Resolving Disputes FAQ
We want to help your business through the dispute process swiftly and successfully. Here are a few answers to help you better understand and navigate the procedure. If you have any other questions after reading this, feel free to send us an email.
You can view a detailed report of your dispute by heading to your Square Dashboard. From here, you will be able view a full breakdown of each disputed charge, submit your response and provide documentation to help the Dispute Resolution Team build a case on your behalf. You can track the status of your dispute, so you’ll know when there has been an update to your case.
You can also follow the link in the dispute notification email we sent you. This will take you directly to the disputed payment within the transactions section of the Dashboard.
After your customer cancels the dispute, you should check your Square dashboard for updates on your dispute status. Square typically receives notice of customer cancellations within 10 days. If your dispute status has not been updated after that period of time, we would recommend following up with the cardholder to confirm they cancelled the dispute.
To protect the privacy of cardholders, we cannot share their personal information other than what is included on the transaction receipt. If you’re unable to recognize your customer, please send us any other information about the sale or your business that may help your case.
Typically, the fastest way to resolve a dispute is to contact your customer. If you’re able to get in touch with them and come to an agreement, follow these directions.
You can visit your Square Disputes Dashboard to view the status of a dispute at any time. Here you can also view the status of the dispute, all documents you have uploaded thus far and what’s next in the dispute process. Keep in mind that disputes can take up to 90 days to resolve. Our team will reach out to you as soon as the card issuer notifies us of the final resolution. Additionally, please feel free to email us to check on the status of a dispute.
Send us an email to let us know you have more documentation to submit. If we are still within the time frame to respond to the card issuer, we’ll provide you with another Information Request Form and forward your submission on for review.
Yes, your team members can view and answer a dispute for you. You can turn on this permission under Reports in Team Management on your Square dashboard.
Learn more about payment dispute permissions.
The documentation and information needed to challenge a dispute will vary depending on the cardholder’s dispute claim. We encourage you to submit all documentation you have from the transaction so that we can create the strongest case for you. This could include signed contracts or invoices, a refund or cancellation policy, proof of delivery or services rendered or even photographs or email/text correspondence between you and the customer.
When the credit card issuer notifies us of your dispute, we place a hold on the disputed funds by either withholding the funds from your Square balance or initiating a debit to your linked bank account.
If the withholding or debit was successful, the funds will be released as a credit to your bank account within 3-5 business days after the case was resolved.
If the withholding or debit was unsuccessful and we did not collect any funds, this may have been because of three failed attempts to debit your linked bank account, and subsequent payments were unable to zero out your negative Square balance. In this case your bank account will not be credited. Rather, your Square balance will be adjusted to reflect the resolution because we never collected the funds from you.
If we were able to collect funds from payments you’ve taken, but your bank account has been unlinked due to three failed debits, you will need to relink your bank account with Square. Check your Dashboard to see whether you have a positive Square balance and need to relink your bank account to receive a credit for payments.
If at this point you want to pursue the case further, you’ll need to resolve it with your customer directly or seek legal advice. Unfortunately, Square is unable to further assist in retrieving the funds.
When the credit card issuer notifies us of your dispute, they immediately debit Square’s account. We let you know of the dispute right away and also place a hold on the disputed funds by either withholding funds from your Square balance or initiating a debit to your linked bank account.
To access the form and upload files, sign in to your Square Dashboard and click Yes in the form. Submit only JPG, PDF or TIFF file types. We’re unable to successfully download any other file types.
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It’s likely that Square was unable to debit your bank account on three separate occasions due to the deferred funds from the disputed amount.
Due to Automated Clearing House guidelines, Square cannot communicate with a bank after three failed attempts to debit a bank account. As a result, communication with your bank was terminated and all deposits to your account have stopped.
You will need to link your bank account to re-establish two-way communication with your bank. You can use your existing bank account, but you will need to go through the linking process again.
Once your bank account is verified, you can expect to see deposits according to our normal deposit schedule.
If you have questions about your payment dispute, contact us.