Reigning Sunshine, previously Brighter tomorrow Marketing. A work from home position that telemarkets homeowners for a "free solar panel system".. they contract for big companies and set appointments for surveyors from: Solar City, Vivint Solar, Clear Solar, Go Solar, and the business to business department for Solar on Earth. They contact people in the states of: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland, Arizona, Utah and California.
Much like everyone else.. both my husband and I were scammed by Reigning Sunshine. I found a Craigslist post for a work from home telemarketer in September of 2015. I did my research and due diligence on the company, but because they were "brand new", there were no complaints filed on line yet. I spoke with the owner Anne Villante, and at first she was sweet as pie. I was only paid on time for my first paycheck. Come time for the second one, the excuses started. Someone didn't send out the checks, the banking information was misplaced, and most commonly used was "their surveyors did not pay them, so they could not pay us".. not an excuse, not legal, and very unethical.
I was foolish enough to continue working for them and buying their excuses. I was generating a lot of appointments for the company, so although they were always late on my pay, and rarely paid me the amount that was owed.. they were paying me. Anne would call me with her stories, thank me so much for what I was doing for the company.. tell me that these were just "growing pains from being a new company" and would always tell me "I would be caught up the next paycheck".
In January, Anne called me and told me that we were growing, we were going a different direction in the company, and wanted to promote me to Sales Manager of the East Coast Team. They were going to place Craigslist ads online, the calls would come to me.. and I would recruit, hire, train and manage my team. I would be receiving a weekly base for my management duties, bonuses off of my team members when they hit quota, and could also continue making appointments in my spare time as well. I put in a lot of work for them. Sometimes working 8 hour days to grow the team. All in All.. I recruited about 40 reps for them, including my husband and close friend/previous co-worker.
Slowly, they would all leave when they were not being paid. Some of these reps were really great workers. At first, Anne, HR and Bill (aka Mike/Spike.. we will get back to this).. would tell me that they weren't being paid because they were not sending back their paperwork or termination agreement, or these reps were wrong.. their paychecks had already gone out.. they just hadn't received them yet.
Eventually, "Bill" called me and told me he was really excited about a new business opportunity. We were going to start a business to business department for commercial solar power. He wanted my husband and I, and a couple other top reps to start working this new opportunity. He assured me that this was going to dig the company out of the current situation we were in.. we and the other reps would be caught up financially. We would make hourly + lucrative commissions.. none of which we have ever been paid on.
We continued to work ourselves deeper and deeper into a hole. Occasionally, I would call them upset about our financial situation.. that we have rent or car payment due.. They may have thrown us a little money here and there, but it was never what we were owed, and never on time. I started seeing more and more emails come in from reps that were not being paid. Previous co-workers and friends that I had recruited, single mothers, even a woman that was in her 70's. People complained of getting evicted, not being able to pay their bills.. it didn't seem anything that was said was getting any of these reps paid.
I started to do my research. Come to find out, Reigning Sunshine was previously Brighter Tomorrow Marketing. Which was started by Anne and her Husband Mike "spike" Stephenson. I have been told they were shut down for the same reason. There are numerous complaints on Brighter Tomorrow Marketing (links will be provided below).. and now "Bill" posing to be Anne's Sales Manager was really her husband, Mike/Spike.
I genuinely liked Mike/Bill and Anne. They always had a story or an excuse.. which I fell for. I liked my work, and I felt committed to my team. I really wanted this to work out. I didn't want to believe that they were straight up scamming people, but rather having business difficulties. After all my research, I feel it is obviously the latter of the two. My name has now been dragged through the mudd and is on multiple websites, claiming I am a scam.. when in fact, I was scammed as well. I was nothing more than a rep like the rest of these people, that had gotten promoted because of my hard work, ability to generate a lot of appointments, and my background in management.
I have been contacted by an attorney, there is an existing lawsuit being built. I gave them ample time to rectify the situation, and was even so fair as to tell them they could pay me what they could, until we were caught up. With commissions (that we know of..) My husband and I are owed at least $5k. I am taking the time to get our story out there, because I do not want anyone else to fall victim to this scam company. We were fortunate enough to have other avenues of money coming in, but I know not everyone that worked for the company was so lucky. It is beyond immoral, (not to mention illegal) to put people in this situation that have done honest work for you. I look forward to justice being served, and hope that no one else gets involved with this company.
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