• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

TUG Lifetime member?

dioxide45

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I do see this page, but that's to invite someone to join. Not sure how someone can join Tug and refer someone else as the Tugger who "sent" them.

https://tug2.com/referafriend/

And as someone who has never received an email, again, how would I know if I was named as the referring Tugger? (And ultimately, how many of those ten elusive memberships do I have credit toward?)

Dave
I know I never used this page to refer the person that signed up using me as a referral.
 

Passepartout

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I know I never used this page to refer the person that signed up using me as a referral.
Referring someone to TUG is like wetting your pants in a dark suit. It gives you a warm feeling but nobody notices. :)
 

DaveNV

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Referring someone to TUG is like wetting your pants in a dark suit. It gives you a warm feeling but nobody notices. :)

If I asked whether you knew this from personal experience, I suppose you'd say, "Depends." :D

Dave
 

Theiggy

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I refer people to TUG all the time on Facebook, or at least direct them to the forum. From now on I’ll specifically tell them to say I referred them when they join.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Passepartout

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If I asked whether you knew this from personal experience, I suppose you'd say, "Depends." :D
That's what I'd say if you asked me how I like getting older. . . . Depends!?
 

TUGBrian

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I don't think there is actually a field that asks for referral information when you sign up. I went through the process and it looks like there may be a "Comments/More Information" box. Did you enter your name in there as a referral? I really don't know how else the referral would be identified. Hopefully @TUGBrian can confirm?

there is absolutely a referral field when someone creates a new membership. we get them every day. some people use full names, some use forum logins, some use email addresses....many use "this friendly couple we met while on vacation" or similar to which we ask for more info.

either way, every single person that joins as a paid member is asked who referred them if anyone.
 

TUGBrian

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You should get an email when a referral has signed up. At least that was my experience one time with a referral. Of course you would still have to keep track of those emails. Mine isn't hard because I remember only getting one email.

its also stored on our membership records, we will actually apply them to expired memberships if we dont hear back regarding renewals too.
 

TUGBrian

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Recently, I helped a friend join tug using my laptop. She actually joined and paid using her credit card. I watched and helped her through the process. I helped her place her first add.

I didn't receive any notification of her, or anyone I ever referred to Tug which I am certain is more than a crap load.

Bill

we dont show any referral awards on this email address. what was your friends name/email (welcome to pm me privately vs post it here) and ill look up their new membership form.
 

TUGBrian

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And as someone who has never received an email, again, how would I know if I was named as the referring Tugger? (And ultimately, how many of those ten elusive memberships do I have credit toward?)

Dave

we show you had one referral award in the past, which was used back in 5/2018 to extend your membership 6months per your request?
 

TUGBrian

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You should get an email when a referral has signed up. At least that was my experience one time with a referral. Of course you would still have to keep track of those emails. Mine isn't hard because I remember only getting one email.

we show the lone referral award for this account was on Jan 11, 2011 =)
 

TUGBrian

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just for funsies...there are actually only 165 lifetime members. many of these are of course volunteers/admin/mods/etc over the many years TUG has been in existience...but a good number of those are indeed folks who have referred 10+ other members to TUG.

at least 1 new member joins every day from a referral from another TUG member.
 

Passepartout

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note you can also use submitted reviews for credit on membership extensions in lieu of submitting a payment to renew!

although i show you are good thru 2020! =)
Thanks Brian. I'm proud to be a TUGger and share the good vibes of this place.
 

TUGBrian

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rest assured, TUG absolutely would not continue to function if it were not for word of mouth from TUG members!

word of mouth from one timeshare owner to another means more than any online review or ad!
 

DaveNV

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we show you had one referral award in the past, which was used back in 5/2018 to extend your membership 6months per your request?

Ok, thanks. Tug membership rates are so reasonable, it's not a big deal at all. I write reviews every time I stay someplace. So I always thought I was getting this or that reward for stuff. When I get the membership renewal notice, I've always just said, "Use whatever I have available to extend my membership for however long." I don't pay attention to what sort of things have garnered me the extension, because there's no way to check it myself. Do I have two two-month extensions for writing reviews, or three? If I write a review for a resort that has a "Review Award" available, as I think I did last year, what does that mean, really? Isn't that also a six month extension? But since it can't be checked by the members, it seems petty to waste a Mod's time to ask. But nobody ever really knows where they stand, so when they extend the membership by however much, I assume it's a correct application of the rewards available. :shrug:

I will say, though, that I always thought referrals to new members was an accrued thing. That over time, if ten people joined because of me, I'd earn a Lifetime membership. If I understand what you're saying here, by getting that six month membership extension, I "wasted" that referral, as far as a Lifetime credit goes? So it's gone?

Not trying to be difficult, just trying not to be confused. :D

Dave
 

Passepartout

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Not trying to be difficult, just trying not to be confused. :D
I didn't think a 'Golden Shellback' could possibly be confused! Ahoy, Matey!
 

TUGBrian

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Ok, thanks. Tug membership rates are so reasonable, it's not a big deal at all. I write reviews every time I stay someplace. So I always thought I was getting this or that reward for stuff. When I get the membership renewal notice, I've always just said, "Use whatever I have available to extend my membership for however long." I don't pay attention to what sort of things have garnered me the extension, because there's no way to check it myself. Do I have two two-month extensions for writing reviews, or three? If I write a review for a resort that has a "Review Award" available, as I think I did last year, what does that mean, really? Isn't that also a six month extension? But since it can't be checked by the members, it seems petty to waste a Mod's time to ask. But nobody ever really knows where they stand, so when they extend the membership by however much, I assume it's a correct application of the rewards available. :shrug:

I will say, though, that I always thought referrals to new members was an accrued thing. That over time, if ten people joined because of me, I'd earn a Lifetime membership. If I understand what you're saying here, by getting that six month membership extension, I "wasted" that referral, as far as a Lifetime credit goes? So it's gone?

