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Terminix

Terminix • Complaints --- • Terminix Pleads Guilty To Assault In New Jersey Case • Terminix Settles with New Jersey • $759,000 NY Penalty

Cindy of Seattle, WA June 16, 2009

In October 2007 my 71 year old, widowed mother hired Terminix to fumigate her 1913 3-story farmhouse in rural Seattle, Washington against what Terminix claimed were deathwatch beetles. What followed was a personal disaster of such overwhelming proportions for my mother, that I believe she will never recover emotionally, or financially. To date the house is still uninhabitable, and Terminix has sent her account to a collection agency because she refused to pay the balance of the invoice for the botched job.

Because the concentration of Vikane gas was so many times higher than it should have been, it formed a corrosive vapor that etched all the smooth surfaces in the entire house: windows, mirrors, silver, china, crystal, appliances, etc. In short, everything in this 4000 square foot house was contaminated with sulfides. Some things, like clothing, could be cleaned, but not mattresses, upholstered furniture, carpets, wallpaper, sheetrock, wood floors, the list goes on forever.

She has not seen a penny from Terminix, their insurance company, or Allstate, who insured her house (except a ridiculously low-ball offer of 21k for the entire contents of her house). At this point there seems to be no settlement in sight. They're waiting for my mother to run out of money... or die, whichever comes first. This is not how I hoped my mother would spend her later years; exiled from the house that my father restored for her (then passed away in after a long illness) worrying about money, completely exhausted from stress, battling with insurance companies and their lawyers, and so on.

Scott of North Bend , WA June 29, 2009

I purchased a one year contract paying annual price up front. Terminex would show up for appts, but service level was inconsisent. 1 year agreement expired & the technician showed-up unannounced, no one was even home. He didn't come into the house (obviously) so I don't know what he actually "serviced". And no one signed off on his completed service. How do I verify what he did? The first I knew of this extra service was when a bill for 91.65 arrived. Terminex claims they continue service after the contract and I thus owe them 91.65. claiming the contract automatically continues beyond 1-yr life. sounds like shoddy business practice to me.

So, I dispute the bill, no one returns my calls (for a while), then no one gives me an explanation to my above challenges. They simply say I owe the balance. I drop the matter and they promptly put me in collections after 90 days. What are my rights now? Who is on my side protecting against such poor practices?

Patricia of Vero Beach, FL June 4, 2009

First as I waited for them to show up they never called. When I called them they said they had the wrong phone number for me. After clearing that up they then told me my appt. was not that day. I told them they better come today like promised because I had a serious spider problem. When I spoke to the the woman who made they appt. she said it was made for that day and she had the right phone number.

So they finally show up. Sprayed for the spiders within a half hour they were done. They left and I paid them. Checking around the house I found that my brand new Broyhill headboard had a white spray on it. I got a cloth and tried to wipe it off and to no avail. My headboard was stained with the white spray he used. When I called customer service and told her she contacted the man that sprayed and he told her he only sprayed behind the headboard.

When I told her I wanted to talk to him myself she said he would call me back. Well, that was two hours ago and its almost 8 PM. When I saw all the complaints online regarding terminix I could have kicked myself. I see they don't respond to complaints. Let's see what happens with the rest of the year I signed up for. Next time will stick with a local company. Had to remain home all day waiting and am still waiting for a phone call. Brand new Broyhill headboard now stained (badly stained in three places) with a white spray Terminix used for spiders.

Dean of Chardon, OH June 12, 2009

In March 2009, I had a disagreement with the Terminex local office regarding what would happen when the 1 year service agreement I signed was expired. Despite the fact it expired in 2008, Terminex performed an unrequested service at the rental property I own. When i informed them that i had not wanted the service they indicated it was their standard practice to continue the service after the service contract and that i owed them 86 for the service performed.

