Not Get A Receipt For A Purchase Made Through Square (Up)?

Avoiding Credit Card Fraud And Error Requires Diligence

The only reason we are having this discussion is because I am a bit anal about getting receipts so I can reconcile our credit card statements, and with the advent of Square (SquareUp.com) payment processing, there are issues.

Personally I think it’s awesome that sales people in the field can plug a device like this into a smartphone and take credit card payments at very competitive and reasonable rates.

The problem comes about when no receipt is offered for the sale.

Before telling me about technological issues in doing so under some circumstances let me give you the advantage of 3 words: “Pen and paper”.

Non-Negotiable

This point is non-negotiable, don’t insult your own intelligence by opening your mouth to refute it: A customer is entitled to a receipt for their purchase – bar none.

Have one of those handy booklets they still sell at OfficeMax, Staples and even Walmart for when the power is out, the machine’s out of paper, whatever.

If you are going to charge my credit card you are going to give me SOMETHING that I can reconcile my statement with.

What’s The Big Deal?

The big deal is that brick and mortar businesses are switching to Square to save money and add some convenience. No problem.

On Square’s own site they show that they have what you need for your sales counter – and it includes a PRINTER

But apparently some merchants don’t feel that a printer is necessary. Fine, I have no beef with that. Teach your clerks (if they have the aptitude to learn it) how to send a receipt to an email address or cell phone, and maybe even put up a sign indicating that Square DOES have the ability for the merchant to reprint a receipt if necessary.

When all else fails, and for the rare individual that doesn’t want to go that route or maybe is hesitant to give out an email or phone number, have one of those antique, above mentioned paper receipt pads available.

Low IQ or Bad Comm?

This rant started when I was trying to reconcile our last Discover credit card statement and found I was missing one receipt. When I asked my wife about it she said that it should have been emailed to me automatically.

Well, without being told about such an email, I replied that if it looked suspicious at all – and being unexpected – I would have shift-deleted it from Outlook (bypassing “Deleted Items”).

She explained that the clerk of a merchant selling items of no value whatsoever (at high prices) took my wife’s credit card, processed it with Square and told her that Discover would automatically email a receipt to the email address on file with Discover (she assumed, correctly in this case, that I did indeed supply Discover with an email address – it is NOT required).

It’s quite possible that the clerk may have confused the fact that, once you get a Square receipt emailed or texted to your phone that information is pre-populated the next time you buy from a merchant who uses Square. Square matches up the credit card number to do this.

Note, though, that the info is PRE-POPULATED; hence, if it doesn’t show up, you NEED TO ENTER SOMETHING or the customer will NOT get a receipt.

MAYBE, the clerk mis-communicated this info to my wife, though that theory has some thin spots.

Personally, I would not trust the assurance of a young clerk (no matter what I had “profiled” her IQ to be) and would not walk out of the store without SOMETHING on paper – use toilet paper if necessary.

Do I Actually Reconcile My Credit Card Statement?

Yes, every month before I pay the credit card bill – in its entirety, NEVER paying interest – I reconcile the statement with our receipts. Now these days much of my purchasing is done online and I am trying to go paperless, so many of these receipts are PDF’s, and that’s fine. I just need SOMETHING to prove that the charge is VALID and FOR THE CORRECT AMOUNT.

We have been using credit cards for decades; originally, back in the OLD DAYS, banks paid INTEREST on free balances in checking accounts. Buy today, pay in 45 days, pickup the interest on the money in the meantime. When Discover came along with CASH BACK, that was an added bonus.

But I cannot tell you how many times we have been charged an amount:

• Different than what was on our receipt
• Not a purchase we made – and I presume an honest error somewhere
• FRAUDULENTLY made by someone who probably worked somewhere that we used our credit card and had access to our information

In NONE of these cases, with the exception of the amount being in the pennies range, did I pay the amount. Several times our card had to be closed out and a new number issued – just recently it happened again, in fact.

Anecdotaly, a man who was once a good friend operated a business and hired someone else to pay his bills. I was with him when he stopped at a gas station and bought gas with his credit card – back when pay at the pump was sortof new. He declined a receipt.

Gee, how does the gal paying his bills know whether or not each charge is valid? She doesn’t, she pays them all.

I presume this is how the credit card fraud proves so lucrative to those who perpetrate those crimes.

My friend has not had contact with me for many years now, despite me trying. He is now bankrupt. No, I am not saying his credit card usage and disregard for receipts was at fault, but maybe it was an indicator of how he handled money and business in general?

My Suggestion Box Entry To Square

I have no gripe against Square, I love what they are doing to break the stranglehold that banks have had on small business. My gripe is with brick and mortar businesses too cheap to opt for a PRINTER to go with their Square system hiring clerks whose parents obviously taught them little and who naturally didn’t get taught much of value in government schools either.

As such, my suggestion to Square is to let not just MERCHANTS reprint receipts, but let CONSUMERS do so also. I submitted this today on the contact page of their website:

It would be nice if you provided a way for a customer of a merchant who used your service to get a receipt through your website.

Clerks of these merchants using your service are not required to pass an IQ test; thus, some clerks are operating your equipment with an IQ approximating that of the pen and paper they know not how to use.

One such clerk (of a brick and mortar store that had opted NOT to get a printer with their system) told my wife that Discover would automatically send me a receipt to the email I had on file with Discover Card. She is, of course, oblivious to the fact that Discover does not require an email, but like most youth her age makes ASS-umptions regularly; some true, others not.

When I contacted Discover, two representatives assured me that the company would NOT automatically send any such email receipt on behalf of Square or any other payment processor.

Just a thought for you suggestion box.

thanks, Roger

[Update]

Within an hour or two of submitting this contact to Square I received a reply offering me a receipt if I would just provide a few details about the transaction in question. I did so and promptly received an email receipt plus a follow up email.

I just can’t tell you how much I LOVE a good company in “startup” phase when customer service is outstanding. I hope they can keep this up forever.

[/Update]

What do YOU think?

Please leave a comment below, share this post if you feel it’s worth that.