Answer

  • Not happy

    I am wait for 2000+. Emailed with no reply. I had 2 chargebacks and they pulled the money out in January. No problem but they still have not released the money to the card holder. I guess the are drawing interest on it I don’t know. They will not release my money going on 3 weeks! I switched to gopayment and see if they are better.

    Something needs to be done about square.

  • Roseann Harrington

    This product has awful customer service. They say they offer 24 hours service yet there is absolutely no way to contact them. My bank showed verification of my accounts, but Square is not showing it and will not let me proceed. I have searched the site and topics and there is no answer even close to my issue and no way to contact Square. Please someone develop a product to compete with this company so I have an option!!!

    • JJ

      your best option is gopayment.com. It’s intuit company and has real merchant account. it took me 15 min to open an account with them and they have real live support and way better and more trustworthy company.

  • Walter Freeman

    Square is okay but I have had it with no customer service. I had an email placing my charges on hold where square wanted me to show proof of the charges. They requested that I reply to the email with the proof of documents. When i sent over the documents to the corresponding email, I kept receiving an error message saying that the email was failed to send. The email address was not valid.

    No phone number to call, no main address, no main email address. I have had it, and now I cannot tell my customers that I have to recharge their credit card because square did not release their funds to my account. This is Bullsh..

    • EJAZ

      I drive cab and have been using square since launch. Initially they did freeze my account, but i gave them all the documents. It took 2-3 business days, so please be patient. Its a great company if you use charges from $5-$100. funds are transferred by 3 am in my account

  • JC

    Don’t use Square credit card payment. Your money maybe delayed without any reason, Square will hold your money without telling you. They holding hundreds dollars from our company for more than one week. We tried to call Customer Service but they don’t have any phone number you can call. Very poor services, we are so disappointed.

    Square Inc should know your company are not the only one provided mobile credit card payment.

    JC
    04/13/2012
    Honolulu Airport Express, LLC

  • Kelli Athas

    I’m beginning to feel like my husband & I have been scammed. We are a small intervention company and we recently purchased SquareUp at Target to use to accept payments from our clients. We work with people all over the country and it sounded like a great alternative to the high fees we paid through other services. We only work with 1 family per week & the deposits are all made over the phone or through another service. After waiting for 4 days for our 2nd payment to go through I decided to research and now I’m floored that all this information about “card-not-present” transactions was not available to me…as well as the toll free number. So now we are going to have a negative bank account because of Square. BUT more frustrating than anything is the lack of communication or even care & concern. Our client even offered to email them to let them know that they okayed the transaction…I understand holding off a few days if the card isn’t able to be scanned BUT 30 days is completely unacceptable. Shame on Jack Dorsey & Square for making tough times even tougher on small business owners! I can’t afford to wait on $1000. Has anyone had a good experience with customer service…like received an answer to a question or anything other than a “standard response” email? It is also confusing that our 1st “card-not-present” transaction went directly through…why would we feel there would be an issue with the 2nd payment. Is this misleading for a reason?

    Deceived & Peeved Customer

    • Kelli Athas

      I just saw that SquareUp in NOT accredited with the Better Business Bureau but complaints have been filed through them. So would I be correct in assuming filing a complaint through the BBB is the best & quickest way to get a resolution to our problem? Since it is glaringly obvious that the actual company has no regard for their customers & clients.

    • Ejaz

      many people like electronic receipt which can be sent via SMS or e-mail. However i recommend that you get blank CC slips & and a imprinter for people that want paper receipt. You don’t need their signature twice, just put date of service & authorization number that can be found in the sales section of the app & in your email that comes right after sales. I use android phone with gmail & the email comes instantly. i hand over the customer the phone where they have option to add tip in %age amount & than let e know to enter either their SMS or email themselves as many people are scared of privacy. its not that hard just takes practice.

  • Matthew

    I have had nothing but problems with Squareup. In the last 2 weeks I have tried to process over $18,000 through their service. I am closing my account and will be using a different service. I can not afford to wait 8 days for a deposit!

    • Ejaz

      Did you tell that you are processing such a huge amount. That will alarm their fraud alert, who knows what you are selling. I know a drug dealer that uses sqaure for his dealings, but he was smart & emailed sqaure that he is door to door salesman for some direct sales company & emailed the paper work to them, When i started using them for taxi paymemt. I emailed them my chauffeur licence & also amount of my each sale. They replied in 3 business days & all was sqaured away. Trust me i have used other services & they are so freaking horrible.

  • Mosier painting

    Does anybody know how to get the account unlocked. I changed the password snd every time I go to use it says I have tried too many times and to wait ten minutes. I have been waiting about 8 hours with no luck. Sent email but no response.

  • Cavin

    The lack of customer service is extremely frustrating. I have sent three emails and still not got any response. I paid my contractor with his square and it was charged to my credit card 5 days ago but it has still not showed up in his account. I will not be using this service again

  • Sara

    Has anyone had any problem with Square stealing money from your bank account? I’m probably being paranoid, but just in case it’s merited I’d like to know. Someone email me and tell me if this has happened! Please!

    • Chad T

      I have been using Square for about 9 or 10 months now and I have not had a single reason to even think of dialing the customer service number much less something crazy like unauthorized withdraws from my account.

      I run a roadside assistance company providing light roadside assistance like Unlocks, Jump starts, Flat Tire Changes and Fuel Deliveries. Aside from the OCCASIONAL card that wont swipe properly and I have to retry a couple times I am so happy with my square service. My customers like it too being able to see that I am just swiping the card and not writing the number down on a piece of paper (invoice) that could entice theft or misuse later on.

      For the low volume of transactions and my base rate of $24 each 24 hours a day I could not even begin to afford to use another processor with all their fee’s.

      • jane

        Chad,
        There are many other options out there similar to square including Paypal Here, Intuit GoPayment, and PayAnywhere. There fees are competitively priced and their customer service has a much higher rating. The reason why Square is so user friendly is because they don’t collect enough information to know who their users are. It is a security issue they are frantically addressing.

  • Terry

    Square is a total ripoff and a joke. You swipe the card and then it does not go through so you have to manually put the card information in the reader. Once you manually enter the card information these jackasses say that they will allow me up to $5000.00 per week. After the $5000.00 finally goes into my account the last $4000.00 is held for 30 days. If they allowed $5000.00 last week the difference should be put in the following week, but guess what you are screwed for 30 days. I am filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau which already has over 70 complaints on file.

  • karl joyce

    This is the worst $1 billion company I’ve ever worked with – sorry – tried to work with – I try to call 415-375-3176 and leave emails but I’ve never received a response.
    THIS IS VERY BAD and some sort of a movement should be done because this may be a scam of sorts.
    What company like this can’t afford to offer an 800 number.

  • Richard Reichle

    Is it legal for Square Up to hold payments for 180 days, or for any additional time beyond what is stated in the policy statement? Has anyone else had a problem with this or with deposits not being made per the policy statement? Square Up may have a great idea and a concept, but the customer service and the handling of attempts to contact them are unprofessional.

    • Rick

      You’re being too kind, calling their handling “unprofessional”, Richard.

      I don’t know about the legality of how they do things, but holding customer funds for 180 (half a year!) for completely arbitrary reasons WITHOUT appeal process and no way to actually speak to a human being seems the worst way for ANY business to handle customers. It’s a miracle to me that they’re still in business.

      Guess it’s great for small time merchants who have small payments, and not a whole lot of them. As soon as payments get a bit bigger than a few dollars, it seems many merchants are are experiencing problems.

      There are other players in this field that have rates just as low as Square, and way better customer service.

