Terminix

Originally, I scheduled the service online. But there was an instance when I was gone and my husband called and said, "Did you know Terminix was coming?" I said, "No." I haven't paid anything and I didn't speak to anybody. I told him, "I'm not sure why they're there. They didn't call." The tech had already sprayed outside. Then they had to send him back to do the inside. But everything was smooth sailing. Normally, they'll send a text message before they come. But I didn't get a text or an email so I wasn't here. I didn't even know that they were coming. Since I had the quarterly service, Terminix automatically scheduled it. But I didn't know this. So I had to call customer service. I spoke with somebody in the office and he was really nice. He explained to me. He said, "Oh, with the quarterly. Whatever they have available and when they are in the area, they just automatically schedule it."

There is one frustrating part. Some headquarters office scheduled for the tech and told the tech where to go, like what region he would be servicing, what area, etc. on certain days. And they give him very little notice, which means he gives me very little notice. And he would text me and say, "Hey, I just found out I'm coming your way tomorrow." And that's just not enough notice. It's hard for me to change on a day's notice and make sure I'm there to take care of things. And it's not his doing. I've told him before, "That's not enough notice for me. Can you reschedule?" And he would have to contact whoever does the scheduling. But, again, they wouldn't tell him until a day or two before he was supposed to be here. That will be helpful to get more notice from them.

Other than that, it will be the middle of the month or a couple of weeks after a treatment and I'll see an unusual bug. I'll have a question or maybe something that needs treated, and I'll take a picture of the bug or just text him the question mid-month, even though it's not time for him to come out and treat the house, and he'll do everything he can to answer my question and get it taken care of.

One other thing that has been a thorn is that, over the last few years at least, they make the appointment somewhere else. It's not made by the local Terminix guy or by me. Nobody even consults me. I just get a Terminix guy that shows up and says, "Well, you were scheduled." I say, "Well, I don't know who scheduled me." There was a time or two when I've held a line and just said, "I don't have time for this right now," just to make them come back. That's not good customer relations. Whoever makes the appointment should at least call and say, "Does next Monday or next month suit you?"

The scheduling and the billing are quarterly, so I can easily cancel or reschedule. That's helpful to have, to be able to manage online or call in-person. They're also really great about calling to let people know that they're on their way, which I appreciate as well since I'm rarely home. However, the cost is a little pricey and I'm gonna stop because it worked up until recently. In the past, when they came in, we didn't see ants afterwards until the next installment. Whereas this year, we've seen ants in-between the different treatments. We've had to call them back and apply additional treatments.

I live in a housing development and I've been having to fight roaches. I've been wanting the stuff kept out because I don't want them. The new guy put quite a bit of bait up on the top of my cabinet. He put it around my ice box and in my bathroom. He told me, "You think it's going to be worse because you're going to see more for the first few days." Sure enough, I did. But they then fizzled out. I told him the other day on the phone, "The bait you put out, they didn't eat all of it." He said they won't eat it and that he'd put some more bait out for me and that's what he's supposed to do today. I want some bait left out at all times. We haven't been seeing any roaches. I was really pleased with this guy. He acts like he cared and he understood and I felt like I got my money's worth. My only thing with Terminix was I recommended them to my son and they gave him a lot higher price than what I'm paying. He called in and it was way over $100.

Today they bill me again and I call to cancel. Not only are they not going to credit me, offer me any refund, pay for my damage, but they're going to charge me a cancellation fee. That is until I speak to my local branch, the branch that can only offer me treatment as a remedy. The treatment that didn't work. And the treatment which allowed a nest to form a mere foot from a bait station... a bait station, 13 of them actually, which should have never allowed this to happen in the first place.

Also, my dogs once ate some of the poison from the trap because the poison wasn't put in right. I had to call the company that makes the poison and find out if my dogs are gonna die. The company described to me what they looked like - white and green and blue little circular pellets. There's nothing that the dogs eat or do that would yield that in their stool. The company told me my dogs would be all right. But they were so sick. I called the vet and I was told I would have to give the dogs liquid charcoal twice a day and maybe that would absorb the poison. It was a horror show.

I told Terminix about what happened and they were going, “Oh, that's too bad.” The guy who did the job was in a hurry. I didn't see him again after that. Terminix is a hit-and-miss company. They don't spray and just fill the traps up. We see fewer rats. Sometimes we see them dying and it's a horrible thing to see. They get very thirsty. I pay excessive amounts of money to Terminix. We have several places that are serviced by them. We have an account for our house and we have a commercial account for the place where I work and down the hill.