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? 1/02-EM (TE8-85). I can only speak of the termite department of Terminix; and if the customers truly knew what was going on, they would be surprised. I work for Terminix as a termite tech. I have been with the company two years and work for a branch that is under the corporation. First, I would say to any Terminix customer with a termite contract: if you have an inspection done and the tech has a termite hazard survey form filled out, explains what it is for, and needs you to sign it, DO NOT. Whatever is put on this form can affect you if you end up with termites and damage. Terminix will use this form to get out of paying a full-damage claim. Second, if you have Sentricon with Terminix, I feel for you. Odds are the tech is not doing the job. Sentricon is a great product and very effective if the job is done right. Dow Chemical owns Sentricon and was a watchdog over how Terminix was working with it. Not anymore. Terminix broke strings with Dow telling them Terminix would continue to buy Sentricon from them but Dow could no longer tell Terminix how they would use it. So, now, without the watchdog, there goes your Sentricon. I worked doing Sentricon sites for a year straight. My supervisor and branch manager did not care that I was very concerned about how other techs were doing the work. It was just get it done. The only good news if you have Sentricon with Terminix is you have a protection policy on your home, and odds are you will need it. There are so many things I could tell you about Terminix. None are good. Run from them; hide if you can. God be with you if you are a Terminix customer.
Web mistress note: This is the second time I've heard Dow and Terminix are at odds. The first time, I heard Dow broke the strings with Terminix over the Sentricon issue. I disagree with the above employee's assessment that Sentricon works; and I emphatically disagree a Sentricon protection policy with Terminix provides any protection. Rather, I’m convinced a Sentricon protection policy with Terminix provides nothing more than a false sense of security while the critters continue gorging and inflicting damage on homes.
England 1/02-GB (TE8-84). I am a former employee who left the company due to the lack of respect for management who simply rip off all of their clients. Do you know they offer a money-back guarantee for missed inspections? Please spread the word as 30,000 visits were missed in the UK last year, meaning over one million pounds stirling is owed to customers which will never be returned to them unless they ask. I say tell the whole world to ask for their money back if they have missed a visit.
Arkansas 1/02-GB (TE8-83). My husband worked for Terminix in Arkansas. Bad experience with that employment.
Indiana 01/02-G1 (TE7-82). Just started at Terminix as an inspector in “training.” I hate salesmen but my unemployment ran out and need something. I have been given the big “making money” speech. Right now, I am on a draw and hope to have another job before I am told to go out and sell. I have been very optimistic for the past two weeks; and when I first was told about Sentricon and actually saw one, my first thought to myself was, “people actually pay $1500 to $2000 to rent this...” I sure wouldn’t.
Florida 12/01-E1 (TE7-81). I was an employee of Terminix for five years. My problem started when I was trying to transfer from Indiana to Florida to be with my girlfriend. My branch manager told me I could not transfer unless he approved it, and I had to stay for another month in Indiana so they could get someone hired and trained to take over my route. So against my better judgment, I stayed. Only to be told by my new branch manager to give them a two-week notice, and he would help me transfer. I did so. He then went with my branch manager from Indiana and said to stay for one more month, then come down to Florida. I worked at the Florida location for two months and got a call that my grandmother was not in good health and was not expected to make it through the week. I told my supervisor of the situation back home. He told me to go home, take care of what needed to be done, be with my family, and contact him when I get back home. I went to Indiana for a week. My grandmother passed away the week I was there.
After the funeral, I returned to Florida to find out I didn’t have a job. They said I failed to contact them and let them know what was going on with me in Indiana. My question is how stupid do you have to be to know what’s going on? I went home for a family emergency; and the last thing on my mind was contact Terminix when they knew the reason I went to Indiana. Then to return home and be told I failed to communicate with them. I did as my supervisor told me to do -- go home, be with your family, and come back to work after everything is over with your Grandma. That’s what I did, and now I’m unemployed.
The following entry was submitted via the guest book, with no name and no return e-mail address. I understand his need for anonymity but have no way to contact him or her to request help for anyone:
? 11/01-G3 (TE7-80). I must not use my name and address, but I hope you post this. I was a former manager for Terminix and was lured to work for them by the statement “To honor God in all we do.” I am a Christian, and it is hard to find a place to work for a company that you can be proud of; but when a company makes that type of statement, you think this could work. Reality was a company full of “Good Old Boys” only interested in money. Full of racism with only token blacks working there. No concern for the customer or its employees and families. When you have to travel on holidays, even Valentine’s Day, I have a hard time respecting that.
Sentricon goes much deeper than just Terminix. Dow and many others have a hand in the harassment. Overcharging goes to pay a lot of palms. I have not been at Terminix for three years now and have since started my own company. I left with no customer lists or other resources and vowed to do business the way customers want it. Again, I hope you post this and understand not using my name. You know how much they “Hassle” over $30 a month, imagine which most of you can, the “hassle” a former employee gets.
Nevada 11/01-G1 (TE7-79). Like a rat from a sinking ship, I jumped from the Las Vegas branch a little over two years ago. I am almost astonished to see that the problems we were having were not isolated to my branch. In short, the Las Vegas Office:
Preferred to hire people with little-to-NO experience Was run by a branch manager that had NO experience in pest control. This led to micromanagement and poor service for customers. Sales people were in charge of answering phones during business hours, resulting in techs not getting messages and ticked customers (“Yeah, I’ll have a tech call you...” click.) Techs lied to about effective treatment methods and chemical availability. Example: You can’t guarantee scorpions. LIE!!!...WITH THE PROPER PRODUCTS YOU CAN!!! If the company did not want to spend the money on the product, we would be told it was outlawed. If you paid a year in advance and cancel, good luck getting your money back. That’s straight from the branch manager.
New Jersey 11/01-G1 (TE7-78). I recently resigned from Terminix after only seven months of employment with them. I have spent the last 14 years in the pest control industry and, unfortunately, made the mistake of joining Terminix after coming out of a “semi-retirement.” It really is a shame that Terminix gets away with what it does; particularly, the Annual Reinspection Program. With “upper management” yelling to get these annual reinspections completed, which is part of the contractural guarantee that customers pay for, local branch management does anything it can to “make it happen.” As a sales manager, I had a select group of sales/inspectors who would complete a number of these every month, but nowhere near the total number of inspections that were due. Branch management’s solution to this problem was easy! Just sit down at a computer, pull up the list of customers who were due an inspection that month, and “type away”... enter that inspection as being completed -- with no regards for actually completing the inspections and giving the customers the service they paid for, are entitled to, and agreed to under their contract. So, the “numbers” look good, regional-level management gets off the back of the local branch management, divisional management gets off the backs of regional management because now these inspections are “completed”... and on it goes up the corporate ladder. Of course, the only “loser” here is the customer! But who cares? The numbers look good. But, what do you tell a customer when they call after getting a questionnaire in the mail from Corporate in Memphis asking, “How was the quality of your recent inspection?” and they call and say, “Heck, I haven’t received my annual reinspection in years!” What do you tell these folks? Well, some fancy dancing around the issue and then scheduling it will take care of it! So, I guess the customers who call get it done. The others? Who cares? And, of course, if you want to discuss the sham of the Sentricon Service Program, well we could write a book about that!
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