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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Linda Putnam
We own a Antique/country craft businees and conduct 5-6 sale days per year from our home location and use this service at Antique and Craft Shows while on the road.. Square- Up has been a great tool for us to use for credit card purchases. We have not experienced any delays in receiving our monies to our account and have had no problems with support from the company. I have recommended Square- up to other similar businesses and maintain this is a good company to do business with. Thanks Square-Up for your service and availability.
Phillip CPO
Hi Linda,
In order to authenticate your testimonial, please reply to this comment with your business name and location. Thanks!
Paul Borrelli
We need a class action suit against this scam of a company Square. I made my first deposit from a cc transaction of $4635.00. Only $2009.00 was deposited to my bank account. I have not had a reply to any of my email messages with Square. I’m a small company and in this economy every penny counts. 60 minutes need to do a new expose’ on the founder of Square, and not the wonderful one that they did that i’m sure brought in thousands of new costumers.
I will be contacting the Attorney Generals office in Rhode Island and also the US attorney Generals office in Washington. I will not stop until all of my money is deposited in my bank account, and I don’t mean in 180 days.
Hasan
I agree. Same thing here. No phone number to talk to them or customer service. They need to be suit and taken off the market.
I will be happy to do whatever I can. They are thief’s.
David Henson
I agree. The company withdrew money from my account and could not give me a reason why.
Julya Billhymer
SQUARE HAS NO CUSTOMER SERVICE PHONE LINE. I am NEVER doing business with them again. They are holding funds for NO REASON.
I have dealt with them for 3 months and it has been a total mess. It’s like a Seinfeld episode….they are GREAT at TAKING your money…..MISERABLE at FUNDING your account.
I am a criminal defense attorney, researching….they have to be violating several federal statutes in Commerce Code.
SQUARE SUCKS!!!!
adam
I ordered and received my credit card reader within the time frame they promised. I used the reader several times totaling roughly $300.00 in fees I paid which I agreed to per user agreement but after several uses they wanted a lot more personal information which I gave them and 10 minutes after I sent them the information they requested they closed my account WITHOUT REASON and are holding 457.00 that I swiped for payment from a customer and told me they are holding it for 60 days. This is absolutely ridiculous and very unprofessional especially when I’m making them money. I urge everybody to NOT to use square. It may seem like a good deal if you get it online for free or buy it in the stores for $10.00 DO NOT USE SQUARE THEY WILL SCREW YOU. And customer service is horrible.
Bob
WOULD NOT RECOMMEND SQUARE SERVICES TO ANYONE. They are quick to inform you how easy it it to use until you do a transaction. Then they HOLD YOUR FUNDS up to half a year, are unreachable, take forever to reply, demand all information from you. And after you comply and provide all information that they requested. They simply CANCEL YOUR ACCOUNT WITHOUT EXPLANATION and simply say its due to risk. Im not the only one that had this happen too. MANY OF MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS HAD THE EXACT SAME ISSUE. SQUARE IS A PROFESSIONAL SCAMMER.
Angela
I have been using Square for 2 years now at my private practice. I have never had an issue and always received a timely response when I emailed customer service. I have recommended square many times to other professionals in my field.
Phillip CPO
Hi Angela,
Please reply to this comment with your business name and location to authenticate you testimonial. Thanks!
MICHAEL PIETRI
Im start using square and now its a nightmare the have more than $4,600 since january 2013 and i dont know when they release the funds. No customer service, bad communication, they collect his fees but they dont deposit my funds. NOT RECOMENDED FOR SMALL BUSINESS.
MICHAEL
janowski
They said my funds would be held for 180 days and my account was canceled after i sent all the info they requested.
Janell Black
I would like to see the Square accept FLEX Plan cards.
Ritch Rand
Square has poor business practices when it comes to larger deposits..
Our company deposited $14,000.00 in Credit Cards in Feb. and they have taken there fees and still not released our funds. Buyer be ware.. They will hold your money and there is nobody to call. You can only E-mail them. We are having our Attorney General look into this practice.. they say that if the think there is a risk,? they can hold your money up to 6 months. This has to be a theft issue. The credit cards are at risk for any charge backs ETC.. I feel defrauded.. Is there nobody that can help us solve this problem.. Do not use this service…
Donna McGee
I have used square for processing for almost two years and would give it an A rating. Much more competitive that former company, Elavon, and far easier to use, complete with support spread sheets, etc. Once I charged a customer twice by mistake and he was able to talk to a rep at Square. Very easy. Little phone support because they rely on twitter.
allen
Your customer did not contact square. They contacted the bank that issued their credit card. Please get your facts straight before posting. There are hundreds of square clients on this fourm that are being hurt because there is little to no customer service offered by square.
Michelle Henney
Square’s customer NO SERVICE attitude compels me to say that if I did business that way, I would be out of business! I had a $2000 hold placed on any funds collected above that amount. I objected and after many emails and phone calls, I was able to get that amount raised to $5000. In September of 2012, I had a reservation for two families in my Bed and Breakfast establishment for 8 people. Ten showed up and I was forced to move them to a much nicer location for the same price as they showed up at midnight and I just wanted to make them happy and go to bed! Two credit cards were collected from two families and later, they reversed the charges! Instead of Square backing me, they backed the client, went into my bank account and attempted to steal the funds. Ultimately, it worked out where I received payment from the clients but Square, without telling me, lowered my transaction amount back to $2000, flagged my account as “High Risk” and is holding my recent $2860 payment collected from a client!! Here is the email they sent me when I demanded that my money be placed in my account.
“March 28, 2013
Hi Michelle,
Thank you for writing in. Please know that when you received a chargeback on 9/2/12, we attempted to hold funds associated with that chargeback. These debit attempts failed 3 times, which is a violation of our Merchant User Agreement Section 28: .
Your account will remain under review until it is no longer deemed “high risk.” For more information around this policy, please see Section 42 of the Merchant User Agreement.
In regards to the payment taken on 3/21/13 for $2,860.00, you may issue a refund to your customer and re-accept payment another way.
Let us know if you have further questions.
Jordan
Square Chargeback Services
http://www.cardpaymentoptions.com/square_com/”
I have contacted Square via telephone number and have been hung up on my an automated machine that asks for input of a customer number or account number which they say is on email correspondence. The number that was on my email correspondence, did not register in their system and it hung up on me providing nothing but frustration. I have sent a total of 6 emails to Square within the last two days and have received nothing but canned responses and unhelpful advise and no mention of how to get my money that they are holding. In EACH of the emails, I have requested supervisor assistance and have been ignored. Of course, they want me to refund the client! Then they get another transaction fee and rip me off even further.
I resorted to researching my previous emails and searching for someone in Customer No Service that I actually corresponded with me and was helpful. That was Norm P. I sent him an email today with hopefully, a solution to this matter.
In the meantime, I switching permanently to Intuit as Square is a a sham.
Sam
Square ??? Stay AWAY !!!! They just show the founder on the 60 minutes (I was allmost breaking the TV) how he created and how smart and how unsocial. This is exactly what this company is. They are ve unsocial and ignorant. They are holding my allmost $12,000 which were all signed and swiped transactions. It really hurts my cash flow and quality of my business services. It has been more than 2 months I only get pre-written e-mails to my questions. They rated me high risk ? I really dont get it, how can you be high risk when your customers sign and give thier card to swipe ? I think this is the way for them to make money. ABC- 60 minutes was just the cover their stealings. I am really considering flying up to San Fransisco and going their office with the police or FBI. This is unacceptable.
Signmaker
Square has repeatedly demonstrated a severe lack of customer service paired with very questionable money transactions that should be deemed unethical and downright shady. Regardless of their fees, they must provide customer service and accessibility to their customer as any company that HANDLES PEOPLES MONEY would do!
They really should be investigated by a supervising authority for the simple appearance of impropriety.
