Michael Fallquist- Ponzi Schemes, Fraud Through Think Energy
Think+ Energy was started by Michael Fallquist, who also served as its CEO and director. He enrolled at Cornell University in 2002.
Think+ Energy by Michael Fallquist omits ownership or executive information.
On its website, Think Energy doesn’t list ownership or executive information. The domain name (“thinkenergy.plus”) for the Think Energy website was privately registered on November 18, 2022. Additional investigation reveals that marketing materials for Think Energy list Michael Fallquist as the company’s founder and CEO.
Though it’s not clear yet why this critical information is hidden on the website. Behind MLM the first who came across as the founder of Viridian and Crius Energy was Fallquist.
The MLM Viridian provided utility services. Listed as a “strategic partner” was Crius Energy. Paul Booth served as the CEO of Viridian Energy, while Fallquist served as the CEO of Crius.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority of Connecticut said in 2015 that it will be examining Viridian’s contracts, contract renewals, customer notice policies, and enrollment procedures.
In Maryland, a consumer class-action lawsuit was also brought against Viridian and Crius Energy in that same year.
Charges which were equating to 4 or 5 times the market rate were implied by Viridian and Crius
Viridian declared towards the close of 2017 that it would stop operating its MLM business by March 2018.
Viridian paid $5 million to resolve “deceptive marketing & sales techniques” claims made by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office in March 2018.
In June 2018, Viridian paid $18.5 million to settle the aforementioned consumer class action. At the start of 2019, Crius Energy was sold to Vistra after firing staff members. Michael Fallquist, CEO of Griddy Pro, made a comeback to the utilities MLM sector in December 2020. Griddy Pro offered discounts to Texas customers via a variable rate. The condition was that customers had to keep an eye on the rate.
Griddy Pro
The Texas Electric Reliability Council “revoked Griddy’s authority to enter the state’s electricity market” later in that month. A $1 billion class action lawsuit was also filed in the same time frame against Griddy Pro.
A month later, in March 2021, Griddy Pro and its parent business Griddy both declared bankruptcy. Michael Fallquist seems to have introduced Think+ in or around December 2022.
Think’s + Products
Think+ is tied to Think Energy
Think Energy has operations in the US states of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Washington, DC. Think+ and Think Energy are connected.
Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Washington, DC are among the US states where Think Energy conducts business.
Rates vary dependent on suppliers and location within these states, just like with any MLM utility business. The Think Energy website offers quotes after a postcode is entered. I entered a few random postcodes from the regions where Think Energy provides services out of curiosity.
Think’s + Compensation
Think+’s compensation plan is based on customer recommendations for power. These clients could include affiliates who have been recruited or retail customers. The “Free Energy Club” program offered by Think+ is noteworthy.
Clients who refer three friends will receive a 10% discount.
Clients who refer ten friends will receive a 40% discount.
If customers prefer twenty friends, they will receive a 100% price reduction.
The Free Energy Club affects various components of Think+’s compensation plan as follows:
- The exclusion of Customer Enrollment Bonuses.
- 25% less is paid in residual personal customer commissions.
- Initial Generation Bonuses are not paid; instead, monthly Generation Bonuses are paid at a rate of 25%.
- Initial Coded Bonuses are not paid, and monthly Coded Bonuses are paid at a rate of 25%.
- New clients do not contribute to Partner Pool Pay; instead, monthly Partner Pool payments are paid at a rate of 25%.
Think +Affiliate Ranks
There are eight affiliate ranks within Michal Fallquist’s MLM scheme. Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:
- Regional Energy Advisor: directly refer five consumers, and have your downline refer fifty customers.
- Senior Energy Advisor: individually refers six customers, and your downline totals 250 clients.
- Director- directly refers eight customers, and your downline includes 500 customers.
- Regional Director: You directly refer 10 clients, and your downline includes 2,550 clients.
- Senior Director: You individually refer 12 clients, and your downline includes 5,000 clients.
- Partner, you refer 16 clients, and you have 10,000 clients in your downline.
- Regional Partner: You individually refer twenty consumers, and your downline includes 25,000 people.
- Senior Partner: You individually refer twenty-four clients, and your downline includes 50,000 clients.
Need to be noted that no more than 40% of the necessary consumers can come from a single leg of a uni-level team.
Customer Enrollment Bonuses in Michael Fallquist’s Scam
Think+ affiliates receive a bonus for each consumer they sign up for a communal solar or electricity plan.
- Enroll a customer for power and receive $20.
- Enroll a customer for community solar and get $60
Residual Personal Customer Commissions
A monthly residual commission is paid to Think+ affiliates on directly recommended clients.
The energy consumption of customers who are recommended determines residual customer commission rates:
- Energy Band 1 (3600–20,000 kWh/yr): $1/month for each referred client.
