Complain about a product or service

Orkin Pest Control

Susan of Wichita, KS February 2, 2010

My contract with Orkin was cancelled by Orkin. I did pay my bill and Orkin accepted this payment for this last year. However, it has insisted on cancelling me as a customer. My feeling is that when a company accepts payment that they should honor the contract. I have inquired at the Orkin, Inc. main office and was not able to resolve this issue. Please help!

nancy of forest park, IL January 26, 2010

I had mice in my house. I used mouse traps,strip traps, boxes with poison. Felt I needed "more help" to cure the problem. I phoned for a 1-time visit. When the man came he NEVER did a perimeter check outside of my house; he went into the basement only in the laundry room and bathroom - not the rest of the basement; he saw I alrady had poison, pest strips, wooden mouse traps; ALL HE DID was to remove my mouse strips and put new ones down - removed MY POISON boxes and put his own down - he did NOTHING NEW to help me!

THEN 175 was charged to my credit card and he said they would "see me every other month for 100" - I told him "NO" I didn't want any further service - and he said I was signed up for a year - and if I didn't like the 175 charge, I was lucky, normally it was 250 for a 1-time charge!

I called the ofice the next day and was told the same thing! "Sorry Charlie". The 175 charge stands - they already took it out of my bank - and they "cancelled any urther visits" so I should be happy! Orkin did NOT do anything at my home that I had not already done for myself! It's NOT fair - I should get a refund!

Vicky of Johnston, IA January 15, 2010

Orkin came to my house over the course of a year and never did get rid of the very small insect problem I had in the 2nd story of my home. After every treatment I would call and report that there had been no change, but was still billed for each call. When my year ran out with them I called to cancel and the supervisor asked why. I told him that my problem had never been taken care of and he told me I was just too picky.

I bought some Home Defense spray and used it along the outside foundation of my house and that took care of the problem in one treatment--and Orkin couldn't take of it with several "professional" treatments over the course of a year.

When I called Orkin back to lodge a comment/complaint about the fact that I had gotten rid of the problem myself the lady on the phone asked me what I wanted her to about it. I asked if they had any kind of warranty/guarantee policy and she wouldn't answer the question. She just told me that the supervisor and technician had both been fired--yeah, right. Obviously, they do not stand behind their service.

REGINA of NORWALK, CA December 28, 2009

I had an appointment for a F/U inspection on 12/18/09 between 9AM-11AM. I waited till 1230 pm. I had errands to do so I left. I returned with a load of groceries at 130 pm. The inspector showed up shortly thereafter. I could not show him around at that time. I refused him entry. He never called to say he was running late. I got up early to wait for him. I find this unacceptable. It was a waste of my valuable time spent waiting for the inspector.

Angel of Jacksonville , AR November 30, 2009

I have completed my contractual agreement with Orkin on service at my residence. I called the local office in Little Rock, AR and requested termination of service at my residence on or about 26 Oct 09. They advise that I need to sent them a letter to request termination of service. I asked why do I need to send a letter when I no longer have a contract for service. Isn't my phone call good enough for termination of service, of course it wasn't according to their protocol.

Three days later the exterminator came to my residence when my wife was home. My wife was getting ready to leave and asked if he needed to get in the house. My wife was not aware that I cancelled service with Orkin. He stated that he didn't need to do anything inside the house. Yet they are willing to charge full cost of the service 78.48 as stated on the bill. I called the main headquarters the same evening they so called service my residence.

I was informed by the representative that she can see that I had cancellation/termination pending and that they should have not come to my home to conduct service. She advised that I call the local office. I did and they said they will look into it and find out why they still conducted service. To date, not responds back from the local office.

On 14 Dec 09, I happen to be leaving my house from lunch and the service rep was driving the sub-division. I wave him down and explain to him why I was billed for work he done on the outside of my resident. His explanation was that they do not always come in the house to spray for pestm since the all pest come from the outside. (no kidding?) However, as mentioned earlier they still charge for full service.

As I looked at my new bill with no Date they charged 78.48 for the balance foward effective date 10/29/2009 three day after I requested termination of service. They also charge for the following month. The bill shows a date of Dec schedule service 12/25/2009 for a charge of 72.00 and request Total Amount Due: 156.96.

If you do not pay close attention to the the fine print - Checks received after 11/25/2009 are not reflected on this statement - PAYMENT IS DUE WHEN SERVICE IS RENDERED. You may be obilgated to have service conducted at your home. (nice litte trick to get you to pay for service before it ever been provided after your contract had expired)

Leslie of Bonita, CA November 10, 2009

On 06/13/08 we contracted with Orkin Pest Control in San Diego to treat our house for termites. The cost was 3,705. We didn't have enough to pay up front, so we were told we had to finance it through Rollins Acceptance Co. (Rollins is the parent company of Orkin.) We arranged to pay 12 monthly installments of 359.23, with 22% interest. We paid monthly, then on 02/20/09 I called for a payoff quote. I was told we still owed 2,645.21. I wrote a check for that amount and paid our bill to Rollins in full. I never received a payoff statement from them, but the check was cashed by them on 03/03/09. I have the bank statement and a copy of the canceled check.

