AN ENDORSED AFFILIATE SITE OF HOMETIMEMEDIA

The following information was submitted to Terminix - Consumer Alert!, by people stating they are current or former employees or spouses of employees of Terminix, a subsidiary of ServiceMaster. Although I believe each of them (or I wouldn’t post them), the information provided is unverified, and you must judge for yourself if you believe them.

New Jersey 10/00-E1 (TE5-51).  I was an employee of Terminix in the state of New Jersey for about one year.  I left the company to move on to a different career for LESS pay! Yes, that’s right. Less pay.  The decrease in pay was well worth it after I explain to you how Terminix treated me and other employees.  I can also tell you how their salespeople have outright lied to customers in order to make a sales commission.

First of all, after I was with Terminix for two months, I received from my branch manager two certificates stating I had passed the Terminix basic pest control certification and basic termite certification (two tests I had never taken.) Being somewhat curious, I asked my branch manager if I may see my employment file. (I told him I was just interested in seeing how many dependents I claimed on my W-2 form.) To my astonishment, there were two photocopies of the mentioned exams with my name on them but not in my handwriting.  I thought to myself, how can a million dollar company like Terminix do something like this? What if I was negligent and accidentally polluted someone’s drinking well?  Would I be held liable because Terminix decided not to give me the proper training, but let someone else take the certification exams for me?

I’ll be quite honest with you. There were times when I was hesitant to leave the company vehicle parked in front of my house because of Terminix’s reputation in fear of a disgruntled customer vandalizing personal property or my personal vehicle.  I do know for a fact that once Terminix receives your money, they do not want to hear from you any more. They just don’t care.  They constantly misplace customer files, invoice receipts, and their employee benefits package SUCKS! After 90 days of employment, you are eligible for basic medical coverage.  I did not get coverage until after five months because the morons down in Memphis had lost files or stated, “We never received it.”  (A saying you hear quite often with this company.)

Now on to the really good stuff. Say you’re called to a home of a 75-year old couple who can hardly walk, are all hunched over and tremoring from Parkinson’s disease.  If you tell them they have “live termites” in the crawl space of their home, do you expect them to go into the crawl space and check for themselves?  Of course not, so why not tell them they have termites even though they don’t and get yourself a nifty 15% commission check! Terminix is known for doing this, and they have been doing it for a long time.

As for their creed “To honor God in all we do” -- Phooey!

Texas 10/00-E1 (TE5-52).  I am a Terminix employee in Texas.  I have been with the company for eight months.  I was excited when I was first hired. I thought I had found my dream job.  Little did I know that it would become my nightmare.  I hadn’t been there very long when I discovered I was being misled and lied to.  From day one, I was led to believe I would make 25% of my route’s production once I was assigned a regular route.  During my training, I was paid $9 per hour.  I was getting a lot of overtime, because the branch was shorthanded (now I know why). My pay went downhill from that point on. I found out we get a base salary of $1500 per month. Commission is paid for production over that amount.  My service manager never told me anything other than I would make 25% of my route’s production.  A $10,000 route would produce a paycheck of $2,500 per month -- not bad money. I, on the other hand, was assigned a route that had been so severely abused that the customers who hadn’t canceled were so irate that it was frightening to me when I went to their homes.  Cancellations and allowances affect the amount of percentage paid on your production.  My route was so bad I never made over the base of $1500. The route was only producing $6500 with around 120 stops when I took it over.  I had built it up to right under $10,000 in three-month’s time by providing customer service no one in that area had ever experienced.

At this time, I thought I could really turn it around. I was still gung-ho. Spending between 25 and 35 minutes per service, I thought I was pushing the envelope of providing excellent customer service. I was instructed to spray the outside of my customers’ homes if they were not at home at the time I had set up for their service. Locked gates, dogs, and other variables made this seem like a terrible waste of money for the customer, all the while they are believing they are getting “protection.”  I feel like a criminal when I do what I call “half a service.”  This is when I realized the rip off Terminix perpetrates on its customers. My route area was expanded two months ago. I now service over 500 square miles in my territory with over 240 stops per month. This does not include extra services and new pest control starts.  If I spend more than 15 minutes at each stop, I will never be able to finish my route in the period designated for completion (monthly). There is no way a thorough job could be done under these conditions. I have been keeping a log book on all the things that take place in my branch. Far too numerous to go into in this letter.  I rarely get home before 7 p.m. and even then I have hours of scheduling and related paperwork to do.  I am looking for another job. As a matter of fact, I was looking for another job idea when I found your web site. I wish there was a way to get more potential victims this information before they make the mistakes so many of us have already made.  Keep up the web site, because Terminix will continue to rip people off and grow profitably from it.  Their slogan “Honor God” is a farce. God will get them for what they are doing! I would be glad to continue with some more facts if you are interested.

New York 12/00-E1 (TE5-53).  I was with Terminix for fifteen years.  I just couldn’t take it anymore, so I started making waves in the branch. More so when Sentricon came on the scene, which, by the way, is completely useless.  I probably sold approximately 500 accounts for them.  Do you know that Terminix was unable to come up with 20 accounts that were satisfied? Assuming they had the service for two years. A new customer would be unable to tell.

While I was in their employ, I documented quite a bit of data on all their illegal activities and violations.  My manager at the time was also doing the same thing. I was fired, as was my manager. I am leaving out the year all this happened for fear of retaliation. As you can see, I am paranoid, with good reason.  I have witnessed what they can do to intimidate ex-employees. Here is the blockbuster. All the information I had was submitted to [the state’s regulatory agency]. I was also contacted by [a major investigative television news program]. I think this site is great, and I commend you sticking to your guns. We need more people like you.