“If it walks, talks and acts like a duck, it’s most likely a duck”
Rj Denicola III
Square has over 5,000 dollars in funds done over the last 60 days from a customer that is out of state. After a recent laptops purchase of 1500 i got an email stating i needed to basically prove my company is really a corp. i did that and gave all needed and requested info, today i got a notice saying my account is high risk, and will be deactivated and the funds will be held for 90 days but i can refund! I already spent my own money on 3 of these larger transactions and only got a portion of the money back and and SOL until the 90 days are up this is BS AND SQUAREUP IS A FRAUD AND HAS NO WAY TO ACCESS THEM EXCEPT THROUGH AN OUTSOURCED EMAIL SYSTEM!!!
Richard Joe-Leonn
I’ve tried to use is it and can’t get anyone to tell me if visa gift cards work so far it hasn’t I can’t get a hold of anyone I’ve tried more than ten times I’ve done the wait for an answer thing no answer yet
steve
Square…this company is awfull. There is no merchant support what so ever…everyone beware! They cheat you on your deposit and will not support or follow through with chargebacks. The only response from this company is the same email over and over
alex
I am a contractor (tile installer) Subcontracted a job, customer paid with credit card used http://www.cardpaymentoptions.com/square_com machine did not plugged in all the way so it didnt work, tried entering manually, ended up paying $35 extra.. It doesnt say anywhere on the box that they charge extra for manual transactions. On the top of that have to wait for a month before i get my rest of the money…. What am i suppose tell the guys that did the work…. YOu have to wait until i get paid. NO CUSTOMER SERVICE., NO PROPER EXPLANATION OF THEIR RULES. tHATE THAT COMPANY.. PEOPLE USE PAYPAL, USE THEIR MACHINE WITH PAYPAL ACCOUNT SAMETHING., AND THEIR FEE IS SMALLER. NEVER AGAIN DEALING WITH THEM. HOPE TO GET MY REST OF THE MONEY ON APRIL 12, 2013.
Brandon Rinebold
Since there is no ‘box’ you see until after you sign up for service, I assume you are using that figuratively to mean their website. Actually, it does specify that manually typed charges are 3.5% + 15c on their charges page
They are, by far, more forthcoming and simpler with their fee structure than any merchant account I’ve ever worked with. There are legitimate complaints about the excessive use of holds and inability to contact customer service but you’re really stretching it to claim there wasn’t adequate notification of the manual fees.
beem
Be careful before you start using the card reader from Square. This company looks like a one man company without phone support. They will hold your money as long as they want and release the funds when they want. I am just waiting to transfer my $7000 t my bank and I am done with this company
Bob Tumlinson
I used this pack of thieves service two times . The first time they got their fee and deposited the balance in my account in two days, no problems so far. The next week I did a job for my customer and they processed the $800.00 and took out their fee leaving me with the balance of $789.99, everything seemed fine. Ten days later they removed the funds from my Chase business account with no contact, no email, no explaination for taking the funds. I complained five times as of this writing. They refuse to speak to me and will only email. They admitted they made an error and were going to redeposit the funds in my account. Instead the day before they said they would redeposit my funds they withdrew a second $789.55 with no justification or explaination. The next day they did make a single deposit to my account of $789.55. As of this date these thieving bastards have deposited $789.55 twice and withdrawn $789.55 twice. That translates to a $0.00 flow of funds to my business. I hold an Excellent rating with the BBB and have a Super award Winner standing with Angies List. I do not know, nor have I ever fail any of my customers. There is no justification possible for this situation but out and out theft my Square Register
Fethi ERON
I have a business with a hospital’s buying dept and have made a wholesale for +$1400 Yesterday . This company, I am selling more then 4 years without any problem. The person in charge has paid the $ 375 with the visa gift cards that the management of the company decided to not use and the company credit card for the rest. We checked all the gift cards once more and put them in the garbage after being used. I have the proof of sale and the signature of the authorized buyer. How can they suspend my account ? HOW CAN THEY HOLD MY MONEY FOR 90 DAYS. No logical reason. There is also no phone number to communicate. My check is subject to bouncing and I lost my credit and terms with my supplier and may loose my buyer because of this silly reason. Cannot trust to square anymore. Better to pay a few dollars more but have a MERCHANT COMPANY YOU MAY TRUST.
Wendy Potter
Unless you want to wait months on your deposit and unless you enjoy paying tremendous fees stay away from Square up. This is the worst decision I have made concerning my business. Not only can you not call them, the only way they communicate is through email. Responding to email requests takes days. I am so unhappy with this service. When I finally receive my last deposit I am cancelling my account. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY ! You will get the shaft.
desneige Datillo
I have had my “square” for several months. I use it for house calls or people who only have Amex. I have been planning to use it exclusively after my current contract with a wired in terminal is over. I recently sold a piece of medical equipment to a doctor in Florida. All he had was Amex. I entered all the info on the square. I noted the doctor’s phone number if they needed authorization and a description of the item. They sent me an email asking for me to “verify my account”. They wanted my tax id (which i already gave to them) a copy of my medical lisence, an article of incorporation from the state. I told the “customer service- grade fail!” that my accountant had all that paper work could there be another way, he is busy with tax season and i have been in business for 20 years. She said “no”. I said, “isn’t there a way you can look up my tax id and see that i am a legitimate LLC? “NO” So I asked, ” How about if I send you a copy of my bank statement showing my name and business name?’ She said “Yes” I sent her a copy of the invoice as requested and gave her my MA Board of Medicine ID#. She said that will be fine we will release your money ($7400) in two days and you can expect my supervisor” Omar, to call” I waited, no call. When i got home at 9pm last night there was an email from square saying they closed my account and i couldn’t get access to the money for 90 days! The reason, ” Confidential” I was a “risk” When i called to inquire what the problem was a robotic adolescent told me over and over “we have no supervisors here, you are a risk” When i repeatedly asked why i was a risk she replied” that is confidential” I am going to spread the word on this game. Attorney General, this can’t be legal, can it? Don’t use “Square” I would rate them as a failure!
Scott
I arrived at this comment board due to having, what I now know to be not unique, situation with Square. I took several payments over the last year with square (small merchant), and had no problem. Now however I received a chargeback on an item and realize they have no customer support worth anything. Not only did they not forward the funds from this transaction, but they went ahead and withdrew the funds from my account that they never put there. No where to get any help. No email reply.
Good concept, but I think the number of negative posts on this site and others, are a clear indication that this company will go down in flames soon. If you have money in an account with them, get it out, and call your bank to block any withdraws from them. Once they close their doors, there will not be any recourse.
I am smashing my reader and sending it back to them.
I will get one from Paypal. as much as I dislike paypal for the way they treat me, at least I can call them and get a person right away who can tell me right away that they don’t care and tough shit, and there is nothing they can do.
jerry
square is a scam…..BIG SCAM…they have $900 of my money tyed up for a month, and will not release my money, will not tell me why they have it tied up, nor can i contact anyone…..customer service sucks…
Erna
I just took a payment from a repeat customer over the phone. We have swiped their card several times and they called in for an URGENT re-peat order. We sell Safety Products for the Construction industry and TIME IS URGENT as our customers need to keep their employees safe! SQUARE ONLY DEPOSITED $2002.00. OF THE 7K.. I CANT GET AHOLD OF ANYONE AND NO RETURN EMAILS!!!!!!! SQUARE IS A SCAM… THERE IS NO REASON THEY SHOULD HOLD THE MONEY.. JACK DORSEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF HIMSELF!!! i am finding that most people are finding out about this AFTER ITS TOO LATE!
Jack
This company, Square, is now holding over $5000 from me and I can get absolutely nowhere with them. They first ask for 3 months of bank statements which I supplied along with copies of invoices for work completed. I then get a follow up set of questions from them which I once again answer and fax info in as requested. Then I receive an email stating “I see you have accepted a number of payments from the same client, What is the full scope of work that you expect for this client?” What? We are a service based company and hopefully have a long term relationship with this client. They’ve charged my customer but will not release funds to me. Stay away from these people. I always thought this was an honest company but now have to wonder if I’ll ever see a dime of my money. Class Action Lawsuit, please count me in!
