Missouri - 6/00. We noticed ants in our basement rec room last year and had Bruce Terminex in St. Charles, MO come inspect for termites and carpenter ants.  We were told no termites, just carpenter ants - minor and they treated the house. We ordered continued quarterly inspections and treatment of the outside and sometimes the inside if we saw ants or spiders. We recently sold our house, and the last inspection by Terminex was one week before the buyer had their inspection of the house including a termite inspection.  Lo and behold, the “other” inspector found termites on a ladder under our deck the week after Terminex’s inspection and verbal statement that everything was okay -- again, no termites, no carpenter ants. Now we have to arrange for treatment of the whole house even though the “other” inspector and the Terminex inspector both stated that there were no tunnels or evidence around the house within the eaves of the house, the railroad ties around the landscaping, or the deck and wooden front porch, just on the ladder. Regardless, our sale is now held up as we have to treat termites we were told were not there by Terminex.

Our mistake? Not requiring more than their receipt and a verbal okay each quarter.  Now when bringing this error to their attention, they are saying we were just getting “pest control.” Now that I’ve seen the web pages, complaints and law suits, all I can say is they’ve trained their employees well!  I doubt we can do anything but try to get them to treat the house without charge, but the chances are nil; so it’s filing complaints and warning others in our area - Lake St. Louis, MO, which is a resort-type community known for termites!

Texas - 6/00. My complaint comes from their issuing a bad termite inspection report stating no termites found.  The report was issued February 2000; and by May 5, 2000, I had termites swarming out of the attached garage. By the way, their inspection was ordered and paid for by me as a prepurchase condition for my purchasing the house.

New Jersey - 6/00).  My mother has had a contract with Terminix for 12 years.  Even though she has a contract, she still has a termite problem. We had an engineer to her house today and he was quite surprised to see all the damage done to her brick home.  Basically, the house almost needs to be rebuilt.  She has homeowners’ insurance but they said they would not cover for this damage. We most likely will need an attorney to fight this for her.  My mother is 84 years old, and my sister and I will be left with the problem if she passes on before the problem is resolved. It’s truly amazing that a large company like Terminix can stay in business with all these complaints and bad publicity.

Florida - 5/00. In 1996, my husband and I bought a house which we renovated for use as my office.  The building had been inspected prior to the purchase, and evidence of prior infestation and damage by dry wood termites was found and documented by at least two separate home inspectors.  In early 1997, I asked Terminix for an estimate for a termite protection contract.  “Howard” inspected the property from top to bottom.  I was insistent that he examine the evidence of termite damage throughout the attic and specifically told him several times that I wanted protection from such problems in the future. He quoted me a price for the termite protection and I signed the contract. Nothing was mentioned about subterranean termites or dry wood termites, that there was a difference between the two, or that the contract did not cover both.

In 1998, no one came to the building to re-inspect.  In 1999, while having the monthly pest control service, I asked “John” from Terminix about pellets I found on the window sill.  He told me that it looked like termites and I needed to call Terminix right away. A few days later, the technician confirmed that I had dry wood termites again throughout the attic. Then I was told that my contract was for subterranean termites, not dry wood termites, and I was not covered.

When I raised a stink about the situation, I was told by two different people at Terminix that they would spot treat the areas affected in an effort to appease me.  Each time, however, the men failed to appear for the scheduled appointments.  When I tried to discuss the matter with the local manager, she got nasty, referred to the arbitration clause, and then refused to discuss the matter further. I was also told that Terminix discontinued using the contract I signed because of the exact same problem I have with them. I have since discontinued two pest control contracts I had with Terminix and am in the process of obtaining bids to have the structure tented.

Illinois - 5/00. On April 4, 2000, I purchased a house. Prior to buying this house, the seller had to have a termite inspection. They chose Terminix. Terminix claimed that there was no prior wood damaged by termites or live termites in the house. Only two days later, we found many live termites, and our entire family room was ruined by these termites ($10,000 of damage). I have tried talking with branch managers and regional managers, but nothing seems to be getting done.

