I'm extremely frustrated with the service we've received from Square/Weebly and I’m reaching out to this community in hopes of finding some resolution or at least sharing my grievances.
We started working with Square Online on May 16th, expecting a smooth setup and functional website. However, since May 26th, we've been facing continuous issues, and despite countless interactions with support, we still don’t have a functioning website.
Each time we contact support, we are assured that the underlying issue has been identified and will be resolved within 24-48 hours. Yet, nothing changes. When we follow up, we're either ignored for days or passed to a new representative, causing us to start the process over from scratch.
To make matters worse, our domain, which was officially transferred to Weebly on May 29th, is not discoverable. The server cannot be found, and it shows as a "not secure" page when using the link provided in editor for viewing purposes on my end. This downtime has caused us to lose out on sales and negatively impacted our online visibility, as Google updates show we're missing out on numerous searches due to the website being down.
Adding insult to injury, it turns out that one of the representatives was using ChatGPT to respond to our issues. I was literally having a conversation with a robot instead of getting support from a qualified professional. This is inexcusable and unacceptable on every level.
The last straw was when support claimed that the reason we're receiving these error messages (see screenshots at end of thread) was due to bad SEO. This response was completely unhelpful and misleading, as our issue is with the website's functionality, not its search engine optimization.
To move back to our old web host, we now face an additional $10.99 fee to transfer the domain.
Not only are we starting back at square one but we're also paying for it. Our customers are growing anxious, and this unresolved situation is damaging our business.
Has anyone else experienced similar issues? How were they resolved? Any advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated or if we are doing something wrong I would love to understand and fix it.
Thank you,
Cindy.
Wow, it worked! You (and your web developer friends) are absolute heroes! It still shows as not secure but honestly, that's the least of my concerns right now. What is the next step?
Hey @CynthiaPierce. I just went to your website (https://www.abouttownapparel.com/) on three different browsers and devices that I have. On all three, the site came up and I see your online store. None of the three said anything about being unsecure or anything else. It all looks perfectly fine to me. Which leads me to believe that the problem is NOT with Square but rather with yours (and others) devices. Usually, clearing the browser history and cache fixes this sort of thing, but not always. But the fact that I can get to your site and navigate it, etc, tells me that your problem it not with Square at all.
To start with, let’s tackle your device(s). Clear your browser’s cache and web history. Force close the browser. Reboot your device(s) and try again. Then come back here and update me.
I’ll give you one more suggestion, then. If you’ve tried this already, please forgive me but I have no idea what you’ve done to troubleshoot, what steps you’ve taken, etc.
Have you tried unpublishing your site completely? Sometimes, gremlins creep into published sites and this is the only thing that will clear them out, To do this, go to your online dashboard > Online > Website > Site Preferences. Scroll to the bottom and click “Unpublished.” Then wait for a little while before you go through the normal publishing steps.
I can’t explain why (well, I can, but “why” things happen is not as important as the fact that they do!), but I’ve found this to be an effective nuclear option for “starting over” and getting things to work properly.
Hey Chip,
Thank you for your continued support and suggestions. I appreciate your attempts to help us resolve this issue. We have previously tried unpublishing and republishing our site, and we've done it again just now for good measure. Unfortunately, it still doesn't work. Additionally, I've cleared all browsers, histories, and caches on multiple devices, but I still get the same "server not available" message.
What does this mean for us? Is this something we can fix on our end? What does DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN mean?
Our domain was transferred to Square/Weebly, so everything should be housed together. Any further insights or assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you again for your help.
Best,
Cynthia
That’s an interesting error and one I’m somewhat familiar with. Can you please take screen shots of your DNS from your online dashboard and post those here? No worries about anything. That won’t compromise your site.
Absolutely! Attached are the screenshots of our DNS settings from the online dashboard.
We've received emails from chat support indicating that they updated these settings manually and confirmed they should be correct. They've mentioned updating them twice since we began experiencing these issues.
