Scottsdale, Arizona - 1/06. Sloppy work and continuing scorpions.  Phoenix office uncooperative and rude. At one of my complaints their employee asked "do you want me to discontue your service?" in a most agressive manner.  They send renewal bills in FIVE MONTHS before due etc. etc.

Brandon, Florida - 12/05.  We had a Terminix guy come by to inspect our property and give us a price on treating drywood termites.  He stated that he was not a salesperson but simply filling in.  He quoted my husband and me a price of $1,000 to do a non-fumigation treatment; and my husband and I, trusting in the Terminix name, signed the contract and post-dated a check.  This is a fresh one. The tech came by today (12/05/05) to treat our home and our first red-flag came when he said the guy that came to our home WAS a sales rep.  Then the tech said that when he saw the price he thought that it was a fumigation. So then we realized that we were definitely over-charged.  Well this guy shot some Cy-Kick into the wall and didn't drill holes or anything. (I didn't even know they were supposed to drill holes. I am trusting the company.  I don't want to have to learn how to be a pest tech.) He treated two small areas on our wall and the baseboards one 9 ft. in length and the other 12 ft. Then he went into the attic and did some spot treatment with orange oil. That was it.  After he left, my husband and I stopped payment on our check.  We knew that we had been deceived by a salesman stating that he wasn't a salesman and then over-inflating the price on top of that.  In addition, my son and I have pesticide poisoning. Within minutes of the tech spraying the Cy-Kick, I started to feel dizzy and then experience numbness and tingling.  My husband didn't feel anything, but we have a 14th month old little girl, and I don't know if she has been poisoned or not.  My seven year old son came home from school about 2 1/2 to 3 hours after the tech left, and he complained of headache, stomachache, and tingling shortly after he got home. I did some investigating on the web and it looks like this clears within 24 hours, but it is disconcerting.

Katy, Texas - 12/05.  Terminix purchased the home insect and termite control vendor I have used for years. To cut a long story short, I received a letter to advise me of the buy-out and their intent to significantly increase the cost of service and I lost my pest barrier because they did not maintain schedule. Actually the first time I phoned.  Dozens of phone calls later I finally got the attention of local management - and - I must admit that the response was very positive, however, on the occasion of their FIRST visit to renew my barrier - mysteriously all the fish in my pond died overnight. I can't prove that this is attributable to the Terminix treatment but since there is no other reasonable conclusion, I will discontinue my contract.

Florida - 11/05.  Our skirmish with Terminix has just begun. I hope we have the strength that you have shown.  Wish I had found your web site before I made the mistake of signing with them.  I never thought that I would be one of "those gullible seniors" that I have read about.  Education is expensive and unfortunately, there will always be companies like Terminix to take advantage of consumers of any age.

Virginia Beach, Virginia - 11/05.  I am going on three years, stupidity on my behalf that Terminix has avoided coming out to my property last year. This year will now be three that they have not even bothered to call. WHAT AM I PAYING FOR?  No more I say.  I will keep demanding them to come to my house to give my house a clean bill of health and then GOOD BYE TERMINIX.  You will no longer get my hard-earned money, nor will I EVER recommend this company.

? - 11/05.  I have just called for the 100th time to Terminex to get voice mail - hostile customer service - told that someone will call back - the list goes on and on.  My nightmare started approximately 3 months ago when I discovered I had a rodent problem. First it took 5 calls to get through and report the problem - they said someone would be out at 4:30 one afternoon. I left work early to meet with them.  When 4:30 came and went and 5:30 came and went, I realized I had a problem. I called the office, which took me 20 minutes to get through and finally got through to the call center. They had no record of me calling or an appointment.  Finally after a couple more calls, I was told someone would be out by 6:30.  I told them I would stay in until someone came. Well 6:30 - 7 pm - 7:30 came and went. When I called back to see what was going on GUESS WHAT THEY WERE CLOSED, so I had to leave ANOTHER MESSAGE - for someone to call me the next day. Well I won’t go on and on, but this was the beginning of my nightmare with Terminix.  To this day, I still have a rat problem and they have not been out to resolve the problem.  Just numerous phone calls -- hostile, rude customer service and voicemail. My experience with Terminex has been the worse experience I have ever had to deal with. I just got off the phone with them to cancel my account and will be sending a letter to the head office (apparently they don’t give out info re head office on phone, so I will write. I am also writing a letter to the Better Business Bureau with a letter of complaint. I don’t know how this company can stay in business and treating customers in the rude hostile way the do.  They are taking money by false pretenses, and it needs to be stopped.

New York - 10/05.  Terminix said they did a routine spray (after the one-year contract) and the truth is otherwise.  In fact, my client's 15 year old daughter was home on the day (and the entire week) they said they sprayed.  However, my client's daughter was housebound, sat at a computer terminal placed right next to a first-floor window overlooking the driveway and she saw no visitors of any kind with the exception of the mailman and a couple of people who had used the driveway as a turn around. She is absolutely certain that no Terminix person sprayed the perimeter foundation.

Florida - 10//05. I wish that I had found your web site sooner!  The information that you are sharing would have stopped us in our tracks.  Recently signed a pest contract with Terminix in Sept. 2005, because of a wasp problem. I was promised that the interior and exterior would be thoroughly inspected and sprayed for pests.  What I got was nothing more than we could have done ourselves. No interior pest control spraying was done.  As for the exterior, I watched as the person sprayed. What amazed me was that the wasps seemed to be unaffected by the application.  Strange, considering that store-bought sprays worked immediately.  When I questioned the tech, he told me that it takes time, but he did use a powder in two obvious nest locations. The wasps are still here.  Phone calls and letters to the company are ignored. We keep asking for a respraying and we have yet to hear  from them.  We are still having to buy wasp and insect sprays to control our  problems.  Terminix is a waste of our hard earned money! What I have learned about complaining to the BBB is that they represent the company, since that is who pays their salaries.  They do not represent the consumer.

Mississippi - 10/05.  I moved into my new house in July of 2004.  In June of 2005 I received a phone call from Terminex offering a free termite inspection. I was new to Mississippi and had heard that the termites were really bad here so I agreed to let them come and inspect even though I had gotten a clean bill less than a year before. They failed to show up for the first inspection so I let it go. Two weeks later they called again, offering me a free inspection.  I told them that I had already had an appointment set up and they didn't show up or even call to reschedule. They apologized and said they would get someone out the next day. They finally showed up TWO days later. After spending about 20 minutes walking around the house, they came back and told me we had termites and took me back to show me the "evidence." I was shown some little holes in a bedroom and told that it was their trail. I guess he thought I was stupid. The holes he was showing me were nail holes from where my son had something hung that was no longer there.  I told him that they were nail holes and he said I was mistaken. He took his finger and pushed the hole in and said if it were nail holes it wouldn't dent in. SO, I went and took a picture down and pushed the hole and made a dent, thus disproving his theory. Then he told me that he could see the dirt in the hole that they left behind. I looked and it appeared to me to be drywall.  He then said that you wouldn't fully be able to see the "dirt" because it was inside the wall. At this point my husband got involved. After arguing with the termite inspector about the "termite holes and termite dirt," my husband set out to prove him wrong and knocked a hole in the wall so we could get a better look at the "dirt."  There was most definitely no "dirt" or any other evidence of termites. The termite inspector was still insisting that we were wrong. We told him that we would get a second opinion and if we were told that we had termites by a second company, we would call them back to come take care of it.  I had another very reputable company come out and did a much more thorough inspection and it revealed no evidence of termites. I immediately called Terminex to cancel my pest control contract with them.  I could not do a verbal cancel, I had to write a letter and send it to them. In the meantime, I got a bill for my pest control between the time I told them on the phone to cancel the contract and my letter got to them. On their last visit to my home for my pest control service, I wasn't home. They sprayed the outside of my house and couldn’t get to the inside because my 12 year old daughter was told not to let him in. He had my daughter step outside and sign his paperwork stating that he had performed full service!  So not only did I have to argue with them over cancelling my contract, I also had to fight over a bill for a service that they didn't even do! I just sold my house and had another termite inspection today by a third company who again reported to me that I had NO termites or any evidence of EVER having termites.  This company put the sticker in the house showing that the inspection was performed, something else that Terminex did not do. I asked them about what they've heard from their customers about Terminex, and the stories I heard were extremely disturbing!  Thank you for making this site available to save someone from a very costly mistake.

Arnold, Maryland - 10/05.  We had our home fully treated more than 20 years ago, by a Terminix predecessor, and have maintained a warranty via annual inspections and contract payment each year since. After experiencing two (2) separate infestation problems, however, we switched to a Terminix recommended "bait station" system a few years ago, which increased the annual contract price to $250. On 10/10/05, a Terminix sales representative visited our home and advised that the company is changing its program and will now offer a different type of bait station, at an annual cost of $400, or the original type of trenching / chemical perimeter treatment at an initial cost of $499 and an annual contract cost of $199. When I challenged the sales rep on this substantial "surprise" increase and told him that I intended to call the State's Attorney General's office, he stated that the contract only locked the price in for 3 years and I could call anyone I liked.

East Berlin, Pennsylvania - 9/05. To whom it may concern (Terminix is not concerned):  We have used Terminix for 3 plus years. We submitted a check for yearly coverage early for the following year (good customer).  We decided to cancel Terminix coverage prior to the start of the next year. Since we already paid for the next year, we called Terminix and requested them to cancel the service for the following year and send our payment back. They canceled the service but did not send check). The local Terminix said the check will be sent within 6 to 8 weeks.  It is now 12 weeks and no check. We have not been satisfied with Terminix to this point.  We have been very unsatisfied with this company and we have not recommended them to anyone that asked (and quite a few have). We have gone on and used another service just like all our neighbors.

Hagerstown, Maryland - 9/05. I bought my home in Feb 2005.  I requested a termite inspection prior to closing.  My mortgage did not require an inspection. A letter was given to sellers who were under contract with Terminix.  Letter was dated Feb  3, 2005, and states inspection was performed Oct 18, 2004.  The letter stated that there were no signs of active termite. Since then, we have contacted Terminix and complained that in fact there were active termites within and around the entire home. My calls don’t get returned and they refuse to correct the problem or damage caused by termites. This is the Westminister office in Maryland. I  have turned over the entire case to the State Attorney General’s Office. I am asking anyone that is having the same problem to contact the Maryland State Attorneys Office and file a complaint.  I am also filing a law suit against Terminix to stop them in their tracks. Anyone interested in a class action suit, please contact me so I can gather additional information needed to take them to court. I also encourage all Terminix customers to get another inspection from anyone but Terminix to verfiy that they don’t have termites. Steven Graven, 20610 Jefferson Blvd, Hagerstown MD 21742, s.graven@myactv.net

Brevard, North Carolina - 9/05. Compared to other complaints, mine is small. We paid thousands of dollars for a 2-year Terminix Subterranean Termite Baiting Protection  Plan with Terminix Service, Inc., an independent business licensed to serve SC, Western NC & CSRA Georgia.  The traps weren't checked as often as promised and the inspectors could never find all of the traps. Each trip they added more traps to make up for the ones not found.  This created an unsightly mess in the yard and the destruction of landscape plantings. When we received an annual renewal notice this Summer (less than $300), we asked that they assure us the traps sites would be recorded.  I also requested the reimbursement of $20 or reduction in fee for that amount to cover the replacement of a  prize plant that had been pulled up and thrown away when yet another trap was installed. My phone calls have not been returned, and the contract expired 8/1/05.

Virginia - 9/05. I had to cancel the Terminix service not even starting it. I called Terminix on Friday, September 1, and scheduled the service for September 6.  Few hours later, I got a call to reschedule the appointment for September 7 because a technician that worked in our area was on vacation at that day.  When I tried to explain that it is important for me to keep the appointment for September 6, (I have black spiders in the basement and they bite people who live there, leaving red spots around the bite), the representative of VA office just hung up on me.  Today, on September 7, while waiting for the Terminix technician to come, I found a message saying that a technician is on vacation this week, and the appointment has to be rescheduled again. I called back and talked to the same representative. I tried to explain to her that I canceled appointment with Orkin, counting on the soonest service with Terminix.  I reminded her of the situation with spiders I have and said that if appointment cannot be held this week, I will have to cancel the service with Terminix. Unbelievable, but she just hungd up on me again! I never experienced such poor customer service, rudeness, and absolute no help.

Magnolia, Delaware - 9/05. BRAVO! I have experienced some "wrong doing" by Terminex but not to the extent of those listed on your site.

Mission Viejo, CA - 9/05. Terrible company!! Worst customer service I've ever encountered.  I own two rental properties - they "lost" one of the contracts and I didn't receive bills for three months; they misspelled my address on one of my accounts, even though I spelled it out for the clerk (enough so that I didn't receive those bills); they have lost my last payment; they credited the wrong account; they performed service after I told them to stop; and, when I mentioned my experience to family and friends, they said, "WE HAD TROUBLE WITH THEM TOO!" Unbelievable. Thanks for giving us a place to tell the world....