Safeguard Pest Control of the Mother Lode

To whom it may concern.My complaint against Safeguard Pest Control has been apparently resoIvedI recieved a statement via e-mail saying that they have rescinded the bogus charge of $79.00.I have also cancelled my accout with them, via e-mail, effective immediatelyI stated that I will no longer
do business with them.Thank you for your assistance in this matter.Sincerely, *** ***

This in regards to complaint # 11639939 dated 8-17-2016 which we received 9-12-2016. Please take the time to read the service contract signed by MS. [redacted] attached dated 3-29-2016, the same contract used for all customers. Our contract states in bold print and underline “YOUR REGULAR SERVICE...

WILL BE AN EXTERIOR SERIVE WITHOUT APPOINTMENT.” It states “service Persons are granted permission to enter property having locked gates”.  Also, our contract sates that living spaces or additional exterior services will be rendered at no additional charge for target pest, but ONLY when the need arises and after customer sets appointment with our office.  The contract also states in bold print and underlined the explanation for “SPECIAL SERVICE ACCOUNTS” and the increase in charge for these types of accounts. The contract has a YES or NO option for “SPECIAL SERVICES REQUESTED AT THIS TIME” to which Ms. [redacted] circle NO and initialed.Although it is the responsibility of the customer to read the contract in its entirety before signing the contract, our technicians also go over the contract with potential customers and answer any questions.In the complaint, Ms. [redacted] states that she has a witness, her former roommate who was there when the technician quoted her and never told her about the extra $20.00 for the special service. However, if  you refer to the note dated 9/14/2016, our technician spoke with Ms. [redacted] and she explained she spoke with her friend, [redacted],  who was around when she signed the contract and said [redacted]  remembered the technician explaining how our SPECIAL SERVICE works. She stated that because of the other pest control companies she’s dealt with in the past she assumed we would give her at least 24hour notice. Regarding the ongoing pest issues Ms. [redacted] mentions in her complaint, we guarantee our services for covered pest and will return between services at no additional cost to resolve these issues. Ms. [redacted] is aware of our guarantee policy because on 6-31-2016 we returned to her property at her request to deal an ongoing issue with ants at no additional charge. I would like to address a couple of items in her complaint. First and foremost, no office staff was fired from this company. This is a small area and to say that this “girl” was fired is untrue and attacks the reputation of our former employee in the community. I cannot address how other companies handle their accounts, however, when I started Clark Pest Control in this area October of 1975 we did not call day in advance. I have not known that to be their policy, but things may have changed. This issue with the Ms. [redacted]’s account being double was corrected once it was brought the office staff’s attention and the extra charge was returned to her credit card. Although the notes indicate an additional issue with the credit card, the charge was not completed and no payment received from her credit card at that time. In the notes on 8/24/2016, Ms. [redacted] advised my office person that she was being recorded. If this in fact true, I believe that if the recording was heard, you would see our company attempting to resolve the complaints that Ms. [redacted] was expressing at that time.In the notes dated 9/15/2016, Ms. [redacted] states to the technician, in respect to calling a day ahead, “Even the gal at the Revdex.com was surprised we wouldn’t do that”.  