A way of contacting Square activation department?

[Sithkazar]

I am having a terrible time trying to contact square to get help with a problem on my account. There has been a miscommunication and whenever I call for help, I am told that I will get a call back from the right department, but then I never do.

Ten years ago I started my LLC with a partner. Shortly after we started, he suddenly died. His name was on the square account so I called square and told them that he had died. I was told its not a big deal as long as the tax information is kept up to date. The EIN number is under my name and my social security number. I have always reported and paid my taxes on time. Suddenly Square has decided that I can't use that account anymore. I am sad to see that go, but I can kind of understand that their business has changed and grown in these ten years and they want the name to be mine.

The problem is that they won't let me use my EIN number with my name. Their system obviously automatically blacklisted the number because it was on that account, but I had updated it to the correct EIN. However, the customer service just says that someone will call me back, but no one ever does. I don't think anyone is actually reviewing my case. This is a terrible misunderstanding and I just need to talk to someone that can help me.

Does anyone on here have a better contact method?

Should I call up the IRS and request a new EIN number? That seems backwards, but I have had better luck contacting them in the past. When my partner died I just had to send them a copy of the death certificate and he was removed from the LLC, no problem. Can a business have more then one EIN? I have a disaster loan and bank account under my EIN (all in my name alone), will that mess that up? I don't know what to do?

[TheRealChipA · Accepted solution]

Hi @Sithkazar.  I’m sorry to hear you are going through this now. It is definitely a nasty “surprise” after all these years.  First thing — none of us has a direct number to anyone at Square Support.  The contact information here is it.  Having said that….

As you are no doubt well aware now, you were given bad advice 10 years ago — “I was told it’s not a big deal as long as the tax information is kept up to date.”  Whoever told you that then did not know what they were talking about.  Even if you had been told that before the creation of the Patriot Act it wasn’t true even then.  It’s definitely not been true since then and the person you spoke with should have known that.

All of the questions in your last paragraph are beyond the scope of advice we can offer here, even as fellow sellers. I know what I would do, but you have a complicated situation.  It’s probably not what you want to hear, but you need to contact and retain a local attorney who can guide you through getting this straightened out.  They will know what to do to resolve all of the questions you asked, and even other questions you haven’t asked yet.  They will even be able to contact Square’s legal department (through a court, if necessary) and resolve the internal discrepancies between your EIN information internally vs. as recorded in official documents.  

Unfortunately, this will take time.  It’s not something I would recommend doing without having legal representation.  There are just too many places to take wrong turns unknowingly.  This does not seem to be your fault.  You seem to have done everything right as far as the IRS, SSA, your state’s Secretary of State, etc.  In the end, you seem to be paying the price for trusting what turned out to be very bad advice.  I wish I could tell you there’s an easier or less expensive way, but I can’t — especially if you want to get it resolved completely and not run into other surprises later.

I wish you well, and hope that you can resolve this quickly.

[Sithkazar]

Thank you for your advice. I guess I will have to look for an attorney to contact square. What a mess.