Square Payments and strange request from Square

[ianhg]

I recently suggested to a customer that he should use Square as well as PayPal on his online shop. He registered with Square and activated the plugin all went well then after about a month of trading he got strange requests from Square. This business is well established 45 years, turnover in the Millions of Pounds. Square asked for three months bank statements so they can see that they have the funds to make refunds if required. Obviously, the customer was not very happy about suppling this sensitive information. They called Square and got absolutely no where, as they the customer refused to supply 3 months bank statements, Square suspended their account. Crazy!! Has anyone else experienced anything like this.

[DrByte]

It's a normal process for any payment provider to request information about the client whom they're representing, especially since it pertains to their ability to provide services appropriately for that client's needs.
Usually it's in the terms of service.

I'd say IMO Square is just doing normal due diligence. If there have been a lot of refund requests or chargebacks then they need to assess their ability to handle risk if the merchant's customers frequently cancel orders.

I suggest putting a different spin on it: Use the opportunity of providing business statements as a reason to ask Square to give them a better discount rate (eg: lower fees per transaction). Square needs the same information in order to make that assessment, so go through the exercise looking to make it a win instead of a point of frustration.

If they've got nothing to hide then there's no reason to hold back.

[ianhg]

It's a normal process for any payment provider to request information about the client whom they're representing, especially since it pertains to their ability to provide services appropriately for that client's needs.
Usually it's in the terms of service.

I'd say IMO Square is just doing normal due diligence. If there have been a lot of refund requests or chargebacks then they need to assess their ability to handle risk if the merchant's customers frequently cancel orders.

I suggest putting a different spin on it: Use the opportunity of providing business statements as a reason to ask Square to give them a better discount rate (eg: lower fees per transaction). Square needs the same information in order to make that assessment, so go through the exercise looking to make it a win instead of a point of frustration.

If they've got nothing to hide then there's no reason to hold back.

Thank you DrByte for the balanced response. To the best of my knowledge there has not been any refunds. The company is very fair even to the point of refunding part of the shipment cost if they find a cheaper way of shipping the products. I think the attitude of the person at Square that they spoke to didn't help the situation, apparently they were very arrogant and demanding. I get the due diligence aspect, and some of the information requested was/is very reasonable. It's not like the company is new a business it is quite ease to find details on a business that has been running for 40 plus years. Personally if I was the owner of the business I would be reluctant to provide 3 months bank statements.

I will pass on your comments to them, thank you.

[DrByte]

They could try contacting Square to ask for an account manager in order to request an account review.
If they get someone on the phone other than the person whose attitude was offputting, then it may be a good time to also note the frustrating experience encountered, as I'm sure they don't want negative customer experiences.

For US merchants, there's a phone number on https://www.zen-cart.com/content.php...s-for-Zen-Cart for "high volume businesses" that is also a good number to call for account review initiation. If you require help finding a contact for UK, send me a PM and I'll see if I can do some digging.

[ianhg]

They could try contacting Square to ask for an account manager in order to request an account review.
If they get someone on the phone other than the person whose attitude was offputting, then it may be a good time to also note the frustrating experience encountered, as I'm sure they don't want negative customer experiences.

For US merchants, there's a phone number on https://www.zen-cart.com/content.php...s-for-Zen-Cart for "high volume businesses" that is also a good number to call for account review initiation. If you require help finding a contact for UK, send me a PM and I'll see if I can do some digging.

Thank you I have suggested that to them, believe they are looking into Barclaycard at the moment.