Checks being declined for being duplicates?

[Katie778]

Has anyone had problems with the check deposit system? This has happened to me multiple times where they are declined due to being duplicates? I watched my customer write her check and I deposited it an hour later. I've been accepting her checks for years with no issue. Support is no help and just says that they have already been deposited at another institution. 

[TheRealChipA]

Hey @Katie778.  Your final sentence is the red flag, and indicate that Square Support is being some help.  The checks have been deposited at another institution?  That tells me that, somehow, the customer might have reordered blank checks that have the same check number as a previous run of checks.  Though this is rare, it is possible that when the check validation is done electronically to verify routing and account numbers, it must have detected that this particular check number was previously cleared for this account.  That is, indeed, a red flag and can cause rejection of the check.  I’d have your customer look at their blank check numbers and see if they are reusing numbers they have already used in the past.

Honestly, I was not aware that any banks gave checks this much scrutiny anymore.  They used to, back in the day when we all used checks for everything.  It seems that your particular customer’s bank, however, might be this detailed in their check verification policies.

That’s my best guess, anyway.

[Katie778]

They are checks that have been issued from her bank. Square has accepted her previous checks from the same check number series before. I just don't get why this keeps becoming an issue with their check deposit. No one will explain anything to me or escalate my problem. 

[frances_a]

Hello, @Katie778 

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. 

I was able to locate some past support cases regarding this issue.

It looks like our support agents escalated your concern appropriately, but ultimately, our team found the checks to be unacceptable and we were unable to retry them. 

Unfortunately, once a check has been marked as non-retryable, the issuing bank will not release the funds to us. 

After this determination has been made, Square is unable to further dispute the decision, but encourages you to request payment be made using an alternative payment method. 

We have no additional information about the check, besides the error we receive after attempting to process the deposit. In this case, the error indicated the check had already been accepted elsewhere. 

Hope this information is helpful. 

Please let me know if you have further questions. 

Thank you.