Remy
I’m going absolutely bonkers. I’ve written a TON of e-mails trying to ask them for help, and their customer service is HORRIBLE! Every single card has been declined. We’re talking seven people. Not only does that make me look unprofessional as HECK, but after asking them repeatedly for help, they keep insisting that the client needs to contact the bank and it has nothing to do with them, their reader, or their program. -_-
Shean
Square’s customer service is nonexistent and when you finally do get to speak to someone they are rude and hang up on you. They took my 7500.00 deposit and then sent me an email requesting that I send them 90 days worth of bank statements and all sorts of other crisp to “verify” my account. That should be done when you sign up for service. They have held my money hostage. Will not deposit the funds in my account and will not refund my customer his money so he can pay me otherwise. If I do chose to play Their game they are still holding 5300.00 for 30 days. Square is a scam. They tie up your money while collecting interest on it and to hell with you. Their deceptive practices need to be stopped.
Michelle
Square is only good for small businesses. Their fee is too large for larger businesses. I’m a small business with mostly cash transactions but the few times a customer has a credit card its great to say yes we accept them.
If the business takes off, I’m sure I will start looking for a larger company but as of now, I’ve had no problem with them.
Fernando
One of our customers issued a charge back of $ 5,670.00 We disputed and we won, AMEX deposited the money back to the merchant Square Up on 2/07/13. Up until today 03/03/13 Square Up has not deposited that money back to us, and has not returned our several emails. No phone # to call (are you hidding?), no body to ask what has happend. I am afraid this is a SCAM and may loose my money. I am extremely upset, I will never use Square Up again. There other larger and honest companies out there that provide an honest Credit Card system with good customer system.
Too bad Jack Dorsey, the idea and the business seemed to be great, but you or your people are screwing it up!! I will follow you until I get my money back!!
Bobby Steward
We have been using Square for almost a year and always received payments into our account quickly but my problem is customer service with NO PHONE number. We moved and changed banks but can NOT get Square to deposit their test amount into the new bank so that we can verify the new bank account. No matter how many times I have emailed Square to tell them the 2 small deposits have NEVER arrived at my new bank; they continue to email me and explain how to verify the bank AFTER I see the 2 small deposits they are supposed to make. It is a complete run-around and I am really getting SICK of it. I am ready to shop elsewhere for a new card reader company as Square is not the only one and their customer service sucks with NO PHONE number.
Jay
Square is not the way to go for credit card processing. We signed up with and have been using Square for almost a year. I had already heard from a friend, after we had signed up with Square, that a business owner he knew was having trouble with them depositing large transactions. Since we had already signed up and don’t usually run super large individual transactions, we decided to keep it. The first incident we had with them was a few months ago when a customer disputed their charge which was immediately charged back. Even though we immediately sent over all of the documents to show that it was a legitimate charge, it took over 90 days to get the money back. The latest incident was that we received an email from their compliance department stating that we were a non-authorized business type according to their user agreement. I read through their user agreement and our business type was not listed. Since there is no way to contact them by phone, we emailed them back and told them that this wasn’t right. I did receive a response saying that they didn’t know anything and that our account appeared to be active and asked for all of our info. I responded with what they wanted and haven’t heard back from them for a couple of days. Needless to say, we switched to a more reputable company, Intuit, where we actually had the ability to speak to them through live chat and by phone.
mitchell fike
I checked out square online and how they pay.. 24hrs, right? No!!! And when I called the acknowledged that they advertise that but if I checked my user aggreement that they have the right to hold my money. My account was current and correct.. or so I thought.. then I used it.. now I have to verify everything under the sun. Information they shouldnt be asking for. And when I ask how long 1-2 business days… its been 3days… if I call .. one to two days. The operators cant access anything, cant help at all.. they cant connect you to anyone that can.. ask tospeak with a manager… can you believe they dont have one… they could make 191.00 off me overnight or they can hold my money for weeks.. I dunno.. two toes down for the poorly developed Square.
Tonya
Yes I just started using square device myself, 3 transactions, & I haven’t seen the money yet, I’m a single mom I need my money, I won’t use them anymore…I can’t find a number to call or anythingterrible, ain’t nobody got time for this put me on the class ation lawsuit also
Mark Brooks
I own Mark A. Brooks, Inc. located in Panama City, Florida. It is a marine construction and diving business. I have a particular customer that is an international customer for whom I do maintenance. It has always been this customer’s policy that they always take about 3 months to pay me, but they always do pay me in full. So, in order to expedite money, my customer offered a credit card to process my payment, with which my involvement with Square, I had never taken payment in this form. Six months ago, anticipating future work with my international customer, we signed up with Square Reader. And, as we anticipated, we were successful in acquiring another job with same customer for substantiallly more than $1000.00. Upon completion of the most recent job, we ran the billing through our Square Reader – the transaction was approved, money changed hands from my customer to Square, and as you already knowm, the horror story began.
On the surface, I had not reason to distrust Square. I have friends that use it. It is advertised extensively on cable TV and other advertising mediums, and up until this transaction, I had never heard anyone complain. I guess they are not as angry as I am. If the law protects these people, I guess there are other ways to get my money…anyone interested?
Gail M Strieter
On February 18th at 6 p.m.EST $4,482,100.44 was shown as a cash transaction in my square-up account.
I have been trying to use the Square-up support team and they say they cannot do anything.There is no one to talk to and they said they are unable to delete that transaction. We did not have $4,482,100.44 cash transaction . We did not use Square-up on February 18th. Can you help me? There are no addresses or phone numbers. My bookkeeping is a mess because of this. How can I get this removed from my account.
Thank you in advance. Gail
R. Goodfellow
I experienced difficulty before the application for the account was even finished. I own and run a Metaphysical supply and gift store. Under item # 26 of statement 6 of the Merchant Service Agreement, the service can NOT be used for sales of “occult materials”. I have written (since NO TELEPHONE CONTACT IS AVAILABLE ON THE WEBSITE) SEVERAL times asking for a definite definition of the vague term and have recieved NO response other than “violating the terms of the Merchant Service Agreement will result in the termination of the account”. I used the number provided here and actually managed (after more than a dozen attempts) to speak to a live person. When I enquired about the vague terms on their website I was met with annoyance. After a LONG converstion where I explained EXACTLY what I am selling (giving details on almost 1000 Different Items) I was told that Some of my transactions would be OK and others were NOT ALLOWED. For instence: Herbs or incense sold because they smell nice are allowed, but those perchased to be used in spells or homeopathic healing were not. Bells bought for their appearence, OK. Bells bought to use on a Wiccan Alter… NO. A statue bought for decoration, fine. A statue bought to represent Godesss or God, NOT ALLOWED.
So, if I don’t want to LIE about the purchases my customers are making then I have to Police Their motives and THEN not be able to process their purchase through Square.
NO THANKS. I’ll find a more helpful and less BIGOTED service!
Michael Patrick Murphy
I found another problem with having a someone else accept charges for my business. If they accidentally opened a square account outside the invitation from my business, they end up with problems using their email address. Again, there is no obvious phone support to void the one account and turn it into an addtional person taking charges for my account.
Tyear
I am at a lost for words at the lack of follow up from square. I had a client lie to them after claiming they never received serices they paid for and money was removed from my account. When I was asked on January 3, 2013 to provide proff of which I did. I have yet to get my money returned from them or even a real rresponse. I’m Really pissed off and I dont feel like my money that they get on a weekly basis is even appreciated. Im really considering taking my business elsewere an letting my fellow designers know to do the same.
Tyear McCrary
Liz
I have been using Square for over a year now and I love them! Never had any issues with them holding my money and the fees are always correct. I have used GoPayment as well but their pricing structure is not as simple and they are not as fast to deposit funds in my account.
Antoinette
I just started using square and they said that the funds would be deposited in my account the next business day. Well today is the next day and funds are not in there. When will they send them?