When we first found the termites, we called Terminix and had the same inspector come out and inspect our home again.  We took him down into our crawl space and showed him some of the damage, which he had missed during his initial inspection. All this inspector could say was, “Oh I am sorry, I guess I missed it last time I was here.” He then proceeded to say that Terminix was not responsible for any of the damages nor were they going to treat our house. We then talked with our attorney.  He advised us to go after them. If the inspector who inspected our house would have found the damages in the first place, we wouldn’t be in this position. After calling the branch who inspected our house (many times), we finally got a hold of the branch manager. He finally came out and looked around our house and in the crawl space.  He said, “this is nothing....just scarring.”  But, he offered us one-year free for the baiting system and he would put it in writing (although he said they were not responsible for this). Two months later, I still hadn’t received anything, so I started calling around to get the main office number.  Everyone gave me the runaround, only giving me the regional office. I then spoke with the regional manager and told him my story.  He insisted that he talked to this branch manager and we could then work something out.  The next day, the branch manager called me and offered me two free years of the baiting system and money for the materials to fix our family room.  I was excited.  I thought to myself, we’re getting somewhere now! Boy, was I wrong! About a week later, the branch manager called again and said that he wanted his contractor to come down and take a look at the damages.  I told him that was fine and asked him when.  He said that this contractor would call me and set an appointment.  Later that day, the contractor did call; but he was very rude and not very flexible. After several minutes on the phone trying to set up a time, this contractor told me a certain date and a certain time and if that couldn’t work...oh well, then he hung up on me. I then became furious and called the regional manager of Terminix and explained to him what had happened. He promised me that he would talk to the branch manager that wanted this contractor to come out and give us a bid.  Well, the branch manager called, but he accused me of being rude to this contractor and hanging up on him!  I told him the truth about what happened, but it didn’t matter to him.  He kept accusing me of being rude, inflexible, and unkind to his contractor.  He then asked if that Friday if he, the contractor, and the regional manager could come by my house and look it over.  I said that was fine. Not only did they show up two hours late, but the contractor didn’t show nor did the regional manager. The branch manager was there, with the central regional manager (who knew nothing about our problems).  They told us we were going to settle this today. We were pleased to hear that.  They said they would pay Orkin to treat our house for one year, but they wouldn’t give us any money for the materials until their contractor looked at it. As of right now... we are still infested with termites, they haven’t paid Orkin yet, and their contractor is on vacation.

Arkansas - 5/00. We’ve had to have extensive repairs due to Terminix not properly doing as the contract stated. We had to go to the Arkansas State Board to get any satisfaction.  Now our dues have been raised from $76.62 to $113.62. My wife called to ask why and was told everybody’s rate went up.  After checking with our neighbor, who also has a Terminix contract, we discovered theirs just went up $12.

California - 5/00. This is May 30, 2000.  In April, Terminix cashed our deposit check for a one-time fumigation. They said a check would be mailed immediately, when we notified them that we were going to address the extensive remediation before fumigating the house for subterranean termites.  The building was below grade in some spots and had drainage problems as well as needing total replacement of the eaves and a new roof. The ground around the building was covered with wood and totally infested with subterranean termites. There was a barn in close proximity that was also beyond repair due to subs. The proposal did not adequately address the subterranean problem.  I have called many phone numbers and met with many roadblocks and gatekeepers after my wife gave up and asked for my help. I finally reached a department called “Executive Customer Service” which expeditiously assisted me in resolving the matter.  It was not easy or fun from there but it did get resolved.

Georgia - 5/00. My disappointment with the consistently poor level of service I’ve received from Terminix would take too much space to describe here. In a nutshell, I’ve never seen such incompetence from a national corporation.  Too bad they don’t expend near as much on servicing their customers as they do on advertising. I’ve had similar experiences with TruGreen ChemLawn, although to a lesser degree. Guess who runs them? You got it -- the same company that operates Terminix.  From now on, I’ll avoid any of their other businesses and advise others to do the same.

Arizona - 5/00. In an effort to limit my loss of $1400 from my first year’s Sentricon protection, I will not be renewing my account. The quality of customer service, from the moment I purchased the system to the end of the contract year,  has been unacceptable.

Initially, a “system glitch” lost my first payment between the branch and ServiceMaster. I made a payment to the local branch before ServiceMaster had opened an account for me. When I responded to a delinquent payment notice from ServiceMaster, I was referred to the local branch where I sent the payment.  Rhonda, the bookkeeper for residential termite abatement department, sent me back to ServiceMaster after declining my request for her to call ServiceMaster herself, saying there was nothing she could do to help me.  During that first conversation, I said “Terminix’s product is SERVICE” but was told that my lost payment issue was between ServiceMaster and myself.

After ServiceMaster maintained the problem was between the branch and me, and another round of calls, Rhonda requested a copy of my canceled check. I obtained a copy from my bank and promptly faxed it to her and mailed it to her. For whatever reason, neither copy arrived; and over the course of a two-month period, I faxed it to her twice more.  Eventually, she said she was unable to determine which of two Terminix banks cashed my check and sent me to my bank to make that determination. When I asked to speak with the branch manager, she represented herself as “the manager.”

After making a trip to my bank, having lost my patience and becoming angrily confrontational, Rhonda finally transferred me to “the branch manager.” After which, a single call from the branch to ServiceMaster resolved the problem in less than five minutes -- an intervention I requested initially but was told could not be done on my behalf!

As far as the inspection of the bait stations goes, there were several months inspections in which the bait stations behind the back fence (about 70% of all stations) had NO physical evidence they were and completed in improbably brief timeframes.  Four stations in the front yard are still waiting to be reinstalled as promised after having been moved for landscaping less than two months into the contract year.

The final months of this contract, a different technician showed up each month, none of whom had any record of previous activity or even a schemata of station placement. During the last three visits, I personally accompanied the technicians station-to-station, pointing out the placement and was astonished at their inability to locate the stations without my assistance.