IF this is the case, I would encourage whoever it was at the Revdex.com to contact me directly and I will explain why we have such a policy. We service hundreds of customers in this area and they are all under the same contract. We have several customers who receive a “Call on Way” approximately 15-20 minutes prior to the arrival of our technician. A “Call on Way” is not asking permission, rather a heads up that the technician will be at the property soon. Customers’ request this for a variety of reasons; the customer may be in the shower or playing outside with their pets. There is no additional charge for a “Call on Way” service. After reviewing all of our recodes and contract, it clearly shows that Ms. [redacted] knew she was signing a 13 month contract that entailed regular exterior services without appointments, granting permission to enter her property that may have  locked gates and declining to be a Special Services Account at an additional charge.We have attempted several times to resolve these issues with Ms. [redacted]. We have apologized for miscommunications on when we could contact the customer, left messages when possible and called several other times that were not answered. The technician spoke with Ms. [redacted] on 09-19-2016. She disputed whether or not we had serviced the property in April and June. The technician pulled all the appropriate paper work and the GPS log from our trucks showing that we did service the property in April and June. The technician said that the corresponding paperwork would be delivered to her property at her request. The technician also spoke with her about paying her past due balance of $169.00 before Friday, 9/23/2016 when an additional late fee will be added.  The remaining services would be removed, essentially terminating her contract.   Sincerely, [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:  IN RESPONSE TO CASE NUMBER 11639939 LET ME START BY SAYING THAT SAFEGUARD WAS NOT THE FIRST PEST CONTROL SERVICE I HAVE DEALT WITH BUT IS THE FIRST PEST SERVICE THAT I HAVE HAD NOTHING BUT TROUBLE WITH CONCERNING  THEIR CUTOMER SERVICE, PRODUCTS, AND MANAGEMENT AND I HAVE NEVER COME ACROSS A PEST CONTROL COMPANY THAT DOES NOT NOTIFY THEIR CUSTOMERS AT ALL ULESS THEY PAY AN EXTRA $20.00 EACH TIME! THIS IS WHERE THE PROBLEM REALLY STARTED AFTER I HAD MY ROOMATES MOVE OUT AND I WAS HERE ALONE FORE SEVERAL MONTHS AND BEGAN GETTING CALLS ONLY WHEN THE TECH WAS ON HIS WAY WITH ZERO ADVANCED NOTICE-NOT EVEN 24 HOURS NOTICE. WHEN [redacted] ORIGINALLY CAM OUT TO SIGN ME UP-HE TOLD ME THAT I WOULD HAVE TO PAY AN EXTRA 20.00 FOR “ADVANCED” NOTICE AND OF COURS I SELECTED NO ON THE CONTRACT BECAUSE I FIGURED-LIKE EVERY OTHER SERVICE I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH-I WOULD AT LEAST GET 1 DAYS NOTICE. UNFORTUNATELY I WAS WRONG AND THAT WAS NEVER MENTIONED TO ME. I FIGURED THAT I DID NOT NEED DAY OR EVEN WEEKS NOTICE SO AGAIN-I OPTED OUT OF THAT OPTION-AND-JUST TO DRIVE THIS POINT HOME-I CALLED 3 MORE PEST SERVICE COMPANIES, FOOTHILL SIERRA [redacted], TRI COUNTY [redacted] AND CLARK PEST CONTROL [redacted] ALL OF WHICH TOLD ME THAT THEY CAN GIVE A WEEKS NOTICE OR 1 DAYS NOTICE ALL WITHOUT EXTRA CHARGE TO THEIR CUSTOMERS AND AS YOU KNOW [redacted]-I TRIED TO CONTACT THEM 4 TIMES BOTH BY PHONE AND BY EMAIL AND HAVE GOTTEN SEVERAL DIFFERENT STORIES AS TO WHY MY MESSAGES WERE NOT RESPONDED TO.  