Our cat cornered and killed a mouse so, a few days later, we called Terminix as they did our routine quarterly pest control already. Initially an employee arrived for a consultation and said that, with only one mouse seen, they could work on “trapping and containing” to get a scope of the problem–that sounded good but it’s not what happened.
The first of what seemed to be chronic communication issues between employees occurred a few days later: An inspector came and asked to see the attic; I let him up through the garage and stayed below. Within 5 minutes, maybe less, he came back down and claimed we had a “serious infestation” that would require “full blown” extermination procedures. He took no photos and didn’t offered to show any proof.
The quote to exterminate was based around ripping out my current insulation and replacing it with boric acid-based material. The quote was just shy of $8,500 and would require my attic to be emptied and left so for days afterwards. He was very pushy about it, borderline insisting on a 48 month plan that would make the amount closer to $11,500-$12,000 with interest, claiming there was no “intermediate” option, and wanted me to sign a contract immediately claiming “it was not going to get better, it will only get worse” and even went as far as suggesting my home’s value would be negatively impacted and affect my ability to sell it if I opted to do so in the future. He further claimed “we do 20 attics a week just around here” with, again, no supporting evidence. When asked if all those people pay this kind of money and he said “absolutely” and that it was usually more. Finally, my fiance tried numerous times to reach the company and get an explanation of the quote in more detail and to voice our frustrations over the inspector’s performance–she never received one callback.
I decided quickly that I basically did not believe the inspector and didn’t appreciate his attitude and fear mongering. I requested others to return and show me what was going alongside them. While the company did do so, they showed up at about 8:15 AM with no call or email, rudely and haughtily claiming to my fiance that they had called beforehand. Next, she gave them a summation of our frustrations with the first guy and they, again unprofessionally, dismissed most of what she said saying the “X” was one of their best inspectors and wouldn’t make a mistake(s).
Once in the attic (I came along even though they did not offer to take me up with them), it was then the same song and dance but even more condescending with the other “inspector” (or whatever he was, he never explained his exact role) claiming the quote should have been even higher and that the first guy “did me right” and implied I should be grateful it was “only” around $8,500.
The “evidence” I was shown? Nothing more than him shining a flashlight around quickly and saying stuff like, “oh yeah, they’re 100 percent up here” and then saying “there’s a hole, a big one, you’ve got entire families under there,” “look at that in the insulation, huge infestation,” etc. while not really showing me what he was talking about. And, to top it off, no photos were given to me even though they seemed to be taking them for some sort of record keeping.
As with the first inspector, a more affordable option(s) was not discussed and they tried to call the first inspector out immediately to get me to sign contract even though I never requested him. I asked to think about it for a day or two and he seemed annoyed stating I needed to schedule “very soon” before the problem got even worse.
Then, to make matters even more confusing, my usual pest treatment guy shows up that evening and, after I tell him what’s going on, tells me that I should just lay some traps…so now I’ve been told different things by four different visitors (plus a trainee in one case). Needless to say at this point, it made the company seem incompetent and uncaring.
Angry and frustrated, I then called two local non-chain pest control companies and both told me this insulation quoting was a common upselling tactic used by both Terminix and Orkin. An inspector came out from one of the companies and was visibly annoyed and unamused when I explained the subpar visits from Terminix; he was also very polite and took the time to walk me through the house explaining what he was looking for, where he occluded entryways, etc.. He then explored the attic and found no evidence of infestation. He then sprayed our home (including the garage), placed traps, and sealed entry points for $189 and we signed up for a continuing service at $50 per month (I will be canceling Terminix presently).

In sum, these people tried to scam me through unethical fear mongering and dubious and unclear methodology. Moreover, I’m not poor by any means but ~$8,500 is significant capital to me, particularly in at a time when I’m trying to grow a college fund for my stepdaughter and start other home projects. The insulation option is something that can be done, but not for someone with my level of problem. You should avoid them.