  • Troy

    Square is holding over $1700. I just purchased a business 1 month ago and now I have no money to pay my bills. I sent in requested documentation of the validity of my business, but today I recieved e-mail stating they are holding my money for 180 day and that I cannot run any more transactions. I have several clients scheduled this week, but will not be able to collect payment. I don’t know what to do! This company has made it impossible to run my business. If anyone is reading – please advise!!!

  • Brenda

    I have a question about the $1K hold limit: is this per transaction that’s over $1K, or if you take multiple small transactions that add up to $1K? Where can you find this info on the square site?

  • Laura

    Square is holding over 35 thousand dollars on our Company account, they say for 90 days. Who knows if we will EVER get it.

    There have been 70 complaints file with the San Francisco BBB alone in the past 12 months.

    YES, use this company if you can AFFORD to HAVE YOUR FUNDS HELD INDEFINITELY AT THEIR WHIM.

    They just assume this is O.K. No problem, we don’t need the 35k that we worked so hard for to pay our bills. PLEASE! I have heard from MANY customers who have experienced the same thing.

    If you are reading this, chances are you too have had a problem. Report them to the Following: States Attorney General in California AND your own State (do both), and the BBB.

    They need to be STOPPED!

  • Laurence M. Nuelle

    I have had two problems with Square. One was at an exhibition where a customer charged a $10 item with American Express. The sale went through with no problem. The customer then decided to buy another identical item for the same price, just a few seconds after purchasing the first item. The sale was declined. He then used a Visa card. For the rest of the exhibition, all American Express cards were declined.

    Just yesterday (April 5, 2010), a customer tried to make a $1,000 purchase with a MasterCard. The card was declined by Square. I then took him to the physical location of the business, and the sale went through with no problem using the wired terminal in the shop with the same credit card that Square declined.

    Square seems to be unreliable in processing cards and a person could potentially loose sales by using square. I am thinking of going back to the wireless remote terminal (Hpercom) that Ihad used previously to Square.

  • Bill

    Square has frozen my account and although I have sent them ample documentation regarding the validity of my business- they have not responded and you have NO ability to speak to someone. They have failed to reply to 10 emails and two messages.

    They have over $1500 of my funds and will not deposit them. Is this a scam????

  • Kevin

    I have been using square since it was in beta. Previously I used a company called Approval Payment Solutions which proceeded to jack my rate up after I told them (after having just 3 months left) that I would no longer need their services once my contract was over. Square is great for a small business and unless you run credit cards without swiping or you process large transactions $1000 and up per transaction. However since I run small $40-$50 transactions here and there this has worked great! I have been running my own small business for 5 years now and using square for about 3 years without any problems.

    • kelly

      Thanks Kevin

      I too have recevied the reader. I have only used it once (myself to test) and it worked perfectly. Your review helped because I am a small organization (football team) and my transactions are normally cash, but always in small denomination.

      thanks

    • John McDonald

      I have been using Square since last July for selling my teaching CD’s etc.
      When I first started it took about 3 – days for monies to appear in my bank, but now
      they are usually there within 48 hours. When I started the reader did not work on
      Android 3 which my Samsung Galaxy was, but now the reader works. I have
      processed over $1500 with the largest payment being $160.

      I love it, just want to see them develop the ability for internet transactions.

  • rick

    I’ve been using Square for about 18 months. As a company that sells primarily through our network of dealers, we only process about $1500 or so per month as credit cards. Every couple of quarters I check to make sure I wouldn’t be better off returning to a traditional merchant service. Not so far. I never pay more than 3.6% (the 3.5% percent keyed-in rate–not 3.15% as erroneously noted in the article–and the $0.15 per-transaction charge). Compare that to my previous payments of, at best, 6.5% of revenues and on up to as much as 40%, when including the panoply of fees the merchant service charged every month. I agree it’s frustrating having to deal only through messages to Square, and sometimes not receiving a response, but so far this is the best cc processing method I’ve found.

    • Rick

      I did have one other issue with the company, which is that they will not process credit cards from holders outside of the U.S., including Canada. I had to find a third party to process it for me. They said at the time they were thinking of adding Canada, but so far, as far as I know, it’s only a thought.

  • AuctionWally

    I am in the middle of a huge mess with this company. It involves a chargeback that was made against me by mistake. The customer who make the chargeback has voluntarily reversed it. Square says it still is going to take up to 60 business days to get my money back!

    It seems very much like they are working a scam involving float money being held. The customer support, by the way is terrible.

    I’ve documented customer support communication and plan on turning it into an article on Examiner.com watch for it soon. Feel free to leave your comments there when I do. I’ll post a followup here when that article is live. Perhaps we can get some movement if we join together.

    • greg mackenzie

      Same thing is happening to me. Jan.2012 a customer did a chargeback after a misunderstanding . The customer contacted the issuer and did a reversal. I recieved the chargeback notice after the reversal date.Sent all documention to Square (signed reciept from customer and reference number for issuer). Still 4 months later still no money. The customer has been charge and my account still show the balance owed. Square will not answer my e-mail and have left many voice mail. Not sure why they would want to treat me this way, just make no sense. You can have the Examiner contact me. If there is a lawyer out there looking to make a few bucks this woukd be a good class action .

    • Carol

      We are also experiencing a similar situation. It is very frustrating. It’s been going on for a few months and we have not gotten any resolution except for a couple of what looks like automated responses saying that it will be another 30 days or so….

      Very disappointed in their service.

  • John

    HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE. If they decide not to release funds, they tell you they will get back to you within 24 hrs. B.S. They have my money, haven’t released it and it has been five days since this mess began. NO ONE EVER GETS BACK TO YOU and NO phone number!!!!
    HORRIBLE!!!
    When it comes to my had earned money, I need to know when it is available. NOT worth the tiny savings to have to worry about my money and if they are ever going to get back to you… Get a company that has decent customer service! Pay the extra fees, it is worth it.

  • Laura

    This Company is some kind of a SCAM.

    I am so sorry I signed up for this during the height of our season.
    They are holding over 50K of our Companies funds and some payments have been held for over two months. Can not speak to a human and the only e-mail response I got was that they were investigating Suspicious activity. We rent vacation homes and do transactions of $5000 ~ 10,000 each. All of my customers say their credit card was charged long ago and some have even paid their bills. Why is my money being held?

    i just home I get my funds before they go out of business!

    BUYER BEWARE! DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.

  • Damian De Leon

    After running transactions in the past couple days i was wondering why i was only seeing very small amounts of money coming in my business account it was a huge surprise to learn that Square has placed a 30 day hold on the funds that was collected its totally up to well over $6,000.00 which I would need that to cover bills, rent payroll. So Square has single handlily mananged to put my company in financial trouble with their shady policy. Granted they have already taken out their fees from the transaction before placing a hold on the funds im due.

    They can sure expect a legal letter, they have not clearly displayed this fact and as a result
    Have been decepitve the reason why they would hold the funds when getting paid is totally suspicious.
    Its no wonder they dont offer a direct customer service line to have things addressed.

    • Aaron Kalmar

      I’am sick after reading all the emails of how horrible the square is. We are a small landscaping company and they are holding our funds for over 10days $2,000.00 I WISH I had done my homework and this would have never had this happened. They are messing up are funds as well now insted of getting a head we are behind Thanks to the Square DON”T EVER USE this devise for your business it S____
      Aaron

  • mike123

    Would like to use square for $1.00 transaction for soccer games(about 1500 transactions per game). Square would cost .03(.0275 rounded up) cents per $1, debit cards predominantly used. Does Square pay the .22 cent fee required by federal legislation for debit? If so, Square would pay .22 cents to the bank that issued the debit card ? Our account would cost Square $285.00 (1500 transactions per game x .19cents). Why would Square do this ?

