Florida - 7/01. We recently purchased a house that had been bonded since 1986 with The Big “T” Scam Artists.  The woman who owned the house before had a bond and paid the thieves every year to keep her bond. The creeps were even the ones to treat the soil before construction began. We bought the house and discovered live infestation and years of damage under the trim and down the walls in the garage. I can’t believe they would come every year and give the house a clean bill of health. Bunch of rip-off artists. The whole business is a joke.  I was told by their little tech boy that the bond was nontransferable and there was nothing I could do, but he could work me a deal on this baiting system.  What a crock! $1600 plus $350 a year.  I know the termites are not going to leave filet mignon (your house) to climb up a stake of scrap lumber.  Come on, even the inventor of the baiting system in Florida says the system has only 20% rate of efficiency, plus it takes 3-6 years to eliminate a colony. What are the termites doing in the meantime?!  Chowing down on your timbers! Terminix has a little clause in that policy that they are not responsible for damage done until colony elimination is achieved.  You are their Guinea pig to see if these baiting systems work.  Well, our solution is, we replaced all damaged walls and garage door frame with pressure treated; and then we will treat the timbers with Timbor.  I will then suit up and dig a trench around the whole house and pour permetherin diluted with water 4 gallons per each 10 feet.  I will cover 200 linear square feet. I will have no bond, but I will have peace of mind the job was done right. Bonds are useless and are written to protect the company.  If they didn’t, they would be out of business!! This is exactly what the little tech boy said, and you can imagine what I said to him...

California - 7/01. Property treated in San Jose, October 27, 2000.  Terminix “kicked” two large holes in roof. Did not inform me. Storm in February 2001, began raining inside house.  As of July 6, 2001, Terminix has not reimbursed me for damages.

New York - 7/01. Not a satisfied customer of Terminix.  Missed appointments, false reports left at site, manager appointment not kept, stations not replaced after yard work, etc.

California - 7/01. “Cc” of letter sent to tmx2159@terminix.com:

There have been several communications regarding cancellation of the service.  However, I still keep getting the bill for monthly charges.  I do not owe any money to Terminix.  If you do not stop sending the bills, I will be forced to take legal action.

Florida - 7/01. I have been battling with Terminix of the Sarasota/Bradenton area since December 9, 2000. My husband and I purchased our home in October 2000. Prior to the purchase, we had the home inspected by Morris Pest Control, who stated the home had active termites.  The previous owner had a Terminix service contract, which was passed on to us.  We had Terminix come to our home on December 9 to honor the service agreement. At that time, they said they had no argument about Morris’ findings, that all he needed to do was send out a supervisor to confirm the findings.  I made numerous phone calls to our local Terminix office.  They did finally send another service personnel to the home. He did another inspection, then said I should hear back from them within 7-10 business days to set up a date for tenting. Since then, I had made numerous phone calls; again, only to be told I need to speak to a different person each time and the person was unavailable at that time, they would need to return my calls.  Finally, after a few weeks, the receptionist made my appointment with no problems, only it was set for August 6, 2001. They said they could not get to me any quicker.  My husband and I had put an estimated $25,000 worth of remodeling into our newly purchased home, replacing structural wood that is now being attacked by these termites.  I went to the local office looking for answers as to why it is taking eight months to have the home tented.  All I got was an apology for it taking so long and that termites do not work that quickly.  I have since tried to reach a member of management above the termite department manager, with no returned phone calls.

Florida - 7/01. I have encountered a very lengthy and frustrating battle with Terminix concerning the termite bond on my home in Jacksonville. Terminix had the original termite bond for the entire Lake Mandarin Garden Homeowners Association when I purchased my home in March 1990.  After a couple of years, in actuality when they had reached their maximum deductible for all the damage in my patio home community, they canceled the bond and each individual homeowner was forced to purchase an individual termite bond (if they could even afford the expense of drilling and trenching their property). I selected Sampson to drill and trench for the initial individual bond.  After a couple of years, Sampson sold their business to Gene’s Pest Control; and then, in the last couple of years, Gene’s sold their termite bonds to Terminix, my worst fear and greatest nightmare.

When I received my renewal notice, I sent the invoice indicating that I wanted to charge the renewal amount to my credit card (VISA) and assumed that my bond continued.  When I found a suspicious area in the master bedroom under the window, I called for a reinspection, and damage was found by the technician. The technician retreated the area outside my bedroom window, and a contractor repaired the damage by replacing the entire baseboard under the window.  This was in the fall of 1999.  Shortly after that, I noticed dirt coming through the baseboard area at the front of the house in the second bedroom; and although damage was not identified, the technician retreated the area.  This occurred in January 2000. A service report was provided at the time of service without any indication my coverage was in jeopardy.  I feel this was very deceitful and underhanded.

In July 2000, just six months after the last treatment, I called to schedule my annual inspection. At that time, I was told I was not in the system. Upon further investigation, I was told I had been dropped from the computer. It seems my credit card had not been charged, and their argument was that I did not respond to termination correspondence allegedly sent to me that I never received. After countless calls, including calls to the headquarters in Memphis, Dean Melvin (Regional Manager) in a very rude and condescending tone, told me my bond had been canceled due to nonpayment, and Terminix would not re-instate it and I could have my attorney call him.

