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Tennessee 12/99-E1 (TE2-21). I was employed at Terminix as a technician, quit after being refused a raise (after a year and a half), and was employed at another company in the area for the next seven years, at which time Terminix bought the company. I then am an employee of theirs again. I knew I didn’t want to work there again, so I started looking elsewhere and found a company I am currently happy with.
? 1/00-E3 (TE2-20). What do you know about employees of Terminix... wrongful termination... employees being set up to take the fall? I’m scared to tell you more for they would know who I am; but I need help, and the attorneys don’t want to return my calls. I think the Terminix name scares them.
South Carolina 1/00-E1 (TE2-19). How right you are that Terminix only cares about one thing, and that’s money! Not for their people, but for the company. I can’t say anything more right now, but buyer beware!
Addendum 12/01: To any new customers, try this after you pay $2,000 for Sentricon. If the guy is there for more than an hour, consider yourself lucky! If he checks the stations when he says he is going to, consider yourself lucky! By the way, the repair guarantee isn’t any good for one year in this state. Termites can do extensive damage in a year! Anyway, make a deal with yourself. If he isn’t there for more than an hour, think twice! If he doesn’t show up to check the stations on time, think twice! But, then it’s too late. BOTTOMLINE -- DON’T USE TERMINIX!
Tennessee 2/00-E3 (TE2-18). I am an ex-Terminix technician. I tried hard and worked diligently to do my job and satisfy each customer, and I did my job efficiently and with the utmost courtesy toward the customer. I treated their houses as if they were my own and the way I would want my house treated. My warning to all Terminix customers is if at all possible be at home when a tech is going to be there. Watch them and ask them questions about the problem and what their plans are for treating the problem. If they are a tech that cares like I was, they won’t mind these questions and will take the time to address all of your concerns. Terminix writes me off as a disgruntled employee. I’m not. I just care about people and their houses are major investments. I know for a fact what goes on with the managers and what they tell the techs to do. I know what goes on with 97% of the techs. I am sorry for not being with Terminix any more, and I apologize to all the customers whose houses I treated. Management forced me to leave on my own or be fired because I refused to do the shoddy work they told me to do. I was told to go out and spray a little chemical around and tell the customer that would take care of it because they said this customer was just a complainer, only they didn’t say it so nice. The branch manager told me his bonus was riding on getting all the inspections done and that I was spending too much time at the customers’ houses, that I should just crawl to the middle of the crawl space, shine my light around, and if I didn’t see anything, I was done. He said I was to do this or else. I saved him the trouble. I don’t work that way!!! I did things on my own that needed to be done even when the company would not okay the work. I spent weekends on my own time when I found houses that had not been treated properly and then turned the paperwork in that Monday. I had to fight to get chemical I needed to treat at the right mix to kill the termites. A lot of the techs’ chemical has just enough chemical to make it look good but is not effective. A lot of houses don’t even get treated!!!! But the customer thinks it has and has paid money for a service they never received. I can’t prove any of this, but I know. And it makes me mad that Terminix, its sales people, its managers, branch managers, and especially the techs treat people the way they do when they wouldn’t want to be treated the same way. There’s more I haven’t told you, but I would be happy to try to help anyone I can. I am truly sorry for everyone involved with Terminix!!!
Tennessee 1/00-GE1.3 (TE2-17). I worked for Terminix for 16 years. The problem with ServiceMaster that will ultimately bring them down is their top management. Their credo of Honor God in reality is Honor Profit. Customers, employees, vendors, it does not matter. Everyone is treated the same, terrible. Early on you have to decide to be part of the problem because there is not a solution. This is why the turnover of employees is over 100% per year! I was a survivor until young management (Albert Cantu, son of Carlos) became president and he decided that he wanted “young lions” running the departments. I will have my day in court with these people. They don’t take criticism very well, do they. Arrogance runs rampant at the top.
