[onewhippedpuppy]

When I did remodeling, we were called out to a local home where the owner had issues with some of her ceiling tiles. Thinking that they had gotten wet at some point in the past, we simply planned to replace a few of the pressed-wood tiles. However, when we started removing tiles we found that they were being eaten away from above by termites. In many cases, the paint was the only thing holding them together. The 2x2 framing above was also mostly gone, and in some area we found large quantities of active termites. Why is this relevant? Because the sweet (but somewhat senile) old lady had been paying Terminix for years to treat her house for termite prevention. The treatment was guaranteed, in the paperwork it stated that any damage done by termites would be covered by Terminix.

Already suspicious, we captured quite a few termites in a glass jar for evidence, as if the eaten tiles and framing weren't enough. When the Terminix guy came out, he denied that it was termite damage, and claimed the lady was lying about the source of the termites in the jar. Nevermind the obvious damage and tunnels on the foundation. They refused to pay a dime, despite her giving them thousands over previous years. We gave her a good deal on the repair, and installed termite stakes around her foundation.

To me, I think Terminix is like Jiffy Lube. Chain store that sells based on the national name and advertising, and has very little concern for customer service on a local level. What a joke.