    • Phillip CPO

      The 22 cent fee is the maximum of which banks are allowed to charge, not the fee they are required to charge. Therefore, Square has probably worked out a deal to pay a percentage fee that allows them to make a profit on micro transactions.

      • mike123

        Phillip, thank you for your fourm, but I disagree – Below are the interchange rates for Visa
        Were does it say they are the max ? What bank/ISO would agree to a .22 cent risk on a small ticket item ?
        Please double check your facts !

        • Phillip CPO

          Hi Mike,

          You may disagree, but it is indeed a fact. The link you posted is prior to the passing of the Durbin Amendment, which is part of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The Amendment caps Debit Interchange Swipe fees at 21 cents plus a 1 cent “Fraud Prevention” fee and a 0.05% ad valorem tax, so roughly 22 cents. This cap only applies to processing banks. Therefore, ISOs are still allowed add a profit margin on top of the cap and may collect a much larger fee depending on a merchant’s rate pricing plan.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodd%E2%80%93Frank_Wall_Street_Reform_and_Consumer_Protection_Act

          • Marques

            Hi Mike,

            In a case like this, you would get charged $0.0275 if you were only charging $1.00 transactions. If you ran a $100 trans you would be charged $2.75 if swiped. If the savings is passed on to the merchant which it is not you would get charged less than $0.23 for the same $100 trans. Since you are on a fixed rate with square, the debit interchange fee of .05%+$0.21 applies only to visa not to square. So square does not pass the savings on to the merchant. And if I am wrong I challenge anyone to show me a statement that shows me otherwise.

          • mike123

            Mike;
            Here is the updated Visa April 2012 interchange from their web site. It clearly states .21 cents plus .01 cent for fraud and .0005 discount. Are you saying that each Visa/Mastercard ISO can negotiate around interchange?

  • John

    I use Square for low number of relatively small (up to several hundred dollars) transactions.
    Works well for me. I had one issue come up and after several times back and forth by email I got frustrated and asked them to call me. The customer service rep called me the following day and we resolved the issue in 5 minutes. And I now know how to avoid that issue in the future.

    Will continue using Square. It works for my needs.

      • Jason

        Their 800# is listed in this article jr.

        I have used Square for over 1 year now and have only had 1 issue, which was my doing. It was resolved quickly and have not had any more issues. I like that there is new competition in the market place, everyone should like that. If you don’t like square go somewhere else, but don’t blame square for your ignorance.

        Read this article…..it explains how to avoid the “card not present” situations being described….if it confused you then read it again. It’s quite simple if you are processing more than 1K in “card not present” transactions per 7 days then provide them with more company information in order to increase the limit or start swiping the cards in the customer’s presence.

        Square helped our small “made in America” business get off the ground with low cost, mobile credit card processing, when my bank wanted to charge me 2.4%+monthly fee+setup fee+plus .29/trans fee. Square saved us thousands. It gets an A+ from me.

  • Paul Mulryan

    Our company used Square, which turned out to be a monumental mistake. The company offers terrible customer service…actually it offers zero customer service. Trying to connect with a human being is virtually impossible. Our company held a fund raiser for a family that recently lost a loved one. This caused a lot of activity on our Square card reader. Square’s risk department stated that because their was so much activity, they were classifying our company to be “high risk”, shut down our account and froze our funds for 30 days, (it has been 30 days and or funds, over $400.00 are still being held) They profit by fees, that are not returned and interest while they hold your money. This is not a company that I would recommend. GoPayment is much more professional and has a much better rating. Our company provided our neighbor that lost their loved one with a check for the amount received from the fund raiser, Square has yet to provide our company with what is ours. Mind you, we were using Square as it is intended to be used, no complaints were lodged against our company and we did nothing wrong or illegal, they simply choose to deny us what was rightfully ours, with absolutely no justification and no due process! Beware of Square.

  • diane

    I wonder if this is appropriate for high volume (150/mo), low dollar (<$30-60 per transaction sales. Is there a better option? The multi-day hold is big, but not insurmountable.

  • Jayjay

    A company contacted me recently to use their swipe machine instead of Square.I told them the good reasons why I chose Square but they told me that Square sends its customers 1099 form at the end of tax year while they dont.Is this true?

    • Phillip CPO

      Starting in 2012, all merchant account providers are now required to issue 1099-K forms to their merchant customers and to report credit card processing earnings to the IRS. If someone is telling you that they do not do this, then they would be in violation of the new IRS requirements and could possibly put you in violation as well.

        • Phillip CPO

          A PayPal account isn’t a merchant account. They do offer a “merchant services” account for larger volume needs but it’s unclear if it’s considered a traditional merchant account that falls within the IRS reporting requirements. I recommend inquiring with PayPal if this is a concern.

            • Phillip CPO

              Hi Rick,

              I show three comments published under the name “Rick” this month. You may want to click “refresh” when you are on this page as your browser may have cached an older version of it. If any of your comments are missing, they may have been filtered as spam if they contained at link. Otherwise, I would have published them if they don’t violate my comment policy, which can be found above the comment form. Another common reason that comments get denied is if someone is trying to leave numerous comments simply to “bad mouth” a company. I do not allow this because it is unhelpful to other readers. I’m not saying that you are doing any of these things, but those are the most common reasons. If you type “crtl + F” on your keyboard and then type “rick” while on the review page, you should be able to find the comments that have been approved.

          • Rick

            Hi Phillip,

            I think you’re responding to the wrong Rick. My two comments were posted as submitted. 

            By the way, thanks for your service. At first I was leery of your site; it appeared potentially slanted toward firms that may have been advertisers or sponsors. As I continue to follow the conversations, I can understand some of your rankings. I do question whether Square is actually holding funds from some accounts for 180 days, though. 

            Also, in my case I’m charged a discount rate of 3.5% for card-not-present transactions, and not the 3.15% rate you state. I believe that’s the universal card-not-present rate. 

            Best regards,
            Rick

            • Phillip CPO

              Not sure where things are going wrong with the other Rick’s comments, but thanks for letting me know.

              I can understand how you might have initial concerns about my site. Most other sites that cover this industry are heavily biased by advertisers or run by providers themselves. My goal with CPO is to add a level of unbiased transparency that currently doesn’t exist with this industry. In order to cover costs I do accept advertising, but only from providers that have already scored well in a review. I never let advertising or bribes of any kind influence my reviews or ratings.

              I believe that Square is holding some merchants funds for 180 days as this is a standard practice throughout the industry. In most cases, however, they only do it if a high level of risk of Chargebacks or potential fraud has been identified, which is usually based on the type of business the merchant is running. As for Square’s card-not-present rate, it was 3.15% when I originally wrote this review but it looks like they have recently raised it to 3.5%. I have updated the article to reflect the new pricing. Thanks for your feedback!

  • Felicia

    I agree with you. This same mess just happened to me. I had a customer do a chargeback square took it out 2 times leaving my bank account in the negative now i have funds in squre that they havent released to my bank yet. Ive emailed them and received no response as of yet. Im really getting frustrated because i need to put in an order

  • Resting Rock Farm, Inc.

