Square Dashboard won't load

[gtm]

Every single time we log in, our Square dashboard never fully loads...this has been happening for months. It's the left-side navigation bar that never loads, and the grey bars near the top of the page change hue continuously, as though something is loading but it never does. We wait 20+ minutes and the dashboard never finishes loading (meanwhile, other webpages are loading fully, quickly, correctly).

Yup, cleared cache/history, used different browsers, computers/devices, internet connections, incognito windows, etc. We run multiple businesses and all of their Square accounts are like this. The only solution we've found is to continually refresh the screen in order to finally (and seemingly randomly after a very, very long time) get the full dashboard to load, so we can click on things like "reports" or "online" or "transactions." 

Based on our time-consuming experiences with Square Support, we're pretty sure nobody at Square will believe this is happening, let alone offer any functional solutions. 

Anybody out there experiencing the same issues? Any solutions you've found?

[TheRealChipA]

Hey @gtm.  If there any way you can take a video of this happening and then come back here and post it?  You can use the icon in the menu bar that I’ve circled in red to upload it to your reply.  FYI, videos take a while to fully upload so it might be a while before I can see it and reply.

And, please don’t take offense.  I believe you.  It just sometimes helps to see what is going on visually than trying to visualize it.

Thanks!

[gtm]

Sorry, @TheRealChipA, we don't see any attachment or image that you mentioned in your post. You wrote, "You can use the icon in the menu bar that I’ve circled in red to upload it to your reply." We're not seeing anything circled in red anywhere. Did you mean to attach on embed an image or screenshot in your post?

[TheRealChipA]

Weird.  Sorry about that.  Here’s the image.

[gtm]

@TheRealChipA We don't have a movie projector icon like the one you circled...not even when we "expand toolbar." 

We can't even send a screenshot...error message pops up in a red bar at the bottom of this text box when we try to insert an image: "You do not have permission to upload images."

[gtm]

@Breffni -- can you help? As you can see in this chain, we never heard back from @TheRealChipA and the issue we raised persists...and as @nealjennings notes, it's happening to other Square users, too.

[TheRealChipA]

@gtm Since Square moderators got involved here, and since you couldn’t upload images or videos, I couldn’t begin to figure out what is going on.  It is obviously in your account, since there don’t seem to be widespread reports of issues accessing dashboard.  Apologies, but I thought you were working through this with moderators now and I didn’t want to confuse things.

[MayaP]

Hey @gtm,

That is frustrating! As @TheRealChipA stated above we believe you!

It would help though to get a video of what is happening. Also, to confirm what device you are using to access dashboard, I know you said it happens on multiple devices but if you can provide some of the ones you have tested on. Also, confirm the version of the browser you are on. Our team will ask for this information.  I will keep an eye out for your reply! 

[gtm]

Thanks @MayaP 

Most often we're using Chrome Version 124.0.6367.61 (Official Build) (64-bit) on Dell XPS 15 9500 running Windows 11 Version 23H2.

Like we wrote, we've tried on other devices, browsers, internet connections, as well as deleting cache, using incognito windows, etc. etc. etc. But we've noted what we're most often using above as it'd be great to experience Square work properly on merely the most popular and commonly used browser.

Sidenote: It would be helpful and save everyone a lot of time if Square was upfront about which devices and browsers it DOESN'T work on... We find Square often uses the answers to these types of questions as scapegoats to deny responsibility and support.

[gtm]

@Breffni can you help? We never heard back from @MayaP after we answered her questions below.

This issue is still happening and we haven't received a solution or eta or even a response in days from Square Support nor from "Square Community Moderators" like MayaP or "super sellers" like "TheRealChipA."

[MayaP]

Good morning @gtm, I apologize I have not replied yet, I have been off. I truly do not want you to feel like we are not taking this matter seriously and trying to pass the issue off. We certainly do want to make sure this gets resolved, but to do so we need to go through the process of elimination and take a deeper dive into what could be causing this. 

There is not a set browser that Square recommends. We have sellers who use all of them with no issue.  I know when I have issues with one browser, generally using a different browser or device resolves the issue since unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be working here we will need to continue to look into this. Aside from the Dell which devices have you tried this on? Also, can you use this link and provide your speed test results? As mentioned before it would be helpful if you could provide a video or screenshots of what you are experiencing so our team can get a better idea. 

I appreciate you working with us to get this resolved! 🙏

[gtm]

@MayaP we responded to your note here last week...including data on speed tests results and more...we never got a response, and log in today to find that our post has mysteriously been deleted. Super frustrating, yet again.

To be honest, it doesn't bode well that Square's more concerned with which other devices we've experienced this on...we think it'd be concerning enough that we're experiencing it on the most commonly used browser and one of the most widely used laptops, both of which are up to date. If Square doesn't work on those, why not just announce that clearly to your users? 

Anywho...to answer your questions: Asus and MacBook...and we don't have time to run the speed tests again on our all our devices since we already did it once and posted it for you but Square seems to have deleted our post...suffice to say, speeds were all well within acceptable ranges. This issue persists despite more than adequate internet speed, computer speed, modern devices, updated browsers, cleared caches/cookies, etc etc etc.

