Business owners express frustration with payment system failure and lack of support during critical outage.
Small-business owners relying on Square for payment processing faced severe financial setbacks due to an outage that impacted sales, invoicing, and employee clock-ins. Adam Blackbill, the owner of Urban Churn, an ice cream shop in central Pennsylvania, was one of many affected by the issue. At approximately 2 p.m. on Thursday, he noticed that his sales reports weren’t coming through, and employees were unable to process orders or interact with customers. The outage stretched into the evening, creating a ripple effect on his business operations.
Urban Churn, which has been using Square since 2014, was hit hard, particularly as the business heads into its slower winter season. Blackbill estimates his revenue loss at around $8,000 to $10,000 due to the disruptions, noting that every sale is crucial for the survival of his business. This kind of outage, particularly during a time-sensitive season, caused major operational headaches and left him unable to send invoices to wholesale customers or withdraw funds.
Similarly, Harry Coleman, who owns Empanada Harry’s bakery and Smoke and Dough smokehouse in Miami, also suffered significant losses. Coleman recounted how customers walked out without purchasing anything after being unable to pay with cards. “People don’t carry cash anymore, so we had a bunch of people just leave without buying anything,” he said. The outage, which lasted throughout much of Thursday, cost him an estimated $2,000 in lost sales. The inability to process payments during dinner time proved especially costly for his smokehouse.
Despite Square offering an “offline mode” for such situations, which allows businesses to process payments when the internet is down, not all of Blackbill’s stores were able to recover lost sales. At two of his three locations, the offline mode worked, allowing transactions to be processed when service was restored. However, as of Friday morning, approximately 30 offline transactions still appeared to be missing, further adding to the confusion.
The frustration for business owners was compounded by Square’s lack of communication. Many discovered the outage through social media, with Square’s absence in directly reaching out to affected customers leaving them feeling unsupported during a critical time. Several users expressed their disappointment, noting that they were left to navigate the issue on their own, only to learn about the technical problems from online platforms such as X (formerly Twitter). This lack of proactive communication from Square has intensified concerns about the reliability of the service for small businesses that depend heavily on its infrastructure.