We received no further bills. Then 7 months later, on 11/02/09, we got a bill from Rollins for 131.58. I called the number on the bill and left a message saying there had been a mistake, we'd paid off our debt to them early. Rollins reps began calling our house repeatedly, harrassing our children, leaving messages threatening to ruin our credit. Whenever we called back, we got recordings. Finally on 10/22/09 I reached Julie at Rollins. She confirmed that we'd owed 2,645.21 and that they had received our check in that amount. Then she said that was a "special offer" that expired Feb. 28. (She did not explain why it took them 11 days to cash my check). I objected, saying the amount for the termite service had been set in advance.

Then she said the check was short 10. She said we could settle by paying 50. I found my bank statement and told her it was not short 10, and that we would pay them nothing. Then she said I must have written the amount down wrong, even though minutes earlier she'd confirmed the amount owed. I told her we owed them nothing now and would not pay. On 11/02/09 a different woman from Rollins left an anonymous message on my husband's office phone, saying "I have a very important decision to make this afternoon about your property at (our home address)."

We both tried to call back but only got recordings. It sounds like they are threatening to put a lien on our home. I checked our original contract with Rollins, and there is no penalty for early payoff of the debt, nor is there anything in the fine print allowing them to put a lien on your property over a disputed bill. A couple days later we got another letter from Rollins, labeled "Delinquent Notice", saying we now owe 133.66. This fictional debt keeps rising, and they are threatening to ruin our credit and take our home. If we pay it we'll never get a refund, and what's to stop them from continuing to bill us for random amounts we don't owe?

Londa of Stockbridge, GA October 27, 2009

I contacted Orkin about coming to my home to spray for an infestation of roaches, the first treatment was so stong that it made me ill (which by the way I did not see not one dead bug). The second visit which was two weeks later still did not do much better. Finally after a year of spraying I have more roaches than I started off with.

This company is a rip off. One of the techs even told me that he himself would not use Orkin bug spray to spray his home and that's when I said enough is enough. I made several complaints to the company they sent person afte person out to respray and still i have roaches.

This is ridiculious. When [their] own employees do not stand behind [their] product and advice customers to go else where than it's time to close business. Oh< I almost forgot the good part after i canceled they continued to bill me for services that they had not performed.

Robert of Oak Ridge, TN October 26, 2009

Called Orkin because of Cock Roaches. They sent a man out and said they could get rid, of thjem. Signed contract for 70.00 a month. THe came and srayed Vack in 2 weeks Spraywed agaid, this went on for a year. Also a man cam out and inspected and sais we need a pad under the house to control pestsd. I sighjed he folled the paper and handed it to. I didn't read it I thought it was what he said. Turned out it was for a bunch of money.

After a year of once a month spraying for roaches and still had the. I fired them and Called Cooks. Sent a man out, sifgned his conract for less that half of what Orkin charged and witin a week Hardly see any roaches. I think Orkin is not the one to call for anything they advertize. Rollins ghas the contract for the "pads" I made 2 payments and this 83 yrar old guy said I've been screwed and I ain't goiong to pay this.

Now they are threatning me, going to sue, put a thing on my credit report etc. I said I'm reporting to Senior reports and get on line with my complaint. I hope this makes people think twice about calling Orkin

Donna of Lewis Center, OH October 24, 2009

Customer Service at Orkin is horrible. My first scheduled appointment was from 1-5. Around 2:30 they called me saying it was too windy out to do the service. Wouldn't they have known that earlier in the day? They did come the next day as scheduled. I saw bugs again within the 30 day window and scheduled another appointment (free). Due to work conflicts I had to reschedule the day and time. The day of the reschedule, they never showed. They changed the day but not the time. So, another reschedule.

On that day, they didn't show up. I called and they said the tech was about 5 minutes from my house. I couldn't stay home any longer, I needed to leave. And why didn't I get a call saying they were running late? I called my local office to get some of my money back. The manager asked me what was happening and she interrupted me to basically tell me this was all my fault because I had rescheduled. She made all sorts of excuses.

I'm not of the mindset that the customer is always right but I do believe in not being interrupted when I was answering a question she asked me. Horrible. Don't use them. I have no idea if their product actually works but the customer service is so awful that I will NEVER use them again or recommend them. I lost out on 200 for awful service.

Angela of Greenville, TX October 20, 2009

My complaint is that I filled out an estimate form online for Orkin pest control, When i received a call back, the guy acted like a car salesman and was almost like a bully trying to get me on a 12 month contract. I told him It was to expensive and if I changed my mind I would call them back.

The next day Orkin people called me 8 times, even after I told them no, they kept calling. I will never use Orkin after that and the reviews Ive read about their crooked ways. Thank God for reviews!

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Follow us on Twitter.

Terms of Use Your use of this site constitutes acceptance of the Terms of Use

Advertisements on this site are placed and controlled by outside advertising networks. ConsumerAffairs.com does not evaluate or endorse the products and services advertised. See the FAQ for more information.

Company Response Welcome If complaints about your company appear on our site, we welcome your response. Please see the Response Form for more information.

For more information, see the FAQ and privacy policy. The information on this Web site is general in nature and is not intended as a substitute for competent legal advice.  ConsumerAffairs.com Inc. makes no representation as to the accuracy of the information herein provided and assumes no liability for any damages or loss arising from the use thereof. 

Copyright © 2010 ConsumerAffairs.com Inc.  All Rights Reserved.    The contents of this site may not be republished, reprinted, rewritten or recirculated without written permission.