California 10/00-G1 (TE5-54).  As an ex-employee of Terminix, I find your web page very informative, especially employee complaints. The Terminix pay/commission structure works you to death, makes them money, and you have nothing to show for it. Please keep up the good work.  The bottom line with Terminix is money at all costs.  ServiceMaster professes to honor God... wrong.  They only honor money.  I know how dishonest they are.

Florida 1/01-E1 (TE5-55).  I have been a Terminix technician for four years now. I read all the complaints and wasn’t surprised at all.  I have worked in two different states for Terminix, however, I received superior training. I did book work for three weeks, rode along for two weeks after that with employees who trained me; and for the first week, the branch manager met me at all my service calls.  However, when I transferred to another branch in Florida, I was appalled at the service practices. The pesticides were being used in a careless manner, everybody did the splash and dash, whereas I was trained using IPM methods and baiting.  I lost an account because I refused to power spray around the building, in 30 mph winds; nonetheless, this was an ocean front property, which would have allowed the pesticide drift directly into the ocean. I was ridiculed by my employer and fellow employees for wearing my respirator, gloves, and protective equipment.  I was informed these protective devices were not necessary, and I may scare my customers.  I would also inform most of my customers not to be in the home while I sprayed or to leave for several hours after, until it completely dried.  Terminix has no regard whatsoever for the safety and protection of its employees or its customers.  As long as they have the check ready, they want you there.

The other thing that makes me irate is the so-called Quality Index all technicians must abide by.  I have changed its name to the monthly performance review that we have no control over.  Being in Florida, many of my customers are elderly, and eventually die. When a customer dies and the service is canceled, we are charged back with that cancellation. Also when someone moves, someone cancels because the office girl was rude to them, or the bill was messed up, which is usually not of the technician’s control, they are the ones who ultimately pay the price for it.  A run down of the Quality Index is this: I have a route of $10,000 a month, if I have less than 3% loss on that route, I can make 25% of the $20,000, which is $2500 in my pocket. However, if I have more than a 3% loss, I only get 17%, only $1700. So in short, a $300 loss can mean $800 out of your pocket.  Also many people don’t know that your bonus comes out of the branch profit, and if the profit looks high, the manager gets a big bonus, so usually the manager isn’t too upset about the high loss numbers, it just means more money for him.

New Jersey 1/01-E1 (TE5-56).  I was an “inspector” for Terminix in the early 90’s.  I only did it for about four months, because the company was so unethical. They train you to feed off of existing customers. If you have the pest control service, they want you on the termite contract and vice versa. My best advice is to not work for this company.  If things are going well in your branch, they will cut your territory and hire more people, which means they are taking money out of your pocket.  The actual service wasn’t bad, but you don’t get what you pay for.  It is wise to stay under their termite service contract, which is paid once a year. This will come in handy when you want to sell your house.

Web mistress note: Based on others’ experiences, I vehemently disagree with the last two sentences -- unless, of course, you can afford litigation if the buyers sue you for nondisclosed infestation and/or damages.

Maryland 2/01-E1 (TE5-57).  I was a Terminix employee for about eight months, and some of the things they do to people is unheard of.

California 3/01-G3 (TE5-58).  It’s good to see what you are doing with this site. I too know firsthand about Terminix’s repeated wrongdoing in California, for I was once a termite specialist working for Terminix.

? 10/00-E1 (TE5-59).  Fortunately, it only took me six months at Terminix to realize just how deep the greed and total disregard for customer (and employee) concern go.  Protect yourself before they ruin you (they will)!

? 3/01-E1 (TE5-60).  I am a former branch manager of Terminix and have many issues with Terminix’s operating procedures. I always attempted to put the customer first, something that is difficult to do considering the large number of customers and the bottom-line mentality. I can’t honestly say I have a warm feeling towards Terminix considering how I was treated or how employees in general are regarded at corporate level.  I also know many quality people in the company that do attempt to provide good service. I feel the Terminix mentality is to deny wrongdoing until a lawyer is mentioned, then proceed to ascertain what the least expensive method is to get out of a situation. To share blame, I feel Orkin is just as bad, if not worse. Their current termite guarantee will not renew past five years.  This, I’m sure, is due to their lack of faith in the product or services they render.

Tennessee 4/01-G1 (TE5-61).  [Due to length of submission, excerpts only.] I have no doubt these are real stories from real people. I want you to know, that in my opinion, you are providing an invaluable public service by warning people of how the largest pest control company in the world all too commonly treats its customers. I should know. I used to work for Terminix as a branch manager. It’s not that Terminix employees are inherently dishonest; it’s just that the ability to properly perform their duties are hampered by unrealistic expectations, a shortage of resources, and an overall lack of proper training.

I am not proud that I sent untrained and disgruntled employees to the homes of our customers in possession of highly-toxic chemicals.  I still feel bad about having to “parrot” the company line to get out of paying for damages and shoddy work common sense would dictate we were liable for. I knew I was being dishonest when I was forced to fabricate lies about how the termite damage to a customer’s home was not the fault of our negligence, when indeed I knew otherwise.  I couldn’t take it anymore, and I finally gave up and quit.

? 4/01-G1 (TE5-62).  I worked for these bums for six months and all I could take.  They are in for the quick buck.

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