thread Re: Calendar syncing change? in Online Store

Will Calendar Syncing no longer be free after Square Appointments Repricing?

Cedar_Massage — Sat, 29 Jan 2022 18:28:28 GMT

The title of this thread has been edited by a Square Moderator from the original: "Calendar Syncing -- no longer free"

Is there any way to sync Square appointments to my ical or google calendar? Now that they have changed it to "plus" subscriptions only, I am really upset. I don't want to pay $35 per month for such a simple, yet important, feature. One that has been free for so long! (Solo practitioner, small business here)

Re: Calendar Syncing -- no longer free

Jessie-Marie — Sat, 22 Jan 2022 04:44:46 GMT

This is causing me major headaches.. I can’t believe the feature is gone!

Calendar syncing change?

Goosey — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 09:39:31 GMT

Seriously, since Square changed the subscription levels recently, am I no longer able to sync my appointments with my calendar if I have the FREE level?!

I've been very happy with Square since I began using it a year ago, and as I only have one business location, the FREE option seemed to be a good option. However, when I checked my calendar yesterday to see what my day looked like, no appointments showed up, which meant no reminders. I refuse to pay £29 per month to simply have a calendar syncing. Being a new business I can't afford that amount and cannot justify spending it either.

If anyone has found a work-around or solution for this issue, grateful for advice.

Thank you.

Re: Calendar syncing change?

Breffni — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 12:43:30 GMT

Hi @Goosey, thanks for flagging this and sorry for the delayed response.

As we build more advanced features for various business needs, some features may only be used by certain businesses. We introduced the new pricing plans because we believe in the value of our product and know that some features are used by certain businesses more than others. With these new plans, you’re given the option to choose which is right for your business.

Although no changes are final until 26/04/21, if you opt-in to a new plan before that date, the new plan applies immediately. This is why you would not have been able to access your Google Calendar.

I’m sorry for the inconvenience and confusion here, please feel free to contact our Support Team who can help you avail of a 30day free trial of the paid subscriptions - this way you'll have more time to evaluate the options.

Re: Calendar Syncing -- no longer free

Qbert — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 02:05:04 GMT

I have been loving Square for so many years so I am also very upset! I would have waited for my current free prescription to expire in April, before choosing the “new” subscription as prompted, if I had known that I would lose ALL MY APPOINTMENT INFO on my Google calendar! It was so valuable having everything on one calendar, and to be honest the square calendar in not the greatest to work with 😞 I’m self employed as well so, all the other features in the Plus package do not apply to me and I would never use them. If the features in the package were relevant to my business then I would have no problem subscribing (Square has been great!) … but $35/mth for just Google sync?! There must be another solution 😞

Re: Calendar Syncing -- no longer free

Jessie-Marie — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 13:36:16 GMT

I’m not sure if you also rely on appointment reminders/confirmations but those are also not included in the free version!
I felt like they advertised poorly to say the free account is still good for a single person/location but avoided laying out these larger affecting changes.

As a self employed solo business operator something like a confirmation option is a huge service as there’s no way I’d have time to personally confirm all bookings.

I have contacted their support (with frustrating and little response) because I also wouldn't have changed until the end of April to avoid being charged this steep fee for a few more months.

I could understand some sort of a fee but $0 to $35 is quite a price hike for small businesses.

Re: Calendar Syncing -- no longer free

Qbert — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 13:48:45 GMT

I am a self employed solo business owner as well and I agree this was very poorly advertised. I thought the system would still send text and email reminders ( like it did in the past) but the change would be that clients would no longer be asked to confirm appointments? The “confirming appointments” was the new feature they added, I think a year ago?

Re: Calendar Syncing -- no longer free

Jessie-Marie — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 14:32:22 GMT

The new “free” option still sent a text/email when you booked/accepted the appointment but no reminders leading up to that appointment. (I tested with booking myself an appointment to see what communications I received) I have bookings months in advance so the reminders are pretty important.
I’ve been using square since August 2019 and have had the confirmations the whole time so myself and my clients are accustomed to that feature.

Re: Calendar Syncing -- no longer free

TorontoHeadshot — Sat, 29 Jan 2022 18:13:56 GMT

This was the last straw for me. I have left Appointments to go to Calendly because of this. Even the next level up from free with Calendly is $12 a month not $35 and offers more features than Squares. Also, they provide a feature that Square has been lacking since 2014 when it was first requested and that is conversion tracking. Square provides no ability to track which ADs are converting into sales. ZERO.

Re: Calendar Syncing -- no longer free

_Violet — Sat, 29 Jan 2022 18:57:30 GMT

Hi all👋

Thank you for reaching out to us in the Community to provide your feedback on the Square Appointments repricing.

