Oklahoma cookbook author plans Squarespace boycott after payment issues

DOUGLAS, Okla. (KFOR) — An Oklahoma cookbook author and social media influencer says she plans to use a different online website hosting company after issues getting paid by Squarespace.

Erin Fischer runs an Instagram account with over 42,000 thousand followers. Recently, the Oklahoman also published a cookbook titled "Y'all Want Seconds" to cater to friends, family and followers that had been asking for recipes.

"I knew in my head it wasn't going to be a 50-page cookbook, it was going to be a big one," said Fischer. "I've always loved cooking, so I knew that one day I wanted to have a place to share all of my recipes."

Pre-orders for her cookbook opened in October, and Fischer says she enlisted the help of a friend she paid to set up a personal website for her on Squarespace. The online company allows users to pay to create a customizable website for a monthly or annual fee. Fischer says she had familiarity with using it in the past through another business.

"It was something, again, I was familiar with so I could navigate the back end of the website and be able to be more efficient when I needed to get the books out to my customers," said Fischer.

Fischer said she experienced issues in November when she tried to collect money through the website, initially just expecting a minor delay of a few weeks. Fischer said her website designer was able to get in contact with Squarespace initially, which advised her of an unspecified issue with her payment-processing account for credit/debit card processing. Fischer said her website designer informed Squarespace but things went radio silent.

"I went on to their support page and they have a note on there that says that they do not accept phone calls," said Fischer. "So, there's no person you can actually get on the phone. Then whenever you send an email to their support email, you get an automatic reply that says this inbox does not accept incoming messages."

Fischer says it's also not possible to get ahold of a live agent or representative by using the website's chat feature. Eventually she says, after running out of options, and her website designer being unable to get ahold of Squarespace again, she started using her own social media.

"I did go to one and I said, I need you to message me, you owe me thousands of dollars, and it looks like you owe other people money too," said Fischer.

Fischer threatened legal action and also threatened reaching out to local news in her area. She reached out to News 4 last week for help. We told her that we had reached out to Squarespace through the company's press contact form and offered Fischer an interview.

"I posted the email from your News Director that I was going to be interviewed, that is when they said my money would be in my bank account in 1-3 business days," said Fischer.

Fischer received her payment on Monday, but says she never received a formal apology or explanation.

"Who is making these decisions and telling them to withhold funds for whatever reason?" Fischer asked. "And even if there's a break in their communication, they need to stand up and fix it so that this doesn't happen again."