Despite my disagreement with this parctice, I paid for the service using a credit card but informed them that i was cancelling my account. I was directed to the cancellation department where the representative asked me what they could do to keep me as a customer. I told them that they could give me a free service and if i was satisfied then i would consider another 1 year service agreement. He asked if they could contact me after the free service to discuss the possibility of another 1 year agreement. I agreed.

Terminex performed the free service and then performed a second sevice the following day which i was then billed for. I never received a call from customer service to discuss a new service agreement. Now, despite several phone conversations and, a letter and written documentation, I continue to receive letters asking for payment of 86 AND the resident of the rental property receives almost daily phone calls asking if Terminex can visit the property to perform the free service (which they already completed!). The business practices and general incompetence of the Terminex staff is disturbing and i have found that when i search the internet for other consumer issues this is a common problem with Terminex and not just my local office.

Aiesha of Plantation, FL May 29, 2009

We purchased a one year contract and paid annual price up front. Terminex did not show up for appts and serviced the home maybe twice. Now they claim they services the house after the contract and I owe them 93 dollars. I did not give permission to service the home, and they claim the contract automatically renews. So, I asked for a cancellation letter which I did not receive and they have put me in collections.

Elizabeth of Manteno, IL April 18, 2009

i called terminex to have someone come out and spray for spiders and ants mainley ants and someone came out evaluated our house and then did the inside of our house and gave us a guarentee that if they couldnt kill the pests then i would get my money back. well about a week later i started seeing ants again and they were even worse than the first time so i called them again and made another appointment. he came out a second time free of charge this time when origiannaly i paid 125 the first time and did his job again and this time used different stuff

well about 2 weeks later we started seeing ants again and spiders this time too more than usual. so i called them and complained and told them i wanted my money back and the woman tols me that they need to come out more than one time to get rid of the ants and they were already out here twice and there guarentee is if they dont get it right the first time then they would keep coming out till im satisfied and if i wasnt satisfied then i would get a refund

well i wasnt satisfied because i had to call another exsterminator and had to pay them only 65 for them to do the inside and outside of my home only one time and the problem is gone. this man did a stupendious job and we have been ant free for a month. he said that he was unhappy with what terminex used because it didnt get the job done so we are happy with our service with them but dissipointed with terminex. the representitives were rude to us and they did not honor there guarentee.

the consequences were that we had to throw all of our food away in the cabenets. we had to get new furnature because the ants got into our old furnature. we had to put our dogs outside in a run because they and there food was getting attached by ants. i had to clean out the bathtub before i could give my kids a bath because they were in there and everytime we spilled something on the floor our floor was covered in ants. they were in our dishes and i had to move those. they got into our garbage can. it was a mess. everytime my children sat on the floor they would have ants crawl up on them thank God we had someone who new what they were doing fix the problem but it costed us money

Arlene of South Huntington, NY March 20, 2009

Signed a contract for 500.00 in August of last year. I've called five times to have them come to my house for #1 Termite inspection, #2 carpenter ants. I am told they will return my call. For 500.00, terminix has been to my house only once due to a mouse and in 23 of snow....to say they did an inspection of the outer area of my house. Physically impossible. Won't return my calls

I am inundated with ants...can't get themn on the phone....extremely upsetting. I have grandchildren that cannot crawl on the floor due to this condition

Claude of Midland, MI February 10, 2009

I am still being hounded by Terminix to hire their service again. I made the mistake of hiring Terminix in 2007 and now they will not leave me alone. They are hounding me by U.S. mail, telephone calls, and by email. They have hounded me by every conceivable communication means. In 2008, I called the local Terminix office and asked the manager to remove me from their hounding list. I've since received email,telephone calls! Today I got a mailing by U.S. mail.

I will never, ever, ever use Terminix for as long as I live. Further, I am telling every homeowner I know about my experience with Terminix. I demanded they stop hounding me. I do not want to receive their mailings. I do not want to receive any telephone calls from Terminix. I do not want to receive any emails from Terminix. I just want Terminix to leave me alone.

