Multiple Holds on Customer Cards

[goose401]

We recently switched to Square Restaurants POS in our brewery and use the pre-authorization capability. However, now we're fielding a large number of calls from customers due to multiple holds being placed on their cards.  We set our pre-authorization at $1.01, but in some cases, Square is placing multiple holds on the cards. Any help in explaining this to our customers would be helpful. Thank you.

[ryanwanner · Accepted solution]

Hello @goose401 !

First thing I'd recommend is to up the preauth amount to something a little over your average ticket size instead of $1.01.

My bet is that Square is preauth'ing the $1.01, then for every time the guest adds to the ticket, Square is preauth'ing the new amount. If your guest has a few rounds, each round may be pinging your guest's bank, causing it to show each query. By putting the preauth amount over your average ticket, Square won't ask the bank again until the tab is over the preauth amount.

Otherwise, your best response to this is to have the customer be patient: preauths will fall off the account, usually within 3-5 business days. If there are multiple charges after that time period then they can reach back out to you and you can get Square involved.

[goose401]

Hey, @ryanwanner ! Thank you for the quick reply. This is all new to us with Square pre-authorization and trying to figure out the best way to navigate this. We will adjust the amount. Cheers!