Bryan Illerbrun
I have a small boarding house in an area which has a high demand for workers to stay. We had Square for about a month and we’re very pleased as many of our customers only had company cards to pay for their rooms. Without any notice, Square terminated our service and as noted above they are holding the funds for 180 day – 6 months! They state I can return the funds to the purchaser. How do you give back money for a service you have provided? This has caused me a significant financial difficulty as there are utilities and bills to pay to keep it open. I hope to be able to seek some kind of legal remedy here due to the disruption in our ability to rent rooms to people who are able to get the amount of cash they need to rent a room. I am appalled that they can do this and I will send this complaint to the better business bureau and consumers digest. Any other suggestion are certainly appreciated
Dawn
I have been using square since May of 2012, mostly small sales but somewhere along the way my money stopped being deposited in my account. It turns out it was being sent to another person’s account at the same bank (Chase). Now they say they can’t get the money back because the other person does not have the money in it to reverse the charges. My business had been increasing with several large orders, but now I am out over $2,000. How it was verified and worked and now is going into someone elses bank account (who spent it) has not been answered. I was able to get in contact via e-mail with someone who did forward it to the engineers but they still can’t fix it. Well, I am going back to my bank to sign up for their more expensive yet secure Merchant account. I can’t risk not getting paid for merchandise; it will put me out of business quickly! Sign me up for the class action lawsut if I can’t get my money back!
Steve
Same scenerio-only over $5000 for me. Aren’t they just to clever-no (seemingly) possible way to fight them.
Andrew
Initially we thought Square would be fantastic for my wife’s cupcake business. However, there are MANY flaws in their system. Firstly, in the Dashboard, very regularly you will not be able to see all your transactions. Sometimes only credit card transactions are visible, sometimes only cash transactions. This is infuriating to say the least.
It seems their software developers have no idea how to write stable software or thoroughly test their changes. Secondly, the only way to get your transaction data is to manually download a CSV (comma separated values) file. These files are not formatted correctly, in that text is not quoted and dollar figures have a text “$” symbol included, which will break many import programs due to data type issues.
They also have no API (application programming interface) and as far as I know they don’t plan to implement one. This means that you will not be able to automate your imports of data – you will have to manually download, then manually “fix” the data before importing, then manually import it into your accounting software.
Another huge issue is the customer service. THERE IS NONE! Good luck getting responses from your emails.
I would not recommend using this service to anyone if they can avoid it. Yes their costs are lower than most but the headaches may not be worth it.
Masu
I wanted to do my part in stabilizing the economy. I’ve been unemployed for 3 years. January 2013 I started a new business and I excepted my first payment through Square and it appears because they made a small mistake and refuse to admit it, I suffer, my customer suffers because I am unable to perform my business with the customer until the my account credited .
I have 11 days of extensive email communication to a person who refused to provide a Supervisor, phone number or any information to connect me to the company. I have called the Governors office of Consumer Protection and filed a complaint and forwarding documentation. I have phoned Clark Howard (a Georgia consumer advocacy organization), I will be filing a complaint online with Georgia and California’s Attorney General immediately.
Square does business with STARBUCKS. I believed if a company of that size trusted them, as a small entrepreneur, I could too. I wonder if Starbucks can reach them, contact them? I’ve ask the local stores but no one has a number or name either. Wow with a capital WOW!
Jonathan
This company is a total joke. I suspect the extent of their so called customer service staff is an answering machine on the floor of some abondonded building. Someone needs to report this scam to the authorities they are absolute theives. I can’t beleive they are still in business. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY you will regrete it, I promise you. They are completely aware of the issues and just dont care, period!!!! If you want to piss off your cutomers and have these people sit on your money as long as they want go for it otherwise choose ANYONE else because square is the absolute worst CC processing company EVER!!
Matt S.
After reading all your horror stories I feel better about only have been taken for $100. Exactly one month after I made a $100 sale to a friend, ( 8 hours of yardwork) Square sent me a email saying that transaction was reported by the bank as bogus and I had 15 days to respond. I emailed square immediately and also contacted the customer who called her bank to fix her end of things. Square never responded to my request to challenge this. Less than 24 hours lapse and I get another email saying they are taking the $100 from my bank account and should happen in a day or 2 which it indeed did. I have sent 5 additional emails concerning this and have only been replied to by robo-email telling me to check out their customer service page. They have no phone number listed anywhere I can find. Its now been 2 months since the charge, and one month since they took my money from me. I have yet to hear a word from Square. Long story short, I’m out $100 and 8 hours of work. I couldnt imagine if this was a large job, I just cant have them going into my account and taking my hard earned cash (which usually would have been spent on bills.) I have since stopped using square and got a intuit.
Mack
DO NOT SIGN UP WITH SQUARE.
Company has been holding over $1100.00 of mine for 92 days now for no explained reason. I signed up with another processor after they began holding funds and have had no problems. Pathetic customer service. After 3 months of providing documents and getting the run around I have yet to receive my money (which my customer paid for long ago).
This is a total scam. Who holds someone elses money for no reason and gets away with it?
PLEASE SIGN ME UP FOR A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT.
Lisa
Same problem here. holding 1000 of my dollars for WHAT? idk, My customer paid ME with this and they get the money. mine was only a week ago but i got the email where they wanted all my info, some of which i dont mind but bank statements and things i will not send. i was able to refund my client but i reallllly hope he gets his refund as now i am personally responsible. DON’T USE THIS COMPANY!!!! who else can just take your money and get away with it, your right Mack!! im NEVER using them again and advising everyone i know to do the same.
Joe
I keep getting notifications about these comments and so I feel I should chime in again. I have been a Square customer for many months now and though I had a few problems at first, I am now humming along with pretty good consistency. I put through transactions from $200 to many thousands and have no problems with them holding my monies. When I need an increase I write them from their site and get an answer within the 24 hours they allocate for that type of response. I have gotten used to not reaching them by phone as that is not a service that they offer up. Over all I have been happy with the service, as I get my monies quickly, and the fees are reasonable. I realize that others are having problems but I am pretty happy with the service. I think if you have a stable base of customers that are themselves stable, you are likely to have a good experience. That is my experience anyway. I am not a shill, I am a real customer. I just think you should here both sides.
S Maner
Dont use them! Still holding my money from Nov 2012. Can’t get anyone on the phone. Email is a runaround. They owe me 600.00. Save your money and time.
Pete Woodworth
I am consumately disappointed in Square, in addition to being mis-led. Here’s the deal: Bought an HTC One V (4.0 Android) so that I could use the Square Credit Card scanner @ 2.69 % fees. The problem is that the friggin scanner won’t work which means that every transaction must be input manually. Oooops… Different fees: 3.75% plus 15 cents. Complaints to Square fall on deaf ears… Apparently, they like the fact that they can charge me more. I’m on the hunt for the first credit card scanner that actually works with my HTC One V. BTW, HTC is no help either. Square points a finger at HTC – HTC at Square. If anyone out there can help me solve my problem, I’m all ears!
OSJ
Hay, you guys scaring me. I have been using square now for 4 months. I have not had any problems so for. However, I don’t like the no phone customer service contact. Also I am a small volume, small transaction merchant. If I process by 8:00 PM My funds are in my bank the next morning before the bank opens. I use an IPad mini with DSL wifi, no problems so for. The card has always swiped if I do it correctly. Before I recommend square to any one else I will surely advise them of these issues that you all have so kindly shared. Thank you!
Jesse L Johnson CEO
I purchased Square last year. I found it was a great way to conduct business. This month, I swiped a card from a client. I would not work. So they tried another card. Again, no go. So we proceeded to punch in the numbers manually. The card was approved by Square, then brought up the signature page. The customer signed on the phone for the total amount of the sale. We then emailed the receipt to him.
SQUARE now says there is NO recored of this transaction. I have a printout from my customers bank and it clearly shows the transactions. But the continued emails from square claim there was no such transaction. ALSO, I have to figure this out via email alone.
