**People should know this before signing up with EnviroGuard Pest Control.**
I am giving EnviroGuard one star because I can't give them zero.
Before EnviroGuard, I had been with Fox Pest Control for approximately five years. I told the EnviroGuard salesperson that I was happy with Fox and had no reason to leave. Their pitch was that EnviroGuard could offer something better, particularly protection from mosquitoes, flies, ants, and other pests.
I was also very clear about one thing: **I did not want to be locked into a contract with a cancellation penalty.** I had reached the point with Fox where I could cancel whenever I wanted, and I specifically told the salesperson that I did not want to give that up. I was presented EnviroGuard as essentially a month-to-month rent arrangement without the type of cancellation penalty I was concerned about.
So I gave them a chance.
One thing I will say: their sales/marketing team is very friendly. In fact, I was asked to leave a review very early in the process, before I had enough experience with the actual pest-control service to know whether it worked. I declined because I wanted my review to be based on the service, not on how personable the salesperson was. This explains the positive reviews I saw (and you are probably seeing) before signing up. Most customers are leaving reviews based on the sales experience rather than the service experience.
Well, I'm glad I waited.
Despite what I believed I was purchasing, we continued to have mosquitoes and flies throughout the summer. Worse, I began seeing **ants and earwigs inside my home** problems I had not dealt with during my previous five years of pest-control service.
When I called EnviroGuard about the earwigs, they came out and I was advised to put small bowls of vegetable oil mixed with fish oil outside around my house to attract and drown them.
My immediate thought was: **Then why am I paying for pest control?**
EnviroGuard did subsequently treat the house, but the earwig problem continued.
Then came the ants.
I started seeing random ants in my home, an ant on a sheet, one or two in the closet, etc. Then my son purchased a shirt from the mall that had a somewhat perfumy scent. By the next day, the shirt was absolutely covered with ants. I mean covered. We also began seeing ants in areas of the house where we had never had this problem before.
Eventually I went to Walmart, bought perimeter pest-control spray, and sprayed inside and outside my home myself.
Again: **Why am I paying a professional pest-control company if I have to buy pest-control products and treat my own house?**
It got to the point that even our mail carrier was dealing with ants in the mailbox, not just around the property.
At that point, I decided the service was not working for my household and asked to cancel.
EnviroGuard wanted me to continue with additional mitigation/re-service efforts. I declined. I had already given the service time, reported the problems, allowed treatment, and ultimately resorted to treating the property myself. I simply wanted to move on.
This is where my experience went from disappointing to unacceptable.
During the cancellation conversation, I was initially told about a **$75 cancellation fee**. EnviroGuard then charged **$405 to my American Express**.
That is the part prospective customers should pay very close attention to.
If you are considering EnviroGuard, **get every representation made by the salesperson in writing before you sign anything, even though I got the representation specifically and asked the following questions listed below, they still sent an email and changed the terms we agreed on**. Which is why I consider this organization a SCAM.
I asked specifically:
* Is this truly month-to-month?
* Exactly how long am I obligated to remain a customer?
* What happens if the service does not control the pests?
* What is the cancellation fee?
* Under what circumstances can additional amounts be charged to my card?
* The salesperson made promises that differ from the written agreement, which they claim was emailed.
I left a pest-control company I had used successfully for five years because EnviroGuard convinced me their service would provide additional benefits. Instead, I experienced mosquitoes, flies, ants, and earwigs, ended up buying pest-control products and treating my home myself, and was ultimately charged $405 when I tried to leave.
I don't expect any company to guarantee that I will never see a bug. I do expect a pest-control service to substantially control the problem I am paying it to control. And if the service isn't working for a customer, I expect the company to handle the cancellation fairly, especially when the customer says the cancellation terms were a specific concern before signing up. AND IF THEY CAN'T BE FAIR, I FEEL OBLIGED TO LET OTHERS KNOW MY EXPERIENCE. THANKS! BTW: Also a quick search through BBB shows an F rating for similar issues. Wish I had checked. read more