Most referral problems come from five situations. Pick yours for the cause and the one step that still helps.
Checked Against Starlink’s own terms and help pages. How we check
Quick answer
If you ordered without the link, bought the kit at a store, or have a service address outside the US, the referral can’t count. If you shared a link, the usual problems are a reward paid as credit because cash wasn’t set up, or a referral that is still pending.
What happened?
[{"id":"no-link","side":"customer","label":"I ordered without using a referral link","answer":"A link can’t be attached after the order, and returning customers don’t qualify for a new one. You lost one month of service credit, nothing else.","href":"/already-ordered/","cta":"See what’s still possible"},{"id":"store","side":"customer","label":"I bought the kit at a store or second-hand","answer":"Store, reseller and transferred kits never qualify, with or without a link.","href":"/already-ordered/","cta":"See your options"},{"id":"device","side":"customer","label":"I opened the link on my phone but ordered on a computer","answer":"If you typed starlink.com on the computer, that order probably didn’t carry the link. Check before you pay; after paying, treat it as an order without a link.","href":"/fixes/different-device/","cta":"How to check"},{"id":"abroad","side":"customer","label":"My friend’s address isn’t in the US","answer":"A referral only counts when both service addresses are in the same country. Your friend should use a link from a customer in their own country.","href":"/fixes/friend-outside-us/","cta":"Why, and what to do"},{"id":"credit","side":"owner","label":"My reward came as credit, but I wanted cash","answer":"Credit is the default. Cash needs you to switch reward type and pass the payment processor’s ID check before the reward pays out.","href":"/fixes/cash-not-set-up/","cta":"Set up cash"},{"id":"pending","side":"owner","label":"My referral is still pending","answer":"A referral matures after the new customer’s two full billing cycles; the reward follows “as soon as 60 days” after their activation, and cash up to 30 days after maturity.","href":"/refer/cash-payout/#timeline","cta":"See the timeline"},{"id":"sharing","side":"owner","label":"I’m not sure the way I shared my link is allowed","answer":"Check the method against section 6.4 of the terms. A violation can forfeit pending and paid rewards.","href":"/refer/sharing-rules/","cta":"Check a sharing method"},{"id":"standby","side":"owner","label":"I paused my own service (Standby) or cancelled","answer":"Without at least one high-speed plan, all your pending referrals are cancelled. Referrals that already matured still pay.","href":"/refer/#keep-eligible","cta":"What stays and what’s lost"}]
Problems with the new customer’s bill credit itself, after a correct order, are billing questions for Starlink support in the app.