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There’s no better publicity than word of mouth. Companies know this and so they are willing to stump up a load of cash to give you the incentive to refer their products and services to your friends. You can take advantage of £100s of cash rewards available by getting your friends to sign up for things you think are good – or even things you don’t like so much.

The Moneymagpie team is here to take you through the best ‘refer-a-friend’ deals and we’ve found some extra ones today to make you even more money.

• Get great deals at refermehappy.com
• More ‘tell a friend’ deals…
• Breakdown assistance
• Broadband
• Food
• Health and beauty
• Insurance
• Holidays
• Mobile phones
• TV
• Cashback sites

Get great deals at refermehappy.com

Our top tip is to head to refermehappy.com, an online matching service where ‘referrers’ and ‘friends’ are matched up to get referral bonuses from companies like Sky, Virgin and the AA. There are loads of rewards to be had in all sorts of areas:

• Breakdown assistance – rewards from the AA
• Broadband – rewards from BE, IDNet, Nildram and Plusnet.
• Food – rewards from Ocado
• Health and beauty – rewards from Esporta, Harpers Fitness, Red Door Spas and Yogamatters.com
• Insurance – rewards from Halifax, Standard Life, Simply Health, Columbus Direct, Direct Line, and Tesco Insurance
• Holidays – rewards from holidaylettings.co.uk and Expedia
• Mobile phones – rewards from 3 Mobile
• TV – rewards from Sky and Virgin Media
• Cashback sites – rewards from, well, pretty much all of them

We’ve tried this out here at Moneymagpie and our verdict is a resounding thumbs up! Here’s how to do it.

Step 1: Register

You need to register at refermehappy.com before you can start referring ‘friends’ for deals, or they can start referring you. This only takes a minute and it’s free (the cost of the site is covered by advertising). You will be sent an e-mail asking you to confirm your e-mail address. When this is done, you’re ready to go.

Step 2: Get referring

If you click on ‘Deals’ on the homepage you can search for companies you are already signed up to. For example, if you are an AA member, go to ‘Breakdown Assistance’, click on the AA deal (£15 M&S vouchers when you refer a friend) and select ‘I want to refer someone for this offer’. Then submit your confirmation. You are now registered as a ‘referrer’ and refermehappy.com will send you an e-mail when they find a match for you.

With some companies you can refer as many friends as you like – think of all the cash you could make!

If your company offers a ‘refer-a-friend’ deal but it is not listed on refermehappy.com, you can tell them about it by clicking on ‘Submit a company or new offer’ under the appropriate category. As a reward you’ll be the first to be notified about new friends for this deal.

Step 3: Clinch the deal

For security purposes all communication from third parties is sent via a new e-mail address that refermehappy.com sets up for you. Never disclose personal information to individual referrers, especially not your bank details. Generally all you need is the name of the friend or referrer and their e-mail address when applying for these deals; all other information goes through the company itself.

If, having registered as a ‘referrer’, you are matched up with a ‘friend’ then the ball is in your court to secure the deal through the company. For example if you want to refer someone to sign up to the AA, go to the AA ‘refer a friend’ page and fill in the online application form. If the ‘friend’ joins up, £15 in M&S vouchers should be on its way!

Step 4: Be a friend

Most of the companies on the website offer a cash reward for the ‘friend’ as well. If you’re thinking of switching your current account or your broadband providers for example, then it might be worth switching to a company that does referral deals. In some cases (for example with the gym and spa memberships) you can try out the new company before you switch.

If you do decide to join any company after being referred, refermehappy.com will give you priority for your own future referrals for that company.

Moneymagpie’s golden rule

Don’t sign up to anything just so you can get the friend deal and then realise you can’t afford the monthly bills. Playing the ‘refer-a-friend’ game is pointless if you end up with a product that a) you can’t afford, b) you don’t actually want or c) isn’t right for you. But if you’re already thinking of switching, the deals listed on refermehappy.com could be for you.

Deals listed on refermehappy.com

There are currently 32 deals listed on the site, the most popular being SkyTV (£75 M&S vouchers for referrer and friend), Virgin Media (£30 credit for referrer and friend), and 3 Mobile (£30 for referrer and friend).

