Credit Card Outage Over The Last Couple Of Days But Nothing ON ISSQUAREUP?

[duffymahoney]

The last two days have been a square nightmare, seems to have all started monday after an update.  Basically we had off and on credit card outages, then we spent hours on the phone with tech support, looking at potential issues and fixes.  We had so many upset customers.  Then for some odd reason some cash sales are getting stuck on specific ipads, so if a server prints their report, it's different from what they actually owe.  So far we are down about 2k in lost cash and sales.  Having some tables cards work while others doesn't is so frustrating.  Plus some customers must not have had access to cash.  We had 5 tables refuse to pay with cash and go get cash.  Also since it was internment it really ruined the day.  Sometimes taking 30-45 minutes for a table to check out, since we would try over and over, then they would have to walk to an ATM and get cash.  

Luckily last night at 6pm, finally a tech support person informed me it's a known issue and engineering was working on it.  Today when we called, they informed me that the current work around was to create orders via floorplans and disable seating.  But again, issquareup doesn't show any issues?  Also not a single email about this issue from square.  The work around email is short and doesn't explain a lot.  

Anyone else having as bad of a couple of days as we have had?  

Why was issquareup not updated showing the issue?  Why is square so buggy? 

[TheRealChipA]

Hey @duffymahoney.  First, I’m sorry to hear you are having so many issues.  I hate when there are payment processing issues.  In fact, I hate it so much that I’ve implemented a backup card processing plan (using Stripe and our individual cell phones) to at least be able to process cards during times of such problems.  I mention that only to say that if you are interested in how well that works, and how it works, etc, I’ll be more than happy to fill you in.  Just let me know.  FYI, I’ve had this backup plan for a few years (5+) now and had the chance to test it out three times, including the world-wide outage of 2023!  Everything went off without a hitch.

Otherwise, I am not aware of a “massive” outage.  Yours is the first post I’ve seen recently about total loss of payment processing.  This makes me suspect that it is a localized issue — maybe with a certain server, or a certain group of sellers, or possibly it’s just your account.  Who can be sure?  Issquareup.com is not used for smaller scale things like this, unless the issue is affecting more than some pre-defined percentage of sellers or it is widespread, which your issue does not seem to be.  That’s most likely why it is not listed.

I’ll leave “why is Square so buggy” alone, as that is a loaded question most likely colored by your current highly frustrating situation.  I get it.  I’d be frustrated, too.

I wish you well and hope this gets resolved for you soon — yesterday! Ha.

[duffymahoney]

I should definitely have a backup that isn't square, I meant to, but I had forgotten.  I will look into stripe. 

Android was working, but now it's not. 

Square is now admitting to the issue, but again, issquareup isn't saying anything.  About 50% of the time I call tech support they will admit to it.  

[TheRealChipA]

@duffymahoney Take the win where you find it.  I’ve been with Square for over a decade now.  Issquareup is so much better than where it used to be.  But Square is like most big tech companies and they have to do what their massive legal team tells them to do, or else.  Such is life in our over-connected world!  Good luck.  And if you want to discuss how I integrated Stripe into our workflow, how I handle my revenue accounting with the possibility of TWO card processors at any one time, etc, feel free to reach out to me via PM.  It took a few years, but I have a system now that I have total confidence in because it has saved me and my business three times!  You can’t argue with success.