Dosh.cash is a relatively recently launched cash-back application, which claims to give users money back on purchases made with their linked credit or debit cards, at a huge number of merchants, in a quick and fuss-free manner.
Is it all true though, or is it too good to be true? Some user feedback points to the latter…
At first glance, Dosh.cash’s basic proposition does indeed seem to be a bit too good to be true, but at a closer look, it turns out the offer may indeed be legitimate.
There are a few things off with their website, but the issue that truly raises question marks is that of negative user feedback, of which there seems to be plenty out there.
What exactly is Dosh Cash and what does it claim to do for you?
Shopping rewards are a familiar concept.
That’s what Dosh Cash takes and turns into a fully automated mobile solution, which takes all the form-filling and manual submission out of the equation for the user, granting him/her access to a world of superb promotional deals from some of the best known merchants.
Long story short:
Every time one makes a purchase with his/her Dosh Cash-linked card, some money (resulting from a merchant-offered rebate) lands in his/her Dosh Cash account.
That money can then be withdrawn to a PayPal account, so the user can do with it as he/she pleases.
The operation supports more than 100,000 merchants, among them Target, Home Depot, Barnes and Noble, Sheraton, Microsoft and others of similar caliber.
The unique selling angle of Dosh.cash is the fact that all it requires is an account registration on the part of the user (accompanied by the downloading and installation of the Dosh Cash app, of course).
There are no promo codes, nothing has to be mailed in, no tinkering about with forms at the register, no UPC scanning and no photos of receipts are required.
Dosh Cash takes care of all the unsavory bits of promotion/discount-hunting, putting the proceeds right into your pockets. At least, this is the theory.
It also explains pretty well where the rebate funds come from.
The site never mentions how the operation makes its money, though it is safe to assume they just cut a commission off the rebates they transfer to your account.
In addition to all the above, Dosh Cash also offers hotel booking, travel deals as well as car rental. With that many merchants in the fold, there should indeed be no reasons for the scheme not to work.
The app won’t just passively sit in users’ pockets either. It will notify them of various deals based on geographic/physical proximity, thus incentivizing purchasing behavior. This angle is how it sells itself to merchants, who will obviously reap their own benefits from the setup too.
With most of Dosh.cash’s competitors, users are required to manually link deals and they have to contend with but a handful of supported merchants.
The Dosh Cash “ecosystem” is made up of three parts:
- the consumer-side app (which users download to their phones),
- the merchant-side platform
- and the wallet/banking part, where the rebate money is held, and where withdrawals/donations can be made.
The bottom line in this regard is that the theory behind Dosh Cash is sound and it makes reasonable sense.
It is not indicative of a scam in and of itself.
What about practice though?
Does it too hold up to scrutiny?
Let us address some of the natural concerns you may have about the Dosh.cash setup.
How does Dosh.cash treat your credit card information?
Indeed, when you are required to “link” your card to a service, you may well end up playing into the hands of scammers who offer you an attractive deal to thus prod you to voluntarily give up sensitive information. This information can then be used for crime and identity theft further down the line.
With Dosh Cash, this does not seem to be the case.
The service is a legitimate one, in the sense that it is not just a front for an information-skimming scam.
Dosh Cash allegedly uses top-notch security for everything.
Personal data is encrypted and the app never actually stores one’s credit card information or user name/password.
Two-factor authentication is used to prevent unauthorized access, credit card information is tokenized and stored that way, and the app does not sell any personal information to a third party.
Let us take a look at a few things that just do not add up about the service
The Dosh Cash website mentions that several high-profile media outlets have discussed it, one way or the other.
Since there are no relevant links provided in this regard, we ran a few searches at the websites of the mentioned media giants, only to come up empty-handed.
This is a practice scammers use, and it makes no sense whatsoever for Dosh Cash to resort to something like this.
In a nutshell:
No, Forbes does not seem to have ever run a piece on the service.
And the same goes for USA Today.
Looking past this small glitch though, we run into much bigger issues in regards to user feedback.
While there are some positive stories and ratings available (some of which look rather fake), there are some seriously negative accounts out there, which will instantly plant the seeds of doubt in one’s mind, to say the least.
The site runs a referral bonus scheme, offering users $10 for every newly referred client.
Apparently, these rewards are often not delivered.
The scheme may seem a little suspicious too (pyramid schemes are known to use/abuse it) but in this instance, that is most probably not the case.
In addition to these promised rewards though, sometimes legitimate cash-back remains undelivered as well.
The hotel booking side seems to have its glitches too.
People have complained about bookings they made through Dosh Cash, that turned out to be non-existent once they arrived to their destination hotel.
To make matters worse, the funds were then kept in limbo for months pending an eventual return to the user.
While the operator states that it accepts any card and that it offers a $5 reward for its linking, this hardly seems to be the case.
According to some users, some cards get squarely refused by the app.
Perhaps the worst problem of all is however that the monies earned through cash-back can often simply not be withdrawn to PayPal.
Users complaining about this state of affairs through Dosh Cash support were allegedly told that they “might” eventually be allowed to withdraw…not exactly the sort of treatment one would expect from an operation that promised to pay within 72 hours.
The bottom line
Dosh Cash does not seem to be a bona fide scam, in the sense that it is a legitimate business that pursues a legitimate business model.
The user-raised issues discussed above may mostly stem from confusion and overall incompetence rather than bad faith, but still, some of those problems are very disruptive.
Not being able to withdraw your cash back-generated funds for instance defeats the whole purpose of the setup.
While this may not be a scam, if the above discussed problems persist, it is hardly the useful solution it makes itself out to be.
Their rating looks phony. 4.7 out of 5 with so many negative reviews is not possible