S.O.S. Exterminating

We've been using SOS Exterminating for over 5 years with no complaints. However, on our last service we received a new technician, John T, that sprayed our home while we were out. When we came back home we noticed we had a break-in from our side garage door complete with boot prints. After sending them to SOS to compare to John's boots they said they were "suspiciously similar". We updated the police to this fact and they interviewed John and then John promptly quit the company. When I followed up with SOS to see if there were any updates they just said John quit so he won't be a problem anymore and did not offer any assistance to help pay for the door damages, offer a free service for the inconvenience, etc. They obviously do not stand behind their employees, or there actions, and did not care that a long term customer received damage to their home. We have cancelled our service with them, along with several other people that I had referred their way.

The appointment to take care of the termites is in two days. We are unable to get anyone there sooner. My apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.

[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.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,[redacted]

SOS Exterminating has tried to reach out to Mr. [redacted] twice and we are not getting a responce. We have a phone number of [redacted] to call. I have left another message on April 28, 2014 at 8:17 in the morning. If we could speak with Mr. [redacted] we would like to resolve the situation.

We recently built a new home in Scottsdale and since our builder was using this company for pre-slab terminate protection, we decided to get an estimate from them for on-going pest control service. We were given a quote over the phone and asked for an email followup quote. The quote over the phone was $193 for the first treatment and $124 every 3 months. The email followup quote was $243 for the first treatment and $149 every 3 months. The company never did give us an explanation on why the rate went up. We decided this tactic was unethical and decided to go with another pest control company. We thought that would be the last time we'd have to deal the SOS, but we were sadly mistaken. A tech from SOS came out to the property to perform a final terminate treatment at the requested from our builder. The tech was supposed to be at our home in the morning and didn't show up until the afternoon. We had scheduled a cleaning crew to clean windows and outside metal. The tech on his own decided to go ahead and treat the soil around our house. He had total disregard of the fact the windows were being cleaned and managed to get a significant amount of overspray on our windows and metal. In addition, he did not return the rocks he had moved back to where they were. We contacted the company and they said they would look into it and get back to us, but they never did. The person I talked to at the company said his tech was overworked and one of their best techs. If that is one of SOS's best techs, I would hate to experience the "B" team. Needless to say, SOS is one of the worst companies we've ever dealt with.

Our region manager reached out to the customer and explained Terminix owns SOS Exterminating. Both companies are owned by ServiceMaster. Also told the customer if in the future he needs anything he can contact him. The customer was ok after the region manager reached out to him. If...

there is anything else needed please let me know. Susan K[redacted] | Admin SupervisorM[redacted] | F: [redacted]E: [redacted]@sosexterminating.com

SOS Exterminating has recalled the $190.00 from [redacted] In doing so the entry will be writed clean from their agency. Therefore it will not show on Mr. [redacted]'s [redacted] SOS Exterminating has issued a refund check for hte credit on his account in the amount of $228.00 which Mr [redacted] should...

recieve by the end of October. All accounts for Mr [redacted] have been closed and any credit returned to Mr [redacted].

Mr. [redacted] had a bi-monthly pest control service with SOS Exterminating. The service covers all pests except Bees and Rodents. The charge is $65.00 and any requests in between the scheduled services are at no additional charge. Mr. [redacted] has been with SOS since Oct 2009. In that time frame Mr....

[redacted] has never called in to stated service wasn’t working or taking care of his problems until the last service was rendered on June 24th 2015. At that time we listened to his concerns and generated a in between service to rectify the problem.  Our tech went to the property and serviced again targeting the problem areas of the property. Then after the service was completed Mr. [redacted] called back into the branch and stated he was unhappy with the service. At that time he requested we give him the June service for free. We advised him we already credited of the May service and we could not credit again. He was upset at the response he received at that time he did pay for the June service however after Mr. [redacted] called back we credited the June service also. At this time we do not feel the request for a year refund is validated. SOS Exterminating feels we did a complete service throughout the year without any type of call back requests from the customer. The service which the customer received and felt was not up to his standard has already been refunded. The account with Mr. [redacted] has been closed and is in good standing.

We have closed all accounts and all invoices are settled. We have also recalled the money from Nationwide.

Review: We had sos treat our building site for termites with a 5 year guarantee. We noticed termites coming up threw our floor, so we contacted sos. They said it would be 3 weeks before they could come. Meanwhile termites are eating our new house that has a termites guarantee. We are not happy to have these termites in our new home. We are trying to tile the floors in our home but have to wait. That is unacceptable.Desired Settlement: get rid of termites

Business

Response:

The appointment to take care of the termites is in two days. We are unable to get anyone there sooner. My apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Consumer

Response:

[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.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,

Review: I am goodyear resident and after more than 3 years of service with SOS I recently cancelled due to ineffective services and lack of attention to detail.

We recently returned back to our home, after being away for 12 months. We had maintained our monthly service with SOS. However, when we returned back home the exterior of our property was over taken by several varieties of ants and spiders. On the second night back in our home a large spider bit our small dog, which then required us to take the dog to our local veterinarian for treatment of a spider bites on its legs. Our dog remains on medication as he recovers from the bites.

