2 hours ago
3
How much do you love your energy company – enough to recommend it to a friend? How about if £50 was up for grabs?
Richard from Suffolk is a customer of Octopus Energy, and now eight of his family and friends are, too, after he recommended the provider to them all through its referral scheme. “I really think [referral schemes] are a good idea. It’s an incentive to swap – without it, I think people wouldn’t bother switching and would carry on as they were,” he says.
For each referral, Octopus gives £50 of credit to the referrer and the referee. Richard says his dad was delighted with this arrangement. “That paid for a month’s worth of electricity for my dad, which he was really happy about,” he says.
Across energy, banking, shopping and entertainment, there are lots of companies and brands offering existing customers perks for bringing in new business. How it normally works is that a customer shares a link or code with a friend or family member, and then the referred friend or relative either signs up to the service or buys a product.
In return, either or both parties get a pre-agreed reward, which might be cash, credit, money off, a free month or points.
For businesses, these schemes can often be seen as an easy win as they can be a way of bringing in good-quality new customers for less than the cost of paying for more advertising. But for customers, there are potential dangers.
“Refer-a-friend schemes can be genuinely useful in offering cash bonuses or discounts for both parties,” says Jane Hawkes, the founder of the consumer rights website Lady Janey.
“However, it is important to approach them with a degree of caution and common sense.”
If you are the referrer, she says you should “be honest about your experience, and transparent about the fact that you’ll receive a bonus if someone uses your link”.
If you are the friend or relative, her advice is to “check the small print, compare alternatives and make sure the product genuinely fits your needs and budget”.
Martyn James, a consumer rights campaigner, says everyone should read the terms and conditions of not just the product but also the scheme itself, just to ensure that all parties are happy with any agreement.
He adds: “Be wary of social media referrals. These can condemn both parties to endless spam linked to the sector of the business you’ve referred to.”
Most of these schemes require the referred friend to be a brand-new customer who has never used the company or service before.
Naturally, you are going to want the people you have referred to have a good experience. It probably helps if the company being recommended is well regarded. This month Octopus Energy was named a Which? recommended provider for the ninth year running (the only big energy supplier to get this accolade) after coming second in a survey of 17 firms – so hopefully Richard’s friends and relatives will be glad they made the switch.
Banking and finance
Some banks, investment companies and finance firms offer rewards to people who refer their friends, and sometimes also to the referred friends.
Lloyds bank gives each successful current account sign-up – both the existing customer and the new one – £50. Anyone with a qualifying Lloyds current account can refer up to five people a year, which means you can get up to £250.
Monzo’s current refer-a-friend offer is “up to £50”, which means the customer has a chance of getting £10, £20 or £50 every time they refer someone, with that person also getting the incentive. To be eligible, the referred person must add some money and pay for something using their Monzo card within 30 days.
Starling Bank offers a free National Trust day pass to the referrer and the new customer. This is done when the existing customer sends a referral through the app, and the new person signs up and is accepted by the bank. The passes offer a free day out for two at a National Trust site of your choice.
And online savings marketplace Raisin offers £100 to each party if a customer refers a friend or relative who then opens a fixed-rate savings bond via the referral link – though the referred person must deposit a minimum of £10,000 in a single account to qualify.
Digital investing service Wealthify offers £50 to a referrer and a referred friend when the new customer opens a stocks and shares Isa, self-invested personal pension (Sipp), junior Isa or investment account. They have to put in at least £1,000 and leave it invested for a minimum of six months. The £50 is paid directly into your investment accounts.
For many banks, there also is a condition that money must be spent from the new account that has been opened, and that the account is open for a minimum set period of time.
Energy, broadband and other bills
Many broadband, electricity, gas and mobile network providers also offer cash and other rewards to those who successfully get a new customer to use their service.
The Octopus Energy deal Richard used offers £50 of credit for both parties, which gets added to their accounts when the new customer has fully switched over and made their first direct debit payment. “It typically takes around four weeks from when your friend joins,” says the firm.
Similarly, British Gas has schemes for its boiler services and its gas and electricity.
Every boiler referral, where the friend or family member has a new energy-efficient boiler fitted by the company, gets each party a reward (a £100 Amazon voucher, or £100 in your PayPal account, or a £50 Hive voucher). To refer someone, you need to be a British Gas customer who had a boiler installed by the company in the last seven years. For energy, both people get an Amazon gift card worth either £50 (when they switch their gas and electricity to British Gas) or £25 (when they switch just one). Again, the referrer needs to be an existing customer.
Virgin Media’s refer-a-friend deal offers cash rewards – up to £50 each – for referring friends and family to its services. This includes its broadband, TV and home phone packages. There are a few offers that you can’t refer friends to, and check to make sure your friend is able to receive Virgin Media in their area before referring them.
Similarly, if a friend or family member signs up for a Sky product (including Sky Glass, Sky Stream, Sky Mobile or broadband), you will both get up to £100 in vouchers to spend at big retailers. “You must only send the referral link to close friends and family. Please don’t spam,” says the company.
Broadband provider Plusnet has a scheme for customers where, for every person they get to sign up, it will give the referrer up to £1.25 off their monthly bill for as long as the signed-up person remains a customer. “You can recommend us to as many people as you like, so there’s a chance that you could end up with free broadband or even making money,” says the company.
The mobile network Three has refer-a-friend deals for a number of its products and services, including its pay monthly phone and home and mobile broadband plans. The provider gives £40 to each person for a successful broadband referral, and £20 each for a successful pay monthly sim referral. Your reward can be paid straight into your current account or PayPal account. And, unusually, you can recommend someone and receive a reward even if you are not a Three customer.
Its rival mobile network Voxi – a Vodafone brand – will give both parties a gift card (Amazon, PayPal or Just Eat) worth up to £20 after they have both paid their monthly plan bills for two months.
Some gym companies including Lifestyle Fitness, Anytime Fitness, Gymbox and Third Space offer deals to members who recommend their chain to friends.
Third Space offers gym credits to use, while Anytime Fitness gives money off your membership (it says the offers may vary depending on the club). Gymbox gives both parties a month of free membership. And Lifestyle Fitness offers the referring member points and rewards which can include one or more months of free membership, with the referred person getting a free day pass to try out the facilities.
When it comes to shopping, LG Electronics gives both parties 10% off their first or next order.
Clothing retailer Hobbs gives you 15% off your next online purchase for referring a friend, who will also get 15% off their first order (provided they haven’t shopped with it before).
Zoom by Ocado, the app-based food delivery service, gives both parties £10 off their first or next order, though the service is only available in some London neighbourhoods at the moment.
Entertainment
For those who want the most of entertainment – from TV and cinema to music, there are plenty of deals on offer.
If you like going to the cinema, Cineworld has a deal for its Unlimited membership. It allows both parties to get a free month of membership.
The company says that if 12 friends sign up with your code, you will get 12 months’ Unlimited membership – that is, one year of cinema for free.
