Square Credit Card Reader 2023: Reviews & Complaints
(855) 351-2274 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.
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.
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).
Square Customer Reviews
Here's What Their Clients Say
| Item | Result |
|---|---|
| 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
| Item | Result |
|---|---|
| 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
| Item | Result | >
|---|---|
| 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?
| Item | Result |
|---|---|
| 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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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.
Sarah hohman
I have informed Walmart Corporation that your company is holding the funds for a catering event I already performed for them. Obviously they are not happy. Please everyone do not sign up with square
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.
Tami Carnes
Sold my crafts at a Christmas fair December 2016 and $180.00 in sales were never sent to my bank and Square has no idea where the money is……………… Almost a year later, still no money
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.
Sally jones
No customer service. Very poorly designed web site. No interest in serving their customers.
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…
SHAYA KRAUSZ
the worst no service whats so ever this company should be closed down asap do not use them
MARY a BARRIGA
I’ve been with Square for almost 5 years , all ways been a good company to work with .. i think they are one of the best out there … no complaints here !!
Ade
Don’t worry you will learn soon… By that time it would be too late for you.
CPO
Hi Lloyd,
Please reply to this comment with your business name and location in order to authenticate your testimonial. Thanks!
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.
Amy belding
They stole my kid’s forty dollars and don’t have any number to contact them. I tried to email multiple times and it says “sorry there was a problem”. Thieves.
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.
Jack Helsley
People keep sending me money through this app, but I can’t access. Can’t access support. Awful.
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!
Pedro macareno
Don’t use square for your business it’s very bad decision
They acepted payment from scan and square no meke the deposit to your account
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.
Debi screnci
This company has my money and wil not deposit it !!!!!You annotate speak to anyone !!!! So I’m suing them!!!
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!
CPO
Hi Tracy,
Please reply to this comment with your business name and location in order to authenticate your testimonial. Thanks!
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!
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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.
Chris
The worst. No customer service. Uses other peoples email addresses and transmits your data to them. Do not use unless you want all your cc info out there for all.
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
mike wilson
I recently opened up an acct
went through the “hoops” to get everything verified
1st order using this service was today
ONE PROBLEM …. WAS WARNED THESE AHOLES FREEZE TRANSFER TO BANK ACCTS
Sent me a bunch of more shit I need to have “verififed”…. This after sending me an email that was my banking info was verified and told that by their customer service over the phone last week
DO NOT USE SQUARE FOR INVOICING FOR YOUR BIZ…. THEY ARE AS BAD AS ADVERTISED
franklyn vandam
Really upset ?
It’s been 6 days and the $15,000 is still not in my account. My client confirmed the money came out of their account.
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
Christie
They won’t give me my money and won’t credit the sender. Emails go unanswered and they won’t take calls. Awful. Never again.
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 !!
Breanna brockett
Stay from square they love to place 90day holds on funds with no warning. On a small business that really cripples business.
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.
Jaron Rice
I own a credit card processing company in Pasadena, Maryland. I’ve brought on clients who were in the home improvement space that claimed Square held their funds for 6 months, until the chargeback window had closed. Imagine being a roofer and charging a third deposit for $3000, but not having access to those funds despite the fact that they’ve been taken from the customer already. It’s a cash flow nightmare.
LIA BROWN
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is not a legitimate Company. It has no association with the government and is not regulated by anyone. The BBB has no authority to shut down a business. People can purchase a good rating. Here is a link to an article about them.
https://business.time.com/2013/03/19/why-the-better-business-bureau-should-give-itself-a-bad-grade/
There is also a 20/20 episode about them.
https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/business-bureau-best-ratings-money-buy/story?id=12123843
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!!
John
It happened to me also. The next day after I signed up and processed payments, they deactivated my account and was told that they will hold the funds for 3 months.
Jorge Duran
Same thing happened to me, money, time and stress caused for a bad business.
I would like to start a Class Action Suit, because they are defrauding lots and lots of people
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 .
wayne breaux
holy shit! the same thing happened to me today. in my opinion, they don’t need to know anything about my business to serve my needs. i signed up for their service and that’s that. trying to get someone on the phone is impossible. i told them they will not see my bank statements. that’s bullshit……they dont’ need to better understand my business. they need to better understand the service they are providing and we’re paying for. this smells like a class action law suit. let me know if you’ve talked to an attorney.
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!
Tdub
I had the same problem! No way to get them live. I have money on hold! They gave a reason of accepting prepard payments. What happen to the warning?
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
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.