Georgia - 5/99. I am sorry for all your troubles.  I know how it feels since I am currently in the same situation.  I too got a false inspection report that allowed the purchase of my home to go through. The house had been under contract with Terminix the past 9 years, so I felt secure with the findings.  It took me showing them termites I had captured in a jar before they would admit I had a problem. After two months, they did come out to treat.  They poisoned my three animals in the process. To date, they have done nothing; and it doesn’t look good that they will.  I have even had ex-employees call me to admit to the unethical practices they are taught/coached to do and are willing to testify to such.  I am currently camping out in my house due to all the damage. After inspections, holes in walls, floors, ceilings, etc... much structural damage.  Bids are open ended at $86-$110k. House basically needs to be rebuilt from the inside out. Thank you for posting this site.  It makes me feel better that I am not the lone ranger here and provides a bit more hope.

California - 5/99. I started a Terminix contract for treating my home for bugs inside and outside.  The one-year contract was set up around December of 1998.  I have experienced very unprofessional and unreliable services.  On my contact with Terminix, I just got the excuses.  The service man calls and did not show up; then one day just showed up.  He was totally unprofessional.  At this time, I want to get my money back from Terminix. I called and someone took a message and told me a manager will call back.  It has been over a week and no one has called me back.

Florida - 5/99. I have also had a few rounds with the Terminix in Largo, Florida.  Mine seem small compared to many of those I have read. After trying several times to get Terminix to tent my house after finding live activity, I should have realized it was not a good sign!  One of my biggest complaints after they took the tent off (before opening the windows), the workers left a bedroom sliding glass door unlocked. Upon finding this out, I called and let them know how much a lawsuit would be if a kid opened it and died in my house from the gas. They said they would be right out and take care of it. I ended up calling back three times to get them out to lock up and got no response.  I have tried to talk to customer service people about it, and they don’t call.  I am still finding those metal clips used to put the tent on the house (usually with my mower). And the saps still keep sending me ads in the mail wanting me back as a customer. I really laid it onto the poor woman that called trying to solicit Terminix services. “NO BUGS...NO HASSLES” Plan on a lot of hassles if you choose Terminix. I did and am sorry I did not want to use the “little guy.” I wanted a name behind the service.

Florida - 5/99. We would like to state a consumer alert to anyone who thinks they have a legal and binding contract with Terminix BEWARE. We have a contract they refuse to honor and have been on our premises this week conducting themselves very unprofessionally.  We were harassed, even detrimental to our health.  They admitted to having told us they would honor our contract; however, now they will not, even using profanity.  Too lengthy to include all info, but we have all legal documentation to back up our claim.  We would appreciate any information you could furnish us with to further pursue our case.  We are not the only ones in this area with the same problem.  We even know they treated us once with pesticide rather than the termite treatment but stated it was a termite treatment. After telling this to a neighbor, we confronted them, and they re-treated. Thanks for the use of your site for help.

Maryland - 5/99. Am dealing with my own difficulty with Terminix. After carrying yearly termite service plan for about 10 years, “swarmers” appeared; and there was damage behind my walls.  Of course, they are not liable for any damage -- only to “retreat” the affected areas.  I am in the process now of having the damage repaired--costly. What was the use of the yearly inspections when nothing was detected; the damage most certainly occurred within the last 10 years.  But I am powerless. Thanks for the opportunity to vent.

Delaware - 5/99. I am so disappointed in Terminix, I don’t know what to do. I don’t have any major pest problems, just a bug phobia; but I cannot seem to get them to come to my house without chasing them down. Of course, as luck would have it, I paid for a full year of service. I hope to God I can get my money back. I am calling to cancel my service today.

Pennsylvania - 4/99. I took out a contract to have pest control done at our house.  We had an ant problem. The man that came to our house couldn’t do enough to help us.  He promised us the world. Remember, we had ant problems. He showed us that we also had termites in a flower bed that is 50’ from our house.  He then proceeded to tell us how he could get rid of them.  He wanted to drill holes in our basement floor and inject a chemical into the holes. This would have cost $1,500 to $1,800 to complete the job.  We told him we would worry about the termites later on; we wanted to get rid of the ants.  We took a one-year contract to have the house sprayed inside and outside. They said they would be back about every 45 days.  Two days later, they showed up to spray, did the job, and left. One week later, we had the ants back, so we called Terminix to have a repeat. It took them three weeks or more and a couple of phone calls to get them out.  To make a long story a little shorter, our one-year contract is now up; and we have had them out four times. They owe us four or more sprayings.  We have called many times to the office, wrote e-mail to them and get a lot of promises, but never show up.  They make appointments to come out; but the day they are to be here, no one shows. They don’t even have the courtesy to call, to tell us why they didn’t come.  I should have known we would have had problems as we had the lawn service they provide.  Oh, yes, they are Chem-Lawn also.

California - 4/99. We signed a contract in 1996 for microwave termite treatments with a company in California named California West Exterminators. We had these ineffective treatments and paid a large amount of money. They went out of business and were supposedly purchased by Cal-Western Termite and Pest Control, Inc. We were informed by Cal-Western via letter, and in short, were offered a chance to “choose us to provide your invaluable Control Service protection.” They called several times, and I finally agreed to have them come out for what they offered by phone as a free inspection.  When the inspector arrived and started his inspection, we then found out the service would not be the same as what was with the previous company, and it would be a new contract, not a renewal or continuance as stated in their letter, and now the inspection was not “free.”  We were told we now had to sign a form after he found termites in the attic.  We decided not to sign the form and asked him to leave since we were misled.  We were sent a bill for $190. I called and spoke to Mr. John Lemm, the company’s president.  He was rude and belligerent and accused us of stealing the signed “contract” from his inspector. After he was supposedly placing a lien on our home, I wrote to the company and called and wrote several letters to the infamous State Structural Pest Control Board. Ms. Gayle Yamada was most rude and evasive.

To make a long story much too short, Mr. John Lemm, the president of Cal-Western Termite, whom I was complaining about as to his unethical business practice, was at the time the president of the Structural Pest Control Board! I had also learned that California West, who originally did these so-called microwave treatments and went out of business, was also linked to Cal-Western. Whoever ran California West used to work with or for Mr. John Lemm of Cal-Western who now wanted to “continue” our contract. Now guess who supposedly bought Cal-Western Termite. TERMINIX!  We are getting statements from Terminix to pay on our “contract.” We have talked to Terminix several times, sent statements back to them, asked to see this supposed contract we are to have. We get the same response that they will take care of this; yet, we continually are getting harassed by calls and statements.

The problem is that the State Structural Pest Control Board, which is promoted to be a service to the public, provides a major disservice. There needs to be a complete investigation into the pest control industry to rid the many fraudulent practices within the pest control business.