Irina of 1069 Palisades Ave, NJ January 27, 2009

I' ve contacted Terminix in the fall of year 2008 for the treatment of bed bugs. I was told that it will cost me 650 dollars to clean up the bed bugs, I payed that money. My husband and I made all the arangements needed for the terminator to come and steam and spray ( in the initial interview we were told that the only way to exterminate the bed bugs was through steam) the terminator came on the schedulled day and he was unprepaerd he told us that the steam machine was out of order and just the spray is enough, my husband and I repeatedly asked him whether the bugs will be gone with just the chemical and he said yes.

we waited a few days and we went back to use the infected room, which for my misfortune was still infected i got bites all over my body most nof these bites are currently permanent scars on my skin and face. I ve called and requested second treatment and i was told that i had to wait 2 weeks so i did and i didn't sleep in my own bed for that time, also I was promised that this time the steam machine will be in order. so the day came and the terminator came again without the machine and just the spray , he did the spray and again the bed bugs were present. After that I called to ask when is the machine going to be ready and I was told 3-4 weeks, after which I ve decioded that I will not be needing their services any more.

It took me a month to finally get my complaint into their complaints dept in november and they informed me that i will be refunded half the money, because the b ed bug charge is 300 dollars and the remainder is for termites after which i told them i never needed termite protection and i was living in a rental so the termites were not my problem i was told by their rep that the BED BUGS extermination will cost 650 and that is what i payed.I was notified that starting december 3rd 2008 i have 4-6 weeks to expect my refund today is january 27 2009 nearly 2 months later and nothing from them despite my numerous calls .

At the moment I am moving away from this house because I can't afford to stay here and be bit day after day, I wanted to call different company but terminix never gave me my money back and to be honest I can't afford another 600 or more dollars for another company untill TERMINIX gives back what I am owed.

Mayra of Miami, FL January 19, 2009

I have no written contract with Terminix since they purchsed my account from another company. However, when Terminix bought my account, I made a verbal agreement with the former Branch Manager, J. Martinez, that Terminx would always call me to make an appointment whenever it is time to perform services. In addition, Mr. Martinez agreed that I would pay them only upon services rendered. As it has happened on other occassions, on 11/28/08, someone from Terminx came to my house to fumigate even though I did not have an appointment for that day.

Upon arriving at home the evening of 11/28/08 I found a Service Ticket in a Terminix plastic bag attached to the door knob of the front iron door of my house. I called the current Branch Manager, G. Ward, that evening and left him a voice mail message explaining that someone had come by my house to fumigate without making an appointment and since I was not home no service was provided. I asked him not to bill me for that visit. On the 30th of November 2008, I sent G. Ward a letter reiterating what I had explained in my voice mail message. I again asked him not to bill me for the 28th of November. In addition, I asked him to cancel my account. Mr. Ward did not return my call nor did he answer my letter.

About a week later I received a bill from Terminix for the alledged service provided on 11/28/08. I sent a copy of the bill back to Terminix Processing Center explaining all of the above and asking they cancel the charge. Subsequently, I called Mr. Ward and left him another voice mail message relating to the matter and I sent a complaint to Terminix via their Web Site. I received an e-mail from terminix. I did not hear from the Branch Manager so I sent an e-mail to terminixcares on 12/07/08. I did not receive a response to this e-mail.

On 1/12/09, I received another invoice/bill for 11/28/08 and two calls from Terminix demanding payment. That same day I left another voice mail message on Mr. Ward's number. I told him that I deem the charges to be fraudulent and that I expect him to follow-up on this problem although it is apparent from his lack of acknowledgement to my contacts that he may not do so. I have not heard back from anyone from Terminx as of today 01/19/09.

It have not ever been late with any payment on any of my debts and I hate creating a bad account/record on my credit record. But I believe in the principle that everyone should do things correctly and not try to cheat anyone else. I cannot understand nor accept that a company would completely igore the contacts made by a customer. This is an example of the big taking advantage of the small and I am tired of putting up with it because I should not have to do so.

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