C.A. Luce Termite Control

I was scheduled to use [redacted] of CA Luce Termite Control to tent my house on Saturday April 27, 2014 but unfortunately the wind kicked up that day and we were forced to delay. My wife was due for major back surgery so we were scrambling to get it done beforehand and the only day that would work in our schedule the following week was Wednesday April 30th and [redacted] was unable to accommodate this, so we ended up switching companies to one that could. I proactively contacted his office manager, [redacted], at 8:35 am on Tuesday April 29th to let her know that I still had the lock box and bags that he had provided to us and because our house was in Point Loma and their office was in Escondido (about 45 minutes away), we agreed that it would work well for me to leave the items with the reception desk at my office in Rancho Bernardo (only 10 minutes from their office) and that [redacted] could swing by and grab them sometime. Our second tenting date ended up getting cancelled once again due to wind, so we rescheduled with the same company for the following Thursday May 8th which overlapped the dates of my wife's surgery and subsequent hospital stay. [redacted] contacted me at 3:59 pm on Tuesday May 6th indicating that [redacted] could not find my office to pick up the items and that he would be in the Point Loma area for another job on Thursday and asked if I could leave the items on the front porch for him to pick up, to which I agreed. I had already left my office for the day and the next day (Wed 5/7/14), my wife had reconstructive back surgery so I was out all day with her in the hospital. Early on the morning of Thursday May 8th, my Mom came to the hospital to care for my wife so I could head to the house to be able to call into a conference call for work and get the house ready for the third try at tenting. While on the call, I remembered that this was the same day that [redacted] had asked if [redacted] could pick up the items but since I had not been back in my office since our call I did not have them so I made a note to call her once I got off of the conference call to let her know so that he did not waste the trip over. Unfortunately, [redacted] showed up at the door while I was still on my work conference call and I apologized for the mix-up and started to explain the situation but he abruptly turned and left. That evening, I received an invoice via email asking me to pay $100 for the lockbox and bags. I responded with the following email that same evening:

"[redacted]-

I am happy to coordinate getting these items back to you, but am not planning to pay this invoice as I have no intention of keeping them and proactively contacted you early last week to work out how to get them back to you. As we'd discussed at that time, because your office is in Escondido and our house is in Point Loma we agreed that it would be far more convenient for me to bring them to my office to be picked up because it is in Ranch Bernardo which is substantially closer to Escondido, and they could be held at the front desk which would allow them to be picked up anytime during normal business hours. I have had these items at the front reception desk of D&K Engineering at [redacted] for over a week waiting to be picked up but no one has come to get them. We did speak on Tuesday afternoon about having [redacted] pick them up in Point Loma sometime today but I have not been in the office since our call as [redacted] went into the hospital for surgery this week and things have been rather upside down as a result. I stopped at the house this morning to grab some clothes and make a call for work and suddenly realized that today was Thursday and that [redacted] was due to come by sometime, but was on still on the work call when he showed up. My apologies for the wasted trip. The bags and lock box are still at the Goldentop location which is diagonally across the intersection from Frozen Ropes (an easy landmark to navigate to using Google Maps). They can be picked up there anytime during normal business hours. If this does not work for some reason, please let me know.

Thank you.

-[redacted]"

I then received the following email back from [redacted] the next morning:

"hi [redacted] I could have tented you house yesterday why didnt I get that

opportunity to tent your house it wasnt my fault it was to windy that

saturday but the part a dont understand is why you fell you need to

lie to me................ im a big boy I can take it.........so for

you to answer the door and you tell me that [redacted] is in surgery i

dont really care so take the bags and put them over your head and

secure tightly and put the lock box were the sun dont shine you have

wasted all the time and money I allow so no need to respond probaly be

just another lie .............youve been spamed so no need to try to

contact us again"

While I can understand the frustration, [redacted]'s reaction was horrendously unprofessional and unnecessary. I was in the hospital with my wife when I received this so I took a picture of her in the recovery room with the pre- and post-operative x-rays and another close up of the post-operative x-ray clearly showing the date (5/8) and once she was comfortable enough for me to leave her for a few hours I personally returned the lock box and bags to [redacted] at their home office in Escondido. I explained the situation to her, read her the above email and showed her the pictures. She was pleasant but hardly shocked and indicated that "[redacted] overreacts sometimes".