Minnick Termite & Pest Control, Inc.

Review: We contacted Minnick Pest Control because we had an infestation of odor ants in our kitchen and bathrooms. The first service was performed on 3/23/16 by [redacted] for a price of $250.00 where he treated the kitchen, bathrooms, outside, and in the crawl space.. We were told it would take 2 weeks for the spray to work. At 2 weeks we called back and told them they were worse. They said we had to wait a month for the chemicals to fully work and to call them back if we saw any at a month. We called back and they scheduled us for 5/5/16. [redacted] came again and retreated the bathrooms and kitchen. My wife told him we were not happy with the service and he told her if this service did not work he would give us a refund. After a few days the ants seemed like they had actually multiplied so I called and told them the issue. The lady on the phone was very rude and I was told I had to wait 2 weeks for it to work. She had [redacted] call me and he said the same thing. I again mentioned we were not happy with the service we were provided and I was told to wait 2 weeks for the chemicals to work. After 2 weeks we still had an ant infestation so I called Minnick back and stated we still had ants and I wanted a refund. The office lady again was very rude and I was told they were coming go spray again. On 5/20/16 [redacted] came for a 3rd time and sprayed and told my wife they would refund our money if this visit did not take care of the ants.. We waited 2 weeks and still had major infestation of ants. I called them and requested my money back. [redacted] told me I had to have a water leak that was attracting them and he was going to come back and remove the insulation in my crawl space. I told the office lady I did not want them to remove insulation because there was no water leak, that I wanted a refund and we did not want to use their services anymore. On 6/9/16 I had another pest control company come and spray the ants. Within 2 weeks the ants were mostly gone and as of now we have no ants. The pest control company that came wanted to know what had been sprayed so I showed him Minnick's tickets and he told me that they sprayed a repellant outside my house and that was trapping the ants inside. My wife called Minnick on 6/29/16 and again requested a refund. She was told she would have to talk to the owner. The owner called her and told her that we would have to submit a sample of the ants to the CDC or Dept. of Agriculture before they would give us a refund. She said that the ants might be a foreign kind and could be like the Zika virus and not able to be controlled. I called the owner on 6/30/16 to talk to her and left a message. Later that evening [redacted] from Minnick returned my call saying he'd never seen ants this hard to kill. On their first visit he identified them to my wife as odor ants. I again requested a refund and he said he would have to talk to the owner and get back to me the next day (7/1/16). As we were discussing this someone in the background was saying, "the reason they don't have ants is because we treated 3 times there." As of today 7/5/16, no one from Minnick has called us back. I'm filing this complaint because we were promised our money back if we were not satisfied multiple times. We were not satisfied that is why we had to contact another pest control company to provide a service that worked and that is why we don't have ants because they sprayed the proper chemicals.Desired Settlement: We would like a refund because the services provided did not work. Minnick would promise us a refund and then we would request it and their solution was to come back and try again.

Business

Response:

We first did the job for the customer and his wife on 3/23/16, using Demon Max, a residual chemical designed to kill multiple kinds of pests, including ants. Two weeks after we finished the initial job, on 4/6/16. His wife called and said that the ants were even worse, and they requested a refund at that time. We do not have a refund policy, rather, we have a quality job policy, in which it states that if a customer is not satisfied with the job, we come back as many times as it takes, at no extra charge. [redacted] then called them and said he would come back to fix the problem. On 5/5/16, over a month after the initial spraying, We did the job again at no extra charge, again, using Demon Max. Sometime between 5/5/16 and 5/20/16, the customer called again stating that the ants were worse than ever and they again requested a refund, as well as stating that our secretary was very rude to them in telling them they would have to wait for the chemical to take effect. Our secretary has been with us since 1999, and is very polite and kind to anyone that calls, making this a false claim. [redacted] then did the job again on 5/20/16, again, using Demon Max as the last two times. On 6/3/16, they called up yet again saying that the ants were still there, [redacted] then stated that he has never had this kind of problem with ants before in his 37 year tenure as a pest control technician, he offered to come back again at no charge, and take a look around their insulation. The customer stated that we were going to tear their insulation apart, and they then refused a fourth time service. On 6/29/16, They called again, stating that another pest control company ([redacted]), came to their house and eradicated the ants for half the price we did, and they again, requested a refund because of this. Demon Max works from 30 to 45 days, and has a flushing agent that draws the ants out, making the other pest control company`s chemical obsolete, because our chemical was still working. The customer then stated that [redacted] told them we were using Retreat, a repellent chemical, which is false, we have never used this chemical ever in our business, and where the customer said they saw we used it, it was on the price portion of the ticket, where it said retreat for the office records. We feel that a refund is not necessary because we eradicated the ants with our chemical, and hard work, in the three times we did the job. Again, we do not have a refund policy, only a quality control policy, and we never tell anyone we give refunds, the price of chemical, labor, gas, and more, prohibits us from giving a refund, as after all of this is subtracted, there would be no money left to refund. We did offer to come back and spray again, as many times as it would take, and the customer refused any further service after the third time. If the customer would have had patience and waited for the chemical to work to kill the ants, there wouldn’t have been a problem, and there wouldn’t have been any reason to call another exterminator. The owner, Mrs. Minnick, has been in the pest control business for 70 years, and has owned Minnick Termite for 43 years, and we are a family owned and operated company who always provides quality and excellent service for all of our customers.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

If the chemical the company sprayed takes 30-45 days worked then why after 3 months did we still have ants? I also found ants in my shed and the other company came back and sprayed those as well for me and within 2 weeks I haven't seen any live ones. I really don't trust the integrity of this company. The secretary WAS very rude to my wife and myself both when we called and questioned their work. As for their refund policy it must be different when the Revdex.com contacts them. [redacted] told me and my wife both at different times we would get a refund. And yes after 3 visits with no result who would keep using the same company whether they charged or not, especially when you've had a pest problem for 3 months. The company that retreated is what finally got rid of the ants not the residual of minnicks 3 sprayings. After 3 sprayings and them continuing to want to just spray you become concerned for the health of yourself and your pet. But as [redacted] told my wife when she questioned that regarding the health of our dog,"he's not dead is he?" I understand they have labor, fuel and materials they have to cover. But after the 3rd time as a homeowner you have to throw in the towel and find someone who can get the job done. And yes I did not want them taking the insulation down in my crawl space to look for a mystery water leak they said I had. By the way there is no evidence of water on any of the insulation. I cannot imagine how my insulation would be put back up by a pest control company and that is why I refused that 4th service.

Regards,