Focusing on Square Credit Card Processing for Small Business Owners
Unlike most Square (squareup.com) reviews that talk about Square’s various services and features, this review primarily covers topics that matter specifically to small business owners regarding credit card processing, point-of-sale, and processing fees when accepting payments. Square has a plethora of technology, which we will briefly mention below, but this review will focus on Square’s payment technology, card reader, desktop POS, store builder and e-commerce platform.
Is Square Holding Your Funds Right Now?
Before we get started, thousands of merchants have reported their payments frozen by Square. If you’re one of them, then you might find the following resources helpful:
Started by the Twitter Guy
Founded in February of 2009 by Jack Dorsey, who is also the founder of Twitter, Square has grown into a large, publicly-owned company (NYSE: SQ). Much of the company’s success can be attributed to its unique take on mobile credit card processing and by being the first to market with it. Traditional credit card processing companies restricted their services to actual businesses, required a long application process, required and credit check, and often have a slimy sales process designed to milk the most in fees out of their customers. Square eliminated most of these barriers brought card payments and acceptance to everyone with a quick sign-up and easy-to-understand fees.
Quick Sign-up and Intuitive Design
Signing up for the company’s payment processing service and payment gateway service is simple: users simply visit Square’s website to fill out a short form and await approval, which typically happens instantly. The credit card readers plug into the headphone jack, charging port, or connects via Bluetooth to a contactless card reader thereby turning almost any Apple or Android device into mobile credit card machine. In fact, the app has been so successful that it has inspired numerous competitors, including both big-name competitors and fledgling startups.
Other Square Services
Since the launch of the Square card reader and mobile app, Square has rolled out several other services for both business and personal use.
- Square Register is a point-of-sale (POS) device that is intended as an all-in-one payment terminal for retail businesses. The product — which can be purchased for $999 upfront or $49 per month for 24 months — also comes with a lower transaction fee. Users can also purchase the older “Square Stand” which acts as an iPad mount and card reader in one unit.
- Square Terminal is a wireless point-of-sale (POS) device that is designed to replace your conventional countertop credit card terminal. Square Terminal costs $399 upfront or $37 per month for 12 months and comes with a swiped fee of 2.6% plus $0.10. It can accept EMV and NFC payments and has a built-in printer.
- Square Online Store is an online store builder for selling products over the internet. The platform is simple to use and quick to set up with the only cost of 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction and no monthly fees.
- Square for Retail is a point-of-sale system specifically designed for brick-and-mortar retailers. The service is similar to 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 merchant cash advance 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.
Additional Square Offerings
Square has also recently launched several other service including a virtual terminal, an order-ahead 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.
Video Summary
Table of Contents
- Costs & Contract: Charges only 2.75% per swiped transaction or 3.15% per keyed-in transaction with no monthly fees, annual fees, or long-term contracts and offers lower rates to users based on their business type or the proprietary hardware they use to…
- Complaints & Service: Offers limited phone support and has received more than 2,300 public complaints regarding…
- BBB Rating: Has an “A+” rating with the Better Business Bureau but has received 5,023 complaints and 381 reviews in regards to its…
- Sales & Marketing: The company is extremely transparent about its simple pricing model, but merchants may not receive proper advance warning during the signup process that they are at risk of…
2,205 Responses
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
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!
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.
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!
Square is an absolute trash fire with illiterate, rude employees and the worst refund and dispute time legally allowable.
To note, I have processed over 700k through Square only to find they don’t have proper measure in place to prevent fraud nor are they cooperative in aiding you to receive a refund, etc.
They also charge 2x more fees that you’ll find anywhere else.
BEWARE, DON’T USE SQUARE
We got square for the same thing they are holding my funds. I will never use square again and I will never tell anyone to use them
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
Literal bullshit
They wouldn’t take my SSN FOR WHATEVER REASON???
SO NOW THEY HAVE MY BANK INFO AND I CANT DO SHIT ABOUT IT BC THEY WONT EVEN LET ME DEACTIVATE MY ACCOUNT NOR TRY TO VERIFY MY IDENTITY AGAIN SUCH A WASTE OF MONEY AND TIME AND NOW IM CONCERNED IM GONNA GET SCAMMED BY THEM WHEN ALL I WANTED WAS AN EASIER WAY FOR PEOPLE TO PAY ME DIRECTLY
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?
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.
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!!
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.
This company should be investigated and the ones running it put in prison! They basically stole my money! Been a year and still can’t get my money.
Been holding my money for a year. Won’t let me talk to anyone. Stay away.
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
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.
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.
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,
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.
Very poor customer service real clowns for what they charge. Beware they are a horrible company to be involved in your finances
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.
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
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…
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.
Withholding $2,000 for “possible fraud”. Trying to get my business started but they’re screwing up my operation.
Their withholding 20 k
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.
They are the worst company that I have ever dealt with. Impossible to get a live person on the phone. They hold your money for no reason
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
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.
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?
I get maximum satisfaction any time I use kloviactools
They are simply the best and reliable
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.?
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
Why in the world have you not made a compatible reader for Samsung galaxy note 20. This phone has been out for over a year now get with it people. Apple sux
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.
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!
Your story sounds just like mine. You stated it very well.
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.
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!!
Just want to remove my name from their mail list. You go round and round on their website. I do not want to provide them with my email address. You can not talk to anyone on the phone.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yes they are doing the same thing to my accounts but it’s over $20,000 and they will not release any funds. We have contacted our attorney.
Who is your lawyer
I WANT IN ON THIS – THIS IS A JOKE
Me too I am suing them leave me ur nfo if u want to join in on this law suit I’m trying to contact CNN about them
They are doing the same thing to me. I’d like to get in on this.
I am going through the same thing!!!
After 6 years they got me too. Basically stole my money. I am contacting customers to dispute charges so I can get paid.
Did the Attorney General Help? Here in GA, it seems we have no recourse. No one to help. And The have held all my transfers for past month.
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
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.
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.”
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, .
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
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.
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..
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
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.
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”
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.
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 [email protected] 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.
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
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!!
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
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 advis