    Here’s my experience and recommendations.
    Do your dilligence before signing up for any merchant services.
    Asked face to face, other merchants that were already using credit card devices of all kinds.
    Square is probably best suited for transactions under $1,000.
    Fees are perfect if you have low volume.
    Reading the terms and conditions, answered a lot of my questions.
    Check with your bank to make sure they don’t charge a fee for incoming funds.
    I recommend setting up a bank account just for Square transactions.
    Device received within a week of completing my order online.
    While waiting for the device, complete the bank verification.
    The app downloaded in about a minute on my iphone.
    Practice first. It’s easy.
    The money shows in Square account online within minutes and in my bank account that night.
    If device doesn’t work, order another one online. Takes less than 5 minutes. Better than waiting on hold or wasting anymore time.

    Personally I love it and recommend it to all my clients who’s business fit into this Square.

  • Ron

    Subscribed to squareup. Used it once! Would not scan customers card, so had to enter number manually, which takes time, aggravates the customer, and nets squareup bigger fees. Bought another scanner, same problem. There is NO customer service. Cannot resolve problem, company is unresponsive and many, many unhappy customers out there. Is this any way to run a financial services company?

    Disgusted in Texas

    • louie

      That is one of the problems they have besides the cutomer service,I have the same problem with the card reader,most of my customers are in remote locations and swiping it does not work,I have to key it in and get charge a higher % and then pray that I will get me money…….not good……. looking into gopayments sounds like they maybe a better company.

      • ejaz

        go payments scanner has same issue. Try running square card with the square part away from you & run the CC with magnetic strip facing you. I find that almost 99% of cards scan right away.

  • Keith R. H.

    I had posted an informative comment back on November 22, 2011 about this subject. (feel free to scroll down and to the next page for it).

    I am only posting this because I have seen an increase in advertisements and use of this “gadget” and unsurprisingly seen more and more aggravating complaints.

    According to the above article, Square’s Sales and Marketing tactics receive the highest marks. For example; I just today saw another Square advertisement on Facebook. Thats wonderful for the company, but think about this, McDonalds is also the best in Sales and Marketing, but how do you rate their product?

    The article also gives high marks to the Cost and Contract Terms, but it seems that Square’s contract terms outweigh (in their favor) the less expensive cost.

    Customer Service reputation should always be the key to any business’ success. Square obviously does not do well at all in this category.

    Think about it. If you were to run a business with hard to reach, poor service, how long would you actually last? (especially in the financial transaction confidence. People greatly fear the lack of credit card security and it takes just one slight falter to set off that alarm in their mind)

    I personally have a seasonal small business (just celebrated 19 years) with no storefront (I sell a craft shows and website sales). I have my own merchant account, which consists a wireless credit card machine that gets immediate authorizations, provides physical paper receipts (signed by customer), flawless 48 hour deposits and several 1-800 CS numbers (with live people 7 days a week). For the few months that I dont conduct much business, the cost runs me roughly $50/month (and that ALSO INCLUDES an Authorized.net account for my website). I can absolutely say that in over 10 yrs, i have NEVER had an issue. LOL

    What I’m trying to point out is that in this fast paced “New, Now, Next” world, how do you want your customers to perceive your company and its service? A short fused firecracker? or an eternal flame?

    Remember, it takes months to attract a repeat customer and only seconds to lose one. (especially in financial transaction confidence)

    *Please note that I am not affiliated with anyone or any company. I am just a regular independent professional with a common sense approach towards business. I will give suggestions only when asked. Again, scroll for my November 22nd post.

    Thank you and good luck out there!
    KRH

  • Matt

    I will no longer accept Amex cards using Square. (I’ve been using Square for a year now, with mostly good results.) Amex’s fraud protection sniffer basically thinks all Square transactions must be suspect and declines them on behalf of their member. I’m all for good fraud protection but they’re making my life miserable. These are all SWIPED transactions and yet they still get declined for no reason than Amex thinking they must be suspicious.

    Since I, as a vendor, cannot call Amex and get certified in any way, or even speak to them on behalf of my customer, I can only do the next best thing and ask my customers for a Visa or Mastercard, which always go through on the first try.

  • Lou

    I have the same problem, my bank account was link to automatic payment that they didn’t go thru because this Company(SQUAREUP) don’t want to release the funds which they are holding for over 2 weeks. I say we should get signatures and take them to Court for fraud. I have a great Lawyer in NYC.

  • Marco dol

    I recently had a transaction with square and amount was $75.00.guess what I was waiting 5 days to for them to deposit amount to my bank account.it didn’t happend,finally I e-mail them and I got respond e-mail next day,they told me their customer services will respond me in 24 hours,after a day I didnt got a respond.then I send second e-mail,just got respond;they canceled my account due to high security risk,what the h*** is this.when I sign up I was approved!!!where is my deposit deseppear?guys stay away from square,as other said they don’t even have a real customer service phone number to talk!!!

  • Tom

    Square says that there is no limit to how much you can process when swiping the card through the reader. In reality, there are limits but they just don’t tell you what they are. Instead of being upfront about it, they determine if they should hold your funds based on secret “risk factors”. After experiencing four long and random holds on transactions that seemed legitimate in every way, and receiving absolutely no communication on what was happening with my money, I had enough. I signed up for GoPayment, which is basically the same type of service as Square, based on the recommendation from this site and couldn’t be happier. They are upfront about the limits and actually have a number where actual customer service people answer calls. Just thought I would share since I’m sure there are other business owners/Square users that have the same problems that I had.

  • mike

    Just had an American express card approved and the guy signed and everything yet money was not sent and no record of it anywhere….just emailed them and waiting to hear back

  • Robert Noeske

    WARNING***********FRAUD *****ALERT********WARNING*********> Who knew that this company whom is able to sell its product at Target Stores and have banking relationships with JP Morgan Chase Bank is a fraud. If you think I am kidding, go to their website. There is no phone number!, Anywhere. The ” Contact Us” tab gives you a auto reply that someone will cont you with in 24-48 hours. They never do. I sent over 30 email requests from Feb 28th through March 20th. I have made several calls through my bank to one of Squares internal ph#’s listed. It just goes to a Voice recording with options. You can’t speak to a live operator. I used Square w/o a problem for a few weeks. Without warning and without response as to why, they have been holding $462.00 in transactions since Feb. 25th. Now, multiply that tiny amount by thousands of small businesses and the interest earned on that tiny amount. Process at your own risk people. A company w/o a ph#? how is that possible?

    • Ron

      Robt. –

      Same problems I’ve had. No resolution, no way to contact the company and the “Online Help Center” is nothing more than a users manual. Don’t know how they can launch a half-baked product and get to a $1b threshold so quickly. My guess is they ‘re a shell company and will file CH11 when the heat is turned up, leaving us to stand in line with a paltry claim that will be settled for pennies on the dollar.

    • John

      I am having the same problem with them. They are holding $7800.00 of my business money. After processing 3 credit card payments I received an email from them stating that they have “suspended” deposits going into my account until I provide them with a bunch of documentation. I have provided them with the documents and got the famous message about them replying in 24 hours. I still have not received anything from them and they will not answer any emails. I still do not know why my account was suspended and have no idea when it will be opened back up. In the meantime, I have unhappy customers who want product and money tied up with SquareUp. They either need to release the money or refund the customers cards back so we do something different.

      I have filed a complaint with the CA AG and the BBB

  • Sean

    Look elsewhere for payment processing.
    Their customer service is barely in existence.
    They will hold your funds indefinitely.
    Very unprofessional.
    Cute logo and reader is all they have going for them.
    Phone number is useless.
    Contacting BBB in SF.

  • Christina

    I recently signed up for the Square but have yet to use it for business transactions. I wish I would have read these reviews prior to signing up. I can’t believe they do not have a customer service number.

