Square, Inc.

I signed up for credit card processing, then 4 days later I started to use the service. I have a total of 3 restaurant groups that I contract to for all their media needs.
I processed about $1500 in payments from their company Am Ex cards. Later that night I received an email asking for a ton of verification.
I furnished my FEIN, 3 months of bank statements, drivers license, copies of invoices, copies of my purchases from my vendors, all contact info for my customers, and even sent pictures of the work performed.
They cancelled the account and they are holding my money for 90 days. Please keep in mind, I am an Audio/Video/Media guy. After giving them this info and my account being cancelled for being high risk, I am befuddled to say the least.
As a small business owner, $1500, can have a serious impact on moving forward. To make all of this worse, you can't talk to a live person. They just cancel your account and send you a template email stating you are a high risk business, your account it cancelled, and we are holding your money for 90 days, our decision is final and they will not provide any details.

Despite being a real person and entering all of my information, which has not changed in six months, exactly as it appears on my credit report, Square thinks I am a fairytale and refuses to approve my account to process credit card transactions. Upon contacting the company, which has nothing in place to go a step further and verify identity with... oh, I don't know, say a legal document, I was told that you only have a few chances to verify and if you fail, you're never allowed to be verified. How stupid is that? I'm baffled at the stupidity of this company. So I decide I'll use [redacted], since I had no problem verifying my identity with them. I try to deactivate my Square account, since I essentially can't use it, and I'm told I am not allowed to deactivate it since I was never verified... hold on, WHAT? I can't be verified, but I also can't close an account sitting open with my own info? I'm beginning to feel as though I have no rights with this company. I highly recommend steering clear of them. I'll happily pay the extra $110 for the card reader... who needs a free card reader when the company treats you like a criminal and has no policy in place to check the actual identity of someone via a government issued identification card. Stay away.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:This is the same canned response sent the first time. Obviously they cannot take time to write true response. Revdex.com please move forward as appropriate
Sincerely,[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
 
I am familiar with the emails that I received from Square. All Square is doing is forwarding them again and not providing any pertinent information.
Again I will restate our issue in as simple a form as I can - 
1) Square froze our payments
*) Square cleared all of our frozen payments
3) Square decided to deactivate our account and won't release funds for ** days - WHY ARE YOU HOLDING FOR ** DAYS IF YOU ALREADY CLEARED ALL THE PAYMENTS! please release our funds
 
 
Sincerely,[redacted]

For several months the process of sending and receiving cash through Square cash worked perfectly. Last month on 7/20/16 my renter submitted a payment through Square cash for $1230.00. This withdrawal was posted through her bank and to date 8/10/16 has NOT showed up in my account. We both requested help through the Square Cash help on their App and received a couple of email responses, but the last 3 emails have not even been responded to. Their is not even a telephone number for us to call to get assistance. Both of our banks have been notified and they do not have a telephone number associated with the ACH.

That is unacceptable. Square is holding our money hostage. Where I come from that is STEALING. This is nothing more than an attack on an American owned business. I DEMAND the funds be released within 24 hours.Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:Sincerely,[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/03/17) */
Hello [redacted],
Upon further investigation, I see that Square sent you an email on February 19th stating that they were unable to validate your updated tax payer information with the IRS. In order to update the tax payer information,...

please log into your Square Dashboard and input the requested information that accurately reflects your tax payer preferences. The system cannot update unless the right information is submitted.
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 7, 2014/03/20) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
I accept this complaint as resolved, but I'm not happy that it took a month and a half and contacting Revdex.com to accomplish something a simple phone call and 5 minutes would have cleared up. Square Inc. needs a customer service phone number that people will actually answer!

Hello,Thanks for writing in. We understand that it can be frustrating to have your account deactivated.Unfortunately, due to security reasons and the obligations of our agreements with card networks and other financial institutions, we cannot reverse this decision and are unable to provide additional details. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but our decision to deactivate your account is final.

Hi E[redacted]I'm contacting you regarding case 5[redacted] . As of Feburary 23rd ( closing date for my case with Sqaure INC) I've received one e-mail correspondence regarding my refund, then no further contact from the company after that. Also, no refund has ben issued. Is there any way I can reopen the case? Thanks very much.-R[redacted]Northern Arizona University

Please refer to the following email sent on [redacted]: Hello [redacted], We’re sorry to inform you that we are deactivating your account. Our Account Services team reviewed your account and found a pattern of transactions associated with high-risk activity. For further information about our...

