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Terminix Roof Rat Fiasco Sacramento California
Since purchasing our newly built home in West Sacramento in June 26, 2007 we have contracted continuously with pest control services from July 2007 to the present day. Terminix bought our original company and continued with the contract in 2008. At this point Terminix reduced their service from once every 2 months to once every 3 months arbitrarily. This company and this service was being maintained by service center 2297 from Roseville California. Attached is a list of this continuous service with Terminix. In January of 2012 we noticed rats outside our home climbing on the walls and immediately called terminix. A copy of this request is included. Terminix responded by placing and continuously maintaining rat baits and traps in the area, but failed to inspect our house or the surrounding area at that time. Just after a recent terminix service service in November 2014, a scratching was heard in the attic on December 5, and terminix scheduled an appointment for December 12. On this appointment the terminix representative stated that the attic was infested with roof rats. No pictures were taken or provided. The subsequent costs involved for eradicating this problem was $8000. The representative could not explain why the terminix service was failing to keep these roof rats out of the house or why on previous calls for rats no one from terminix inspected the attic area. This work was completed but no pictures were taken or shared with us. We are unsure what the value of a terminix pest control contract is if the house can be infected in spite of notifying them when problems arise and maintaining these contracts continuously. Home owners have no recourse, as home owner's insurance does not pay for the cost of pest removal or clean-up unless a catastrophic event occurs.
On further review no pictures have been provided of the completed work either. After discussing our concerns with management the technician claimed tenants in the house viewed the damage, but when asked tenants said, "I NEVER went up to the attic space. The first person who came out was very serious and said not one should go up there without protective gear. He only stuck his head in at best before coming out." We also were charged for a termite inspection that was not requested. This was supposed to be included gratis (documented as such in an email from the technician) and them credited back to us. In addition we were supposed to have an opportunity to finance this interest free for 4 months. The financing paperwork arrived this morning and is at an 18% interest rate with no grace period. The original bait traps for rodents placed in 2012 but it is unclear if they are being maintained by Terminix as this does not seem to be included in service updates we were provided with. In addition, as a licensed veterinary in California, the failure of terminix to properly inspect our property in January of 2012 and their failure to effectively maintain the rat traps and bait put my family, pets, neighbors, and now our tenants potentially at risk for several diseases carried by rodents.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Tyg
Pahrump,Nevada,
Actually...
#2General Comment
Mon, January 05, 2015
Actually if you wish to be technical, YOU put your own family, pets, ect in danger by NOT understanding the pest in the area BEFORE you moved in. At this point Im expecting YOU to blame the real estate company as well. Some information for you might help your perspective. Im sure you have heard the saying "When you buid a better mouse trap, you build a better mouse. Rats are NOT stupid and for you to expect that some traps and bait are going to fool them for long is silly at best or the higth of YOUR ignorance at the worst. Rats, ALL TYPES are VERY VERY VERY smart. They have a cohesive social structure. They can eat arsenic and lead and NOT be effected at ALL!!! And most importantly....THEY LEARN!!!!! So while you may have killed a few with bait and traps, the reality is that those rats that survived LEARNED to not go near the traps and bait. Much like YOU would do. If YOU saw another dead human, stiff as a board and smelly, YOU would think to yourself "I dont want to end up like that". So YOU would steer clear of ANYTHING that even looks like the thing that killed that other human. Rats as well as MOST life LEARN. So while Im 100% sure it makes YOU feel better to cry that terminex isnt doing thier job, there is a REALITY here that YOU are choosing to ignore in favor of blasting THEM. The reality is that there is no force on earth strong enough to stop a rat, with the only exception being a predator. You may kill a few, but the rest learn what NOT to do if they want to stay alive. Traps and bait will only do so much. WE have intruded on THIER territory. WE are the pests, THEY are just trying to live thier tiny little lives. The point is that unless YOU have a pack of cats patroling your property YOU are NOT going to stop the outside wildlife from comming inside.