Rakuten: Cash Back & Deals

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1. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

   Promise not keep. I open this because a friend was telling me about Rakuten. I saw that they had a deal for 30,000 points if I open a SOFI account and deposit $300 so I did even went further than the $300 and but $3000 in after that the had a deal to get SOFI crypto put $30 in get 10,000 points I put in $50. I have not received not 1 point and I’ve emailed them and now they want me start a direct deposit of $500 to SOFI I sent them screen shot of transactions like they asked and still nothing what a joke Rakuten honor what you say

2. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

   Liar. Lite me in witj $10 coupon then after I signed up NOTHING WTF

3. ★★★★★slow performance and long loading times

   awful. these people keep going up on their points. You have to spend so much money to even earn a gift card they make you download games from the App Store so that they make more money off you and you can get more points and it takes forever to get the points it's not even worth it anymore. I used to like this app and now I absolutely hate it once I get my last gift card I'm not doing it anymore.

4. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

   Just a hype. I’ve only ever received pennies on the dollar. Not worth it

5. ★★★★★data, history or progress disappears

   Not happy Bruni Mom. Pushed me out. Deleted existing rebates and apparently deleted my account history Not happy. Lost many CVS rebates.

6. ★★★★★subscription and paid restrictions

   Didn't receive the $50 referral bonus. Avoid!. Complete waste of time. I invited a friend using the $50 referral promo. They made a purchase, and at first, the money appeared in the app tracker. Then, it just disappeared. The standard verification period has already passed, the order was not returned, and we followed all the rules. Despite this, neither I nor my friend got paid. Terrible experience, would not recommend!

7. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

   Delete is not an option. your app sucks

8. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

   Can’t delete. Can’t delete from my iPhone. Total BS

9. ★★★★★subscription and paid restrictions

   Way too many exclusions. Sometimes doesn’t even record.. Tested this out for a month. Doesn’t really work for me. Out of the 15 times I’ve tried to shop with Rakuten. 7 came through. Only 3 paid anything out. CVS doesn’t register. Target doesn’t register. If you don’t read the terms and policies of what is excluded, it’ll lead you on for weeks and eventually fail. If you dine out, you have to note what address that applies to. That is so inconvenient. This is not a magical app. It is painful to use unless you shop at specific stores. So probably I’ll get a reply from some corporate account saying some blah blah HR bs. But I don’t think this will ever reach corporate execs that make decisions. But if it does, this doesn’t work for 99% of people. You’re just taking a cut and cutting out the people.

10. ★★★★★inaccurate results and incorrect data

    Have to contact support after every order. The percentage credited is incorrect every time. Frustrating.

11. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Was promised cash back. Was promised extra cash back on Lego, shopped through the app, checked exclusions and was found my purchase was ineligible. Waste of time and energy!

12. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Muy mala experienca. Para enganchar à la gente te dan todo lo primero para Que sigas comprando y dejandoles dinero, pero una vez haces las Compras ya no te mandan el dinero Que te promoten, es un fraude.

13. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Scam. It’s a scam app, not sure how it gets so high review

14. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Scam!!!. You make purchases and get cashback then when you add a method to get the cash all of your activity disappears. You reach out to Customer Service and they tell you cash back was never activated for those purchases even though you only signed up to get cash back and the amount of cash back was visible for each purchase in the activity log. Even though you made three separate purchases in the app they are no longer listed under your recent activity as if you never made any purchases through the app!! Complete waste of time and effort!! They want you to use the app but don’t want to pay you what you’ve earned.

15. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    No cash back for Amazon buys. No amazon 🥲

16. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Missing my check. I have been reaching out to Rakuten about my missing check and there is no way to get in touch with anybody anymore.