I called SOS and requested that they remediate the situation and expressed my dissatisfaction with the lack of quality in the last 12 months worth of services and to address the variety of ants and spider issues. The technician came out and proceeded to treat the ants. However, a few days later the ants and spiders were still an issue. I proceeded to contact SOS and cancelled the service. I expressed my dissatisfaction with SOS and the fact that the monthly charge for alleged services kept coming to me the last 12 months for services that were almost non-existent.Desired Settlement: A complete refund of alleged services provided the last 12 months. ($783.00)

Business

Response:

Mr. [redacted] had a bi-monthly pest control service with SOS Exterminating. The service covers all pests except Bees and Rodents. The charge is $65.00 and any requests in between the scheduled services are at no additional charge. Mr. [redacted] has been with SOS since Oct 2009. In that time frame Mr. [redacted] has never called in to stated service wasn’t working or taking care of his problems until the last service was rendered on June 24th 2015. At that time we listened to his concerns and generated a in between service to rectify the problem. Our tech went to the property and serviced again targeting the problem areas of the property. Then after the service was completed Mr. [redacted] called back into the branch and stated he was unhappy with the service. At that time he requested we give him the June service for free. We advised him we already credited of the May service and we could not credit again. He was upset at the response he received at that time he did pay for the June service however after Mr. [redacted] called back we credited the June service also. At this time we do not feel the request for a year refund is validated. SOS Exterminating feels we did a complete service throughout the year without any type of call back requests from the customer. The service which the customer received and felt was not up to his standard has already been refunded. The account with Mr. [redacted] has been closed and is in good standing.

Review: Failure to honor one month free general pest control service as stated in Service contract coupon.

Representative came to the location, absconded with the warranty information and service coupon, then informed me that

the company would not honor the service as advertised and promoted.Desired Settlement: The company ostensibly promotes a false advertisement and fails to deliver the services. Litigation will proceed.

Business

Response:

SOS Exterminating has tried to reach out to Mr. [redacted] twice and we are not getting a responce. We have a phone number of [redacted] to call. I have left another message on April 28, 2014 at 8:17 in the morning. If we could speak with Mr. [redacted] we would like to resolve the situation.

Review: SOS has a "split" billing process separating the two aspects of their services (Weed control/Pest control) etc.

They have erroneously misapplied our payments for years and finally when we had had enough of their incompetence followed by their harrassing efforts to collect on money that they had had in their possession for months, we cancelled service.

Immediately following this a "New" bill showed up for an unauthorized service that would approximately wipe out what was owed to me in credit from SOS.

Further, once in informed them of the error and refused to pay for a fictitious debt, they sent the bill out to collection. Again, I have the most recent statements on both of my accounts showing ample credit to eliminate this bill...if it were owed, but the decisive and inept administration of this company is in my opinion bordering on fraud!

I will also be echoing this complaint to the [redacted] seeking collection from their state bond.Desired Settlement: The desired outcome is the repair of my credit report. A written published apology and the refund of the $228.00 that is owed me as per the two 8/28/2014 statements of account.

There will be no discussion regarding their effort to defraud me of $190.00 as well as a possible effort to recover punitive damages through litigation.

Business

Response:

SOS Exterminating has recalled the $190.00 from [redacted] In doing so the entry will be writed clean from their agency. Therefore it will not show on Mr. [redacted]'s [redacted] SOS Exterminating has issued a refund check for hte credit on his account in the amount of $228.00 which Mr [redacted] should recieve by the end of October. All accounts for Mr [redacted] have been closed and any credit returned to Mr [redacted].

Review: I called SOS to come out and spray for weeds because they have not been out in a while and our weeds were out of control. This was Feb or March of this year. I was told that they would be out because I had one more service on my prepaid service and wanted to know if I wanted to renew for 6 months since they no longer offer the one year. Since we have been customers for about 6 years, I told them that would be fine. Because thier service has been been real bad in the past year, my husband called and cancelled our service. They kept sending bills and my husband would call and tell them that he had cancelled our service. They have now turned it over to collections.Desired Settlement: Remove my account from collections and any negative showings on my credit rating. I would like this matter in writting to have for my records.

Business

Response:

We have sent a recall sheet to [redacted] and also emailed a letter to our customer. I have attached both.

Consumer

Response:

[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.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,

Review: We had a termite warranty service with SOS from June 2012 that expired June 2013 that we chose NOT to renew. A phone call to my husband the last week of June asked if we were renewing our contract with them for the year. We declined.

Last week, I received an invoice from SOS Exterminating for $199.00. (The cost of the renewal). It purports that a re-inspection administered by employee [redacted] (Employee # [redacted]) was done 6/29/13 at 11:55am, completed at 12:00pm.

This was done without our permission, we did no request it nor were we notified of the service call.

I called SOS Exterminating the next business day 7/6/13 and spoke to a customer representative named [redacted]. Her explanation was that it was a re-inspection done for all homes under contract, and the employee had not been told we were not renewing our contract. Since we were not renewing our annual plan, there was no charge. However, when I asked her to send us an invoice with the account balance noted as nil, she declined and said that was not necessary, again, because we were not renewing our contract.

