How much was the quote?

We don't have huge termite problems here in AZ (at least not at my house), but we do have scorpions [which I hate with a passion]. Therefore, we have a pest service.

The one consistent thing we've noticed over the years from a number of services is that nobody stays in that job long. We're lucky to see one guy for six months before he moves on to something else. There can't be much money in the job, and a sensible person would always have to wonder if the chemicals they work with are affecting their health.

So--No. I'm not surprised you had to deal with a shyster. My guess is that he's never read the contract either.

My quote yesterday was 1440 for Sentricon then 300/yr for renewal - coverage is 308 linear feet. Better or worse?

Sentricon?

Please please tell me you did not invite a Terminix flunky into your home.

I think they actually think no one CAN read, which is the norm with recent graduates. We have really dumbed down the place.

If you think that is bad, try hiring someone to do work on your house. Then you will know what bad is.

I always worry (based on experience) about the ones who tell me what fine Christians they are.

My father didn't realize he had termites and they ate a few shelves of his library.
Paper is probably like canapes to them.

There's a reason why salesweasel is one word... kind of like damyankee....

TO: WIll Collier
RE: Quotes

"Sumbitch had the most expensive price, too. Into the trash his quote goes." -- Will Collier

First off...

Move AWAY from the termites. Someplace above the Mason-Dixon Line, or in accordance with Horace Greeley.

Secondly...

Be very much aware that there are advantages and disadvantages to anyplace you occupy. You like Georgia? Fine. Live with the termites and stop whining about what it costs to 'deal' with them.

Regards,

Chuck(le)

P.S. You getz what you payz for...if you're lucky enough to deal with honest folk.

P.P.S. The neighbors here (Pueblo) had a problem with a bee hive that was established in their house.

The first 'exterminator' low-balled the bid on irradicating the little beauties.

Problem is, he didn't succeed. The little buggers persisted in their occupation of the roof over the back porch.

No warrantee.

So, they brought in someone who DID have a warrantee. He did the job right the first time.

P.P.S. If they had decided to move into MY place, I'd have let them live there.

Cut a trap-door into the hive—during the Winter—and harvested the crop to make mead.

But I guess you can't quite do that with termites.....Chuck(le)

My folks' house had a recurring honeybee swarm when we moved across town about 30 years ago. Every year, they'd have a huge mass of bees trying (and often succeeding) to get into their house. We figured there must have been a tree cut down where they'd had a hive for years on that lot. We moved in in '77, and those damn bees were coming back every year well into the 90's.

TO: Will Collier
RE: Bees Every Year?

Sounds to me like there was a very mature and active hive somewhere within a quarter mile of their house. Every year it would spin off about a third of its worker bee population along with the older queen to make way for the new-born queen to take over the old, established hive.

I'd have put in some commercial grade bee-hives. Trying to coax the swarm to settle there. Then you could sell the swarm to an apiarist. Or keep them yourselves; within the limits of the law. [Here, we can have four hives on our lot-and-a-half property just north of the downtown area, as long as the neighbors don't get 'stung'.]

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[When life hands you lemons...make lemonade.]

From a fellow Auburn grad. I bet the weasel you were talking to was, and I'll say it out loud, Orkin. Same thing here. I went with a local company that did the job for less than half the price and did a damn fine job to boot. He didn't bullshit me about what was in the contract. He told me they used to offer contnets coverage but the insurance company they used (the same one as Orkin) had too many weasel words that let them off the hook so they dropped that part. They wanted satisfied customers and they get them.

FWIW, it wasn't Orkin. Local company not (as far as I know) one of the big chains.

TO: Will Collier
RE: Locals

"Local company not (as far as I know) one of the big chains." -- Will Collier

I'd tend to put more faith in a local group than in a national chain. Their very life depends on their good reputation.

You complain, in the local pub, about how you got a bad deal from a small business and it's likely to be the proverbial 'kiss o death' for that company, if you've got a good rep amongst your communimty.

You complain about a national-scale company and all you'll hear is, "Stop whining."

Regards,

Chuck(le)
P.S. Are there more local-yokels about? Get their estimates....

Chuck(le)'s point about the local yokels sensitivity to feedback applies to all sorts of business. It is exactly why I eat at the Chanceries around SE Wisconsin and at Cheddars' in Rockford IL, but would never consider an Applebies, Bennigans, or TGI Friday working the same shtick.