Terminix Lost a Loyal Customer Over $3

I have been using Terminix for 5 years. They come quarterly to spray around the house and it effectively keeps the cockroaches and other bugs from showing up inside the house. I actually know exactly when it’s about time for Terminix to show up again because about a week or so before the scheduled service, I’ll see a cockroach or cricket wandering around.

Anyway, their service is not cheap — $75 each time. But they’re reliable and they’ve got a great online system where you can schedule the visits and pay your bill.

Going into a side story that will be relevant later, about a year ago we had a major bird mite problem — get rid of any bird nests around your house NOW. Called Terminix and they don’t do bird mites. Huh.

I found a local place, Stanley Pest Control, that do handle it. They came out right away and sprayed the house. A day later there were still some of them around (they’re hearty suckers), and the guy came out again, on a Saturday morning, and took care of it. It was great service. We were super grossed out and distraught upon discovering the bird mites and it gave us so much peace of mind that the service was speedy.

So, jump back to the present. Terminix came by last week for their regular service. The technician left a bill: $75. A few days later I went online to pay. The balance due was $78.

Now, this happened before. Maybe a year ago, I saw my bill come out to $78. I called the local office and asked why I was charged $78. The representative said it was a standard price hike. I said I was not notified of this. She said she’d go ahead and bring my price back down to $75.

So this time I called again, and again, asked why I was charged $78. Again, I was told it was a standard price hike. I said that the bill the technician left was $75, and even if there was a price hike, why was I not notified ahead of time?

There was a long pause…like 30 seconds, where I thought the call was disconnected. I said “Hello” a few times. Then the lady came back and said, “So you’re disputing three dollars?”

Hell yeah I’m disputing $3. WTF?

“Yes.”

“Well, you’ll have to talk to the technician about it. He’ll call you when he can. He’s really busy.”

Hangs up.

OK. This has a very, very easy solution.

I called Stanley Pest Control. They offered me $70 per quarterly service. I signed up.

I called Terminix the next day to cancel. When I was sent to the cancellation desk, I explained what happened. The representative offered to match the $70 and cut my current bill in half for the trouble.

Too bad this didn’t happen yesterday. No deal.

I sent in this complaint to The Consumerist and they published it!