- 20,001 to 40,000 kWh/year in the second electricity band – $2 per month for each referred customer.
- Electricity Band 3 (40,001 kWh or more annually) – $3 for each referred customer per month.
- Community Solar: $50 for every referred customer.
Commission Chart in Michael Fallquist’s Scam
The marketing for Think+ fails in that aspect. The good news is that this issue can be resolved easily. Merely arrange the commissions and bonuses in a different manner.
Although it might seem like I’m just complaining because I write reviews, the way the reward system is marketed to potential affiliates affects Think+. The possibility for Think+ to operate as a pyramid scheme is one regulatory red flag. With Think+, there is no separation between affiliate clients and retail clients.
Even though this is commonly a concern, MLM utility firms are challenged to position as work prospects, thus it rarely happens. Instead of using the $99 annual cost, the commissions are calculated based on actual energy usage. If most of Think+’s clients are connected, the business is unquestionably a pyramid scheme.
Yet, utility-based MLM businesses have never previously encountered difficulty with this. I’ll conclude by saying that Michael Fallquist needs to be honest about his background. If I could be mistaken, I believe Michael Fallquist’s past is a major factor in why Think+ doesn’t offer executive information.
These errors must be admitted because it doesn’t seem suitable for an MLM group to promote itself as a nameless corporation. Finally, there can be FTC disclosure problems. Energywell lists Michael Fallquist as a director and co-CEO. You want to make sure that running a rate comparison and entering your postcode are simple as a potential Think+ affiliate.
There are just three other usage types besides community solar. It shouldn’t be difficult to determine whether Think Energy is competitive. This is crucial because it will serve as your main tool for marketing-based customer acquisition. Savings should be made. Moreover, keep an eye out for anything that seems dishonest; given Michael Fallquist’s past, this would be a significant red flag.
What People Say About Michael Fallquist and Think Energy
People call out Think Energy as a scam.
The Bottom Line
In an effort to profit from angry customers, Michael Fallquist launched Think+ in response to the growing cost of electricity. Think Energy’s websites are obviously misleading. You may view your rates by entering your postcode. Even with “not accessible” concerns, this is how Think+ is supposed to operate. This has an impact on the Think+ pay structure, which streamlines commissions across three consumption categories and community solar. It should be noted that community solar is now listed on the Think Energy website as “coming soon.” Utility MLM pay structures have always been exceedingly difficult to understand. The majority of this is a result of fluctuating utility pricing among suppliers. Though it avoids it, Think+’s compensation structure is presented badly.
Think+ isolates each component rather than providing details about the upfront expenditures, ongoing expenses, and explanations for them. You gave an example of the Partner Pool bonus initially. You receive the first payment right away. The very last monthly payment is made.
The equivalents of all the other Think+ commissions and bonuses are located between these. You have to scroll up and down as a result to understand anything. This won’t make sense to the typical prospect.
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Avoid Michael with any of his investment schemes and try to search for some better investment schemes, as he isn’t legitimate and the reviews about this man are full of negative comments and unsatisfied clients. So don’t rely on any of his schemes, as he is very much involved in these scams.
I have seen several platforms which are running even without any registration so I would request the government for catching these scammers and punishing them.
After reading the list of their connection with other scammers including Delaware, Illinois, Ohio and many more makes them more dangerous as an investment platform, but yes there are other legitimate firms for investing and also take the complete information about the company before investing with them, as most of the investment platforms are having some criminal past so make sure you are with the right platform.
Paying $18.5 million for settling your criminal records shows the level of scammers they are, as they are not reliable for investing so search for some better investment options as they are filled with some sort of criminal past, it is very much important for catching these criminals otherwise you will have to regret after investing with them, make sure you are not taken away by their fake schemes and investment plans most of them are fake and misleading.
Not a reliable venture most of their dealers have suffered a lot so avoid investing with them, and make sure you don’t invest with them, and make sure your money is safely invested with some legitimate firm, and also wasting your time with this untrustworthy firm isn’t profitable and makes no sense, avoid at all cost.
Operating these ponzi schemes and having no fear of the government is the biggest problem it is very much important to avoid these people for any type of investment schemes as they are always there to scam their users so make sure you won’t get involved with these scammers and waste your time and money behind no profitable schemes, thousands of people are have been scammed by Michael Fakkquist so it is very necessary to have the complete information about these fraudsters otherwise you will have to regret in future of investing with them. People like Michael are always planning to scam their clients with illegal means and earn profit without fearing the legal authorities, I will suggest you to maintain your distance from these scammers and search for some better options in the market. It is also observed they are famous for their fake schemes so avoid them at all costs otherwise you will have to regret investing with them, and will request you to avoid investing with this firm and make sure none of your relatives gets involved with them.