    I am a mobile nail technician and signed up for the Square to provide my clients with the convenience and ease of accepting credit card payments anytime and anywhere. I currently sell gift certificates for services but wanted to switch to selling gift cards to clients that can be purchased in any amount. I would like to know if I can use the Square to pre-load the gift cards when purchased with whatever amount the client chooses? I would also like to know if I would be charged a fee when the client redeems their gift card?

    I couldn’t find anything on the Square website and I called and left a voice message on their “customer service” number but am not so sure I will receive a call back. Based on the previous reviews, I won’t hold my breath. Any information anyone has to offer would be great! Thank you!

  • mishka

    It’s been a great asset to my small business! I process about 200-700 a day, and I’ve been extremely satisfied with the service. I do however you MiFi (wireless motem) to keep secure incripted safe transactions.
    I do think they should have a better customer service, but I haven’t had to use it and am just going by the article above. I sent an email and was responded to within 48 hours.

  • francis howell

    I have sent for one by mail, never got it, I bought one can get it to down load because my e-mail has been used before by me trying to get the first devise, because my email and passwords have never worked together. I can’t talk to you, this is the first time I a have even found anyway in which to make some sort of contact. It seemed like a great idea, my friends device work, but no matter what I do, just can’t seem to get anywhere. So what’s a person to do?????? Got any ideas??? Or would it be better that I just return the device to the store??? Francis Howell

    • Amy

      The money they are holding, is it from “no card present” sales”? Where they from several transactions or one or two large transactions? I’m trying to do my homework and figure out how this company works. Thank you…and I’m sorry for all the problems!

  • Ramesh Anand

    I signed up with Square for a nonprofit I am associated with.
    Received the swiper within a week.
    Have used it couple of times for amounts lesser than $1000. Amazed by the effeciency. The swipe worked exceptionally well. We requested an additional swipe that we received within a week.
    I see concerns from other users for transactions not swiped for $1000+ – thanks for the red flag.
    As of now, I see myself using the Square for all our transactions.
    Thanks!!

  • Sherman

    I LOVE Squre! I’ve only been a member for a short time but so far so good!! Such a pleasure not to have any hassels espeically with some Merchant Service Companys.

    Keep up the good work….also…try to figure out a phone number for some questions if needed.

    Sherman

  • Mark Brownlee

    I thought I had worked the bugs out of this thing. Far from the truth. In fact everything with Square is far from the truth. Their primary business is not credit card processing. It is interest generation from deposits, deposits you provide with your charges. They engage in institutional banking overnight funds and other high balance short term funds. This is why if you have charges with over a thousand dollars you don’t get them for weeks. I think they are using an auto-capture for amounts over that to fund those interest accounts I listed prior. These funds range from overnight to 30 days, paying higher interest the longer the term extends. It is for this reason I believe it is time for a class action suit against Square. They obviously are defrauding the account holders who have trusted them for millions of dollars in interest they take by holding your money and using it for their purposes. The losses we are suffering from being shorted our legally due funds are also retrievable in a court of law. I will check this site regularly and if I see enough people who would enter a class suit I will provide a website and contact a legal firm well versed in these kind of matters at this income level based in New York. Square is really a criminal organization engaged in racketeering practices. I believe after discussion with a local District Attorney there may be RICO violations as well. I have been waiting on $5,000.00 for more than two weeks. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

      • Mark Brownlee

        Oh I almost forgot. The seven day hold over a thousand and no card deal. What really tips you off to the issue is when you try to use a card for over a thousand it usually won’t take the card, forcing you to enter the no-card-present game. So I started making little charges first, like $20.00, then trying to use the very same card to take the payments over $4,000.00 since most of mine are over that amount. Guess what? Do you think it can read the same card it just read? I am not just doing what I am doing because I’m mad, it is because of those type of experiences. I am a business man and I expect people to follow through with their claims and not scam me with little tricks like the no-card-present game. I suggest those of you who take large amounts like me start the same tactics to help create a case for the DOJ.

  • Judy

    We used Square for about the last 4 months of 2011. We had no trouble with it at all. I know a lot of people want a phone # to call, but I can tell you 2 things;
    Square responds right away to the e-mails.
    2nd…I have another visa company we used before getting Square and I would spend no less than 30 minutes “on hold” every time I had to call. Now that’s frustrating!
    If Square has to add personal to field phone calls….expect the rates to UP!

  • LAMAC

    Can’t risk it. I’ll pass. One can not risk a reputation especially when you are dealing with refunding someone’s money. Customer service is so critical especially in this tight economy.

  • Jack Shelton

    I have been reading a lot of stuff on this site and do have something to say about it. I have been using Square for about 1.5 years now. It has been really not to bad. I use them primarily for AMEX because of the rate I get with Square and the fact that they deposit it overnight instead of 7 days. I do have a problem with them on a charge back that has been resolved that has been taken care of. It was because a customer saw my name on his statement and not my company name. We resolved it with AMEX and I have a letter from them stating that its fixed. I have e-mailed the contract with my customer and the resolved papers from AMEX. It has been 4 months now and still they have $325.00 of my money. This is not breaking me. I would like to get it off my books. For the most part I am good with how it works but like many in here there customer service is absolutely awful. I guess I don’t understand how a company that is worth over one billion dollars can live like this.
    I guess if a class action suit was brought against them it might change their way of thinking. It seems to me there is enough BS on this site that it might be worth investigating. Just saying.

  • Sean Hoffman

    I will never do business with Square again. In fact, at this point I will do whatever it takes to make sure no one does. Sure, it’s convenient, but there are other companies offering the same convenience and they couldn’t possibly have the utterly dismal customer service that Square has.

    I’m dealing with a chargeback from a customer who apparently had been a victim of fraud and disputed my legitimate charge along with the fraudulent ones on accident. Square asked for documentation and withdrew the funds from my bank account. I submitted all the evidence anyone could possibly hope for, including the customer’s signature on an invoice. I even called the customer who then assured me he’d cancelled the chargeback of our transaction with his bank.

    That was SIX MONTHS AGO and I still have not received a resolution to the chargeback. In that whole time I’ve had many dozens, maybe hundreds, of emails and phone calls ignored. Only once have I received an email reply from Square which was over three months ago when an employee named Jessica replied to one of my MANY emails assuring me that the chargeback would be resolved within seven days. Since then, I’ve resorted to calling and emailing DAILY. No one ever answers the phone or responds to messages or emails.

    One time someone at Square accidentally answered the phone and had to deal with my complaint directly. Guess what they did…put me on hold for 15 minutes then came back to say that someone would call me back shortly. What is shortly to Square? It’s been weeks.

    Forget these clowns. Go with a company that actually wants your business and shows it.
    Square has the absolute worst customer service of any company I’ve ever dealt with in my entire life. Avoid them at all costs since there are now viable alternatives. I couldn’t possible be more pissed and if anything remotely unusual happen with your money and Square, you will be pissed too.

    Square does not publish their phone number because they don’t want to help their customers but here it is: 415-375-3176. I found it on one of the many Square complaint websites.

  • Lynn M

    I am a stylist that booth rents. I thought it would make my life easier but it has been nothing but a headache ever since. I keep being told that my checking account hasn’t linked up yet they have deposited money into my account. To this day I still cannot accept credit cards and all I keep being told (when they bother to answer an email) is they don’t know why. I have since signed up with intuit-go Which is what I should have done in the first place!

  • anthony franklin

    square is holding 1000.00 of my money. after we were told there were numerous chargeback on our account. we asked for proof. they sent one chargeback to us email. we sent them back invoices and proof and the customers signiture. this was not good enough. after many failed attemps to get info on other chargebacks. i emailed them 6 times. they never produced any other evidence. finally i received a email saying we are high risk. we will hold your funds for 180 days. until this is sorted out . and whatever is left we will send it to u. this is crazy. never experienced such a unprofessional company.