Most of the deals outlined below are listed on refermehappy.com. However we’ve found some great deals that aren’t on the site.

More ‘tell a friend’ deals…

Zopa

Zopa, the innovative social lending site that allows people to avoid banks and borrow money from other site members at self-determined rates of interest, run a tell-a-friend scheme which rewards referrals with cold hard cash! In order to be eligible, you must register with the site within the offer period, which runs until 31 December. Zopa members who introduce a friend will be credited with a generous £50 when that friend either lends at least £2,000 or borrows any amount of money at Zopa during the life of the offer. Read more about Zopa here.

Picturenation

Online image library Picturenation will pay you if you successfully refer buyers. Simply register to the site, and you will be provided with banners and links that you can paste onto any outgoing emails, your website or blog, or any forums or messageboards you use. You will make a 5% commission for a whole year for each person that visits the site via one of your links and makes a purchase, so if one of your recommendations buys £500 worth of pictures, you will net a cool £25! You can refer individuals or companies, and you can manage your account and track your referrals on your personal Picturenation page. Payments are made via PayPal so you will need to create an account with them, and the commission is paid every two months after your total commission reaches £5.

Breakdown assistance

AA – £15 M&S vouchers reward

Are you an AA customer? Recommend a friend here, and get £15 Marks & Spencer vouchers for every friend that joins up.

Broadband

BE – over £100 credit

The broadband provider BE will give you over £100 credit if you recommend six of your friends to sign up.  For every friend you sign up, you’ll both get £15.32 credit, and for a sixth person BE will double that, meaning you receive £30.64.  Therefore, you could make a whopping £107.24 in credits in one enrolment year.  To refer your friends, log in to the BE member centre and enter the names and email addresses of up to six people.

All ‘refer-a-friend’ credits will appear as a credit on your next invoice, providing BE have received cleared funds from you and the friend.

If you’re thinking of joining do look at BE’s website first to check the coverage and speed in your area.

IDNet – £10 credit

You’ll get £10 credit if you refer a friend to broadband provider IDNet, and so will the friend. Look here for more info. Just make sure your friend mentions your name and e-mail address when placing their order.

Other broadband providers

Other broadband providers currently doing ‘refer-a-friend’ promotions include Nildram and Plusnet.  Nildram gives the referrer £15 credit and Plusnet offers a monthly discount.

These are both worth doing if you’re already a customer.

Food

Ocado – up to 20 vouchers

A goodie!  Invite a friend to Ocado and you’ll receive up to 20 vouchers by e-mail when your recommended friends join and receives their third Ocado delivery. A minimum spend may be required to use the ‘Invite A Friend’ voucher, so make sure you wait until you need a big shop. You can recommend up to 20 friends.

To get your vouchers log in to the Ocado website and click on ‘Invite a Friend’ at the bottom left of the homepage. Then just fill in the form to start getting your vouchers.

Health and Beauty

Local gyms often offer ‘refer-a-friend’ deals so do ask a member of staff or check their website.

Harpers Fitness – free gift

Harpers Fitness members can choose from a wide range of great free gifts from the Harpers Reward Range when referring a friend who joins the gym. Complete this form to refer your friend. If they join you’ll be sent a voucher with a unique code which you can redeem here.

Red Door Spas – 20% off

Red Door Spas members receive a 20% savings reward for each new guest who visits a Red Door Spa on their referral. Just create or log in to a My Red Door account and enter the details of your friends on the refer-a-friend form. Your friends will receive an e-mail inviting them to visit Red Door, along with a ‘Welcome Savings’ coupon for 20% off their first visit.

Yogamatters – £5 online voucher

Yoga bunnies get £5 to spend online at Yogamatters.com when they refer a friend who spends over £20 in one order. You have to log in to your account and fill in the form here. When your friend joins and spends £20 you’ll be e-mailed a thank you voucher containing a special code. You can enter the code at the online checkout and £5 will be deducted from your invoice.

Insurance

Simplyhealth – £30 Boots voucher

If you have health insurance with Simplyhealth you could bag a £30 Boots voucher when you refer a friend and they join. Complete this Simplyhealth form online.

Columbus Direct – £5 refund

Got travel insurance with Columbus Direct? Recommend friends and get £5 back for each friend that buys through Columbus Direct. When you purchase your policy you’ll find a ‘Recommend a Friend’ button on the confirmation page. Just click and enter your friend’s details – you can do this for as many friends as you like.  Columbus Direct will then refund £5 directly onto your credit card 21 days after your friend has bought the policy.

Tesco Insurance – free gift cards and clubcard points

Tesco offers ‘refer-a-friend’ deals on Tesco Travel Insurance and Tesco Pet Insurance. Tell a friend about Tesco Travel Insurance and Tesco will say thank you with a £5 Tesco Gift Card or 500 Clubcard Points when your friend takes out an annual Tesco Travel Insurance policy. The friend will also receive their choice of £5 Gift Card or 500 points. To claim the rewards download a PDF copy of the Recommend a Friend form (on this page), print it out, fill in your own details, then give the form to your friend who can fill in their details and send it off. You can recommend as many people as you like, so there’s no limit to how many points or gift cards you can claim!

The Tesco Pet Insurance referral deal is even better – simply get a friend to take out a pet insurance policy with Tesco and they’ll reward you both with a £10 Tesco Gift Card or 1,000 Clubcard Points. Download the PDF application form on this page and fill in as above. Again, you can recommend as many people as you’d like.

Holidays

Voyage Privé – 70% off

Voyage Privé is a members-only site offering up to 70% off exclusive 4 and 5* holidays.  After registering for free, you’ll have access to incredible deals on luxury holidays, from romantic city breaks to exotic cruises.  The holidays are available on a limited time only basis which means there are wonderful offers being added all the time.

Holidaylettings.co.uk – free gifts

If you advertise on home rental website holidaylettings.co.uk and recommend a friend or family member to put an ad up on the site you’ll get a free gift as a reward. Gifts include a £50 case of wine and £50 worth of Amazon vouchers. Just click ‘Refer Now’ on this page and enter your friend’s details. You can refer as many friends as you’d like – just make sure they mention your name or Advertiser ID when registering.

Mobile phones

3 Mobile – share up to £90 with a friend

Recommend a friend to 3 Mobile and as a thank you they’ll credit each of your accounts. If your friend goes for a phone you both get £30. If they go for Mobile Broadband you both get £15. If they choose both, that’s £45 each.

You can recommend a maximum of three friends – if they all go for the combined package, that’s £135 for you.

Just enter your details here and 3 will send you an e-mail. Forward this to your mate and if they sign up you’ll both get credited in 60 days time. The referred friend must quote your mobile number at the time of ordering.

Mobile credits are only available if the new customer signs up to an 18-month minimum term contract. Broadband credits are available with the Pay Monthly Mobile Broadband price plan on an 18 or 24-month minimum term contract.

TV

Sky – get £75 M&S vouchers each

Get £75 M&S vouchers each when you introduce a friend to Sky TV. Your friend has to join Sky TV by 27 October 2011 – once they’ve joined and paid their first monthly subscription, you’ll both receive your vouchers. Introduce a friend now by following this link.

Virgin media – £50 credit per friend

Just as with Sky, if you refer a friend to Virgin Media cable services, both you and the friend get a bonus. In Virgin’s case this is £50 off your bill and free installation for your friend. Just give your friend’s name and e-mail address by clicking on ‘Connect your friends now!’ on this page. Once the friend has paid their first bill Virgin will credit the referrer’s accounts with £50. You can connect as many friends as you like.

Cashback sites

Most cashback sites pay bonuses when you get a friend to sign up. If you’re into cashback sites, this is an easy way to earn some cash while also helping your friends to save on purchases.

GreasyPalm pays £7 per friend;

Free Fivers pays £5 once the friend has earned £25;

Froggybank pays £5 for every two friends you recruit;

Cashback Shopper will give you £5 just for signing up followed by an extra £5 if you refer a friend.

Useful links

• Voyage Prive
• refermehappy.com
• Sky TV
• Virgin Media
• Columbus Direct
• Direct Line