I live in an area with 6 military bases and allot of small businesses. I will forever give square a thumbs down! This money is allot to me as being a sole Owner and Small veteran owned business! I make very little so every amount counts. If this cannot be repaired by Square,. the next step is small claims court!
Sincerely disapointed! Jess Johnson CEO Umbrella Tactics
Pamela
My problem with Square is from a customer standpoint. I ordered something online, and when the merchant processed my payment using Square, Square sent my receipt to my husband’s email address instead of to mine. I clearly had used my own email for the purchase. My husband had made a purchase elsewhere a couple of months before, and that merchant also used Square. Obviously they are storing credit card info. I’ve been exchanging emails with their customer service, and I can’t seem to get it across to them that I don’t want our credit card info stored *anywhere.* He says it’s to make it easier for a customer when they make future purchases. Forget that, I don’t want my info stored, I don’t care how inconvenient it is.
Karen
Communicating with “Square” is definitely a problem. Having technical difficulties with the phone results in lost sales because of the lack of customer support. Also, the square prong broke off in my phone and they have basically said,” Good luck. Take it to a phone repair store. That very rarely happens.” The prong is made of plastic, so it would be easy to break off in a phone. My phone has been rendered semi-usable because the headphone port thinks there is a headphone plugged in. They have not been helpful with this annoying and crippling problem.
Yellow Blue Stars
I also have a problem with Square.
They hold took money from my bank account and hold money more than 2 month.
Even I tried to call their customer service, they hang up.
Even we send some question to customer service e-mail address, they don’t pay attention our last e-mail and never answer our question.
Sign me up for class action suit!
Ron Pettit
What a joke! They hold your money for 30 days and don’t even have the professionalism or common courtesy to leave a phone number to discuss Horrible customer service!
Native7
Square has held my funds for 1 year now. They no longer respond to my e-mails at all and of coarse do not have a phone that anyone answers. I, like everyone else was lured in to this scam and the first few transaction went ok………..then ran over $40,000 in 2 weeks and they froze our account, demanded extensive documentation (which we provided) then still refused to pay us. Our customers have all been charged and paid their bills long ago. We were able to issue refunds to the majority of customers (which made us look VERY UNPROFESSIONAL) and charge their cards using another processor, but they are still holding over $6000. on Feb 21st it will be a full year. Don’t believe any comment that is positive toward this company as they are probably paying someone to write them. NO ONE gets on the internet and writes comment on a complaint board unless they are FURIOUS. I have contacted three attorneys about a class action. As soon as I sigh with one I will post on all board so everyone can join and stop these idiots. Good luck to all!
susan miller
I cannot believe these people get away with this. Back in December I was advised of 3 chargebacks and was told I had 15 days to respond with documentation. After having submitted the said documents they emailed saying they would support me in this case (I never even received a depost for one of the transactions!) but they withdrew the funds anyway. Now after reading several complaints I have come to the sad realization that I will not get paid but can add my self to the long list of other businesses swindled by these crooks.
Hopefully there will be a lawsuit against them
Richard Monteforte
I am in the same boat as most of you. I took a $4K plus payment from one of my customers in December, and had $2K plus withheld now for 25 days. When I questioned this I was instructed to send in copies of bank statements to be reviwed for a deposit increase. I did. This was their response on 12/31/2012. (Hello Monteforte, We’ve received your completed form. We’ll review your information and get back to you within 1-2 business days.)
Sincerely,
Square Account Services (copied from their email)
On 1/13/2013 I received the following NOW saying they did not receive the documents.
Hello Richard
Thank you for writing in. We do not show the additional information form has been completed. We had requested the following documents to review in consideration of a higher manual entry limit:
– Your three most recent bank statements for the bank account linked to your Square account.
Once you send us these documents, we will continue the review of increase in your payout amount and release any deferred payments for deposit to your bank account. You can send the documentation to us via this email thread with file attachments. Popular formats are PDF and JPG.
Sincerely,
Square Account Services.
I strongly believe there is an unstated motive of using these undistributed funds to bolster the Company’s bottom line and parlay the unreleased funds to make additional money through interest or investments.
[contact information redacted]
Doug
Company is an absolute JOKE, they could care less about the merchants and have no clue on how to handle, respond to unsubstantiated charge backs from customers. They have taken 348.00 from us for a AMEX chargeback that AMEX found in us the Merchants favor back on December 6th it is now January 19 and we have yet to receive this money back from square who promptly took the funds out of our account but cant figure out a way to put it back in. A JoKE this company is, you cannot speak to anyone and they hide behind e mails. DONT Do business with this company if you are a merchant
Tim Pearson
Do not sign up with Square!!!
Everything was fine for almost two years at a low volume.
Now my sales increased and all of a sudden Square is sitting on $6000 of my money!
They say 30 days that’s BS!!!
They took the money from my customers, they took their cut, and now they won’t release my funds??
They are thieves!! Does anyone know the physical address for this company?
I will get my money!
jjj
customer services sucks they hang up on me twice they are holding alot of my money for 90 days and they don’t have a reason why its like them getting there paychecks hold for 90 days how would they like it they won’t even talk to my lawyer they hang up on him what they are doing is not ok i think we all should open a class act law suit the problem is they have no manager when asked to talk to one they hang up on u I am done with company but i am not down with put a law suit on them they should shut this company down
Steve
I have a small business and signed up with Square about 8 months ago so that I could offer this payment option to my customers. I have had two good experiences and now-I am so frustrated! My customer’s card was charged but Squre has not released my funds. They required me to send information (over the net) about my business and as of two days ago, posted I could expect payment in the first week of February—-In the meantime I am working for the same customer who hired me based on the assumption they could pay with their credit card. I think I am in DEEP!
Jane
Does anyone know if you can write off the charges that Square charges on your annual tax return?
karen rocchio
Not a good start. I entered my business address instead of my personal address on the sign up page, so Square would not let me accept payments. On the troubleshoot page, it mentions to just go back in and change the address, but I cant find a way back to that page. I emailed Square, they have not gotten back to me yet. I called Square, but they basically direct you to send them an email, and the automated system hangs up on you without notice.
Don
I have been with Square for at least 10 months now and such a big savings over the traditional methods. Some of the reviews’ comments is just why I like them. I have a small business, less than $1000 per month and usually small transactions. They never asked me for detailed information on my business or persoanal information like Intuit and Goanywhere, which saved me a great amount of time. In over 1000 transactions my money has always made it to the bank with days, as they promised and mothing missing. Only one hold for a +$1000 transaction, which is rare for me, but still only was held for less than one week. THe ease of use (although having to swipe the card several time using my first generation iphone) but with the ipad, very quick, done with 10 seconds. Payanywhere advertises a lower rate, but it took them 15 days to send me their swiper (two days for Square or pick it up at Radioshack, Target, etc) and once I got the goanywhere swiper I had to make a call to their customer service to get logged on. I was on hold with Goanywhere customer service nearly 15 minutes and finally hung up, waste of time. I have never had to call Square’s Customer Service, so have not experienced that. Their web site allowed me to see all transactions, fees, so quite satisified (although would like a lower rate). Keeping Square!
Everett
Have been in buisness for over 15 years signed up for the square no problems at first then all the sudden we are not getting our deposits, no way of a contact number to find a reason wh ,yno way of talking to a personand we all know we have credit card problems, we thought this was a better way to go but we will no longer use the square due to lack of every thing, we run a buisness and if it was done like they do we would be out of buisness as they will be soon, i know alot of people using the square and im putting the word out every where i can possiably put it, DONT USE THE SQUARE YOU WILL GET SCREWED.