Additionally, we just received a message from a customer indicating they couldn't access the website either.
Any insights you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Cynthia
Ok. I’m going to recommend something. This is a first step because, honestly, your DNS doesn’t look right. But before you do this, do you know what that TXT record I see is supposed to do?
Ok. Well since your site is not working properly, I’m not worried that we can mess it up more. Ha. So, go back to your Manage domain screen, the DNS Records section. And click the Reset DNS records button. Follow whatever steps are there. Then take a screen shot of your DNS and post it here again.
Fair enough, LOL. I’ve done as you suggested. There were no prompts; it just auto-populated to the new settings. Please see the attached screenshot of the updated DNS records.
Thank you for your help.
Best,
Cynthia
Looking better, though I’m still questioning that TXT record. For now, leave it and unpublished and republish your site. You try to access it and let me know the results. Then, I’ll do the same as well as check a few DNS diagnostic tools that I have at my disposal. (Sorry for the constant back and forth. Better this than overwhelming you with lots of steps that may or may not work).
I’d love to see it. You can post it here, using the little video camera icon to the right of the camera icon you use to attach screen shots.
Ok. We’re actually making progress @CynthiaPierce. I’ve tried your website URL on a couple of other devices and it’s good there. I also tried it on a few different WiFi networks. All of them can access it. I even sent it to a few buddies (web developers) who tried it and can bring it up just fine. This tells me nothing new other than I still maintain this is not a Square issue. It can’t be or none of us could get to it.
I need two things from you. First, can you check your WiFi connection and post screen shots of the DNS servers you are using?
Second, please DO delete that TXT record from your DNS and, for the purposes of documentation here, take a screen shot of both your DNS and your Nameservers again here. Then unpublish, republish, etc.
This is starting to look like a DNS Nameserver issue. I was watching the major ones after your reset your DNS and republished. It took a while, as it usually does, but all of them eventually showed your IP address as you posted above — 199.34.228.191. But this is looking like there is a nameserver somewhere that is not getting the memo, and that you (and others in your local area) are using that nameserver on their WiFi/internet connections to their IPSs. I’m betting that the culprit here is actually your ISP. Whatever nameserver for DNS lookup they are using is not updating. This sort of discrepancy will definitely cause the symptoms you are seeing. Also it would explain why I and my buddies — all in the Greater Cincinnati area — ARE able to bring up your website.
I hope that makes some sense. Bear with me. We ARE getting closer, trust me. But I can see why Square Support wasn’t able to help you, now.
Thank you for the update, Chip. I'm glad to hear that progress is being made, and it's reassuring to know that the issue might not be with Square after all.
I've deleted the TXT record as requested (see attached screenshots), and unpublished and republished.
Regarding the DNS servers I'm using, I've attached screenshots of my network settings. It's interesting to consider that the issue might stem from the ISP's nameserver not updating properly. However, I'm still puzzled as to why my team and customers in Winchester, TN, on different networks, are experiencing the same problem. Perhaps it's a wider regional issue?
Thank you for your continued assistance. We're getting closer to a resolution, and I appreciate your efforts to troubleshoot this with me!
Best,
Cynthia
Ok. Do me a favor, here. Manually change your DNS on ONLY one of your devices to the following. The order does not matter.
12.121.117.201
207.177.68.4
Then, close your browser and reopen it. Enter your website address (abouttownapparel.com) and tell me the result. I’m betting you are able to access your web site after doing this.
No, this is NOT a solution. It is just a fact-finding mission.
Also, FYI, if my suspicion is correct here and you CAN access your site now, then I’m going to tell you that we need to wait 24-48 hours AGAIN! My apologies in advance. But the internet infrastructure is very old and outdated and this is — as we who meditate say — what it is. Patience is a virtue in this case. I’m still seeing your new IP address propagate to more and more servers, so it is entirely possible that resetting your DNS did actually work and all will be well shortly.
Anyway, I’ll await your post about the steps I asked you to take. Then we will go from there.