  • Kira Scott

    kira scott
    a few seconds ago

    I purchased this square device and linked my bank account as required, I even did a test transaction for a nominal amount just to confirm this was a legit operation. Everything went well even the $10’s they issue for signing up went through. I went out of town to condct business and on 2/8/2012 had eight purchases that totaled around $1,800 and it was prior to 12pm PST. The following day I had one transaction for $800 and was made prior to 12 pm PST. again. Mind you EVERY transaction was made with a physical card swipe (I see it notes transactions without a card swipe than run over 1,000/ per week or during the intial 30 days will be subject to a thrity day hold. My transactions did not fall under this catagory) So day three (rather 36 hrs. plus) still no funds deposited. I went to the website…..then realized theres no phone number for the company…..so sent an email as they requested, no response as expected. I then searched for message boards and found tons of consumer complaints about how horrible the company is and how they hold your money to throw in short term investment accounts to profit off of the interest. I also found a phone number which I called from 9-6 EVERY HOUR to get a hold of the same woman DEBBIE every time I call. Only to be told they only allow you to speak with “technical support” and that account services only responds to emails and voice mails (which will still be responded via email) I spoke with DEBBIE over 4x’s which she continued to transfer me to voicemail even when I asked to speak with her manager. So in short they have my money and I have nothing! They try to make it seem as if its a major company yet their all sitting there in the same suite 104…..901 Mission Street San Francisco, CA. Morese when do you ever call a customer service or tech support line and get the same person every time. Most important since when can a “bank” or processing agency hold your money, not give any reason as to why, and then not allow you to contact them…..”dont call us, we’ll call you” So in short I got robbed via SQUARE DOWN!

  • Lynne Ralph

    I have recommended Square Up to several people because I have had great success with it. It is frustrating, however, when I can’t get an internet connection and have to manually enter the card number later. That is not Square Up’s fault.

  • Kevin Cornelsen

    As a contractor, I have large payments regularly. I thought the concept of the mobility of square was a great idea so I signed up. Bad idea. If you take payments larger than $1000 regularly, they will hold the payments. I had one transaction of $1400 that deposited within 24 hrs and then a transaction of $7500 from the same client thats been held for over a week now. It took me emailing for someone to even contact me to tell me that the account has had “suspicious activity”. Two transactions cannot show enough of a pattern to see ANYTHING suspicious. Now that I have been reading through reviews and the BBB, I will not be using Square once these last couple transactions post.

    My wife uses square for our coffee stand and it works great with lots of small transactions.

    Also, the fact that square has no phone number on the website is the biggest red flag to me. It took me an hour to find their phone number (415.375.3176). The first time I got through to Erik, and he transferred me to another “department”. I kept calling and havent been able to get to anyone else. Their initial disclosures are dishonest and their customer service is NON EXISTENT.

    RATING – D

  • Vanessa Bryant

    When I ordered my first one, it did take a long time. But I chopped it up to the demand being greater than they anticipated and they weren’t ready for the demand. The second one I ordered came in about a week. In the meantime, I would manually input the information need for the transaction. Also, you can now get the readers from Target, Wal-Mart and Best Buy for $9.99 and the purchase price is deposited into your bank account. That’s how my husband got his for his business.

  • phil

    I very much regret signing on for this service. I have still not received a deposit that was made quite some time ago, nor have I received any response from the company regarding my complaints. I will certainly not be recommending this service to anyone, as it seems to have quite a few issues to resolve with their lack of customer service.

  • Bill

    I just was notified that my account was closed for ‘high risk’ I have not used the account much .. a couple of charges $1 charges to demo it.. I demo the acount last week and then get a email aksing ‘what kind of customers” and couple other question I get a reply today saying that after the investigation they closed the account as higb risk.. never a disputed charge or any large amount on it… Am calling when they open..

  • Norrie Wake

    Great article. Thanks for the research. I have not read all of the posts yet but I am curious if any other small merchant which has multiple items in inventory has encountered issues with the “item” portion of the program in the sales history tab. I have taken photos of each item and assigned written descriptions of each item yet when I look at the “sales history” or the downloaded “excel” file all that appears on the report is ” item, item, item”. The totals are correct, the tax has be calculated but there is no way to track inventory.

    Anyone else experiencing this? Do you have a solution? I emailed “help” and was advised that the programer was working on this.

    This is a great program but service and attention to its customers is its Achilles Heel.

      • Mary

        If you have an iPad, you can keep photos and inventory. But, this is not supported on either iPhone or Andriod devices- you can’t access the photos or descriptions. I only use an iPad for sales, and iPhone to track deposits and access other information on my account, never use iPhone for sale…and my inventory, item descriptions and all are correct. If you use the phone app, you have to enter descriptions for each item and you can’t track inventory. Hopefully they will create an unified app for both phone and tablet devices.

  • harold

    This company is holding 15,000 of my money and giving me the run around and now have stopped returning emails. They have no address or phone number, i have contacted the attorney general as well as my attorney to get my funds. they have held my money for over 2 months now and i can not run my business please do not use this company,. I have found several other companies with a customer service and contact numbers of real people!

  • carlr

    Hello all, Carl again. I’m on my second swiper, the first I lost due to an unfortunate mistake on my part. I went to Walmart got another one. I drive a taxi, don’t have the high volume swipes I hear about in the trade shows but I due use the swiper often. I’ve never had a problem unless something was wrong with the persons card, swipes up or sideways both swiper always worked anywhere in and around the city I work at my phone gets service. I use a straight talk android, the only place I can’t get service is the area around the airport about 15 miles outside the city, so I swipe before I go there. Been using Square over a month now, no problems to report and still, two thumbs up for an awesome system. Where you can use square, your sales will rise.

  • Jessica

    My experience with Square was great for the first week. I signed up on the advice of a client (I’m a photographer), and because I had a trade show coming up, I went out and bought two swipers from a Best Buy (the free one Square sends wouldn’t get here in time for the show). I wasn’t sure what to expect for the show, so I wanted to be prepared. Until then, I’d manually entered three different transactions and all were deposited the next morning into my checking account.
    The day of the show arrives, and although I only had three transactions, the amounts totaled over $5,300. The swipers didn’t work. I tried them forwards and backwards, unplugged and replugged, two different android phones, etc. Nothing worked. I was disappointed because I know the percentage that Square takes would be larger, but not that big of a deal.
    The real freak-out came when I got home and looked at my account to see how much the charge would actually come to, and saw that my funds would not be released until 2/14/12. So I dig through the website, and find the clause about the 30-day hold on transactions over $1,000 within a 7-day period.
    Okay, so they’re covering their risk of chargebacks or whatever. I’m irritated that the clause isn’t a little more obvious to people like me who are in a hurry. Sure, I should’ve read the fine print more clearly. And that’s my bad.
    However, I’m outraged at the fact that I’m being penalized for a shoddy product. I have to say clearly now that I only discovered this last night, and wrote to them this morning – so I haven’t gotten an answer yet. Also, I’m on Central time and they are Pacific, so they still have a chance to work it out with me. So while I wait, I get online and look for reviews/complaints and find this forum – and now I’m sufficiently freaked out. I’m terrified that I won’t get my money, or that I will have to explain some awful thing to my brand new clients – which could easily make them change their minds and cancel their contracts.
    I’m really anxious to hear if anyone’s gotten a resolution from Square regarding an issue like this. Will they release the funds if there was a mechanical problem, or am I potentially screwed out of thousands here? Does anyone know how they’re handling faulty swipers?
    Again, I can’t say anything too awful about them yet, but I am really afraid after reading this forum, and I am wondering if anyone’s encountered faulty swipers and what the outcome was… Any advice is appreciated!