Ruth
I have a low volume business, less than 1000.00 a month so this credit card processing is perfect for me. I have been with them for 4 months now had no issues and I’m very satisfied with their service. The fees are very low and they are perfect for a business like mine. I read all the reviews here and I don’t think it is suited for a business that does high volume credit card processing. I love the convenience and I have repeat customers so chargebacks or high dollar charges are not an issue with me. I was paying over $200.00 a month just for processing fees with another company so for me signing up with this company was the best thing I did for my business.
bitash
I could not be more UNSATISFIED. This is FRAUD. These morons have NO CUSTOMER SERVICE NUMBER! How the hell is that possible? When you call customer service you cannt get through to anyone and they just hangup on you. So its a FAKE number. No one to talk to. Square has been holding on to our money since Oct of 2012! When I inquired about why there has been No deposit, i get an email back in 4 days stating, oh…there has been an inquiry on your account so we are holding on to the payments!!!! what? why was I not informed? Why did i not get an email stating whats goin on so we can resolve this asap. Instead, they just kept collecting my $ and now they keeping it! This is FRAUD. I will contact BB, this is terrible customer service. I would sign up with another company. I am done with square!
creative consulting group ov
We are a small business and have been signed to square.com for over seven months. We were apprehensive about leaving a comment because it appears the majority of recent comments have been negative and bad experiences. It made me think are these comments from competitors.
We have not had one transaction not process within two days maximum.
The comment by a poster regarding the use of WiFi and disabling we found to be accurate in our case.
We realize that paypal offers a .1% difference but the issues that we incurred with paypal allowing
an unauthorized vendor (domain company) to automatically debit our account monthly without a contact
eliminated paypal from our choice. If anyone can post an alternative that is proven reliable besides
paypal let us know. Thanks
Adam
Awful experience just signed up and had all my bank information verified and reived a complimentary deposit. Once I attempted collect from a customer with a credit card they hold the funds and say my bank is no longer verified. I try with no avail to update information and only get e-mail responses dancing around the fact that they will not release my funds to me. I have made multiple requests at this point to close the account and the only response I get is to give them more banking information. This company is a scam
Chris
Going on 2nd week of no monies for transactions
Made with square and will not return emails and will not
Tell me why I am not being paid my $2000+ pay pal
here I come! Sign me up for class action suit!
Steve
I am finding a lot more problems than were discussed in your review.
The set up page for receipts has very limited options for putting in your logo with regard to the size and layout.
It required that you use Firefox instead of internet explorer.
The card reader virtually doesn’t work with the ipad mini or the regular ipad. I think I got it to read 1 time out of 50 tries. It never recognizes the “swipe” However, it seems to work fairly well with the iphone.
Customer support has been horrible!
And I haven’t yet had any real transactions……
My rating is an F for this reader! I do not recommend this reader to anyone!
Peter
I had a problem with WiFi connections reading from Ipad & iphone, but when i disabled the Wifi and went with the 3G only, problems were eliminated … haven’t had one not readable swipe. It may have to do with the type of network wifi is trying to use.
Steve
Hmmmm, Interesting, thanks for that!
Marlie D
Square is a joke, tried for 6 days to update bank info and they kept saying verify by emailed link. Nope never was sent. Went through new years not being able to accept mobile payments. There is no contact # just send an email then get some idiot who repeates themselves. Cancelled our account and went with Intuit Go Pay…
rafael
i used square for about six months & everything was going well. on two occasions i made deposits from my account to another account & although they withdrew the money form my account, it never deposited the money in the other account. for 2 weeks ive been trying to find out whats the problem & even by leaving email ive yet to talk to anyone. i ended up having to pay this person with my own money. they have no way of contact. once i find a way to get the withdrawn money back, i will throw the square card reader in the trash where it belongs. would not recommend this company to my worst enemy.
Calvin Brackins
Square card is a scam…I have over 900.00 that they are holding for no reason at all. I was sent an email saying they are closing my account and the funds are being held for 180 days. six months…If you are looking to use square card, DO NOT DO IT. Find another company or another provider.
Chris Spence
I have been trying for over a week to get a reasonable answer out of the company about their latest app update. I actually read the update before clicking AGREE.
The latest app update has a provision for the app to access the camera,audio and video recorder on your phone, and I quote, “at any time”. Now, I understand being able to attach a picture of a product or a customer to a transaction. I don’t understand and I question the wording “at any time”.
The email exchanges have been insulting, frustrating and amusing. With the feeling that they are intentionally dancing around my question. After no fewer that half a dozen exchanged they have yet to acknowledge my question of why I should give permission for the app to access those features “at any time” or why they would need to be accessed when I am not processing a transaction.
David Saxby
As a Canadian I have discovered when you go on line to sign up for your account the sign in page asks for a ZIP Code. We use Postal Codes in Canada. The system will not accept postal codes. Square was launched in Canada and there is no Canadian office or support line for the Canadian market.
Also, when it asks for bank account information the numbers we have for bank accounts don’t work.
And trying to reach Square is only through email. No chat line and no phone number.
Shawn Miller
I recently started using “SquareUp” service and card reader. I provided all information and documentation required on initial application. My application was reviewed and approved. When I received my card reader, I tried a test transaction, which was successful. So, I felt comfortable completing my first transaction with a customer, for the services that my company provided. After completing the $2,500.00 transaction I received an e-mail from “SquareUp”, requesting that I provide additional information to verify my business, and that the $2,500.0 payment would be deferred till I provide this extensive list of documentation. It was very difficult to get live customer sevice, all of their phone numbers seem to lead to mailboxes. I provided all of the 40+pages of documentation for review, and was ultimately deemed “high risk” and service promptly revoked, without explanation. It is their,initially undisclosed, policy to hold the money for 180 days (six months!). Now my payroll checks are going to bounce, a week before Christmas! My complaint with “SquareUp” is that all information/documentation should have been verified prior to accepting my application and providing service. Also, they need to disclose all of their sketchy policies from the onset. Getting customer service or technical support is very difficult, and to hold my money for six months is outrageous. I feel I have been defrauded.
Purnima som
There is no customer service. I refunded a credit to a client for two 25000 on his credit card. Money was taken out of my account . My client didn’t receive the money for three weeks. I was told two many sales were done for one year I need to do a llc. I just did that the very first sale for 12000 they will not process they want to hold the money for 180 days. I am calling attorney generals office. I just found out lot lot of people are having the same problem with them
Cass
Can someone tell me if manual payments are deposited at the exact time of keyed? If entered on 11/13 at 1:45 PM should I not be expecting the deposit until 12/13 at 1:45 PM? Not seeing a deposit and after reading all of these concernes I am starting to get worried.
Dave
I have been doing manual transactions, and getting my deposits daily.
Wayne Guy
Same with us. All our transactions are manual entries and we receive the funds the next morning.
As I said, I don’t think Square is for everyone, especially if your transactions vary wildly and you can’t establish a pattern early on.
Square, unlike banks, seem to accept anyone and his second best friend as a client. It seems because of that that they are unusually cautious with their security. Early on we encountered that and they were going to hold some of our larger transactions. After emailing them we got those freed up and we haven’t had any issues in a long time.
Right now we are happy with them and have no inclination to move elsewhere, so for all those merchant account vendors that phone after I comment, please don’t.
Barb
I ordered my square just the other day (haven’t received yet) as well as a new phone (apple 5). After picking up my new phone I realized that head set jack were the square is to be inserted is now on the bottom of the apple phone!!!!!!!!! I hope this isn’t a problem for swiping!!!! Does anyone have any feed back on this?? I did hear when you are swiping the card reader with a phone that has a head set jack on the top of the phone you have to hold it steady with your thumb..How is this going to be done when the head set jack is now on the bottom!
Hester
My HTC was like this. Rotate the phone any way you feel comfortable and you can also rotate the swiper to have the back (no logo) face you or to the side.
Barb
Thanks for the tip Hester!! I will definitely try this out when I receive my first transaction!
