Pointe Pest Control-PA

To whom it may concern,
On August 17, Pointe Pest Control received a Revdex.com complaint regarding *** *** of *** *** ***, Clifton Heights PA, ***, regarding unsatisfactory service at her home.
The
complaint centers on the treatment of roaches and mice at her residence As the service manager I was made aware of the issues at her residence approximately one week prior to her complaint; both about roaches and possible rodent activityOnce I was advised on *** ***'s issues with multiple pests I promptly called her back to discuss possible treatments to her issues and scheduled an inspection to be conducted at her homeI also advised *** *** there could be the possibility of having to leave the rooms being treated by our technician depending on what the technician deemed as necessary treatment for her pest issues to be properly handledAt no point did I say it was absolutely imperative for her to leave
any part of her home, but that it was up to the technician's discretion and the label directions of any product that may be applied to areas conducive to pest activity*** ***’s residence was re-treated by one of our technicians on August 6, and it was deemed that she was encountering oriental roachesIt was at this point that the servicing technician also correctly identified the fecal droppings in her kitchen as mouseThe customer told our technician that there was no way she could have mice because she has three cats that live to catch miceUpon my arrival at her home and via documented digital records I deemed the servicing technician had made the appropriate pesticide application and noticed several old rodenticide bait stations both inside and on the exterior of her home indicating to me, a certified pest professional by the state of Pennsylvania, there was at the very least a past rodent issue at this locationSince the couple had recently moved into this home they were unaware of any past pest problems, however during my inspection I showed her husband possible pest entry points in the garage and pointed out the fact that there were multiple rodent bait stations at their home indicating a past rodent issue.
A large part of this complaint appears to revolve around a miscommunication between *** and our office staff over the identification of some sort of droppings in her residence*** *** was told by our office staff to collect a sample of these droppings before cleaning them up to give to her servicing technician, however at no point was she told to bring these droppings to us in personWhile the droppings were not brought directly to the office for identification by the servicing technician, he did send pictures to me for a more thorough investigation into their originThese droppings were initially identified by her servicing technician as mouse droppings and further confirmed by myself via the aforementioned cellular photographs from the technicianDuring phone encounters by the complainant *** ***, she became hostile on multiple occasions by hollering and cussing at our office staff making it hard to understand her actual complaintThis in turn may have lead to a somewhat delayed response as our office staff attempted to understand the true depth of her complaintsWhile *** *** never became hostile with me I could sense her frustration with her pest issues and a technician was already scheduled to be sent back to her home on the day prior to receiving this Revdex.com complaint
The final part of this complaint was that of our money back guaranteeThe initial service contract *** *** signed on June 15, clearly states that money will only be refunded for the amount of one regular service and only after to re-treatments and proper precautions were taken by the home owner after Professional advice(i.eSealing up the holes that were shown to Mr*** where rodents can be entering from) At the time we received this complaint there had only been one re-treatment, one regular service, and her initial treatment in June of Under these circumstances, *** *** still needed to receive one more re-treatment and taken the measures to seal out the entry points before we could entertain a refund for our performed services and this was explained to her on more than one occasion by both our office staff and myselfPointe Pest Control looks forward to resolving this issue not only with the Revdex.com, but *** *** As well
Thank You,
James *J***
Service Manager
Pointe Pest Control
Phone: ###-###-####
Web: www.pointepc.com
We also reached out again the day the technician was sent back out, the same day that this Revdex.com complaint was received

As, stated in the complaint, this customer found what she suspected to be carpenter ant damage to an area of her garageShe felt that our service should have
never allowed this to happen and that because of this she wanted to cancel service with usI did my best to explain that there is no way to prevent every insect or situation and that as part of our service should a pest problem arise in between our regular visits we return, at no additional charge, to take care of itWhen dealing with pest issues we take steps to make sure our solutions fit the situation and pest we are dealing with, as such, we first have to inspect the issue and identify the pest that is causing the problem and what conditions are causing that pest to impact the human environmentOnce we have identified the pest and the areas that are being infested we can then tailor our control strategy to use the best product and apply it in the most targeted and effective way possibleOnce the application has been completed we then monitor the situation and take any additional steps if necessaryOur regular quarterly treatments are aimed at preventing a broad range of insect and rodent problems before they start but we know that because we are working in a constantly changing environment with ever changing and determined pests that sometimes we will need to take steps in between those visitsFor any of those situations that arise we don't charge extra to take care of our customers' problems and we strive to achieve that control in a timely mannerIn this situation, we were not permitted to take any steps to control this problem even though it would not cost anything at allSo in the end, we were never allowed to inspect the damage to see if a pest was the cause, identify the pest responsible, or treat for the pest to control the problem. Without seeing the damage we cannot help to remedy the problem Keep in mind, we are applying a topical spray that does not soak or absorb into the home If the damage found is indeed from Carpenter Ants, they would have had to have been in the structure already and been burrowing around in the wood (as that is the nature of Carpenter Ants, they use wood for a nesting sight, and not a food source) If the customer would allow us to return then we can, as we stated, treat the problem at no charge to the customerConsider this: A patient see's a doctor for a good health check-up, months later that patient gets sick The patient now refuses to return to the doctor for a diagnosis or remedy to the illness The doctor cannot solve the issue under those circumstancesIf the customer would allow us to return, we are confident that we can provide the service/control that is needed (as is stated in the contract)
We would appreciate the opportunity to return, inspect, and come up with a plan to solve the pest concern
Andy

