
Susan of Canyon Country, CA on June 22, 2009
I contacted Terminix because I had a flea problem. The service man came as promised and when he walked in, he immediately said that he had been working for Terminix since 1989 and he had never had a call for fleas in my area. I told him that I had a previous problem with fleas about 6 yrs ago and was able to get rid of them myself. He still insisted that my area did not have any flea problems. I told him about my bites and he said it sounded to him that I had bed bugs. I was mortified.
I believed that maybe it could be I also had bed bugs but I still had fleas. He looked down at his pant legs and said that if I had fleas, he would see them on his pants. I told him to sit for 5 minutes and he would feel them on his legs. I asked if bed bugs jump up, he said no. I showed him some bugs but he said he wasn't wearing his correct eye glasses and could not see them, he would take it in to get analyzed. He went on to insist that I had bed bugs and he was not prepared to spray for them. Only for fleas. He said it would cost $350 or $550 depending on how bad the problem was. I still insisted I had fleas. He left without spraying for fleas and said he would have the sample looked at.
He called the next day to say that it was a piece of plastic and not a bug. He had also told me that he had to identify 35 different insects to get the job. I wondered why he kept trying to convince me he was good. He said he would be by in a few days to put some traps down, so he could get proof of the insects before they sprayed. I agreed, but not happy, because I still had fleas and was getting bitten daily. It was getting worse day by day.
The day he showed up to put the traps down, I again told him I had fleas. He smiled, looked down at his pants legs again and said he didn't see fleas. Frustrated, I let him put the traps down. He said that if I had any fleas or bed bugs, the traps would catch them. I kept checking the traps and never saw one bug on them. That night when I felt them jumping on my legs. I got one of the traps and put it on top of my legs to see if I could catch one. I laughed when I saw them jumping onto the trap and jumping off! He left 12 traps, in a dresser drawer, behind my bed, against base boards, etc.
I insisted he spray for fleas, he again said he was not equipped to do that and he needed proof that I had fleas and or bed bugs before he could spray. I called him on that and told him he was lying because the first time he came, he was prepared to spray for fleas and he didn't ask for proof before I started telling him about the fleas. Needless to say, I was angry and by this time he was too. I told him I would sign a waiver to dismiss their liability if they sprayed for fleas and I found that I had bedbugs. He told me he would return 3 to 4 days later to pick up the fleas. I even gave him a sample of a flea I found in my car.
Again, I'm living with these fleas jumping on my legs, never able to relax, at the same time, I'm sprinkling box after box of borax on my carpet, including baking soda and salt to try and get rid of some of them. I also was vacuuming and vacuuming, and throwing the bags out after each vacuum. I was exhausted and mentally drained! I waited three days and called the Terminix office again and asked three representatives if I needed proof for fleas and they all said no, not for fleas. Then I insisted that they come out and spray for fleas, I didn't want another evaluation, just spray! They agreed and made an appointment for two days later.
The day before the appointment, a representative from the local office called to confirm that I wanted to get sprayed for fleas and not bed bugs, and that they would be out the next day. I must have repeated my request and confirmed three times in that phone call. When the serviceman (the same one) came to my door I asked him if he was here to spray for fleas. His face froze and said no, he had an order to come and take another look. I was done! He blamed it on the office that the order was botched up. He would not take any responsibility for my concerns. He left with the empty trap, again insisted he didn't see fleas, I told him he needed to get his eye glasses. That only upset him. He left upset, at this point I didn't care.
I called him about 5 minutes later to ask what happened with the evaluation of the flea sample I gave him from my car, he said I never game him a sample. I called the next day and spoke to more representatives, never was able to get into the local office of which he gave me a business card to. Needless to say, I canceled my request, it is now two weeks later, plenty of time for those fleas to hatch more and more eggs and of course they are hatching! I called another company to come out and spray. They didn't need proof. They were very professional. He agreed, he couldn't see the fleas. But because I had vacuumed so much, he said I did a great job because normally, the jobs he had for fleas, he could see them on his pants. Well, by this time I felt I was going crazy.
After I entered my home again, 4 hours later with my cats, I felt great, feeling very secure and relaxed. Less than 10 minutes later, they were back. I immediately called and the office was closed. I called first thing the next morning and was told it takes up to one week for all the fleas to be gone. So now I am just waiting for the day to come that I won't feel those bugs anymore. I, also, because I went to work while all this was going on, I must have had some hitchhike to work with me. I work at a garage where technicians come in from working at customer's homes. Around the same time my problem started, a technician came into the office slapping his legs and said he had fleas from a customers home. Great! A couple of days ago, I was again mortified because I felt those bugs again now at work!
I tried to address to someone and it was ignored because they didn't see any problem. Well, now there is and I again addressed the problem. Thanks to a supervisor, I am able to report to another location for work until the problem is resolved and so I don't have to bring those fleas back home. I hope anyone out there who is thinking about calling Terminix, do your homework first! By the way, I don't have bed bugs, could be I may have had one or two, but because I was relentless, I steamed, vacuumed and sprayed my mattress, never saw a bedbug myself. I sprayed the bed every night before I went to bed, and have gone through numerous cans of bug spray and off to try and keep them off my body. Unfortunately, it isn't 100% proof, but it does help. Good luck to anyone out there thinking of going to Terminix for help with fleas. The fleas and I are on first name basis now.