FIRST [redacted] TOLD ME THEY WENT TO THEIR JUNK MAIL, THEN HE TOLD ME THAT [redacted] HAD GIVEN THEM ALL TO [redacted]!? WHEN I SPOKE WITH [redacted] I TOLD HIM THAT [redacted] TOLD ME THAT ALL MY MESSAGES WENT TO THE MANAGER/[redacted] AND THAT [redacted] WAS THE MANAGER- NOT [redacted] AND HE THEN JUST CHANGED THE SUBJECT. I RECORDED ALL MY CONVERSATIONS WITH [redacted] AND ALL OF HIS LIES/DISCREPENCIES CAN EASILY BE PROVEN. AND PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL THIS PETTINESS IS OVER $82.00 WHICH HE SAYS I OWE FOR AUG. 1ST WHEN HE CAME OUT AND WAS ABLW TO GET IN MY GATE! UNDER HIS SO CALLED SETTLEMENT HE WANTED ME TO PAY FOR A SERVICE BY DON WHICH I WAS TOTALLY UNAWARE OF AS MY GATE HAD BEEN LEFT OPEN BECAUSE MY ROOM MATES WERE STILL IN THE PROCCESS OF MOVING OUT AND WHEN I TOLD [redacted] THAT I WAS MISSING SOME THING OUTSIDE MY HOME-HE TOLD ME, “YEAH, THAT HAPPENS SOMETIMES AND YO’LL NEVER KNOW WHO STOLE WHAT.” !? UNREAL!  IT IS BECAUSE OF THEIR RIDICLUOUS POLICY OF NO NOTIFICATION. DON LEFT NO TAG-NOTHIN SHOWING HE HAD BEEN OUT TO MY PLACE AND-[redacted] DIDN’T EITHER WHEN HE ATTEMPTED SERVICE ON THE 1ST!  WHEN I ASKED WHY HE LEFT NOTHING AT MY GATE-HE JUST CHANGED THE SUBJECT AGAIN. ALSO-I SPOKE WITH HIM A WEEK PRIOR TO THE 23 OF SEPT AND TOLD HIM THAT I WOULD GO AHEAD AND PAY FOR THE SERVICE DON SUPPOSEDLY DID BY THE 23RD OR HE WAS GOING TO ADD ANOTHER LATE FEE, (EVEN THOUGH THE Revdex.com HAD NOT CONCLUDED THIS CASE) AND I ALSO TOLD HIM THAT TO BE FAIR-EVEN THOUGH HE WASN’T) THAT I WOULD BE WILLING TO PAY FOR HIS GAS FOR THE TRIP OUT HERE. HE THEN TOLD ME HE WOULD SPEAK TO THE OWNER ABOUT IT BUT HE NEVER CALLED ME BACK ABOUT IT SO WHEN I FINALLY GOT AHOLD OF HIM-HE SAID THAT HE DIDN’T EVEN BOTHER TO ASK THE OWNER ABOUT IT BECAUSE HE ALREADY KNEW THAT HE WOULD NEVER APPROVE IT! I ALREADY PAID THE $82.00 ON THE 23RD AND NOW HE WANTS ME TO PAY ANOTHER 82.00 PLUS A LATE FOR  SERVICE HE NEVER COMPLETED ! AFTER ALL THE TROUBLE AND MISCOMMUNICATION I HAVE HAD WITH THESE PEOPLE YOU WOULD THINK THAT THEY WOULD JUST HAVE CALLED IT GOOD BUT NO-THEY ARE JUST TOOO PETTY. HE EVEN AGREED WITH ME THAT HIS SERVICE DOES NOT WORK FOR EVERYONE-THAT’S FOR SURE! THE HE TOLD ME I COULD JUST LEAVE A KEY TO MY GATE! I AM A 53 YEAR OLD WIDOW WHO LOST HER HUBAND OF 17 YEARS JUST 2 YEARS AGO AND THEN WAS DIAGNOSE WITH BLOOD CANCER 3 MONTHS AFTER HE PASSED AND THEN WENT THOUGH A 10 DAY EVACUATION BECAUSE OF THE BUTTE FIRE. BECAUSE I AM NOT WELL-I DON’T GET UP UNTIL ABOUT 2 P.M. SO THERE IS NO WAY THAT I WOULD JUST LEAVE A KEY FOR SOMEONE TO JUST COME IN. IT IS UNREAL THAT THESE PEOPLE EXPECT SOMEONE TO HAVE AN IDEA AS TO WHEN THEY ARE GOING TO SHOW UP BECAUSE THEY JUST SHOW UP APPROX. EVERY 2 MONTHS. I EXPLAINED MY CIRCUMSTANCES TO [redacted] AND HE SAID THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MONEY I OWED HIM! HE’S JUST A AN UNFAIR CALLOUS JERK. THERE IS SO MUCH MORE I COULD GO INTO BUTI THINK I’LL STOP HERE, BUYER BEWARE.

Review: Safeguard Oest Control sent me a bill for $79 for services that I did not recieve. I jad told them I needed to suspend service since I am ill and my doctor said not to spray pesticides. When I called and said I would not pay since they did not provide service, they said I had to pay anyway, and they would send the guy out regardless. I told them I wanted to cancel the service, but they said ai would have had to have told them bedore they sent the bill. The are trying to force me to keep a service that is contributing to my health problem. They said they were going to send the bill to collection and destroy my credit if I refused to pay or refused service. They are pkanning to send the guy out next week.Desired Settlement: I want you to make them rescing the bill, not send the guy out and cancel the service. I told them to cancel it asap, but they won't unless I pay the bill first.

Consumer

Response:

To whom it may concern.My complaint against Safeguard Pest Control has been apparently resoIved. I recieved a statement via e-mail saying that they have rescinded the bogus charge of $79.00.I have also cancelled my accout with them, via e-mail, effective immediately. I stated that I will no longer do business with them.Thank you for your assistance in this matter.Sincerely, [redacted]