Consumer complaint received 2021-02-23
Company: Square Inc
State: PA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem

Complaint:
On the morning of Wednesday XX/XX/XXXX using my XXXXXXXX XXXX smartphone, I attempted to buy {$1.00} worth of bitcoin using cashapp 's bitcoin investing feature using the radio button XXXX the app 's page has discreet predetermined buttons in the amounts of {$1.00}, {$10.00}, {$20.00}, {$50.00}, {$100.00}, or " ... '' which would allow the user to go to a different screen and enter another specific amount. With the default setting of " standard one-time order, '' I selected " {$1.00} '' and then the " next '' button which took me to the " confirm your cash pin '' screen which I confirmed with my fingerprint rather than a numeric PIN which then automatically executes the sale ( Quick note : I did notice that today XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX that I can not use my fingerprint as a PIN the way I did that day. ). I received an email from cash app at XXXX " confirming '' my purchase of {$15.00} worth of bitcoin instead of the {$1.00} that I entered. I've never bought more that {$5.00} at a time which I did once, and had previously purchased {$1.00} increments on 4 other occasions so I know how to use the service. Cash app requires that you have a balance in your Cash app to purchase bitcoin, but it withdrew additional money from my linked bank account to cover the amount that it selected for me over the amount I wanted to buy XXXX it authorized a withdrawal of an additional {$4.00} from my bank account without my consent to cover the difference between the balance I had in cash app and the {$15.00} total ). I immediately went back to the app to look for a phone number or support contact and was unsuccessful, so I used the in app support center to send my initial complaint about the malfunctioning of the app. 

I then got stuck in a terrible feedback loop of canned customer support responses that misunderstood my problem, failed to acknowledge my problem, and refused to address my problem, which I'll summarize below, and am happy to forward via email if it's helpful. I sent a total of 5 messages from XXXX XXXX XXXX and also a complaint via a survey link. 

On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX I got a message saying that cash app is " unable to reverse a bitcoin transaction once it has been initiated '' and going on to explain more detail why nothing can be done, completely overlooking my actual concern of an error in the app, which I addressed in my response at XXXX that day. 

On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, I got a response from XXXX who incorrectly stated that I wanted to recover my funds from cash app and said that he would provide clarity. He again said that Cash App can't reverse a transaction, and sent me instructions for selling bitcoin. That same day at XXXX I again attempted to clarify that I was not trying to recover my cash, but instead was trying to alert cash app of an issue I had with a malfunction in the app. I specifically requested confirmation that my issue was escalated and shared with the tech support/dev folks at Cash App/Square. I described what happened in great detail for the XXXX team, and let them know what device I was using when I had the incident. That same day at XXXX XXXX responds and tells me that she'll share my feedback with the Cash team to help improve my experience. At XXXX I respond that I would like to know what will happen with my info and that I'm concerned that the issue still has not been addressed. 

On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, XXXX answers with the same canned answer as XXXX XXXX thanks for taking the time to send over your feedback. I'll be sharing this with our cash team to help improve your experience with Cash App. '' I replied at XXXX to let them know my concerns in greater detail and shared my intention to report my experience to the CFPB. 

I didn't get response until XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX acknowledging my frustration and giving me instructions for sending bitcoin to third parties, which I have never done and was not trying to do, and then sending nice messages to about the health of my loved ones. I responded on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX stating that the response did not address any of he specific questions I asked and asking if real humans answer customer concerns. 

On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX I heard from XXXX who said that she could confirm that they already " investigated into the issue I experienced with the APP and we can confirm that there is no global issue impacting the APP. '' She then thanks me for taking the time to send my feedback and says she'll be sharing it with the Cash team to help improve my experience with Cash App. She then gives me specific instructions to keep this from happening again which were new including updating my phone and app, turning off my phone and turning it back on, force closing the app, deleting and reinstalling the app, and then she says that if I have the issue again after doing that, I should send a screenshot or video of the issue, what I did right before it happened, and the make and model of my advice ( in short, all of the info, I'd already sent in earlier messages to be shared with the XXXX team ). To me this was an acknowledgement that there was actually an issue with the app, and that other people have complained about it too, ( also not sure why I didn't get this message on XX/XX/XXXX ) but I can't be sure, so I'm submitting a complaint just in case.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation