Tennessee - 12/03.  We got a clearance letter in March 2003 stating no termites.  We found termites swarming throughout the house two weeks later.

California - 12/03. My sister was defrauded by a Terminix employee last week for over $5,000.  We have filed police reports locally, with the attorney general of the United States and the U.S. Secret Service.

Ohio - 12/03.  In April 2003, my mother had a stroke.  She is 82 and suffers from Alzheimer’s, cancer, COPD, and diabetes.  She now resides at the Cape May Retirement Village in Wilmington, Ohio.  As her son, and only other surviving member of our family, my job is to use her cash reserves and sell her home to pay for her care. I secured a buyer for her home in early September 2003 and then had to cancel the contract because upon inspection it was discovered the home is seriously damaged by termites. The damage is so extensive the house is not considered habitable by the County Building Department.  The home’s value went from $95,000 to between $10,000 to $15,000 -- the value of the lot.

What makes this so amazing is that my mother has been under contract with Terminix for 17 years, when she bought the home in 1986.  As her “Power of Attorney,” I paid her most recent yearly payment in July 2003 (just weeks after she moved to Cape May). Terminix has been going round-and-round with me since September 2003.  I have opened up the walls and found unbelievable damage which Terminix says was pre-existing.  The damage was not ever noted in Terminix’s Initial Inspection Report, and they claimed that unless live termites were found, I was out of luck. My contractor and I found live termites. I collected about 50 or so, along with some damp soil and some pieces of wall stud and placed them in a sealed jar.  They are still alive after almost 3 months.  I showed them to the sales manager and district manager for Terminix, and you should have seen the expression on their faces!  I also snapped a 2x6 ceiling rafter in  half with one hand and handed it to the district manager.  Neither said a word.

My attorney informs me that we have a good case, however, it will cost me $10,000 to $15,000 in legal fees (expert witnesses, etc.) and take 2 to 5 years to litigate (as Terminix’s contract only covers one species of termite).  After seeing some o f the attorney’s fees as shown on your web site, I don’t think $15,000 is enough. My mother’s cash reserves are now almost depleted. I have spent more than $12,000 of my own money. I am forced to consider turning her over to Medicaid.  Her largest asset (her home) is useless!

P.S. In Cincinnati, Ohio, WLWT Channel 5 News “Target 5 Investigates” is doing a feature story on my mother’s house.  WKRC Channel 12 News “Troubleshooter,” Howard Ain, is also doing a feature story on my mother’s house on January 7, 2004. Digital Pictures and Streaming video are available.

Hawaii - 12/03.  My house was recently attacked by Formosan termites.  Luckily, I found them while the damage was still only in the hundreds of dollars.  Calling termite companies, four out of five want to sell me Sentricon.  The plan is expensive, particularly considering the never-ending yearly costs.  The fifth company said that Termidor is the way to go, no questions asked (and at half the cost of Sentricon).  The sales rep from one of the Sentricon companies -- the Terminix fellow -- confided in me that they are trying to sway customers away from Termidor and onto Sentricon because then they will be on a contract. He also let slip his company was jacking up the price of Termidor treatments to match Sentricon so people would get on Sentricon and forget about using something they wouldn’t have to come back for for five years.

West Virginia - 12/03). Company claims payments and bills cross in the mail and they can do nothing about it.  I have received calls for payments to pay bills already paid and notices that I will be turned over to a collection agency for bills already paid.  Complaints to local office are like talking to a box of rocks.

California - 12/03.  I signed a one-year service contract with Terminix in April 2003 that was $1560 upfront after we found evidence of termites inside our home. The first technician that inspected didn't find any termite trails.  My husband came home later that day and again checked after I told him the Terminix guy didn't find any trails.  My husband immediately found plenty of trails leading into our home. We tore down all the sheetrock on the wall where my husband found the termite trails and found little damage to the wood. We felt the termites hadn't been present very long.  We were told our home would be inspected every month for the first six months and if no signs of termites then the service would be changed to quarterly.  Four months had gone by after we signed the contract until we realized we had not been contacted by Terminix to schedule an appointment. I called about service and their records showed a service order in their system but no record of coming to our house. We scheduled our first service appointment four months after signing the contract.  When the tech came out, he found termite activity in two stations.  In one station, the bait had been completely eaten. They said they replaced the bait with chemicals. Since then, their service with following up with monthly appointments is the crappiest I have ever experienced. They call the evening before they want to show up and wait until the very last weekend of the month to make the appointment.  They state they have to make the inspection before the end of the month and ask if we can accommodate them.  Once I was contacted by the technician at the end of the month and told him it would be not possible to meet with him that weekend and needed to schedule the appointment for the following weekend which would be the next month.  Appointment was made for the following weekend, so I thought.   The technician showed up any ways the next day early Saturday morning and just caught us before we left for the weekend. Then the day before Thanksgiving we received a call at 4pm from the technician who was outside our house wanting to inspect the stations. He couldn't inspect because the gates were locked and we had two dogs so he wasn't able to get in.  He left the message and asked we call to reschedule.  He said he checked the two in front of the 20 we have around our house and left a service report.  His service report also stated that the gates were locked and noted our 2 dogs and to call for an appointment.

Today, a week later, my husband came home to find a service report on our fence with notes that all 20 stations were inspected.  Please keep in mind that we have two very protective dogs and both locks on our gates to our fence are still locked.  My husband called Terminix this evening to find out about the stations being inspected and the branch manager told him he had records of our bait stations being checked.  We both were leery about the truth to this so we inspected the stations ourselves. Most of the stations had leaf debris over the part that is pulled out showing evidence the stations could not have been checked.  I'm embarrassed to mention that one station had dog waste on it and how could this one have been checked without some evidence of the wet dog remains being moved in some way. We have a bbq over one station and it wasn't moved.  But the point that bugs me the most, if it's true he inspected the stations in our yard, the only way to get in was to the hop the fence and come into our yard with the gates locked.  Couldn't that be considered some type of breaking and entering?  I don't believe anyone would come into our yard with two dogs (a black dobie/lab mix and a scrappy lab mix).  We will contact the manager tomorrow about our findings this evening.  I will keep you posted.

I must say though after reading your website, I'm seeing that their isn't much I can do about this problem other than not renewing my contract and to tell everyone I know about the unprofessional and unethical service we received from Terminix. I appreciate the time and effort you have put into your website.  I too checked with Better Business Bureau about them and found nothing. Now it makes sense why companies are protected. I may call our local TV station and see if they can be of assistance.

Maryland - 11/03.  I discontinued service with Terminix in February 2003 when their treatments had no apparent effect on our insect problem after one year. I received a bill for services rendered in April 2003. Upon contacting the national office, I was reassured that I do not owe money, that it will be taken care of, and I will be contacted if there is a problem.  I have received the bill and two late notices from Terminix; and each time, I have contacted them and receive this same reassurance.  I have now received a letter from a collection agency. If they had said that I owed them the money, I would have paid. Instead, they said it would be taken care of and now my credit history is at risk because of their incompetence/dishonesty.

Virginia - 10/03.  I have been battling Terminix since April 2003. I paid $800 for the initial setup and one-year service.  The problems are the following: 1) They never set up all the bait stations until October 2003; 2) They were not servicing all the stations until October 2003; and 3) They drilled into my concrete driveway to put a bait station and never asked me beforehand if it was okay to drill into my driveway. I have been in contact with them since the installation, and they have been very rude and uncooperative. Today, they just called me and said they would give me one service free for my problems.  I told them that was “unacceptable.”  I also told them that I found a web site outlining other people with similar or worse problems and that I am considering on filing a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Florida - 10/03.  We have recently purchased a home in Jacksonville, FL.  The previous owners had Terminix service since 2000. While doing some interior painting and wallpaper work, I noticed some abnormal drywall. I proceeded to take a small section of the drywall down, which revealed termite damage in the wall cavity. I have not renewed my Terminix service, which expires in October. I did contact a lawyer, but it was not his specialty.

Pennsylvania - 10/03.  After my mother’s death in July 2003, we put her house in Drexel Hill, PA, up for sale. We were shocked to find that she had thousands of dollars of damage, because she had a $150 yearly contract with Terminix for 50 years. There were supposedly yearly inspections.  After contacting Terminix, it was determined they would cover SOME of the cost but we would be responsible for about $3,000.  Then another company checked the situation and said that there was still live activity, even in areas that Terminix supposedly treated. The end result is an additional $15,000. So my siblings and I lose $18,000 total. You would think that since our mother trusted and paid Terminix for 50 years, they would or should absorb the cost of their neglect. Terminix is a rip-off company.

? - 10/03.  Oct. 2001, I signed a two-year contract for bait stations, with monthly inspections, from Terminix, later to find out if there is no activity for three months, they don’t check for the next three months.  I have documented and closely monitored the inspectors as they checked only one trap or none at all, leaving an inspection sheet stating no activity found.  I chased down the inspector twice and inspected with him only to find activity, then that inspector told me he had no bait and it would be about a week. Termites were free to gather at my house.  I received no bait for months, and the falsified inspection sheets that I did receive said no activity. There were months where no one ever came out even after requesting the bait stations be checked. I tried contacting the corporate office and local office about forty times.  They have some of my complaints on file at corporate level because they read them to me.  No one at corporate level has ever called me back or replied to emails.  Only one time, Rob, from Mt. Laurel office which has seen many manager changes, has returned my call but only acted with only a small resolution.  I now have bait in five of the stations.  I have more termite activity now than I had for the past two years.  Almost $1,500 was invested. The time, effort, and frustration on my part is great. I, as many people, have a full plate to deal with. I was lied to and cheated, and not even one person at the corporate level would respond to my calls for help.  I just wanted the service, protection, and customer service I paid for up front.  The two-year contract is due to expire Oct. 03.  My neighbor two doors away is having the same problem.

Delaware - 9/03. I wish I had found your web site a year ago. I would have saved $575. I can’t believe businesses like this one are allowed to operate. Thanks for putting this site together. I hope people can get to it before trying to use Terminix services. Not only my problems were not solved, but even after the one-year contract, they continue to perform monthly at $75 without letting me know that I was being charged. I talked to their manager, Jeff Cappalo, and they explained they had the right to come back and continue their charges without prior notification because it was stated in their contract.  I believe this is unfair to make us pay for a service we did not request. We thought we were done after we paid $500 in full, which did not solve our pest problems.  Please if you see this:  Don’t use Terminix, Wilmington, Delaware. There is no guarantee your pest problems will go away, and they try to cheat you out of your money.

Texas - 9/03. My law suit is pending in court as we speak. Terminix treated my house 1 1/2 prior to me buying it then did the wood destroying insect report on it when I bought it and said the house never had any termites.

South Carolina - 9/03. I have tried for two years to check or have in writing if there is termite damage to my home. Each year, I receive a bill. When I took out this service, I was told that a monthly inspection would be done.  It was for the first year, but now it is quarterly. I had to ask about this.  I called the local office to get a copy of my contract. My bill has been increased from $350 per year to $366 per year.  It has been almost a week; I was told the contract would be sent right out. Have not received it.  The due date is Oct. 1, 2003. I had an inspection but there was  no confirmation of damage. Just typed a statement that this inspection was not an assurance of damage nor of no damage. I was told by the inspecting gentleman that if I gave him the check instead of mailing it to the company, he would get 6% of the amount. I do not blame him, but something is wrong.  I have tried to be diplomatic but I need to know if I do or do not have damage, plus what am I paying for, and if there is damage will I get compensated or what?  I was under the impression this was an insurance for any possible damage.