Rakuten Cash Back & Deals App: Save Money With a Few Glitches – An In-Depth Review

Pros:

1. Extensive Partnerships: Rakuten offers an impressive number of partner stores, both online and in-store. With more than 3,500 merchants available, there are numerous opportunities to save money on items you are already planning to purchase.
2. Simple Cash Back Process: Users can earn cash back effortlessly while shopping at their favorite stores. Forget hunting for coupons, Rakuten’s automated processes do all the legwork, leaving users free to focus on shopping and earning rewards.
3. Frequent Payouts: Rakuten pays out cash back consistently every few months, ensuring users receive their hard-earned rewards in a timely manner.

Cons:

1. Glitchy Mobile App: The Rakuten Android app has received many complaints about its slow performance, frequent freezing, and overall unreliability. Users often experience difficulty navigating the app, which can lead to problems when attempting to check out or make purchases on partner websites.
2. Security Concerns: Some users have reported that they suspect their email accounts were hacked after attempting to make a purchase through the app. As a result, potential users should exercise caution and consider using the Rakuten website on a computer to avoid possible security risks.
3. Inefficient Help Pages and Chatbot: Navigating the help pages on the Rakuten app can be quite frustrating due to an obstructive automated chatbot. While users appreciate having access to support, the chatbot can be intrusive and hinder the user experience.
4. Poor Captcha Implementation: Rakuten’s Captcha challenges are difficult to complete on the mobile app because of illegible images or a cursor that remains in the login fields, making sound verification impossible.
5. Disappearing Rebates: Some users have noticed that their pending rebates sometimes vanish without explanation. To safeguard their earnings, users must be diligent about tracking their transactions and pending cash back.

In conclusion, the Rakuten: Cash Back & Deals app offers an enticing cash back program with an extensive range of partner stores. However, it is marred by a subpar mobile app experience, including slow speed, glitches, security concerns, and missing rebates. To ensure a smoother experience while still benefitting from Rakuten, we recommend using their website on a computer instead of the Android app.