We bought a house in North Reading in August 1997.in April we called Terminix because we found strange winged dead bugs in a box in our furnace room. An inspection by Terminix (chosen because we thought they were the leading company in getting rid of termites) told us that these bugs were "swarmers" and we could have thousands of termites living under our home. They did not find any damage and the swarmers and mud were found near the hot water tank floor grates in the unfinished part of the basement. We paid $2,000 for their "baiting system".
Over the years, we had numerous problems with them showing up, return phone calls, not being able to get ahold of them, and even letting our 7 lb. Poodle out the front gate and lost in the neighborhood. They always apologized and gave us a few "free" months of inspection.
The problem I am concerned with regarding the termites is that we had an agreement to use the sentricon baiting system and they changed our baiting system to an "advance system" which we just found out is not as reliable. That was in 2003 and now they want us to use their liquid in the ground system and twice have tried to convince us to change... But we would not agree... So they jacked up the price of our annual fees for the program stating that it is because it was too costly to service the advance system.
I have been told by Waltham Services, Inc.in Wilmington this day about your website and also that Terminix stopped using the sentricon system because Dowd Company didn't like the fact that they were not servicing the customers using their product and Dowd took away Terminix's rights to use their product forcing them to go to the advance system. Of course, Terminix today denied this allegation. I was also told that the baiting system killed the entire colony as we were told, but that the new advance system only kills a select few who ingest the poison because they give off a warning signal to other termites not to eat there and then that area is abandoned. We have 18 stations around the perimeter of our home and I don't feel safe now with Terminix.
So now let me tell you what happened that has brought this all to a head! In February we remodeled and gutted our kitchen.in the winter of we added a two story addition to the side of our home next to the kitchen wall. My brother who builds homes built the addition.in June of we noticed carpenter ants walking around the inside of our new addition and kitchen. We told Terminix and they sold us another pest control program and have been servicing us quarterly since that time. We have continued over the years to see carpenter ants mostly in the spring and summer months and they have always told us that they were treating the problem but never did an inspection of our home.
At one point I called them because I thought I heard the crinkling of cellophane like noises in my door frame to the new addition out to the deck. He sprayed the top and bottom of the door frame and all around and that was about 2-3 years ago. I also showed him where we had an ice damn on the deck back up into our playroom wall downstairs. This is the new addition ceiling in the corner of the room below the door frame, but it was very small. He never said anything or treated the playroom ceiling but was always in there treating the carpenter ants that my children would see down there.
In December or January I had about 30 carpenter ants in our kitchen and in our dishwasher eating marshmallow fluff off a knife! It was disgusting... Terminix told us at that point that we must have a nest. He thought that the problem was in the ceiling under the dishwasher as there was a ceiling that had water damage from when we built the addition. The ceiling was open though in one area. He continued to spray that area where it was damaged years ago as he always had and he only found 1 ant in the winter. I told him 1 ant meant more but he disagreed... He thought it was probably a stray ant.in the spring, we continued to see carpenter ants and he kept putting down gel for them to eat and take back to their nest.
Recently, we went on vacation for 2 weeks and when we got home, I happen to go out the back door with the dog and I stepped to the right of the door instead of the left and when I did, my foot sank down in the new vinyl floor tiles. I immediately called Terminix and the technician told me that he was not a contractor but he thought it was water damage since he sprayed his pesticide in the hole in the floor tiles and no ants came running out. He told me that if there were in there, he would expect to see them coming out the cracks, etc. That didn't happen. I didn't believe him.
Last Sunday, my brother who was the contractor who built the new addition, came over and he tore up one of the floor tiles in that area which was soft underneath. He knew before opening it that my suspicions were probably correct about the ant infestion. As soon as he lifted it up, he put it back down... He found carpenter ants alive and active in that area and the subfloor was eaten away in an area of about 1 x 3 feet and they started eating and tunneling into the 50 year advantek 3/4" flooring. The floor was wet, damp and rotted underneath.
When I called Terminix out, they ripped up the floor and sprayed... They only found about 3-4 dozen ants and they are trying to tell me that this was a new colony and they killed the old ones that did all this damage over the years. I say years because that is how long this has been going on because of the damage, despite Terminix treating our home for carpenter ants and in that area.
He again went downstairs to the ceiling damage from the addition and sprayed and found nothing... I told him it was the playroom that was under that spot not the office ceiling and he denied knowing anything about the lemon size yellow water stain on the ceiling in the playroom. It was there and I told him about it... He said that they were probably there because of that stain... I questioned why he didn't know that the ants were in the floor and he said they are too hard to find when they have nested... But he never tried in the past. He wanted to drill holes in my new playroom ceiling and I told him no that when the contractor cuts up the floor upstairs to remove the wood they could see the ceiling and insulation and treat it then.
I'm fit to be tied now because I have a lot of damage and no one to go after. I feel like they should have sprayed my foundation quarterly and given me better protection for the $360 I was paying a year for pest control prevention. On top of this, I feel shafted by the termite inspection program now and am fearful that I probably have termites and damage that they didn't catch. I'm living in fear now and don't know what to do next.
Upon calling Terminix's manager, he offered me 3 free quarters of pest control service to comfort me knowing that they were protecting me against ants! Are you kidding me, what makes them think I'm comforted by 3 free months when I paid for 5 years and they didn't protect me.
Please help me... Where do I go from here... Do I stand a chance sueing them in Court because this was a new addition and they were treating me from the get go and I got infested with carpenter ants and I have damage? Can I sue them because I paid for a sentricon baiting system and they switched it to a lesser service, and removed the baiting system stations which now I have to pay over $1,000 to put back by another pest control company who continues to use sentricon. I feel betrayed and the manager said he feels my frustration but he doesn't, but I want him to feel it!
Please help me!
Thank you,
Debbie Nearing
North Reading, MA
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