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
My basic complaint is
1. The estimate was predicated on among other things the quantum of time it takes 
2. When I contested it based on feedback from Pointes own people, I did not get a response to it. I was completely ignored. They just sent invoices. Obviously their customer service ethos, their complaint management process is wanting. The moment they explained no review was possible, I paid the entire amount. I had to follow up for six month to get to this conversation.
Regards,
[redacted]

The customer is correct, They did enter into a contract, the date of which was June 20, 2015.  I have attached the Contract.  The contract was sold at a discounted rate pending the year completion.  Customers always have the choice to terminate service prior to the 1 year completion,...

they are then responsible to pay the Discounted portion back for the Early Termination.As can be seen in the 2 attached contracts; Service was to take place: June 2015, July 2015, Oct 2015, Jan 2016, April 2016.  The customer received and paid for June service using check #[redacted]The Customer then received July Service.  Our office sent out paper invoice's, as well as Email, and also placed calls.  A Credit card was then given over the phone 10/2/15.  Our notes don't indicate who this was given by, it may have been **. or [redacted], but it was called in to our office to take care of the July service balance.  We do not "steal" Customer payment information.The request to cancel then came after the 3rd service in Oct.Our service's are not random, but on the schedule to which are outlined in the Contracts.  The service was cancelled when we received the Customers call after the 3rd treatment.  The amount sent to collections was for the 3rd service visit as well as the Early termination Charge that was agreed to in the Contract.  This was explained to the customer when he called 12/8/15 and 12/21/15.  To which he replied "Save the paper, and do what you need to do, cause I refuse to pay."   The Account was then turned over to Collections 1/15/16; 90 days after the Oct service took place.If the customer would like to pay for the Oct service that was rendered we can remove the Early Termination Fee.

[redacted],
First, let me apologize that you feel like you are being bullied or threatened, that is not the impression we are trying to send.
The confusion may be coming from the fact that we have a signature for service that was rendered on 12/10/14....

 The only written confirmation of cancel that we have attached to your account is a written note you sent in on our bill to you for the Dec. 10th service in January of this year.  Prior to that January note you sent in, we have no other documentation of a cancellation request.  As a result of that written note your account is closed.
It is our policy and procedure to call 3 days in advance before service takes place.  Our records show that the call was placed prior to that December 10th, 2014 service.  In addition, when the technician arrived he collected a signature for service.
I'm sure you can see from our end how this doesn't appear to be a cancelled account when we called in advance, and got a signature for work.  The only invoice you have been receiving is for that authorized service.
I will attach the invoice for you.
You also mentioned that you spoke to our office 9/21/14 to cancel, but our records indicate that you requested a Free Reservice for spiders/crickets in the basement.  That Free Reservice was done on 10/8/14 and that service was signed upon completion.  So I don't see very clearly how you could have terminated service, then received a Free reservice, and then signed for a paid service in December.
You tell me what you think is fair upon seeing the signed service invoice, and knowing that a call was placed before service was rendered.

In response to the complaint: 
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According to our records there has not been any missed services nor has there been any complaints from this customer concerning service. We do have a signed contract from this customer (See attached). To the statement concerning payments every invoice has been paid. The customer has also called in to update their credit card information for our records in September 2014.  The signed Contract also had an agreement to use the Credit card for the Recurring service's. The customer  called on 6/7/15 and left a voicemail to set up reservice for possible rats. We called on 6/8 and set up a free Reservice for 6/12/15. She called on 6/10/15 and left a voicemail stating she was expecting the tech on 6/10/15. We called on 6/11/15 and apologized but explained that the service was set up for 6/12/15. And at that point she stated she wanted to cancel. We were perplexed because to us it just seemed a simple confusion on the date of service. Also because this customer had no history of Service complaints in the past.
There was no mention of a cancellation fee on our end, because she had fulfilled her contract obligations.
To this point we are very confused and think we may be dealing with someone other than the account holder.  You will see that the Attached contract covers an entire year of service, which does continue on a service to service basis after that initial year.
Their account has been closed, on our end.

