Consumer complaint received 2025-06-06 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem — 
Company: Block, Inc.
State: OH

Complaint narrative:
I recently started a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and opened an account with SquareXXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX/squareXXXX ) to maintain my inventory and accept credit card and other payments. 

My first large transaction ( approx. {$14000.00} ), a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXt, was invoiced through Square ( on XX/XX/year> ) and paid by my customer ( a friend of my wife ) through an ACH payment. Square notified me that the payment was pending and on XX/XX/year>XXXX  notified me that my balance would be unavailable until i provided more information about my business and this specific transaction. 

On XX/XX/year>, I uploaded a copy of my photo ID, federal EIN , county vendors license and state business registration along with detailed correspondence with my customer about the order. 

Later that day, on XX/XX/XXXX, Square notified me that after review of the documents I provided, my account is suspended immediately and Square will retain the {$14000.00} payment for 90 days then release it to me. 

After receiving this message on XX/XX/XXXX, I called SquareXXXX customer service and during the call they confirmed my account was suspended and that they would not tell me why and that there was no way to change this decision nor was there anyone I could speak with to get the funds released. I asked that if they would not release the funds to me that they be returned to my customer to which the person on the phone said I could refund the transaction from the app. The call was ended. 

I called my customer to let him know of the issues with Square and that I would be refunding his payment then went into the app to process the refund and at that time the app said a refund for this transaction could not be processed. 

I immediately called Square customer support again and this agent told me there could be no refunds issued for this transaction and there was nothing that could be done other than to wait 90 days for the payment to be released to me. I asked to escalate this to someone that could resolve the issue to my satisfaction and they said that was not possible. I asked to get the contact information to reach their CEO and the customer service agent said they would not give any contact information. 

At this time, I believe Square is trying to steal this money. Since they are unwilling to refund my customer, I have to question their motivation as it can not be consumer protection, if they are not protecting the person that sent the money. It is also important to note that Square had no problem in me sending an invoice for the {$14000.00}, it was only after the payment cleared that they decided to seize the funds. I did upload my business documents and linked my business bank account hours prior to the seizure. I worry at the end of the 90 day period square will have another excuse not to release the funds. 

My goal is to remove Square from this transaction entirely by Square refunding my customer immediately as they are not a trustworthy business partner and they are harming my business.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation