Quincy, Illinois - 12/06.  Terminix ripped off my parents for years, but my parents didn't want to start a lawsuit so late in life; so in an attempt to thwart Terminix, I also signed up for their pest control services.  I set up hidden cameras in my house and often went and sat at a neighbor’s house or sat in my car parked up the street and watched my house when Terminix was there.  Usually after knocking and receiving no answer, the man would walk around my house and squirt some spray in a couple of places then be back in his truck and gone in LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES. (I have a 2,350 square foot house all on one floor).  As always, I continued to receive my quarterly bill in the amount of $60 regardless. Sometimes I would insist upon having the inside treated and that is where the cameras came into good use. I would have a neighbor call me and would make an excuse that I had to leave.  In my set-up on this scenario I would leave a handful of change or some bills and change laying around my house in several places with the cameras trained on those sites. Lo and behold I caught ON CAMERA three different Terminix men pocketing MY MONEY in addition to snooping through drawers, closets, and my refrigerator in addition to not treating my house at all and usually leaving within minutes after I did. I had two other companies come to my house and do thorough investigations for termites and neither found anything, but when I had Terminix come do a termite inspection you can imagine how I was NOT surprised when the man came walking out of my basement with a piece of wood that had been riddled by termites!  I asked him where he found them and he said in one of the corners of my basement. I asked him to show me where but he said I wouldn't be able to access it cause it was in a crawl space. (I am 5'5" 130 pounds and he was about 6' and pretty fat).  The termite inspector salesman went into a high pressure sales pitch and wouldn't take no for an answer until I told him to leave or I would have him arrested for trespassing and false pretenses.  Then he told me that he had a wife and kid to feed and really wanted to help protect my house from future termite damage in addition to helping feed his family.  When I showed my parents the tapes they were very happy that they had cancelled their pest control with this rip-off place, even after being threatened by the branch office that they would sue my parents for breach of contract. Our new pest control company is locally owned and very trustworthy, and have never done anything wrong either on camera or off! Before you call that so-called "reputable" pest control company called Terminix you better do your homework and set up plenty of cameras for when they threaten to sue you. It'll stop them in their tracks real fast!

California - 11/06.  Terminix sent my $75 account to collection without ever providing an invoice or a bill for the service they are now requiring payment for.  For some reason, the only communication they have ever sent was the final notice of collection - and they sent that to the wrong address. The  notice went to another property that I own. Since the tenant there is my own daughter, and since she is always eager to give me any bills that come to  her address, I believe her when she says that nothing whatever from Terminix had ever come to her address before, just as nothing still has ever come to my own correct address. Terminix apparently would rather give the account  to collection, potentially wreck my credit report, and receive a maximum of half the amount, than just send me a normal bill for the full amount!  What kind of accounting is this?

North Carolina - 11/06.  I purchased a home last year and the inspector came out and determined that termites may exist in the utility room. Another pest control came out on April 19, 2005. They confirmed there were termites in the utility room area and charged the previous owners for the inspection.  No treatment was done by the pest control service because the previous owner had a contract with Terminix Services and had them come out and do the treatment. On the invoice from Terminix, “The treatment location was on the storage room area. Drilled and treated area.” That was on April 25, 2005, and that is all they put on the invoice.  Here is my main concern.  If Terminix indicated they did the treatment in April of 2005, I wonder if it is possible that the termites could have eaten three thick wooden ties in a very small amount of time? I wonder if any treatment was even done at all.  According to another pest control person, the termites are back in the same area and they have eaten thru the thick ties and even a few were sited in the crawl space.  The damage to the wooden ties could not possibly been done in a year’s time! The previous owner had a contract for treatment from Terminix all the way up until I bought the house. Terminix was supposed to treat the termites found in the inspection, and it is suspicious that the termites are still in that area and severe damage to the ties has been done. I called Terminix at 90 Mosswood Blvd. Suite 113 in Youngsville, NC  27596 as their name was on the invoice. Nobody has called me back. I will not stop until I hear from someone from Terminix.

Montgomery, Alabama - 11/06.  I ordered a pest control treatment to be performed in Montgomery, AL, for ants & roaches.  This service was being performed when another man arrived at the house claiming that he needed to gain access to the house to do a termite inspection. He claimed that this was a free service that comes along with the extermination for the ants & roaches. After my aunt denied the termite inspector " JOE DAVIS" access to the house he took the initiative to call me in Brooklyn, NY. He repeated that this inspection was a free service that came with the service that was already ordered. "Joe Davis” claimed that he found a termite infestation on one corner of the house. So I inquired on the process of the service and what the cost would be. Mr. Joe Davis told me that the service would cost $160. I proceeded to order this additional service for $160.00 . I requested that my aunt sign the contract on my behalf since I was paying for the service for $160. When my aunt arrived at the house Mr. Davis had his men there already digging the trench to apply the chemicals. My aunt went ahead and signed the contract since the service was agreed to be done and paid for. When my aunt asked for a copy of what she signed, Mr. Davis denied her a copy, stating that she didn't need a copy since I was paying for the service. Well on Nov. 27th when I recieved a copy of the contract that was signed Mr. Davis had charged me $960 for a service that was agreed to be performed for $160. I immediately contacted Mr. Davis to verify the amount of $960 that appeared on the contract. He insisted that he told me the cost of the termite extermination would be $960 which was obviously supposed to be $160. Once I confronted my aunt as to why she signed a contract without having a copy, she informed me that Mr. Davis said since I was paying for the service she didn't need a copy. She later found out that because she also signed the agreement to let Mr. Davis onto the property to do the extermination that she also signed as the "payee". So Mr. Davis intended to get $960 one way or another. I was later told that "Mr. Joe Davis went to my cousins' job and told her that she needed to make sure that she be home to let him in to do the extermination which almost resulted in her getting fired. This type of behavior is unacceptable, unusual, and in no way professional. Mr. Davis along with terminix should not be in business with this type of behavior of harrassment, and fraud.

Milton, Kentucky - 11/06.  Trying to find a termite workshop in KY.  I've used Terminix, I got the no-show treatment while the company argued that they had a bar code copy of the technician inspecting the stations. I marked the 25+ units with thin knife marks with the station top partially opened to eliminate chance, the marks never changed on NONE of the stations. Course it was plain that no one inspected them.  Somehow they copied the code without inspecting the "stations." I know this was probably a lazy inspector that figured a way to beat the bar code but I don't want to chance it again.  I have flyers all over the outside, and I need to do something. I'm trying to do my own termite control by finding a Termite Workshop in Northern Ky.

Chesapeake, Virginia - 11/06.  About three week ago, Terminix came out to inspect for termites.  When they were finished, the Terminix representative informed my wife that the humidity under the house was 70% and that we needed a de-humidifier installed under the house at a cost of $3,500.  They came out to install the equipment under the house the next day.  After they finished installing the de-humidifier, they informed my wifte that we had two major water leaks under the house (Quest Pipe-past the 12 hrs statute of limitations). I called my plumber and he fixed the leak. A week later, the Terminix inspector came out and checked the humidity.  This time it was 90%. I guess the de-humidifier is not working.  I asked Terminix why they did not inform me about the leak before they installed the de-humidifier. They hemmed and hawed. I managed to get a manager to come out and told him that I did not appreciate being talked into something that I did not need and to refund our money and  remove the machine. He told me he has to talk to his manager first.  I have not heard from him.  It is reasonable to assume that the high humidity was caused by the leak.

Kailua Kona, Hawaii - 10/06.  Just reading you website while I was holding for the national Terminix number.  I have had an overall horrid experience with this company since I inherited the warranty from the last owner 7 years ago.  You are right, they don’t call back, don’t keep appointments, and then tell you that you don’t have termites when the poop is falling out of the ceiling! I told them that they could come back and find termites or I could call  another company and then take them to court. Amazingly, they found them on the  next visit! Now we can’t get them to call back for the annual  inspection, I use that term loosely of course.  I won’t bother to report this to the State of Hawaii as they won’t regulate anything, and I am sure this wouldn’t even make it onto a "things to never get to list"...but I did find it somewhat comforting to find out others have the same issues. Oh, yes, being in the real estate industry, you are  absolutely right. We have heard of more than one clear pest inspection resulting in the later finding that the termites were holding hands to hold up the structure!  This company is negligent and I believe exists on collecting money with the intent of never providing services...isn’t that fraud? Hope it happens to a politcian. Then maybe someone will care...