96);">Dear Revdex.com
RE: Response to Complaint
We refer to the letter of complaint dated 10/3/2014.
First of all, we apologize for the inconvenience/distress/problems this may have created.
We take great care to ensure that important matters such as this are properly managed/processed/implemented.
With that being said, Aaron, our sales manager went to the home of [redacted] to give an estimate for a bed bug concern. Aaron was made aware that **. [redacted] was looking at other bids. Aaron submitted a proposal.  **. [redacted] stated he wanted to use us to do the service but, we were higher priced. If we could meet the price of the lower bid he would sign the contract. We did a price match and **. [redacted] signed the contract. We performed the service and eliminated bed bugs. After the service, **. [redacted] called and said we need to "renegotiate" the  price because he "felt" we did not spend enough time at his home while stating the bed bug concern had been resolved. He to wanted to reduce the price by almost 50%. We stated to **. [redacted] that we in good faith matched the price of the competitors bid and expected full payment, which he agreed to pay when he signed the contract.  He threatened to not pay the agreed price until we were going to submit him to collections. He was not sent to collections.
It is appalling that he would contract us to eradicate Bedbugs from his home, and then once that service was rendered and the Bedbug issue was resolved, he wanted to change the agreement and pay less for the Results that we both agreed upon in the original agreement.  
The Agreement was to eradicate the issue of Bedbugs, and that was done.
Ertell W[redacted]

Dear Revdex.comRE: Response to ComplaintWe refer to the letter of complaint dated 10/3/2014.First of all, we apologize for the inconvenience/distress/problems this may have created.We take great care to ensure that important matters such as this are properly managed/processed/implemented.With that...

being said, Aaron, our sales manager went to the home of [redacted] to give an estimate for a bed bug concern. Aaron was made aware that **. [redacted] was looking at other bids. Aaron submitted a proposal.  **. [redacted] stated he wanted to use us to do the service but, we were higher priced. If we could meet the price of the lower bid he would sign the contract. We did a price match and **. [redacted] signed the contract. We performed the service and eliminated bed bugs. After the service, **. [redacted] called and said we need to "renegotiate" the  price because he "felt" we did not spend enough time at his home while stating the bed bug concern had been resolved. He to wanted to reduce the price by almost 50%. We stated to **. [redacted] that we in good faith matched the price of the competitors bid and expected full payment, which he agreed to pay when he signed the contract.  He threatened to not pay the agreed price until we were going to submit him to collections. He was not sent to collections.It is appalling that he would contract us to eradicate Bedbugs from his home, and then once that service was rendered and the Bedbug issue was resolved, he wanted to change the agreement and pay less for the Results that we both agreed upon in the original agreement.  The Agreement was to eradicate the issue of Bedbugs, and that was done.Ertell W[redacted]

I am very sorry you had this experience with our office staff.  You were a loyal customer for many years, and I hope that you see this as an isolated experience and not a reflection of the many years of valuable service we provided to you.  I reviewed the notes, and one of the Customer...

Service Representatives that you had dealt with was fired shortly after your dealing with him in April.  We do place our staff through rigorous training courses, and do quality assurance checks each week on each member of our staff.  I understand this doesn't change the experience you have had, and I will make sure that we resolve this on our end.  
We do not request a "text message" to cancel, we do require a written confirmation via Fax, Mail, or E-mail.  We have had competitors that have impersonated our customers, and when we contacted the customer they had no clue that someone was requesting to cancel their service with us, or that someone was impersonating them.
The offer that was being made to you was a credit on your account, to which the technician said you were still thinking about.  That is why your account wasn't closed.  
At this point it is close, and again I do extend my apologies.
[redacted]
Pointe Pest Control

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
My basic complaint is1. The estimate was predicated on among other things the quantum of time it takes 2. When I contested it based on feedback from Pointes own people, I did not get a response to it. I was completely ignored. They just sent invoices. Obviously their customer service ethos, their complaint management process is wanting. The moment they explained no review was possible, I paid the entire amount. I had to follow up for six month to get to this conversation.
Regards,
[redacted]

A typical Initial service in Pest Control is more costly for a company than recurring maintenance service's.  There are many reasons for this.  You are able to call a variety of service providers and verify this yourself.  Your Mother received a significant discount on her initial service.  The discount is valid once the customer finishes the agreed upon term, in your mothers case it was just a year.  If the agreed upon term is not completed then the discount for the initial service is not valid and that is what is being charged as the Early Termination fee.   We are unlike many companies that will charge you 70% of the remaining contract Value.  We only seek to recoup the discount or promo cost that was offered based on the Term of 1 year.I hope that explains it for you.The loops you were moved through were for safety and account integrity.  We could not give you access to an account you were not made an authorized user on, until we received proof of the Power of Attorney.  Once that was received you were given access to all account details.I have verified that all payment information has been deleted and your Credit Card will not be charged any further.