Tennessee 1/00-G3 (TE2-16). My mother worked for a pest control company for 13 years. I began to work for the same company when I turned 18. I met my husband through this company. It really was a family business. Well, the owner decides to sell to Terminix and that’s when everything changed. Half our employees were fired, most had been with the original company for 10-20 years. The vice president gets fired, who happened to be a woman making $70,000/year (if you notice, not too many women in high positions at Terminix); because there isn’t a job available for her, while at the same time Terminix ran an ad in the paper for someone in her position. I’m then six months pregnant working in the office as the receptionist answering the calls from angry customers because Terminix billed three months in advance without notice. Go on maternity leave, ask for my original technician route back -- get told the route is being terminated, only to come back to see someone who quit (because they knew they would fail the drug screen Terminix popped when they acquired us) was rehired and given the route two days earlier (oh yeah...my desk has already been taken over by someone they hired while I was on maternity leave). I come back with the offer “you can file.” So needless to say, I quit the same day I came back. AND my son is now 8 months old. He is NOT on the insurance I had with the company yet. Why? Because they lost my application (which I just found out after being told it was taken care of...). The reason why it was lost? And I quote from the benefits department manager, “How are we supposed to keep up with the hundreds of papers that come through here each day?” The last comment (I promise): Terminix and my mom have just settled a law suit they had against her for solicitation (which she didn’t). She came out in favor.
California 10/99-G1 (TE2-15). I worked for Terminix as a commercial pest control technician. After working almost three years, I got rear-ended on the freeway in an accident that was not my fault. Six months later, I was sideswiped by another car in the same work truck, and that was not my fault. My branch manager said, “You should get a good lawyer; because the first accident injured you, the second took your job away.” Then he held a little meeting and said he could not accommodate me in the branch and fired me while I was still seeing the doctor. He called the work doctor and then told me that I was a liability. I have a work comp case going, and the insurance company just drags it out.
California 8/99-E3 (TE1-14). I was an employee of Terminix. Not by my choice the pest control company I worked for before Terminix bought us out. See below the resignation letter I sent to the branch manager with a copy to CEO Carlos Cantu:
Effective Friday, August 20, 1999, I will no longer be an employee of Terminix. The commute of approximately 100 miles round trip daily is not possible with my vehicle, not to mention the expense of purchasing gas. I feel the manner we were told about the closure of our office was very unprofessional. Especially when you said that you were “Afraid that the files would go missing.” I feel very hurt by this statement. I have worked for this company for over 3 years and never once have I ever thought or been accused of destroying or defacing any company property. Maybe this is how you operate a business, but it is not right. There has been another instance that you handled a matter unprofessionally. For example, the date of July 12, 1999. This was the date you said right to my face that you completed the Subterranean Termite treatment at 490 xxx. I thought this was a little odd since it only took you 15 minutes to do the treatment. Once you arrived at our office after the “subterranean treatment,” I asked you if you did the treatment. You told me, “Yes, I did the treatment.” I did question the amount of time it took you to complete the job. You assured me that it did not take long to do the treatment. (15 minutes!??) I then asked if you went by the real estate agent’s office. You said, “No, I did not need to because the front door was wide open.” I then said, “Really, that’s hard to believe Dick’s listings are never unlocked. Most of the time he meets repair persons at the listings.” Nonetheless, I believed every word you told me. A week later, a person named “KB” telephoned our office. He said he did not believe anyone had done a subterranean termite treatment at his new home at 490 xxx. I then telephoned you and gave you a heads-up about a telephone call I received from the new owner. You then said, “I am going to take that as a compliment. I must have done such a good job he could not tell what I did.” Well, you were right. The owner could not tell that you did any work, because on August 2, 1999, we found out that you did not perform any work at all. I cannot believe that you, in your position of being a branch manager, would lie to me to my face, especially when I questioned you on July 12. Not only did you lie to me, you also lied to the homeowner and his agent. You also put our inspector’s license on the line, because a completion notice was issued and the work was not even performed. This is very unprofessional!
Texas 6/99-E3 (TE1-13). After reading everything you had to go through, I thought I would share with you my experience with Terminix. I am a state-certified applicator and was employed with a company for three years before it was purchased by Terminix. Although they promised not to change the company or management, because it was a well run and profitable company, the changes soon followed. Terminix brought in new management and found a way to get rid of all the old managers and supervisors by moving them to other Terminix branches or promoting them. Once their “troops” were in place, they then began to make cuts to employees’ pay. They also began to cut back on the amount of time and chemicals used in the treatment of customers’ properties for pests. The new branch manager was a loyal “Terminix Man,” and he made the comments that we made too much money for what we did. All the while, he was collecting his six figure salary. One day, I went into his office to talk to him about the changes and problems that were going on. He didn’t want to hear it. (On several occasions prior to that day, I tried to talk to him about the pay situation and got vague answers like “I’ll get back to you.”) Well, to make a long story short, I quit that day. I firmly believe that Terminix’s philosophy is to get the most money for the least amount of time and effort and to also keep more new accounts coming in the front door than are going out the back. Not only do they wrong the consumers, they also treat their employees poorly. It sounds like in your case that Terminix used underhanded tactics to gain their goals.
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