I feel that they were pressuring us into renewing our contract with them even after we had declined, why did the company take it upon themselves to do an inspection (we later found in our paper work from last year that it is complimentary and the client would have to call the company to schedule the inspection) and yet we were billed for it.

I have the invoice they sent if Revdex.com would like to have a copy for their records.Desired Settlement: I would like a dated final invoice statement from SOS Exterminating stating that we owe nothing on our account, so that they cannot proceed with collections against us. A verbal assurance from the customer representative is not sufficient.

What they did was unethical. Other people might have felt obligated to pay for this reinspection. I would like this practice to be stopped and training given to the employees to discourage further incidents from occurring.

Business

Response:

It is SOS Exterminating policy to contact the home owner at least 3 times about the Pro Annual renewal. If we get no response we send a Inspector out to do a front yard only inspection and leave a note to call and schedule the complete inspection at no charge. Sometimes we have new home owners, renters or a new phone number that is not on file. The reason we do this is if the house that was under our warranty gets termites and has damage and is no longer under the warranty we have on file that SOS Exterminating did everything we could to notify the home owner.The statement is not a invoice and if the home owner choose not to renew our system will cancel the renewal.

[redacted]

Branch Manager (Tucson)

cell: [redacted]

Fax: [redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response 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.

Regards,

I do not accept that the business tried to contact us numerous times to set up the appointment for the inspection. We'd only received policy renewal reminders from them by mail and the one phone call asking if we were renewing our contract.

Again, the inspection was done AFTER we had declined to renew our contract with them. And if the letter we received was not an invoice why was the amount of $199.00 stated as due?

I attach a copy of the invoice for your reference.

And again, I request a final statement from SOS stating that we owe nil on our account.

Business

Response:

By the customers own words we contacted her by mail and a phone call. She is canceled in our system and is no longer covered under our Pro Annual Plan. We sent the inspector out to make sure there was no termites or damage while still under our warranty. The statement for $199 is the amount only if the home owner wants to renew.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response 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.

Regards,

The communication via mail was for the renewal of the termite warranty, not to inform us that an inspection was going to be carried out. The phone call made was also about renewal, not the inspection. As I stated earlier, we had declined to renew the annual plan when the company called and yet someone was sent out.

To date, since we've filed this complaint with the Revdex.com we've received yet another invoice from your company, for the $199.

Again, we ask that you send us a final notice, showing that the balance is nil and desist from sending us invoices for the plan which we have already declined twice by phone.

My Termite coverage renewal arrived in the mail. After reviewing the renewal date of my previous bill, I found that the new renewal had changed my date by about 2 months less.

This possibly was an error however with computerized systems of today I doubt it was accidental.

Since most people would have merely payed the bill without checking, SOS could be quietly making off with a lot of money from unsuspecting patrons.

Review: Five years ago SOS treated my home for termites and I received a 5 year warranty. Each year they have come to check the home. After 3 years termites were back in the very same spot eating the flooring.

SOS will not return my calls and have not attempted to discuss let alone fix the problem.

They don't follow through on the service they sold.Desired Settlement: SOS should AT LEAST return my phone calls. They should also retreat and repair the damaged area.

Business

Response:

Mr. & Mrs. [redacted] regarding your complaint. We show you called on 8/13/13 twice and 8/14/13 in regards to damage to wood flooring in hallway closet area and you did not receive call back from [redacted] regarding this and we apologize for that. Myself and [redacted] were not aware of this issue until we received your complaint from Revdex.com. [redacted] tried to resolve the issue on 8/22/13 when he talked to you and you provide him the new homeowner information to resolve the issue. [redacted] has not received no response from the new homeowner. Attached is the initial treatment and we did for home at [redacted] on 8/5/2010 stating that there was existing damage to wood flooring and this is a service warranty that we will service the home for new termite activity if reoccurs in 5 year warranty time frame, not for existing or new damage. Our latest records show we inspected the property on 6/8/12 and 4/30/13 attached and no new termite activity was found. I called today 8/26/13 and offered you to treat the home if needed and you stated that won’t be necessary, so again we apologize you did not receive phone call back promptly and from the agreement we don't cover existing or new termite damage.

Branch Manager

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response 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.

Regards,

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response 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.

There was no response from the SOS Exterminating for over 10 days. They only responded because we filed a complaint with the Revdex.com. That's the only reason they called.

Since they didn't return any of my calls - 6 calls over a 3 day period - we removed the termites with another provider 10 days later. We can't wait forever with termites running around the house. SOS also insinuated that there was no new damage that the closet floor was damaged from the first outbreak. We had the floor totally removed down to the concrete prior to them treating the closet the first time and Mission Hardwood Floors placed brand new wood in the closet after treatment. I have the receipts.

We paid the new provider and we don't need to have the house treated again by SOS. A warranty is no good if you won't return calls. They should volunteer to pay for the latest termite treatment.