17. ★★★★★account bans or deletion without explanation

    They beg you to refer people — then ban everyone for it. I was a Rakuten member for years and genuinely liked the app. I even signed up for their credit card. The app constantly pushes you to “refer friends and family and earn cash back” — through emails, banners, pop-ups. That is the entire selling point of the program. So I did exactly what they asked. I recommended Rakuten to my mother and a couple of close friends — real people I actually know. The result? Every connected account was suspended. Their “risk department” labeled all of us a “family of accounts” created by the same user and ended the relationship. Case closed. Here is what they consider “abuse”: we are separate, real individuals who happen to live together or work together. We share a Wi-Fi network and sometimes a shipping address — because that is what families and coworkers do. Some of the people I referred are elderly and not comfortable with apps, so I showed them how to use it. Apparently helping your own mother use an app is enough to get everyone permanently banned. There is no real appeal process. You send a detailed explanation, and you get back a template reply that does not address anything you said. Then a final email: “We will now be closing this case.” No phone call, no human review — just an algorithm deciding you “look like” a fraud ring and a support agent rubber-stamping it. The most absurd part: this is cash back. A few hundred dollars a year at most. Nobody is getting rich off this. No normal person builds a “fraud operation” for pocket change. But the system cannot tell the difference between a real scammer and an ordinary family trying to save a little money — so it just bans everyone who “looks connected.” If you have elderly parents who need help with apps, roommates, neighbors, or coworkers who share your internet — do NOT refer them. You will not be rewarded. You will get all of your accounts closed, including any cash back you already earned from real purchases with real money. The referral program is not a feature. It is a trap. They advertise sharing, then punish you for sharing with the people actually in your life. One star, only because zero is not allowed. 我做 Rakuten 会员很多年，是真心喜欢这个 App 的。我甚至还办了他们的信用卡。这个 App 一直怂恿你”推荐亲友、赚返现”——通过邮件、横幅、弹窗。这就是整个项目的卖点。 所以我完全照他们说的做了。我把 Rakuten 推荐给了我母亲和几个亲密的朋友——都是我真正认识的真实的人。 结果呢？所有关联账户都被暂停。他们的”风险部门”把我们全部定性为同一个用户创建的”账户家族”，终止关系。案件关闭。 他们眼中的”滥用”是这样的：我们是各自独立的、真实的人，只不过碰巧住在一起或一起工作。我们共用一个 WiFi、有时共用收货地址——因为家人和同事本来就是这样。我推荐的人里有些上了年纪、不太会用 App，所以我教他们怎么用。原来，帮自己的母亲用一个 App，就足以让所有人被永久封号。 根本没有真正的申诉渠道。你发去一份详细的解释，收到的是一封跟你说的内容毫不相干的模板回复。然后是最后一封邮件：“我们现在将关闭此案件。“没有电话、没有人工审核——只有一个算法判定你”看起来像”欺诈团伙，再由一个客服盖个章。 最荒唐的是：这是返现。一年最多几百块。没人靠这个发财。正常人不会为了这点零钱去搞什么”欺诈团伙”。但这个系统分不清真正的骗子和一个只想省点钱的普通家庭——所以它干脆把所有”看起来关联”的人都封了。 如果你有需要帮忙用 App 的年长父母、室友、邻居、或共用网络的同事——千万不要推荐他们。你不会得到奖励。你会让自己所有的账户被关，包括你已经用真金白银购物赚到的返现。 这个推荐项目不是一个功能，它是一个陷阱。他们大做广告鼓励分享，然后因为你和生活中真实的人分享而惩罚你。 一星，只因为不允许给零星。

18. ★★★★★data, history or progress disappears

    Do not recommend app. I’ve had this app forever. However, I use it to see what’s going on but not for purchases. I typically order using my laptop. The *one time* I recently used the app as a pass-through to buy something I didn’t get my cash back as the purchase was deemed “ineligible.” I’ve emailed twice and they’re ghosting me. Depending on the outcome of this purchase, I will delete my Rakuten account. I’ve been using this since it was ebates, and as I said, I never have had issues until I bought something through the app. It makes me skeptical of the app to say the least.

19. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    No money scam. No money scam

20. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Sucks. I don’t know why using an app to scan a receipt has to be so damn difficult. I cannot add the stores that I want to add that I shop at and the few that I could add. I can only get cash back One stuff that recruiting is featuring. If the store is there in the app, I should be able to get cash back for scanning or receipt. And there’s nowhere to just scan the receipt without shopping online first. A lot of is still Shop in the Dan store. This app sucks big dicks.

21. ★★★★★an update broke a familiar workflow

    Last Update Ruined It. Since the last update every time I click to go to the store from within the app all I get is a white screen. Can’t use it anymore.

22. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Scam. Had over $425 in reward money, but could never redeem. Deleting app!

23. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Cash Back. Frustrated you have to click activate even when you have a cc connected for purchases. I have lost points due to forgetting to activate prior to purchasing.

24. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Shady business. They cancelled my account after years because someone with the same name signed up so I lost all my cash back. Wondering if that’s really the reason why. They just don’t want to pay out.

25. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    The app is horrible. I never put in an email address when I signed up but the app keeps telling me it’s sending me an email to some address I’ve never had? Bet they never give me my cash back!

26. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Ruined. They ruined this service, everything is always “ineligible” and it takes months just to find out your purchase isn’t “eligible”. I will be deleting account and app, shame on Rakuten’s new change. Useless now!

27. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Missing cash back. I booked a cruise on Princess cruise line back on 4/11/25 total $3486.48. The cash back percentage was 4%. Now, I can’t find in my shopping trip. They need better way to track booking cruises.

28. ★★★★★crashes, freezes and errors

    Loved until I didn’t. I’ve used Rakuten for years and loved it. However, the app does not work anymore. There is some glitch and the website never loads.

29. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Boooo. Not worth it. My welcome bonus wasn't "eligible" even though I did it through the rakuten app. Don't waste your time.

30. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    One of the worst cashback apps ever. Rakuten denied cashback on a large portion of my airline purchase using unclear reasoning. My total booking was ~$2,100, but Rakuten only awarded cashback on ~$525. After digging into the numbers, it turns out they excluded a major portion of the airfare (fuel surcharge) by classifying it as “fees,” even though it is part of the ticket price—not taxes or optional add-ons. Their terms say taxes and fees are excluded, but do not clearly define airline-imposed charges like fuel surcharges. Customer support keeps giving generic responses without providing a transparent breakdown or pointing to a specific clause. Feels misleading and not transparent. If you’re booking flights expecting cashback, be careful — the eligible amount may be far lower than you think.