I understand.  The contract continues on a Month-to-Month frequency after the initial 1 year period. You can find that in the Terms/Frequency right above your first signature on the contract.  It is cancelled with a written notice 30 days prior to a scheduled service. The only written cancel request that we have record of is the note you wrote on the invoice that was mailed to you in January for the December 10, 2014 service.  Upon receiving that note your account was closed, but the charge for the signed service in December 2014 still reflects on the account.You are not pending any future service's and the only balance on your account is for that signed service in December.

While I understand what is being said I have to respectfully disagreeHe has been in conversation with our sales manager. After meeting his price, signing the contract, performing the job, and successfully eliminating his concern, he "felt" that he should be refunded money because of the amount of time that it took to take care of his concern.We do not base the job solely on time. Time, materials, number of rooms, condition of work environment, etc. are just a few of the factors taken  into consideration when pricing a bedbug job.We have already discounted the price twice for him.There was no conversation with him stating that if the job took longer or shorter there would be an increase or a discount to the price.

We are sorry that you were busy when you entered into the Service agreement.  That is why we make sure to provide that Customer Checklist that I attached previously.  That provides all customers with the details of the agreement before service ever takes place.Our Sales reps do indeed obtain permits.  I placed a call to Whitpain Township to get a copy of the permit and the LT in charge was unavailable.  You can call to verify the permit was acquired by calling Whitpain Township police Dept. Ask for [redacted] ###-###-####.  The sales person was Bryson S[redacted].

We are so sorry for the Miscommunication that has been presented.  We pride ourselves on Great Customer service and that clearly wasn't delivered!  We have taken measures to train and teach the customer service staff to perform better. We appreciate the opportunity you've given us to...

rectify this.  We have sent the Service manager out to perform the necessary service, and take charge of the Tick concern.The miscommunication came from a difference in Service subscription types.  We provide a Mosquito, Tick, and Flea (MTF) that is specifically designed for Aggressive service on those three types of pests.  A residential Tick service is different, and that should have been delivered in April.  The MTF is a program that runs May-Oct.  That is where the confusion came. Again we do apologize and thank you for your allowing us to come back out. Thank you for your feedback and support.

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:Although I'm not satisfied with the way they do business, I'm accepting the response to this complaint as they've indicated that they have cancelled the contract and will not charge any further fees.
If what they are saying is true, and that there is an upfront discount on services, it's certainly not disclosed anywhere and should be.
Regards,
[redacted]

[redacted]
We apologize for the situations that arose during your time with us. 
We regret that there was a mistake made by our account manager and your account was not completely closed out.  
We have fired our account...

manager that was working with you for the incompetence shown and have removed all personal financial information from your account, as well as closed out your account. 
We have also credited the 2 services you received.
Sorry again; we do many quality control checks and this wasn't caught in time.  We have, as I said, removed that account manager.
We do hope that you had good results with the actual service and the technicians performance prior to this.  This was not the actions of the entire company, but that of one individual.  We do hope that you accept our apology and perhaps in time find your way back to our service.
Josh
Pointe Pest Control

[redacted],First, let me apologize that you feel like you are being bullied or threatened, that is not the impression we are trying to send.The confusion may be coming from the fact that we have a signature for service that was rendered on 12/10/14.  The only written confirmation of cancel that...

we have attached to your account is a written note you sent in on our bill to you for the Dec. 10th service in January of this year.  Prior to that January note you sent in, we have no other documentation of a cancellation request.  As a result of that written note your account is closed.It is our policy and procedure to call 3 days in advance before service takes place.  Our records show that the call was placed prior to that December 10th, 2014 service.  In addition, when the technician arrived he collected a signature for service.I'm sure you can see from our end how this doesn't appear to be a cancelled account when we called in advance, and got a signature for work.  The only invoice you have been receiving is for that authorized service.I will attach the invoice for you.You also mentioned that you spoke to our office 9/21/14 to cancel, but our records indicate that you requested a Free Reservice for spiders/crickets in the basement.  That Free Reservice was done on 10/8/14 and that service was signed upon completion.  So I don't see very clearly how you could have terminated service, then received a Free reservice, and then signed for a paid service in December.You tell me what you think is fair upon seeing the signed service invoice, and knowing that a call was placed before service was rendered.

I understand.  The contract continues on a Month-to-Month frequency after the initial 1 year period. You can find that in the Terms/Frequency right above your first signature on the contract.  It is cancelled with a written notice 30 days prior to a scheduled service. 
The only written cancel request that we have record of is the note you wrote on the invoice that was mailed to you in January for the December 10, 2014 service.  Upon receiving that note your account was closed, but the charge for the signed service in December 2014 still reflects on the account.
You are not pending any future service's and the only balance on your account is for that signed service in December.

[redacted]11:26 AM (0 minutes ago)to me Complaint #[redacted] has been resolved.Thank you,[redacted]