We appreciate you taking the time to voice your opinions and explain how these new changes will affect your businesses. Should you have any questions regarding this change, please don't hesitate to reach out to the Appointments Support Team so they can guide you through these updates and make sure you know what to expect once these changes take effect.

I've merged a post to this thread from one of my fellow Community Moderators, @Breffni which has been marked as the Best Answer to this original question.

Please see her post for more info and specifically where she mentions, "Although no changes are final until 26/04/21, if you were opt-in to a new plan before that date, the new plan applies immediately. This is why you would not have been able to access your Google Calendar. "

I'll also link the official announcement thread on Appointments Repricing, authored by @Tom here for more details.

We hope this information is helpful but please do let us know if you have any additional questions.

Re: Calendar Syncing -- no longer free

Qbert — Sat, 29 Jan 2022 19:36:39 GMT

thanks @TorontoHeadshot I’ll look into Calendly.

Re: Calendar syncing change?

TorontoHeadshot — Sat, 29 Jan 2022 21:46:53 GMT

I've been waiting to speak to someone in management/support since the 20th. You guys are seriously screwing up and **bleep**ing your customers off.

Re: Calendar Syncing -- no longer free

Bonita63 — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 05:47:34 GMT

I’m with you. This is ridiculous, and makes Square Appointments app useless. I’m switching to Calendly, where I can get that feature for free.

Re: Calendar Syncing -- no longer free

Bonita63 — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 05:54:35 GMT

That’s where I’m headed, too. I think Square is making a big mistake, and that they’ll lose most small businesses by charging an exorbitant fee for this service.
What is the point of having an appointment app without a calendar integration?

Re: Calendar Syncing -- no longer free

StuffForRuff — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 20:01:56 GMT

Thanks…. Me too

Re: Calendar Syncing -- no longer free

StuffForRuff — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 20:02:34 GMT

I really agree with you!

Re: Calendar Syncing -- no longer free

StuffForRuff — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 20:13:53 GMT

Sorry it’s not really useful to any small, sole proprietor who purchased your platform to run their small businesses and suddenly charging such a huge fee, does not seem right. Especially when it’s a feature that would or should be included in membership or all the processing fees. We are NOT the big box retailers Swuare, you are kind of forgetting who your client base is. Every penny counts and all operating costs and fees all add up, monthly. Syncing appointments and calendar should be a given for your payment processing platform, knowing we are all small, independent owners and even have mobile deliveries we now have to pay to do with your platform, when some of us offer FREE local delivery to be even more accommodating to our customers in these difficult, challenging and ever changing times since COVID landed globally. All our operating costs, utilities, materials, banking fees have gone up at least 3 times in the past 2yrs. I really, really believe you no longer know your member/clients and this is a huge financial blow, probably to every one who purchased and is using your platform. Maybe, like many others, I need to shop around again for a better in touch and responsive platform for small, independent business owners.

Re: Will Calendar Syncing no longer be free after Square Appointments Repricing?

Laura11 — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 21:33:57 GMT

No, no, no -- I would be happy to pay for "advanced features" that I used as a larger business and which cost Square more resources. But I have one location and one staffperson (me). But the Google Calendar API is FREE, and so I don't feel I should be charged $30 for it.

And there was NO warning when I opted to change plans this morning that my Google Calendar would immediately unsync and I would lose all the appointments on my calendar. The "choose your plan" selection showed only number of locations and "advanced features" which were not defined and which I never dreamed would include something so basic as calendar sync with a free API. Imagine my panic when I realized today's appointment had vanished!

This is a safety issue for me. As I travel to clients' homes, I share my Google calendar so others know where I will be and where I last was if I don't check in. Now I don't have that functionality or that safety network.

Square, I love you, but this is a mistake. Please return calendar sync to the basic level.

Re: Calendar syncing change?

ParentInspect — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 23:00:34 GMT

I, like everyone else, also feel this change is idiotic. I used to rely on square scheduling for my online booking, but can no longer use it because it doesn't sync with my Google calendar anymore. I already provide income to square via payment processing fees, the booking system was a nice bonus. Now we have to pay monthly fees on top of processing fees just to have Google calendar sync.

I therefore switched to Calendly for my online booking system. It's free, it works even better than square (direct URL links to individual services), and it syncs to Google, outlook, and most other calendar systems. You should try it out, highly recommend it.

Re: Calendar syncing change?

TorontoHeadshot — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 02:31:52 GMT

While I am still using Square for balance payments in person for now (I take a deposit when clients book online). It still means that Square is losing out on 50% of my credit card processing simply because of this decision. Calendly works with Stripe. I should also add that if Stripe makes it simple to take credit cards in person, Square may end up losing all of my CC processing. It just makes more sense to have a single processor than splitting things up.

It makes me wonder sometimes how some people manage to keep their job. Whosever bright idea this was should be re-evaluated for their position.