Not trying to be difficult, just trying not to be confused. :D

Dave

lots to answer, so forgive me if I miss an item in this reply!

1. mods have no access to any of this info as it relates to your paid TUG membership, but you can at any time send an email to tug@tug2.net to ask for any information regarding your referral or review awards at any time. its all tracked/recorded on your offline membership record (we dont store actual TUG personal data online other than your username/email etc).

2. yes that is all you need to do is send that reply and we will extend your membership for you, nothing else is necessary and yes i show your membership has been extended this way for quite some time, we are always happy to reward those who give back to the community!

3. yes every review (within reason) will earn an extension, either 2mo or 6mo (latter being a fair quality review of a resort that hasnt had a review in some time). while this isnt applied automatically, the award never expires and can be used to extend your membership upon your renewal date (see answer 2)

4. you can absolutely use referral awards to extend, and it does NOT reduce your count towards the lifetime award.
 

DaveNV

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DaveNV

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lots to answer, so forgive me if I miss an item in this reply!

1. mods have no access to any of this info as it relates to your paid TUG membership, but you can at any time send an email to tug@tug2.net to ask for any information regarding your referral or review awards at any time. its all tracked/recorded on your offline membership record (we dont store actual TUG personal data online other than your username/email etc).

2. yes that is all you need to do is send that reply and we will extend your membership for you, nothing else is necessary and yes i show your membership has been extended this way for quite some time, we are always happy to reward those who give back to the community!

3. yes every review (within reason) will earn an extension, either 2mo or 6mo (latter being a fair quality review of a resort that hasnt had a review in some time). while this isnt applied automatically, the award never expires and can be used to extend your membership upon your renewal date (see answer 2)

4. you can absolutely use referral awards to extend, and it does NOT reduce your count towards the lifetime award.


Thanks, Brian. I absolutely appreciate the extensions of the membership, and I always thought using them was what I was supposed to do. Why else have the extension credit available if I didn't use it? I don't need ad credits, since I don't advertise anything. :)

I may have misunderstood your earlier post when you said "we show you had one referral award in the past, which was used back in 5/2018 to extend your membership 6months per your request?" I took that to mean that by extending my membership it had "used" that membership referral somehow. Now I'm understanding you to say that even if I did extend my membership through that referral, the "credit" for the referral is still on file? And if that is true, is there a way to know how many membership referrals I've earned over the years? (It may only be a few, for all I know.) To flip that on its head, how far away from a Lifetime Membership am I?

Dave, appreciative, as always. :)
 

TUGBrian

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sorry if i wasnt clear!

that is the only referral credit I show on this account. used or not, you are at 1/10 for the lifetime membership.
 

DaveNV

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sorry if i wasnt clear!

that is the only referral credit I show on this account. used or not, you are at 1/10 for the lifetime membership.

Ok. I'm good. <Whew!> This freebie stuff is hard! ;)

Appreciate you, Brian. You're a tireless, patient guy. At least, I think you are. LOL! ;)

Dave
 

TUGBrian

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no worries here, up with sick kiddo and catching up on emails =)
 

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Ok, thanks. Tug membership rates are so reasonable, it's not a big deal at all. I write reviews every time I stay someplace. So I always thought I was getting this or that reward for stuff. When I get the membership renewal notice, I've always just said, "Use whatever I have available to extend my membership for however long." I don't pay attention to what sort of things have garnered me the extension, because there's no way to check it myself. Do I have two two-month extensions for writing reviews, or three? If I write a review for a resort that has a "Review Award" available, as I think I did last year, what does that mean, really? Isn't that also a six month extension? But since it can't be checked by the members, it seems petty to waste a Mod's time to ask. But nobody ever really knows where they stand, so when they extend the membership by however much, I assume it's a correct application of the rewards available. :shrug:

I will say, though, that I always thought referrals to new members was an accrued thing. That over time, if ten people joined because of me, I'd earn a Lifetime membership. If I understand what you're saying here, by getting that six month membership extension, I "wasted" that referral, as far as a Lifetime credit goes? So it's gone?

Not trying to be difficult, just trying not to be confused. :D

Dave
I feel you are right on. Who gets credit or keeps score. No fun in that. Most everywhere we resort, I spread the word. How many actually go find TUG? I don't really care. I know TUG helps so why not share. I don't hang around here for months on end. I come and read and slip away for months or a year. I find a lot of interesting jibber-jabber and feel a part. Spread the word I say. The rest takes over as various may look, join, stay or whatever. I don't know them and I doubt many remember some guy "twisting their arm" toward TUG. They remember my enthusiasm or they don't. I don't care for credit, just like to share good stuff with timeshare folk. They deserve this place. THANKS
 

TUGBrian

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I will say that someone joins pretty much every day with an entry in the "referred by" field...so plenty of TUGGERS do get results by spreading the word! Put another way, quite literally HUNDREDS of owners every year find TUG from other TUG members telling them about it.
 

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I’ve been referring so many people from Facebook groups. I never knew to have them put a referral. Do they put a name or email address? Does it only count if they pay for membership? I would assume so, I do tell everyone to pay to be a member.
 
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