Quote:
Originally Posted by Aurel
The ripoff is that the situation did not require the Terminix `product` because the termites were not active to start with. I am not discussing the quality of their treatment, rather their judgement and honesty. Calling them active to scare us in buying the high cost treatment when it was unnecessary.
|
It is
not the corporate policy of Terminix to lie and tell people there is an "active" termite colony when there is none. It is pretty easy to determine if there is an active colony, or not, during the summer months. If a local Terminix operator lied, he is not following Terminix's rules. (I don't even know if Terminix is set up with franchises, or if local Terminix operators are Terminix employees, but you may want to contact their corporate offices. They don't spend millions of dollars in advertising building a good reputation, just to have it "blown up" by local operators lying to customers!)
Of course, I still have to wonder, if it was not an active colony, why did the local guy do the "preventive local treatment"? If you know anything about termites, they are not really a problem that can be dealt with by any "local treatment." If he didn't find any active infestation, he could have just done the inspection, noted that there was no active colony, and issued the certificate.
The
proper preventative treatment, is treatment for the entire structure, unless one knows that the ground around the structure has already been treated previously. In which case one re-treats an area if activity is indicated.
If I were buying your house, I'd be suspicious that the real estate agent got the guy to do the "minimal" job to get the certificate so the closing will go on as scheduled. It could be like the "home inspectors" that real estate agents refer -- if I were selling a house, I'll want the buyer to use the "home inspector" the real estate agent suggests. If I'm buying, I'll be doing my own inspection!