How Do I Dispute a Charge with Square?

Introduction

If you have a Square account with a Square debit card and have noticed a charge you didn't make on your account, or if you were charged too much for something you did buy, then you need to learn how to initiate a charge dispute with Square. The process is not too difficult, but you must first determine whether or not you are able to file the dispute.

What You'll Need

You must file the dispute within 110 days of the transaction. Note that this is 110 total days, not 110 business days.If you have a Mastercard and authorized the transaction through biometrics or a passcode, then Mastercard regulations prevent Square from processing the dispute. Instead, you must contact Mastercard to initiate a dispute with that company.To file a dispute, you must be the Square account holder. Authorized users are not allowed to initiate a dispute even if they were the ones who made the disputed charge.Your Square debit card may be deactivated during the dispute, to prevent additional fraudulent charges, depending on the details of your case.If you are disputing up to 10 fraudulent charges, you can dispute them all on a single form. If you are disputing charges because of an incorrect amount or because you didn't receive the items you purchased, you need a separate form for each charge.

Make sure that the charge actually is incorrect and not just a hold on your account.

Some merchants, such as car rental companies and gas stations, place a temporary hold on your account to authorize a purchase, and the held amount can be higher than the actual purchase amount. These holds are called pending authorizations, and may take up to 14 days to be removed. A pending authorization is not a matter that can be settled with a charge dispute.

Contact the merchant and try to resolve the dispute with them.

Square will not allow you to file a charge dispute until you have tried resolving matters with the merchant.

Go to the Square home page.

Click on the Sign In link in the upper right corner to sign in to your account.

Go to Banking.

Select the Balances option.

Click on the "three horizontal dots" icon to bring up additional options.

Click on Dispute Payment.

Answer the questions you are asked to begin the charge dispute process.

Click on the Submit button.

Once you do, Square will begin to investigate your claims. They might apply a temporary credit to your account while they investigate, depending on the details of your case. If they decide against you, however, you will have to pay it back.

Check the email associated with your Square account to look for the company's findings

The investigation will take at least 30 days, but should be resolved before 60 days. However, in some cases, the investigation may take longer.

Conclusion

If you have any questions or concerns about the dispute, contact a Square customer service representative for assistance. The customer service center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, it might be best to call during normal business hours, in case customer service needs to speak to another department to answer your question.