California - 12/99.  We contracted with Terminix for pest control. After the initial visit (to collect the first payment), we never heard from them again.  Scheduled appointments were missed, phone calls were not returned. After repeated attempts, spanning three months, to contact the local and national offices were unsuccessful, a complaint was filed with the BBB.  Within 48 hours of filing that complaint, we were contacted by the local office. We were told a refund would arrive within seven days.  After 14 days and more unreturned phone calls, we contacted a lawyer. The lawyer contacted Terminix and advised them we would be filing a Breach of Contract and Fraud charges. Within 24 hours of that phone call, a check for the full payment was in hand.

California - 12/99.  I hired Terminix specifically to eliminate spiders around the exterior of my home.  The salesperson assured me that their treatments would work.  After paying for the monthly service for about eight months, I was concerned that the number of spiders was actually increasing.  I called to complain about the situation.  The result was that I was told that it is very hard to treat for spiders (unlike what the salesman told me), followed by several months of terror of continued billing with continued service.  After many frustrating phone calls, it finally came to an end.

Florida - 12/99.  I had Terminix come to my home two years ago to take care of subterranean termites.  They drilled holes through the slab and managed to disrupt electrical power to portions of my house.  I think the Terminix employee who did the work actually developed a cramp from shrugging at my repeated questions like “tell me again why you are allowed to use power tools.”  Needless to say, I paid for the electrician who fixed the problem. Terminix does not have a focus on customer service and satisfaction.  They are volume based; and before the Internet, they could generate business from national call centers and rest assured that an average customer complaint would not go beyond that person’s immediate circle of friends.

California - 12/99.  After reading about your web site and your struggle with Terminix in the December 3, 1999, Wall Street Journal, I decided to tell you of my battle with them. The letter below [to Norman McCollough, Manager] will give you the gist of my complaint against them. I feel that they are committing gross fraud. I am glad to see that someone is making an effort to expose their despicable business practices:

On advice from my attorney, I am writing to confirm your refusal to follow through with your $1,521 paid-in-full contract to fumigate my home for termite infestation.  I made numerous telephone calls to your office the last week of October. On October 26, 1999, I spoke with the original inspector and the person who wrote the contract.  I told him that I was ready to fumigate my home.  He said that Terminix was booked two weeks in advance and that he would locate my file and call me that afternoon. I never heard from him again.  I called late afternoon on the same day and spoke with your service manager, John Munoz. He said that he would schedule my home for fumigation on Saturday, October 30, 1999.  I spoke to Mr. Munoz again the following day to confirm the Saturday fumigation.  He told me that he would get back to me later that day by 4:00 p.m. because Terminix had to locate my file. He did not call back. I called him.  He put me off until the next day, when I had to call again. Finally, after giving information from the inspection report and faxing a copy of the receipt, which he accused me of possibly fabricating, he told me that he could not find a record of my paying for the fumigation. At that point, it was obvious that Mr. Munoz was giving me the run around.  He told me that your Terminix office had been having bookkeeping problems and high employee turnover in the past few years.

I spoke with you on Monday, November 1, 1999, and explained the situation. You said that you would investigate the matter and call me back personally.  I have not heard from you since then, but spoke with Mr. Munoz, without resolution.  If head-in-the-sand is your management style, that is fine; but arbitration does not cover fraud.  I assume that you have a bond against fraudulent activities, as per Structural Pest Control Board guidelines. I first contacted your Terminix office on October 26, 1999, to request servicing of your $1521 paid-in-full contract to fumigate my home. I need to receive a written response from you within five working days after receiving this letter, explaining why you refuse to execute your end of the contract or return the fumigation fee.

California - 12/99.  In August 1998, we discovered we had termites in a small part of our 12-year old home.  We called Terminix, since we had a contract with them for regular house spraying for ants, etc. The tenting was scheduled, and it was done.  However, just before the date, they decided to use Methyl Bromide instead of Vikane; and so we called them to ask what should be removed from the home. We were told nothing other than open bottles (perfumes, wine, etc.) and any food in the refrigerator or open containers.  The day the tenting was done, we walked through the entire home with a representative of Terminix to make sure all was in order; and we were told everything was okay and we could leave. The house was released, after tenting, and we gave it another two days before we entered the home; but when we did, everyone got violently ill within 15 minutes -- throwing up, tightness in chest, throat constricted, lightheadedness, memory loss, burning throat and eyes, etc. When we called Terminix, we were told it was our “imagination” and not to worry. To make a long story short, after a couple of weeks of this, and us staying out of the house as much as possible, things did not get any better. As a matter of fact, all brass in the house turned black, copper turned black, wood discolored, buttons melted off clothes, clothes turned different colors, and furniture had holes eaten in it, plus other furniture bleached out.  Other things happened, too many to name.  But finally, Terminix came to see the damages after our insurance company called them.  (We had called several times with no response.) When they saw the damages, they told me, personally, that they were responsible for it, that they didn’t know what happened, but they would do immediate testing and we should not stay in the house, they would get us a hotel room right away, which they did.  I stayed in the hotel for 5 1/2 months until I could no longer take it and left for another place, where I am still, since they have never found out what happened to the house or all belongings; and it is not safe, in my opinion, for anyone to be in that environment and have not been told by Terminix it is safe to live in it.  My daughter has been told by doctors who have examined her (since she was exposed the most to the chemicals) not to get pregnant for at least six months after her contact with the house. Since the contract had an arbitration clause in it, it was ordered to arbitration by a judge, and we have to wait until May of 2000.  They have literally put us out of house and home since August 1998, and we never have heard from them after they asked us not to get an attorney, that they would take care of the problem.  We found out a few months later they had turned it over to their attorneys and left us no choice but to get our own. Now we have to pay not only for our attorneys but also $40,000 just for the arbitration.  Is this justice???  And it is binding arbitration. How can something like this happen in the U.S. where people sue for a spilled cup of coffee? Depressing isn’t it? Be removed from family and friends.... We are now at the mercy of the arbitrators.....