Modern Pest Service GREEDY bangor, Maine
This company seems to do a bait and switch. They charge $499 upfront to come out, make you think it is $76 a quarter for maintenance when it is actually $76 every month taken automatically from your checking.
For those of us on an island they charge each individual the more than $50 ferry fare (adding an extra $250 or so to their profit each time) and hidden in the small print is a $149 early termination fee. Can you imagine how little extermination really happens during a winter visit? NOW they want extra money to put mice traps out! GREED!
I was recently called and asked to do themA FAVOR by skipping a visit so they could coordinate ferry trips. When I asked if this would also benefit clients by sharing ferry fares they said "NO." So, getting rid of some ants and mice this year will cost me $1500, plus $149 if I cancel.
Upfont fee was a lot, and $76 a quarter would have been reasonable. Fortunately everyone knows everyone on the Island so we are planning a mass exit from this company (there are several other, reasonable companies to choose from).
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Mike
Brunswick,Maine,
United States of America
Modern's response
#2UPDATE Employee
Thu, March 11, 2010
It does appear that there was some honest misunderstanding between Modern and Mr. Staples in regards to the services and our fees for those services. We do charge an increased fee for clients on an island due to the additional travel time and expense of ferry fees involved for us to service those clients. That being said we do try to coordinate the scheduling of trips to island to be as efficient as possible by servicing all of our clients on the island the same day whenever it is possible to do so. We also attempt to spread the added fees associated with servicing these clients out over our client base on the island. Unfortunately providing services on an island is substantially more expensive than to a client on the mainland due mostly to the added travel time of waiting for ferrys and the transport time to and from the islands.
As the Technical Manager for Modern Pest Services I am responsible for Quality Assurance and Client Satisfaction. When I became aware that Mr. Staples was dissatisfied with our company I personally called him to discuss his concerns.
I discussed his concerns with him and offered to discontinue this service with no termination fee if he was not satisfied with any aspect of our service program.
I assured him that as a 3rd generation family owned and operated company that has been providing services to the people ofMaine and Northern New England since 1945 that we take our clients satisfaction very seriously and that we would work with him in any manner that we could to ensure he was satisfied with the program. After our conversation Mr. Staples decided that he would continue with the program. We have since than continued to service this home for him which to my knowledge he has been satisfied with. I believe that there was some misunderstanding and a lack of response to the clients calls with questions regarding the program initially that we should have handled in a more expedient manner which had we done so would have resolved his concerns in a more prompt manner. I personally have apologized to the client for that failure and have made every attempt to resolve this situation to Mr. Staples satisfaction, which I believe we have done.
We are a reputable company that has been in business since 1945 with a good reputation and excellent record with the BBB. Occasionally there may be a client that is not satisfied with some aspect of our service which when we become aware of we make every effort to resolve to satisfy those clients. It is this service mentality that has allowed us to become one of the largest pest management firms inNew England .
Mike Peaslee
Technical Manager
ModernPest Services