DAMON JAMES
Square was good at first but now not so much I been using square for almost 8 months I have mobile computer and cell repair even was great especially since I didn’t have to deal with cash all the time and out of nowhere square just decide to hold my funds next the ask for bunch of useless information like your facebook and or tweeter account your business info which I provided next thing I know they said my business is to high risk and that they are deactivating my account the will hold the fund for 45 days if i can’t wait 45days i should refund all the payments to my customers and have them pay me another way. I decide I’ll just wait, after the 45 days was up I emailed them so they can release the funds they sent me an email 5 days later telling me they released the funds and I will get an email once the deposit has been initiated 10 days later still nothing until I took DAVE CHAFFEE advice and told square i was going to file a complaint with the attorney generals office and start tweeting COO Keith Rabois @Rabois and Jack Dorsey and flood there tweeter accounts with complaint my funds were released the next day. if you are looking for to take payments for your business don’t use square they are plenty of other processors you can use with better customer service actual people you can talk to with a number to call rather than emailing back and forth for days
RT
I am surprised to read so many negative posts about Square. After accepting credit cards for nearly 15 years, Square is the fourth merchant service I have used, and the first that has not ripped me off. Their rates are low and the money is usually sent to my bank in one business day. They immediately notify me how much of the charge will be deducted for their fee. No surprise fees have popped up like I experienced with other merchant services. I have not processed any unswipped amounts over $ 2,000 so I havn’t experienced any of the problems some users have complained about with funds being held. However with all the credit card fraud that goes on I find this reasonable so they can keep their fees low. Maybe the Square is not best for everyone but I give it an A+ rating.
AV Los Angeles
Another dummy to fall victim to the Suare Scam. I used them for about 4 months. Every thing went great but then out fot he blue, the deposit stoped coming. All transcations were under $100 but only one was over $100. 15 days went by and no deposits were made, I emailed them and they replied that my account was under review for security reasons. They asked for all kinds of doucments to verify my business. I supplied every one of them ony to be sent an e mail that my account was being closed becaused it was high risk. and they would be holding my money for 120 days. Can you believe these f**n idiots. How is my legitimate business high risk, I have no charge backs, no complaints all my business documents are in order. Now I need to get my money and have no clue where to turn. For the looks of it, they do this sort of thing too often. That cannot be legal, there’s got to be a away to bring these crooks to justice. IF YOU DONT HAVE SQUARE, DONT FALL VICTIM TO THIS SCAM. YOU WILL REGRET IT AS MANY OF US IN HERE ARE.
Tony
BEWARE OF Square USER AGREEMENT.They cancelled our account.because we own a head shop and it seems this is immoral or something. Seems.
Pretty ridiculous coming from the most liberal pot smoking
city in the world. Locked me out and because of their nonexistent customer service I had no idea what was going on and so I set up again and it was cancelled again. I GUESS THEY DON’T WANT TO GIVE BACK ALL THOSE FEES TOOK FROM MY ACCOUNT. I WILL TAKE MY BUSINESS ELSEWHERE. PLEASE CHECKOUT THEIR USER AGREEMENT IT IS. SO FUNNY.
Alex
My small business had an order online for which we ordered and sent merchandise to the customer well after the money cleared in our account for safety. Then because we wanted extra assurance we emailed Square to inquire about the possible fraudulence of the transaction. Square replied informing us this is business as usual on this date within a couple days. We then shipped the merchandise insured via USPS to customers supplied address. The day the merchandise was signed for and received the customer applied for a charge-back stating he did not receive the merchandise. The customer never spoke to us prior to issuing the charge-back. We have ALL documents to prove we accepted the payment, purchased goods from our vendor, and sent the merchandise accordingly as directed by the customers needs. As a small business owner I’m sure the only thing we could’ve done to improve our security would be to only accept cash or money order. Now the full amount of the merchandise has been debited from our account by Square and we feel we have been taken advantage of. We of course immediately attempted to dispute the charge-back providing the tracking number of the goods and now the invoice and emails of the customer. Only after hours of searching did we find Square’s phone number. There appears to be no customer service number listed on the website at all. Now we are left with no funds and we also already shipped the merchandise. The customer is completely unresponsive. Square has as far as I can tell done nothing to help us. Because we are a small business we do not have enough money to cover all the costs. This leaves our business with a negative balance and cripples our ability to continue to do business.
Dane Chaffee
An update from my review the other day. I contacted the California Attorney general’s office, and the San Fran district attorneys office. I also tweeted COO Keith Rabois @rabois.
I told them they had one day to release my funds or I would file complaint with the AG office. Next morning my funds were released. Everyone needs to tweet Jack Dorsey and Keith Rabois.
You cannot let square get away with holding funds from your accounts.
DANE CHAFFEE
Stephanie
Square was great for the first few months, and then everything fell apart. If you process larger transactions, do yourself a favor and use any company BUT Square.
First problem with Square- you cannot initiate a partial refund. I had to refund the entire amount a customer was charged, then I was told it could take 5-7 days for them to get their refund. That meant we had to wait 7 days to charge the customer’s card again. Email support, when they finally answered, was woefully uninformative.
Next issue- we keyed in a card for over $2k because their shoddily constructed reader would not work. For “security purposes” they are holding those funds for 30 days. Nice, right? How can a small business survive while a company like Square holds the money to gain interest from it? Isn’t it enough that you charging rather high fees?
Issue that sent us over the edge- first chargeback ever happened recently. Still in dispute. Now they are holding all of our incoming funds (without warning us, of course). Our Square balance is now $2,121.25, and yet I get emails that our Square balance is negative and that they are debiting our BANK for the amount of the chargeback. Since they are holding $2k+ of our funds, why not just debit the chargeback from that? Greedy much? Also, they have done nothing to help us dispute the fraudulent chargeback against our account.
Square may give you a free reader, but you’ll pay dearly for it!
[Sentence redacted for promotional violation]
Bill
Stephanie,
I had the same issue with Square a few months back (the bad review is on here somewhere). Square never did anything about what I called fraud charges (almost a year with no feedback whatsoever from them). Fortunately, my bank (Chase) agreed with me, and took care of my finacial losses, and handled the issue with Square on their own.
Ive needed the credit card ability, and decided to use Intuit’s Go Payment. It has an A- rating here (Square has C-), and its only an A- because some peoples reviews are negative because they dont know how to use the APP or dont like the reader…. (the APP is easier than Square).
Anyway, Intuit is so far the bomb. Ive charged several thousand dollars (10 transactions) with only one issue. And that issue was I charged a customers card twice in one day (my first transaction with them), and a red flag went up. I got a notice from them for me to contact them, so I called, and after a little wait, I got a live person who was the most friendly woman Ive ever spoke to on the phone, and she took care of it immediately! Now get this, in a few days, she called me up for no reason, other than to make sure Im happy, and to let me know the funds should be in my account now! UNREAL. Im very impressed.
I thought Id share this with you, so you can try another card swiper company, and know another Square victim found something better. I hope you like them. Their gig is the same as Square as far as sign up. Just sing up, get your free reader, download the APP, and your ready.
I hope this helps you :)
– Bill
Michael
Hello everyone,
I had square for a year now, and worked fine with it till now. DO NOT USE THEM!! out of nowhere they closed my account and took my funds without a concrete reason. They do not have a legit phone number and their email communication does not help. I am a Reverend, and do not have to lie.
Please if you value your money do not use them.
God bless
Dane Chaffee
This is a warning for anyone considering using squarepay for credit card processing. Don’t ever use them for anything. I have had funds held now for over 45 days. Square won’t tell me why they are holding funds. I sent them a noter i zed contract for the charges in question over a month ago. Jeanette keeps asking for documents that have nothing to do with this company. They are by far the worst company I have ever dealt with.
They dojo have a 1-800 number, or, any number for that matter. I have filed a complaint with CA Attorney General’s office. Also with the BBB.
Find somewhere else to run your cards. Jeanette and square aren’t worth the hassle.
Laura
I obtained a Square for business at tradeshows for our company. There are international tradeshows that occur over the weekends not allowing direct connection for credit card approvals via the home office. The device seemed easy to work with, spoke of direct access to depositing funds from the charges at these tradeshows into our company account and provided professional receipt correspondence to the customer on each transaction.