    • Jessica

      Update: I called Square at 11am (my time) and got through to a live person – THANK YOU, by the way, for posting the phone number! The man told me that he could see that I was approved for a $2000 limit/release, but that since today is a bank holiday, it will probably be released tomorrow.
      As for the other $3300, he emailed me a link to apply for an accelerated raise on my limit…? I sent the info through and am waiting to hear back. He didn’t really address the issue with the readers, but after the suggestion of using a flat surface to lay the device down on in order to swipe, I will try that for next time and see what happens.
      I will update on the status of my funds release as soon as I get an answer!

      • Jessica

        YAY! Okay, now I can officially say that my experience, while a little uncertain for a small window there, was overall good. Square contacted me just now through email, approved my limit increase and is releasing my funds. Thank goodness…
        I am happy to report that I did not get the bad customer service others have reported here. I got a quick response that left me satisfied with the end result. I will continue to use them, and take the advice about using the card reader/swiper on a flat surface and see if that makes a difference on future transactions.

    • Anna

      Hi Jessica,

      We are vendors at a major show and are experiencing the same issues. I wanted to ask if you had any additional numbers that you could post. any help would be greatly appreciated.

      Best Reguards,
      Anna Horn

      • Jessica

        Hi Anna! I haven’t tried the flat-surface plan yet, so I don’t know – but I heard confirmation from yet another person that this helps. Also, I found out that several vendors in the trade show I was at had the same type of trouble – and I wonder now if any of it was related to internet or wifi connections being sketchy?
        The end result is that Square did release my funds, and increased my limit (amount that won’t be held) to $5,000 in a 7-day period for all transactions (swiped or manually entered).
        All was in my account the next morning after my original post.

  • Ray Ruiz

    It’s not that I need Square to have a 1-800 toll free number. Almost all merchants have cell phones with free national calling included. I just need either someone to answer the phone. Also, a choice to order a replacement card reader device should be one of the recorded choices. I followed the directions online but it didn’t work.

  • carlrobinson

    i drive a taxi, for me square is a great way to do business. where people don’t want to use cash the card is always available. if you don’t have a way take card payments you are losing out, square up bridged that gap for me. i linked a bank account and e-mail just to use with square up. went on line filled out the information asked. down loaded the app from the apps market. was up and running that same hour. the reader i got at a Walmart store, plug the reader in my phone punched in the code that came with it, next thing i know they put the money back in my account i paid for the reader. set it all up for free. the easy set up is awesome. just read and follow the instructions to set everything up and you will not have a problem. two thumbs up for square up, woohoo.

    • EJAZ WAHEED

      Hi carl,
      I am a cab driver here in chicago who just started using sqaure. My main gripe was the cab companies here were charging 5% out of my sales which average around $1200 a week plus the hassle of going to the cab company & waiting in line for one hour to get my money. Is there a way to increase the limit? My account was established in october 2010 however did not really use it until now.

  • niovel

    Hi, I want to post my comments. I had a pretty good experience with Square Up, until they hold almost 2600 for more that 10 days already, amount were swiped, no keyed, as their agreement says all amount swiped will be in your account within 24 hours. I was doing business as Sole Proprietary, I created a business, I sent articles, invoices, EIN number, and still no money yet. the worst thing is that clients already start complaining about the merchandise, because they are from a foreign country they paid me in advance, but I can release merchandise until money is completely into my bank account. this service is so good, no credit check, or other questions about, (just the beginning) a and with this money holding they put down to earth all the good thing of service. any ways, still waiting for my almost 2600, hoping my clients keep understanding why their merchandise hasn’t even make to the ship yet. IU wonder if I can file a complaint with State of Florida?

    • Jennifer

      A trick to use the phone swiper for me is to have the phone laying flat on a table to swipe the card, for whatever reason, it really only works for me like that. I eat at a lot of food trucks and those guys never have any trouble swiping my card, but I have trouble with all kinds. My volume is pretty low, so i don’t mind.

      Square held about 500 of my funds for unswiped amounts over $1k in a 7 day period. I just recently asked for a lift and they obliged. You have to fill out some paperwork, just email them and they will get back to you in about 24 hrs with a link. It is essentially a credit check.

      Otherwise, you have to wait the 30 days. My 30 days just passed and they deposited the money on schedule.

  • Barbara Sherman

    I just called Square at 415-375-3176 and got right through to a customer service rep who was very knowledgable. This is the second time I have called and have gotten through both times. I have had no problems with their service, I just wanted to ask questions to be sure that I understood what I have read.

  • MJR

    Some say, you may as well ask your cable company to process your merchant services for you. Everyone seems to be getting in on merchant services. Why would you trust your money to any institution that is not a bank in the situation of holding on to your money. At least you will have a live person to talk to or you can go to that bank if it is a local bank you are supporting. Also, make sure you UNDERSTAND COMPLETELY about interchange rates and fees before you choose which bank or institution you want merchant services with……very important!!! The more you know the better, not the more you think you know.

    I hate to say it but you do get what you pay for. It’s not always about the best rate…..service is a large part of it right? It seems like there is a huge customer service issue with square. But everyone has customer service issues. Maybe Square should charge a little more so they can have a larger customer service team to take car of all of your complaints……or maybe Square should hire Laurel because Laurel is very knowledgable about their product and they could use someone like that who absolutely believes in the product. That’s part of having a great costomer service team…….believing in the product

    I’m sure Square is great to use if you don’t process a lot of transactions. Hell I would use it just because the concept is cool but there are flaws :( But for the majority of small businesses this would not work. I’m sure over time, there will be a system similar to this one that will put everyone out of business in the future.

    And yes I do work in merchant services so it is pretty funny to hear what people think they know about it… I cant fully disclose which bank but I can tell you that Forbes rated us the #1 bank in the country………..2 years in a row

  • Daniel Hedges

    I love this service. I got my money right away and was able to do away with $45 buck a month plus fees on transactions. If you are a small business and handle a few transactions a month this is the service for you…hands down

  • Sam

    More of a theoretical point but if the charge is being disputed you shouldn’t have access to the funds.. Nor should the person disputing the charge. If you were a fraudulent business the customer would be “FOL”(Fresh Outta Luck) and vice versa.

  • Dana basham

    How long does it usually take for them to respond to emails, twitter, facebook, phone calls? I’ve done all three hoping to get a call ASAP. They are holding several deposits of mine…I had NOOOO idea when I signed up that they held deposits if you did more than $1,000 a week and didn’t swipe the cards. I do photography and 90% of my customers pay by credit card by phone. Being that this is Christmas time, it’s my busy season…and now I”m learning that they are going to hold my money till JANUARY! I was hoping to use some of that money for Christmas shopping and would love to get it deposited asap! But after reading everything I’ve read…I’m worried I’ll never get a reply and just have to wait 30 days to get my deposits.

    • Melissa Kelly

      I read and understood the payment agreement. What I don’t understand is how others could not have seen this? I would think merchants would be very careful about agreeing to terms when they haven’t read everything. It’s not fair that square would get a negative rating because the merchant neglected to read fully the terms. We’re all business people just like square. Would you like it if one of your customers reported negatively to BBB about you because they misunderstood the terms they agreed to?

