Below is a letter to Terminix which has not resolved my issue.
July 28, 2019
Terminix Processing Center Terminix
PO Box 742592 2233 A Paragon Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45274-2592 San Jose, CA 95131
The invoice I received for $219.00 is in error. This invoice was issued for services not rendered. Below is the sequence of events documenting this incorrect invoice.
On Thursday, May 30 of this year, my wife (Beth) and I discovered a large colony of carpenter ants inside our bedroom wall. Their damage caused the sheet rock in our bedroom wall to crumble and ants streamed out. We saw clearly through the hole in the sheet rock, the ants had chewed and seriously damaged the studs in the wall. We called Orkin for an inspection and service visit for Friday afternoon. As Friday afternoon wore on, and Orkin did not arrive, we called and learned they had double-booked their inspectors. We canceled that service request and called Terminix instead.
It was just before 4:00 pm on Friday, May 31 that Beth made an appointment for a Saturday inspection and treatment. She explained our serious issue stating that "ants are eating our house." She received the "good news" from the scheduling service that "ants are covered" under Terminix's basic service -- along with 27 other bugs. My wife gladly signed up for the $219 initial inspection and service fee, plus the ongoing quarterly fee.
Between Thursday night and Friday the ants continued to swarm in our bedroom. They had produced a large hole in the sheet rock. To stop them from pouring into the bedroom, we placed a plastic sheet over the hole and duct-taped all around the sides to seal the ants behind. It was a gruesome sight, but an effective block.
On Saturday, June 1, "Randy" arrived and saw the plastic cover and the thousands of dead ants. He looked horrified, said "we don't do ants" and went outside to his truck to call his manager. After about 10 minutes he came back, said he was going to spray outside, along the perimeter of the house and that a more experienced person would come look at the ant problem Monday. Randy then sprayed along the outside of the house, had me sign an iPad, and left. My Visa account was charged for $219.
On Sunday, June 2, the ants swarmed again and broke through the duct tape holding the plastic to the wall. We used plaster to cover the hole and stop the ants from swarming into the bedroom.
On Monday, June 3, Lynne Lagge came to the house. He looked at the plastic sheet we had used to cover the hole in the wall (which was covered in dead ants) and confirmed we have carpenter ants. He went to great lengths to explain the various treatment options, including "Termidor," which could be placed inside the walls and would kill ants and termites. He estimated the cost at something like $800. I said great and gave him my customer number. He looked in his iPad and saw that Beth had signed us up for a contract that did not include Termidor, so he could not schedule this service. He said he would have another person come out in the next three days.
On Wednesday, June 5, we had heard nothing from Terminix. We were tired of waiting for Terminix to figure out how to change our standard program to something that would kill the ants (who were continuing to damage our house!). Beth called 833-893-7381 to cancel our service so we could move on to another company who could solve our problem.
At first, Beth was connected to what seemed to be the first-line call center. She explained all of the history above and asked for cancellation of the service and a refund of the initial $219. The call center person very politely said she could not do either, but transferred Beth to another call center who could cancel the contract.
So Beth was transferred to another call center and repeated the entire litany of events again. By this time Beth had spent ~20 minutes out of her work day on the phone. The very polite woman at this call center offered to reschedule the service (which Beth declined), and then eventually did cancel the ongoing quarterly service. The woman told Beth she could not issue a refund, only a local manager - Eric or Greg - could issue a refund, but both were in a meeting. She took Beth's phone number and said either Eric or Greg would call her back.
Shortly thereafter Beth received a return phone call from "Hardib" (not Eric or Greg). Beth repeated YET AGAIN the litany of events and asked for a refund. Hardib said he would send a person out to the house tomorrow to look at the issue. Beth said that is not why she was calling, Terminix had their chance to provide the services they had promised and they had failed. Beth told Hardib that if he did not issue a credit for the $219 the next call she would make would be to Visa to dispute the charge. Hardib kept trying to convince Beth to allow a reschedule of another inspector Beth said she was calling Visa & hung up.
.....Out of space on Yelp, Terminix continues to bill me. read more