Last updated October 15, 2026
These are the full terms of the Triangle Xmas Referrals program and Ripples program. The short version on our Referrals page is a plain guide; where it and these terms differ, these terms govern. By sharing a referral link or code, or by accepting a Share or a Ripple, you agree to these terms. In these terms, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Triangle Xmas, and “you” means the customer named on the lighting agreement.
The short version is on our Referrals page.
1.1 Earning a Share. When a Referred Household's lights have been installed for a Season, its Referrer earns a Share of that household's Season Bill, provided the Referrer and the Referred Household each have an Active Agreement for that Season. A Referred Household earns its Referrer no more than one Share for any one Season.
1.2 The rate. A Share is up to 6% of the Season Bill for every Season the Referred Household stays with us, the same rate every year, for as long as both Agreements stay active. We set the percentage within that limit from the size of the Referred Household's home, on a schedule we do not publish. A home whose size we do not have on record is rated at the lowest point of that schedule.
1.3 Totals only. A Referrer sees the totals of their Shares only. We do not show a Referrer the Referred Household's price, Season Bill, rate or any other detail of that household's account.
1.4 Credit first, until a Season is free. Each Share is first applied as a credit to the Referrer's next unbilled Season: the current Season if the Referrer's own lights for it have not yet been installed, otherwise the following Season. Credit is applied until that Season is free. A Season is free when the credits applied to it equal the price on the Referrer's own Agreement, up to a maximum of $2,000.
1.5 Payment of the remainder. Any part of a Share above a free Season is paid to the Referrer as money, by bank transfer or by check, and never in cash. It becomes payable only after the Referred Household's Season Bill for that Season has been paid in full, and is paid on our regular payout schedule.
1.6 Add-ons. Add-ons are charged at our regular price and are not part of a free Season. Upgrade credits, including Ripples, may be applied to add-ons as Part 2 describes.
1.7 An Active Agreement is required. A Referrer must have an Active Agreement for a Season to earn a Share for that Season. A paused Season earns nothing, and a Share not earned in a paused Season is not made up later. The referral itself stays on record, and when the Referrer signs again, earning resumes from the next Season in which both households have an Active Agreement.
1.8 Limits on referrals. A household cannot refer itself. Two households may not refer each other, and no chain of referrals may lead back to a household already in it. One address counts once: a second record at the same address is not a new household and earns no Share.
1.9 Refusal and reversal. We may refuse to record a referral, and may reverse any Share already credited or paid, where a referral circumvents these terms or appears to us to be fraudulent.
1.10 Referrals recorded later. A household that was already our customer before it was recorded as referred is credited at its usual rate, starting with the Season in which the referral is recorded. No Share is earned for any Season before a referral is recorded.
1.11 Taxes. Before any payment that would bring the total we have paid a Referrer in a calendar year to $600 or more, we require a completed IRS Form W-9 from the Referrer, and we will issue an IRS Form 1099 as the law requires. The Referrer is responsible for any taxes due on their Shares.
1.12 Moving house. A Referrer who moves keeps earning Shares for as long as they keep an Active Agreement with us. Ripples are treated differently; see Part 2.
2.1 Earning a Ripple. Every Season, for each Lit Home near an Eligible Customer's home, that Eligible Customer earns a Ripple. The amount depends on the straight-line distance between the two homes' recorded locations, in the nearest band the distance falls within: $25 within 500 ft, $10 within a quarter mile, $5 within half a mile. A home farther away than the last band earns no Ripple from that Lit Home.
2.2 The Pool. The Ripples earned from one Lit Home in one Season never add up to more than the Pool. Where the full amounts for every Eligible Customer near a Lit Home would add up to more than the Pool, each of those Ripples is reduced by the same proportion so that together they equal the Pool, rounded to the cent. Nearer homes therefore still earn more than farther ones.
2.3 One address counts once. Two or more records at the same address count as one Lit Home, and earn their neighbors one set of Ripples.
2.4 Every Season. Ripples recur every Season in which the Lit Home and the Eligible Customer each keep an Active Agreement with us. A paused Season earns nothing.
2.5 Spending Ripples. Ripples are upgrade credits. They are spent on add-ons at the customer's next scheduled installation visit, and never call for a special trip. Add-ons are charged at our regular price, and Ripples are applied against that price. Where the Ripples on an account are more than an add-on costs, the add-on is covered in full and the rest stays on the account; where they are less, the customer pays the difference.
2.6 Rollover. Unused Ripples stay on the account for as long as the Agreement is active. When there is nothing left to add at a home, our office may apply its Ripples to the Season price.
2.7 Lapse. Ripples on the account of a household that has had no Active Agreement for two Seasons in a row lapse, and are not restored.
2.8 Moving house. Ripples are tied to the location of the home that earned them. If a customer moves, Ripples earned at the old address and not yet spent are closed and do not transfer. The new address earns its own Ripples from then on.
2.9 No cash value. Ripples are never paid in cash, cannot be exchanged for cash and have no cash value.
3.1 Eligibility. The Programs are open to residential customers with an Active Agreement for our lighting service. Our staff and the members of their households are not eligible for a Share on any job they sell.
3.2 Changes to the Programs. We may change or end either Program, or any amount, rate or limit in it, at any time by updating these terms. Credits already posted to an account are honored under the terms in force when they were posted, except in the case of fraud.
3.3 Not transferable. Credits and Shares belong to the account that earned them. They cannot be transferred, sold or inherited, and have no cash value, except that the part of a Share paid as money under Part 1 is paid as stated there.
3.4 Lapse of Share credits. A Share credit not yet applied, on the account of a household that has had no Active Agreement for two Seasons in a row, lapses and is not restored. Money already paid to a Referrer is not affected.
3.5 Our records. Our records of referrals, home locations, installations, bills, Credits and payments are final for the purposes of the Programs.
3.6 Privacy. We never show anyone who referred whom; a Referrer sees their own totals only. We never show a customer the names or addresses of the nearby homes that earned them Ripples. How we handle your information is set out in our privacy policy.
3.7 Program emails. When Credits land on an account we send at most one digest email a day. We send one Program email each Season, and an off-season recap only to customers who earned something. You may stop Program and marketing emails at any time by replying to any of them or by telling our office, and you keep every Credit and Share you have earned. Emails about your installation and your bills continue.
3.8 Notices. We give notices under these terms by email to the address on your account.
3.9 Governing law. These terms are governed by the laws of the State of North Carolina.
3.10 Severability. If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest of these terms stays in effect.
3.11 Questions. Call or text our office at 984-322-9928, or email [email protected].