      • Dana Basham

        Melissa..my husband and I both read EVERYTHING we could find about square before signing up (SEVERAL months ago). We are both business owners and don’t sign up for just anything without reading everything we can. I found on here some where that the information about the hold was not really put where it was easy to find on their site. Only now is it made more noticable. Once i got back on their site…it might as well screamed it. When I signed up..it was not. As far as the BBB….the only thing I read on that was from here. Guess you are replying to the above comment. ??

        as far as my experience…i did get a hold of someone the next day…finally. They sent me a request to raise my limit…I filled it out, sent it back and had an approval in 2 days. my deposit was sent the same day. Since then, no issues. totallly happy here. But when they are holding $955…which is a lot for a small business..AND saying they are gonna hold it for a month. I was pretty upset. Not to mention, you would think that a company that is dealing with credit card transactions would have someone available 24/7…at least that’s my opinion.

  • Little Book Of Love

    Hi Laurel,

    Did it take you a while for your first payments to enter your bank account? Mine was under $100 and while the transaction fees came out immediately, I’m wondering if it takes up to 30 days for the actual deposit to take place?

  • Alex

    Phillip,
    My wife and I may do 3-6 trade/business expos per year. Sale dental related products/services/gift certicates. Feel like we lose “impulse” purchases without a POS system in place. Transactions could range from $10’s to $100’s per. Some shows are 2 day events. Have iphones and ipads but currently no wifi on ipads.

    Low volume with potential for high sales makes me wonder about the $1000 hold clause in the contract. Could you explain in more detail and adivse of you opinion. Thanks
    Alex

  • Keith R. H.

    Greg,
    First off, i’m laughing to myself because this is the first time that i’ve actually taken the forum in commenting on an article on-line. So hold my hand while i do this LOL.
    The company that I use is called Teamac, Inc. (based in PA) Like i’ve mentioned, they deal mainly with the Arts & Craft Show community. I’m sure you can Google them for more information.
    The CEO is Guy McDonald and he and his staff are wonderful and don’t be surprised if Guy answers the phone.
    As a courtesy, you can mention me, Keith R. Huettemann of Birch & Burlap. (Mention that i’m the “blonde” who wanted to know why there was an extra deposit two months ago! LOL)
    I’m only mentioning this because of their 16 yrs of personal and professional one-on-one service. Like i mentioned, when i was a new to accepting CCs, we started out with the inexpensive “Knuckle-buster” system. Eventually we grew to having the wireless swipe terminal. Guy and his people have gone above and beyond for many of us.
    Just like long-time friends, thats how you keep long time clients
    Happy Thanksgiving!

  • Phillip CPO

    As stated in the comment policy below, this comment section is reserved for user reviews and helping others only. This user’s I.P. address was marked as spam because he was trolling and hurling insults at other users, which is a violation of the policy. Laurel R. is not affiliated with this website and had nothing to do with Kris’ comments being filtered out. Comments that contain insults and name-calling that accidentally become posted to the thread will be removed because they are not helpful to other readers, which is why a few other comments have been deleted. Despite Kris’ false accusations, we have allowed the above comment because it contains an actual experience that some may find helpful.

  • Willie Ray

    They claim to deposit the money the next day if you have a business account. Well I just did a small transaction of $150.00, had to wait one week before the money was deposited, I’m glad I didn’t closed my merchant service account.

    • Laurel Redd

      They INITIATE the deposit in one business day – it takes time for the money to transit between banks and to post to your banking account. It usually takes 3-4 business days longer if holidays or weekends are involved.

    • Richard Voorhees

      All of my deposits have gone smoothly. We switched to a credit union last year and they are very efficient with the transfers. We use to do business with a local bank until we discovered that they were holding onto our own account to account transfers for several days which caused numerous problems. Our credit union has been excellent. Perhaps your bank is like my old one use to be and they want to have some extra use of your funds for a few extra days. Wouldn’t be the first time.

    • SCOTT

      Square is the worst company on the planet!! They accept funds from customer credit cards, then say there is a limit, then take forever to refund. Then you call them, having to go to site first for a stupid code, then they lie and say they are calling back. Then they don’t call and you go to try to call and it says THIS CUSTOMER IS NOT ELIGIBLE TO CALL!! THE INVOICE PLATFORM IS A JOKE, THE WHOLE COMPANY SUCKS!!

  • Greg

    Thanks for the feedback Laurel.

    One thing that I am still wondering about: if the buyer signs a detailed receipt that acknowledges that there is no return or refund option, how can their credit card company justify a chargeback?

    In a dispute it would seem to me that a buyer accepting a no return/no refund sale would not have grounds to expect a chargeback in their favor.

  • Oregonian

    Nineteen reviews? That is a mere drop in t;he bucket compared to the number of clients they have. If they only have 19 bad reviews then I don’t think anything of it. First the squeaky wheel gets the grease and there are always complainers and rarely do the happier people go to BBB to post! Just some food for thought.

  • Laurel Redd

    Greg what you have there for precautions should be fine :) I posted a list of ways to protect yourself earlier on this forum – you might want to check that out :)

    The only other thing is that – I would also suggest only taking credit cards in person and not ever via email or by phone when dealing with Craig’s list. Other than that your list looks pretty good!

  • Laurel Redd

    Shawn,

    You can get a reader at Best Buy or any Apple store or immediate use. If you do so you will have one immediately rather than having to wait for it. It should make things much easier. You should always encourage cash but hope that this will help you make an informed decision. I try never to send people to ATMs since it is a much bigger hassle for them, generally costs them a fee and sometimes I don’t see them come back. I’d rather take a card then send someone for cash.

  • Tyler

    Aaron,

    With the recent changes due to the Durbin Amendment your rate on average should effectively be much lower than 2.9%!! The company I am with charges 2.75% as its highest rate only if it is a Non-Qualified transaction.

  • Thomas

    I’m shopping for a mobile CC processing solution.
    Most of the transactions are in $75-300 range on average 2 -3 times a day. Can anyone recomment a particular company for that? Since I’m new to this it surprises me a bit that my SSN#, Tax id etc need to be disclosed … is it a standard procedure

    • Laurel Redd

      Thomas,

      As for the SSN# and Tax ID any reputable Merchant Services or Bank working with you to set up services for Credit Cards will ask you for the same information to process cards for business accounts. They do need to check your credit and verify that you are a legitimate business.

      As to the transaction volume – Same Question swiped or keyed cards – it will make a big difference if your transactions tend to be over $1000 a week.

      • Thomas

        Thanks you Laurel for your feedback.
        Most of my transactions will be entered manually
        i.e customers will call and provide CC information. Far fewer transactions will be through the CC reader. At this time having a CC transaction volume over $1000 is more of a goal than reality, lol

        Thomas

  • Dave

    Well my first time worked, thank heaven. Swiped $ 660 on Friday and got $ 641.85 on Tuesday.

    Last July I swiped a total of $ 106 with Card Data Services, Inc., and they charged me $ 130.46 (75.46 + 55.00 “annual fee”). Had to place a stop payment on my account for that company.

  • Bill Williams

    No phone number, no email.

    If these guys are trying to look like a scam, they are succeeding.

    They ask for my company’s bank account number, routing number, all kinds of info, yet they don’t provide such innocuous info as a phone number.

    Fortunately, I found this out early on. I tried to enter my routing number for my Chase account, and their webform wouldn’t accept it. Then tried to call them – no phone number posted. Tried to email them or click on some sort of help link, and just get a bunch of faqs.

    On the humorous side, I’m sure “What is your damn phone number” is a frequently asked question, but the answer wasn’t there.

    Good grief. I’m shopping around for another service. Can’t even contact them to send their little do-dad back, so I guess I’ll use it as a keychain.

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