I called the Better Business Bureau and filed a grievance regarding the unsatisfactory situation, and an investigation was conducted by the Department of Agriculture. I received a follow-up letter in January 2001 that reported their findings and suggested to Terminix that to satisfy my claim against them for falsely terminating my bond that I had proposed to pay the previous year and the current year premium to re-instate my replacement bond.  Again, Terminix, more specifically Dean Mevin, refused to re-instate my bond and instead, without my consent, had a gentleman named Larry measure my home and call me with a price of $1,300+ to install the Sentricon system. I consider that Terminix targeted me for cancellation because the liability for termite damage in the Lake Mandarin Garden community was an issue they wanted out of.

Pennsylvania - 7/01. Terminix was hired to remove an infestation of termites in my parents’ home in 2000. The job was half done; and in a report that was done for the service, a Terminix employee marked that there was “No Activity Present,” which was not true. The termites have destroyed part of the foundation to their home, and Terminix was supposed to return to start repairs to replace any damage done. This has not been done, and they have not heard from Terminix. Phone calls go unanswered, and no one will return to their home to start any work.

Pennsylvania - 7/01. My house was originally treated in April 1996. I have paid yearly for new contracts since then.  They state they provide for yearly inspections. I’m not sure what they inspect, but it surely is not my house. I recently started to paint and repair the outside of my wood clapboard home.  I have found live termites eating away at my siding.  This was after the yearly inspection, which, by the way, took nearly two months before they managed to find time to do it. My mother placed a call to Terminix when I found the little buggers; and Terminix didn’t bother to thoroughly inspect, but just spot treated and left.  Then, less than three days later, I inspected the monitoring sticks myself and found they were being munched on at the different side of the house.  I also found tubes in my basement!!  The guy that treated the house stated he didn’t feel that spot treating would do any good at all and that either completely retreating the whole house or using the Sentricon around the entire house was the only way to help eliminate or minimize damage. However, he wasn’t allowed to treat the house the way he thought it should be treated; because he was told by the manager to only spot treat.

After talking to my mother, who was here during the spot treatment, I placed a call to Terminix myself and spoke to the regional manager or sales rep or whatever his title is.  He asked me if we needed more monitoring stations. I told this guy point blank that I wanted something done to ensure the termites would not cause any damage or he would be replacing the siding on my house. He stated he would send the treatment specialist out and take care of it. Needless to say, the treatment guy only spot treated and placed six or seven Sentricon stations on one side of the house! Again, the specialist stated he didn’t feel it would be thorough enough.  Despite his recommendations to the regional manager, he was told only to treat minimally.

Well, I just came from my basement; and there was a pile (hundreds) of termites hanging out in one spot in front of the wood paneling -- they got through.  Some were coming up from the cement floor, right next to the holes that were drilled into the cement during the original treatment five years ago. My brother, who also owns this home, is a lawyer as is his wife. He is seriously considering litigation because the termites are going to destroy his boyhood home. I am now going to put all my requests in writing. I am also going to send a complaint to every consumer advocates group I can get my hands on; and if I am not satisfied in the next two weeks, I am going to hire another company, then I will be sending the bill to Terminix.  Please submit this complaint to whomever on behalf of my grandfather, James Murphy, who lived and died in this house, and whose home I am trying to save.

Virginia - 7/01. I have been with Terminix for four years; and they are, without a doubt, the most useless company I have ever dealt with!  Every spring, I get swarmers that faithfully come out in the back of my house.  Terminix has treated the whole house, and they’ve “spot” treated, to no avail.  On any given day, I can show them active termites. Yes, the little white bugs... 6” from my house in the backyard; and this year in April, the technician that came to apply a spot treatment for the swarmers said he has NEVER seen active termites like that before!  He said I am the perfect candidate for the buried bait traps, and he would  have a salesman call me the next day. Well, this is July, and NO ONE has called.  You know why? Because two years ago, I had swarmers and showed a technician the same group of active termites, and he also said he would have a salesman call me. Well, the salesman did, BUT, he apologized totally to me because I am a current customer of TERMINIX; therefore, I am NOT eligible for the BAIT TRAPS!!!  What kind of a deal is this?  And I pay $97 a year for what service? Obviously, it must be in my file that I am not eligible for it, therefore, NO ONE returns my calls.

About two years ago, there was damage to my back door. They reluctantly sent a carpenter out to replace only one side of the door jamb, even though both sides had damage. Well, the carpenter did NOT do a good job, nor finish the job. I have an air leak around the door now; and it’s on the North side of my house.  When the cold wind blows, you know it, cause you can feel it in the kitchen. I called my local Terminix office, and they told me I had to call the Greensboro NC office to get a carpenter to come out and fix the problem.  The Greensboro office said NO, it has to go through your local office. I called them back and was told Victor, the manager, would contact me. Victor never did.  I called daily, sometimes twice daily, and never got hold of Victor.  I left my complaints with the receptionist concerning the active termites and the shoddy repair job, but no one has called back.

I got my annual bill for $97 and didn’t pay it this year, because I am so fed up with Terminix and this manager named Victor. I called them and told them I’m not going to pay it until someone comes out and addresses the active termites so near to my house! Of course, the receptionist said Victor would return the call; but he hasn’t. I got another bill last week because I obviously must have forgotten to pay the $97 when they told me to the previous month!!  I called back again; and, of course, no response.  Good luck to you all in dealing with such a pathetic company as Terminix.