Collecting funds from Square has proven to be a nightmare. The amount of information they require to verify the company is more than I have ever experienced. Despite providing them with latest advertising materials, specifications of our company, copies of all invoices from the show, descriptions of what we do and why we do it, to name a small few, we complied with their requests in attempts to collect our funds. The company had major concerns when asked for the last 3 bank statements from our company, confidential information that should be contained in a CDA, post tradeshow. To date, funds have not been collected and our company currently is in limbo with collecting $15,000. Square has no direct contact to any manager by phone and the response our President, Controller, Accountant and I received when requesting to speak with a manager was that she only responds in emails and would get back to us in a “few hours”, leaving our company no comfort in knowing Square had any concern over discussing this issue. The call-in number, we were told, was only for technical support and their was not direct access to any management.
If there are any thoughts of moving forward with using Square, I would recommend reconsideration. My personal experience left me disgruntled and in an age where customer service is so important, very unimpressed with Square’s attempts to satisfy their accounts.
teresa
These people are crooks! They ar not a banking institution. They are money aggregators and do not have to follow the same laws that legitimate financial institutions do. I had the very same problems everyone else had with them holding $7000. It was a nightmare but fortunately my bank helped me out. I had a regular merchant account for many years and had a great rate. I thought I was avoiding th monthly fees by using square. I was wrong. If you are a legitimate business and you are processing larger transactions use a bank the fees are lower and there is recourse should something go wrong. Richard Branson (Virgin) is a major investor in Square. If people start boycotting all Virging projects in protest, I bet something will be done. In the meantime social media can be the great equalizer. Go to the founders Twitter account and start tweeting away. We need this to go viral!!!
ejaz
I have been using sqaure since they were in beta, this is for small transactions nothing over $400. If you want to use anything over $400 use paypal here. I am a taxi driver, use both flawlessly and a happy client.
Jack
C- is too good for Square. Here is the scoop …. A card was presented and swiped, it was a much larger than our usual dollar amount and the Square software asked for the # to be keyed-in, the clerk didn’t think anything about it and keyed it in with the expire date, etc, the customer signed it and drove away in their new used car. That should not be the case and I believe it was done on purpose by Square to attain the larger fee. Square did release 2k but I have to wait another month to receive the balance on the transaction. Can you say fraud? I’ll be looking for a new processor. I’m on the fence as to reporting to the FBI.
If they are allowed to use my money for a month then they should be required to pay me interest.
Kevin
I am a new user. Square is holding $16,000.00 of my funds with no explanation.
After three weeks I have received absolutely NO communication. They do not respond to email. They do not answer the phone.
I made $16,000.00 in sales using my Square card reader.
Square has paid me $0.
I guess I have to file a police report and/or a lawsuit to get a response from them.
Douglas
I had the same issue when I first started with square. I called them and let them know that I was going to be running much larger amounts through my account and the 1000 a month was not going to work . . .if I remember if you swipe the card instead of keying it in you get paid the following day. My understanding is that they do this to allow a relationship to develop otherwise any scammer could run false cc for 30 days and take the money and stick square with the bill. So you need to let them know you need to increase your limit and I think they pay out 30 days from initial charge . . .gve it another week .. .at this point you are still within their rules and regulations so a lawsuit will do nothing but make you feel better…
Doug
P.s. square needs to have a live customer service line or they are going to start losing clients …if they have not already
Jeff Cornett
I myself and having issues with square and can find no customer service number nor do they respond when I try to contact them. I have switched to http://www.payanywhere.com I don’t know what else to do but square is a poorly run company.
Franco Urbano
How did you contact them via TELEPHONE? I am in need of resolution of an important matter by them and NO one is contacting me or my office staff. Thank you!
Kelly
I love using square to process our credit cards , as long as you know there terms it works great ! I usually have my funds the next day! I used a major credit card company before for processing and was always charged a crazy rate and then a monthly rate as well, with square I know what I am looking at! Just wish they had a call center for customer service but I have only needed to call them once for a question I was able to find in the support page!!!
Highly recommended
chucke
When Square works, it works great. When it doesn’t, good luck with customer service. I suspect they use bots to answer questions, because after a week of email exchanges, they are clueless about my problem. A retarded monkey in a coma could provide better customer service.
Ed
If you forget your password and you select the forget password link….you will NEVER get response and you acn then never access your account or close your account. This means they have your account information and you are now helpless.
Countless emails and messages and no response.
This company needs to get investigated by the commerce department, FBI and BBB.
It is borderline fraudulent.
CB
I have commented before on Square and not been completely dissatisfied but certainly when it comes to customer support it definitely suxxxxxxx . Switching to payanywhere. Created an account, have talked to a real person on customer support and sent an email with a couple questions. Very quick and informative response. Was unable to use Square’s Register because it is not supported with Android. Payanywhere does seem to have an inventory/pos in it’s app so looking forward to using it. or not???
Tom Crowe
Square is a great idea and very convenient for small business owners like myself. However, they have NO customer help line and little explanation as to how it all works. They withheld ALL my income from my summer seasonal business. It took me weeks to find out where the money went. They finally sent me an email saying that all my money was finally deposited in my bank account. I still am not sure it has been deposited.
The whole time I was using Square there no mention of any problem. I think that they use the money and collect the interest leave the customer in the dark. As convenient and a break through in credit card processing, Square deserves an F in the way they take advantage of their clients. I am sure that there are other companies out there that will offer the same opportunity with realistic service. I will never use Square again. I would not recommend anyone use Square. It is a total rip off.
JC CONCRETE
Square says they charge 2.75%for swiped transaction and 3% fee for manually input transactions but charged well over that amount. Our company has been trying to contact them regarding this matter but has not gotten a response as of yet. We disapprove of the fact that there is no customer service telephone number to resolve this matter.
Valen
If we close our bank account and we get chargeback can square get our money?
Phillip CPO
According to Square’s terms of use, you agreed to allow them to withdraw chargebacks after you close your Square account. If you close your attached checking account, you will still be liable to reimburse them for chargebacks.
Joe
I have used Square for almost a year now with NO issues even the knowledge of their less than stellar rating with the BBB.org. It was brought to my attention by a VP of a bank. My transaction amounts rarely surpass $199 at a time and do not exceed $1200/month. That being said. I love using Square. Thank you Square.
Mark Brazo
Good luck with Square when you actually have a problem or question, they dont have any live customer service and they never answer their emails, your a fool if you think they are a good company, I have had nothing but problems with them!!!
Mark
Wayne Guy
Mark, I agree when you say that Square seems to have no live customer service. But, we have emailed them on a number of occasions and have always received a reply within 24 hours.
We put through maybe $20,000 each month with small to larger transactions. No problems.
Square is not as straightforward as your local bank with their expensive merchant services, but if you learn their peculiar protocols you’ll save a bunch of your money without any issues. Just make sure you email them in time to request projected increases in weekly transactions.
Robert
@Wayne Guy: The common thread here is that everyone IS trying to “learn their peculiar protocols.” If they put everything out front in large type, their wouldn’t be much to learn, peculiar or otherwise. I don’t think anyone has accused them of being more problem prone than other processors—it’s just that there is no chance at a meaningful conversation to resolve an issue when it arises. (24-hr email response time in 2012 is akin to carrier pigeons.)
I suspect the reason for great disparity between those who have a problem and those who seem not to, lies in Square’s internal and secret risk analysis. The factors may include a credit report, banking history, years in business, nature of business, prior processor relationships, etc. Even though they may not ask about these items, they may factor them in. You will NEVER know. It seems no features can compensate for their lack of on-line (even chat) immediate customer support.
Phillip CPO
This comment section is primarily reserved for reviews of the Square service. Please see or Square Forum if you wish to have discussions regarding the service. Thank you!
Livonda Williams
I cant believe a company working with something as important as someones money didnt cover every aspect of the buisness. This is terribly rediculous. I am another square card dummy to scan my account to test didnt get the reciept text back though o well it may take 24 hours went ahead serviced a client and took their payment showed them my email as I was embarrased and now the money isnt in the account and I dont have no one to cleared up everything. Its called tech Support / customer service/ billing. I totally dont believe this. Who do we report this to? BBB Federal where do we go from here?