[MayaP]

Hey @gtm

@gtm

I apologize I am not sure why the replies are getting deleted! 😔

I did escalate this over to our team. They are asking if you can contact support, so we can troubleshoot this further and are asking for video or screenshots. I know you already attempted to contact support, so I won't make you go that route again right now. Since you are not able to upload it here I did email you if you can reply to that. 

In the meantime, I am asking our community team why you are not able to upload a video or photo here. Once I have more insight I can let you know. I appreciate your continued patience! 

[gtm]

@MayaP we just got an email from square at help-messaging.squareup.com which is the general support email...no idea if our reply is actually going to you.

We already sent screenshots and screencasts to support. 

We forwarded them yet again just now...to exactly the same email address as ever: square at help-messaging.squareup.com

[MayaP]

Our community team let me know you should be able to upload videos and pictures now @gtm. 

[gtm]

@MayaP okay, we have the video camera icon (so we can upload screencasts) and uploading images doesn't seem to return the error now. Why didn't Square let us have this capability until now?

Anyway, we forwarded (again) the screencasts and screenshots via email to the same address you sent us an email from (which is the exact same as general square support and also the same address to which we've sent them previously). 

Just to keep track: we've been trying to get help on this issue since before April 18...it's been three weeks and all we've done is spent hours sending and resending the same info to new Square support reps over and over again. It's like starting from scratch with every Square reply...like nobody is actually reading our notes or looking at the evidence we're providing. We've tried unsuccessfully to get help previously with this issue that's been happening for months and months. On just this latest attempt, we're at three weeks and counting without even so much as an explanation, let alone helpful suggestion or solution...just the same patronizing responses about all the other devices and browsers and internet connections we've tried (even though we provided evidence to rule out those scapegoats from the very beginning). We've spent hours and hours trying to get help. If we weren't so persistent and willing to repeat and retry over and over and over and over again, we're sure Square would sweep this under the carpet like they've done every other time before. It's not just us who are experiencing this (we're experiencing it across our multiple businesses' unique square accounts, plus another Square user who commented here), but we can definitely understand why other folks who are experiencing it just gave up trying to report it or get help for it, given how Square seems to work harder at avoiding help then giving it. Know it's not you personally, but you should know this support experience is not unique but rather Square's MO. As we see it, Square has at least two issues to solve here: one is the that dashboards don't load properly and the other is that your "Support" system is completely broken.

[MayaP]

Hey @gtm, I want to share a quick update here. I've been able to locate the screenshot and video you shared with our Support team previously and have escalated the Dashboard issue to our engineering team. As soon as I have an update from them, I'll follow up on this thread.

Thank you for bearing with me here, I know it has been a frustrating experience. I've shared your feedback about our Support team with the appropriate contact, so this can be improved. Square is supported with the latest versions of Google Chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Edge on all devices. You can find more information about supported browsers in our Support Center. 

With regards to the image and video upload issues on the Community, it looks like this is an intermittent issue. Our platform engineering team are aware of it and working to resolve it for all! 

[MayaP]

That email came from me @gtm. I want to clarify, that we aren't a part of the direct support team where you emailed your photos earlier. So if you replied to them, it wouldn't go back to us which is why I am asking for it again.  I apologize, our intention is not to make you do extra work and have to repeat yourself constantly. 

@gtm

I did file a ticket with our engineers and will keep you posted on the outcome! 

[gtm]

Thanks, @MayaP 

We forwarded the screenshots and screencast again...but the only email address we have to forward them to is square at help-messaging.squareup.com ... which is the exact same email address both you and Square support use. So, we're confused -- are you saying you received the screenshots and screencast we sent (at any time) or not? 

[MayaP]

I see you contacted direct support on 5/1 and they emailed you and you replied and sent screenshots. Only the advocate assigned to the case will see your reply. I had to go to the other advocate support case to get your screenshots because I did not see you reply to my email with the screenshots. 

Community moderators do not typically email sellers to troubleshoot as all communication and details we try and gather here. The only reason I emailed you was because you couldn't upload here. To keep it simple moving forward in the future please just reply directly to the email the advocate is reaching out on so it can go back  back to the advocate. We don't have specific emails so when we reach out it will just show help-messaging.squareup.com, it won't show our name. 

I hope that provided some clarification, if not please just know this has been escalated and being investigate now @gtm .

[gtm]

@MayaP Just to clarify, we actually sent the screencasts and screenshot on April 18. 

On May 1 we sent yet another screenshot example...which was far from our first reply to Square...and which we sent (again) because we hadn't heard back from anyone at Square in 5+ days.

Not trying to needle you personally, but we feel it's important to provide our true experience.

p.s. Still wondering about the reason Square didn't give us the capability to upload images or screencasts until we persisted with multiple posts over three weeks regarding our lack of this capability...again, not you personally, but just another real-life example of Square's deficiencies.