policies, you can review section 36 of the Square Payment Terms. We regret that, starting today, you will no longer be able to process transactions using Square. Any funds currently in your account will be held for 90 days before being released to your linked bank account. If you’d prefer to receive funds more quickly, you should consider refunding the payments back to the original cards and seeking alternate forms of payment. (Please note that we will refund all the fees, too.) Refunds are available within 60 days of the original payment. To process a refund, log in to the Square dashboard. Use the date selector tool to locate the specific payment. Click the payment you'd like to refund, then click "Issue Refund". Select the reason you're refunding the payment, and click "Issue Refund." Unfortunately, our decision to deactivate your account is final. Due to security reasons and the obli**tions of our agreements with card networks and other financial institutions, we cannot reverse this decision and are unable to provide additional details. A**in, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.Sincerely,Square Account Services

We used Square for 5 years, not one issue, and had processed over $250,000.00 per year, than in June we were offered business funding by Square, we accepted, and were approved. The next day we noticed our account was deactivated, and we called the number available, once we got a csr on the phone they refused to speak to us, and would not give us a number we can use. They refused an hung up on us. We had to hire an attorney, and have one of our investigators locate their agent of service and also personally serve a manager. Which we did. We issued a cease and desist order to remove them from our corp account, and gave a copy to our bank, and our bank removed them from our account and banned them from doing any type of debit on us. Luckily we had been trying out the immediate deposit, and had the day prior to deactivation, we deposited our funds. I would issue an alarm on this company, and have no idea how Revdex.com allows them an A + status!

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/06/02) */
Hello [redacted],
Upon further investigation, I see that Square sent you an email on May 27, 2014 detailing the status of the billing dispute issued by your customer. It appears as though your customer issued a dispute for the difference...

between the authorized amount and the deposited amount. In accordance with Square's most recent email, at this time, your customer's bank has not yet notified Square about this billing dispute being closed on your customer's behalf. Please note, that every customer has the right to issue a billing dispute and that their card issuing bank is the ultimate arbiter of the dispute resolution. While Square does its best to represent you in challenging the dispute, it cannot prematurely close the dispute before it receives notice from your customer's bank regarding the resolution. Furthermore, as stated in Square's email, the disputed difference is currently held in your Square Account and has not been returned to your customer. At this time, the dispute still appears open, however, as soon as Square receives notice from your customer's bank regarding the resolution, Square will immediately notify you. If your customer does not wish to keep this dispute open, she is able to communicate this to her bank so that the dispute can be officially settled. The bank would then resolve this dispute in your favor and Square would then be able to deposit the held funds into your linked bank account.
Again, Square does its best to represent you in challenging chargebacks, however, your customer's bank is the ultimate arbiter. Therefore, until Square receives official notice of this dispute being closed, it is unable to resolve this dispute.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/06/05) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
This is my whole problem: The funds WERE returned to my client, within 3 days of the 1-day notice of the dispute I received from square. So, they did not keep the funds in my square acct., like they said they would. Second, there is no real customer service for them to respond to .You are right, they sent an email on May 27th, my first response from them, after 4 emails starting on May 11th. That was over 2 weeks with no response. this may be what my client's credit card company runs into too. Also, if they would have said to just have her company contact them, that would have made it a little easier. What I understood was, I was to contact her, she was to contact them, I was to get the info from them, then send it to square in JPEG form. a lot of hoops to jump thru. I want to know how they can get by or get away with no customer service hotline? What if this had been a breach or a hacking? I would have to wait 2 weeks to find this out? I will contact my client tomorrow, asking her to call her credit company and have them contact square.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2014/06/12) */
Hello [redacted],
After taking another look at your account, I can see that there has still been no resolution provided by your customer's bank regarding the dispute. To clarify, the held funds are still in your Square Account. If the dispute is resolved in your favor, then the funds will be released back into your linked bank account.
If you are in touch with your customer and can reach a resolution outside of the dispute process, we recommend that you request they contact their credit card company to reverse the dispute.
At this time, Square's Dispute Resolutions Team does not offer phone support. However, the dispute process requires Square to relay your documentation and information to challenge the chargeback to the card-issuing networks. Therefore, in order to best challenge your case, Square's Dispute Team currently operates solely over email so that all relevant information for your case is consolidated and can be used most effectively in challenging the chargeback.
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 11, 2014/06/14) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
I guess I have no choice than to let this go. My client swears she didn't do this, yet I have contacted her, several days ago, and told her what needs to be done to reverse the situation. I am not happy about this whole event. She says the money has already been credited back to her, so how can it still be in my square acct? Doesn't make sense. I have also not seen an easy way to actually open a dispute on accident, so maybe she lied to me. I may never know. I am very unhappy that there is no live tech support. I feel like I remember you having it at one time, and it was great. That was a horrible business decision to remove it.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/04) */
Based on the email sent by Square on 11/03/15, your funds are scheduled to be deposited into your linked bank account within one to two business days.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/11/06) */
(The consumer...

indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/09/08) */
Hello [redacted],
Upon further investigation of your account, an email was sent on August 28 with the status of your chargeback.
As outlined in the email, the dispute has preliminarily been closed in your favor. However, your customer...

does have 60 days or more to potentially re-dispute this case with their bank. Please note, re-dispute timelines can vary based on your customer's bank. In accordance with this email, once this hold period has expired, Square will notify you with the final resolution. Please note that disputes can take up to 90 days to resolve, however, timelines may vary and are determined by your customer's credit issuing bank, not Square. There are no further updates at this time.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2014/09/10) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
It would be helpful if square had some customer service available for people going through this situation. There is no protection for the merchant in this instance and no clear way on Square's web site to follow the progression of the chargeback.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because: I will have my friend contact the bank for a refund. If they are not able to refund, we can discuss the next steps. Sincerely,[redacted]

Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 6, 2015/08/26) */
They deposited the money yesterday after reaching out over Twitter. Problem is resolved.

THEY STOLE MY MONEY
THEY STOLE MY DAUGHTERS MONEY AND THEY PUT US BOTH OUT OF BUSINESS. THEY CLAIM I OWE THEM THOUSANDS AND YET HAVE STOLEN HUNDREDS FROM MY DAUGHTER. I HAVE CONTACTED EVERY AGENCY I KNOW OF IN THE COUNTRY. THEY SHOULD BE PUT OUT OF BUSINESS IMMEDIATELY AND THEIR MONEY FROZEN!

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because: We have used square at our other auctions and didn't have a problem.  This sale wasn't any different from the others except that our secretary forgot to give us the square and went out of town.  So in the beginning of the sale we called her and she plugged in the CC#.  Then after speaking with a square sales rep, he suggested that we could transfer our account to another phone and plug it in ourselves.  That's what we did and without notice, all the money that we took in that day is now being held.  We also were deactivated and are not able to contact anyone from the company, because you need a member code and ours has been stripped. The money that we charged is our clients money and not ours.  We have a fiduciary responsibility to get the client  his/her money within 14 business days after the sale.  We are now past that time and still have not heard how or when we are getting the money. Square repeatedly  sends us to their website to read about refunds.  That's not what we are interested in.  We need the funds from the sale.  We will not be satisfied until we speak with a Square rep and get answers to our questions.  We have sent this information to our attorney and are waiting for a response.  We see that this has happened with many of the square clients and they feel the same way we do. I would like to alert people to beware that this service is less than reputable and lacks customer service support as well as business morals!  We have switched to another service and are able to get in touch with them with just a phone call.  I can be reached at [redacted] if the folks at square should has the common courtesy to contact me.
[redacted]

This company has the very worst customer service ever. I cannot emphasize this enough. I am being tortured by this company! I have spent two days calling them, being put on hold, then my call has been dropped and the whole thing starts over. They are holding my money and after at least 10 calls, yes, I said 10!, it is still not resolved. I haven't even spoken to anyone with any authority to actually solve my problem. DO NOT USE THIS COMQPANY!!

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/04/14) */
Hello ***,
Upon further investigation, I see that Square sent you an email on April 1, 2014 notifying you of 11 deposits that have been sent to your account since March 3, 2014. After taking a look at your account, I can confirm that...

there were deposits sent to your most recently linked bank account. It looks like you have changed your linked bank account several times since the date of your first inquiry. Please be sure to check your most updated bank account for these deposits. Currently, there are no pending deposits for this account. Please log into your Square dashboard at: https://squareup.com/dashboard/sales/deposits to view exact deposit details.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/04/24) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I have not received any funds at all from your company. I can attach emails, bank statements showing that, last email sent to me said they were assuring a deposit of 8,675.35 and failed to do so for the third time now. I have not received any deposits since 3/13/14. My business is *** *** *** Spa with a bank account from Wells fargo. I have not only waited a long time but am being charged for late fees on my lease, insurance, bills, have overdraft fees and do not have enough money to pay my empLoyees. I have been extremely stressed and been to the doctor. If you do not resolve this you will need to pay what you owE me, all my damaging fees, medical fees and attorney.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2014/05/09) */
Hello ***,
After taking another look at your account, I see that a member of Square's Account Services team emailed you on May 8, 2014 confirming that your check has been mailed to you. In addition to this confirmation, Square requested that you submit a time that best works for you if you wished to speak about the matter further on the phone. I see that you have not yet responded to this email. The check for the remainder of your funds was mailed on May 6, 2014, and should be arriving shortly.
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 11, 2014/05/12) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)