From start to finish, the service has been deplorable. The $1400 the first year has been a waste of money. This has been a painful lesson that even a nationally-franchised company like Terminix can misrepresent services and price-gouge consumers. I go on record, adding my account of inferior, over-priced service, to the growing collection of similar experiences with Terminix.

Tennessee - 5/00. I had the Sentricon system installed about a month ago.  My house is about six years old. The fee was $1,462.  The sales person was a likable guy who seemed to know what he was talking about, and I have no current reason to file a complaint (he may be a little absent minded). However, my short experience to date may be useful to people contemplating the services of Terminix or similar company.  The thing that really sold me on Terminix was that they have a “damage repair commitment” that effectively insures the house for $100,000 in the event that it becomes victim to termites.  However, this would only be effective after a written statement from Terminix certifying the house free of termites.  I told the sales guy that his “guarantee” was useless unless they gave me the $100,000 guarantee prior to installation of the system.  He told me that because I had a relatively new house and that he had just inspected it, he could modify the contract to make the $100,000 protection guarantee effective from the date of installation. (I was a little suspicious here because he had taken less than 10 minutes to inspect the outside of my brick house and about 5 minutes to inspect the basement.)  I also told him I was not yet ready to pay the high price. He then told me that I could pay in four months “same as cash.”  The Sentricon system was installed several days later.  I told the technician that I would not sign the contract because the “damage repair commitment” had not been amended. A few days later, the sales guy called to say he would deliver the amended contract to my work.  He did not turn up. Over the next two to three weeks, I received two statements requesting payment in full which I ignored. A few days ago, the sales guy called me to apologize for not getting the amended contract to me and he would bring it to me the next day. He also suggested that I give him the check at the same time.  I reminded him that I had four months to pay and I would not be available to see him at that time. He then said he would leave it in my mail box “tomorrow.”  Two days later, I received the contract along with a COD note for $1,462. The contract was in its original state with no amendments. I called the office today, explained that I will not make any payment until I have the amended contract.  The sales guy apologized and said he forgot to attach the amendment and he will deliver it this coming Monday.  I was now getting very suspicious and decided to search the net for consumer reports on Terminix.

Pennsylvania - 5/00. I received the Terminix Sentricon bait system in January 2000. I am very displeased with the service (or lack thereof) I have received from Terminix. They were extremely expedient to come give me an estimate for the Sentricon system and just as fast in installing the system.  I even got my payment book in the mail in record time.  However, when it was time for my bait traps to be checked, and I was told this was to be done six weeks after the installation, it took almost four months of calls upon calls to get a technician to my house.  The excuse I was given twice was that the branch office did not have my correct address, even though I called TWICE to correct the supposed mistake.  On the other hand, I am expected to have the correct address to send my payment. Once my address was “corrected,” I had to call two more times to get a technician to come to my home. When one was sent, a message was left that “the customer was not home, another appointment must be rescheduled.”  I was previously told I need not be home for the traps to be checked since it did not involve entering my home. I called and confirmed this.

Once again, I called and was told that the technician was a new employee and there was miscommunication as to what needed to be done. That same technician was sent to my home again, checked the traps, but left NO indication as to what was done, if there was termite activity, if bait had been replaced, etc.  I have contacted my branch office to acquire a refund and to have the traps removed IMMEDIATELY. Again, I’ve had to make two calls. No one ever called me, and I had to initiate contact AGAIN. Had I not made payments after the traps were installed, I most certainly would have heard from someone quickly. I spoke with the branch manager today; and he informed me that he would have to review my file and the “facts” and see if we are “owed” a refund. I do not have confidence in Terminix, in what I am told by their representatives; therefore, I do not have confidence in the product I was sold.

Update -- I just received a call from the manager of the local Terminix branch.  (Surprise, surprise, I had to call him first.)  He has told me that I will be given a full refund upon receipt of a letter that I want my contract canceled and the Sentricon system removed.  However, my refund check will take up to five weeks to be sent.  (I suppose I will not be paid any interest on that money while it is in limbo??!!)  I’ve definitely learned a good lesson...don’t always trust that a big name company will give you the service you deserve.  I will definitely do my research from now on before purchasing any type of product that is going to cost me a lot of money!

Ohio - 5/00. I also have had a terrible time with Terminix. Service tech rarely, if ever, the same.  Scheduling is a nightmare. The tech tells me that he gets invoices and does what he is told.  After numerous complaints to the home office, I have now written Terminix and doubt very seriously if anything is resolved.  I have the Sentricon system as well as “in house” monthly service.  I am now told the Sentricon system will only be checked quarterly!  I am in Ohio; and in the winter months, the canisters are under snow.  This service costs in excess of $400 per year.  I do believe that checking this system a few times per year for over $100 per check is EXCESSIVE.  The canisters were active last year! I, like you, believe in freedom of speech, and I applaud your efforts. Someone has to point a finger at these companies that advertise one thing and do another.