HomeShield Pest Control

Very disappointed with HomeShield. The door to door salesman was high pressure--beware. Check the fine print for an early termination clause! We made sure to eliminate that when we signed. After the first service appointments, which were satisfactory, a technician made and then failed to keep an appointment to perform inside pest control service at a time convenient for us on our home. Then a technician showed up two months later and performed service outside without contacting us about performing inside service, or about having missed our service appointment two months earlier. After this we were billed for service, even though half the job wasn't performed two months in a row. We canceled service by phone. When we got the bill and disputed it by phone and via HomeShield's email, they did not respond to us for a whole year, at which time they sent a bill and a year's worth of finance charges! Outrageous. I exchanged emails with Reed Murray, manager of the Washington, DC branch of HomeShield in Fairfax, VA. He didn't talk to me personally when I called--he let his receptionist Cassandra handle the complaint. Then in response to my email explaining my problem he suggested that HomeShield was making a concession by not charging me an early termination fee, which by contract had already been waived! Admitting he had not been manager in the area at the time of service in 2008, he still insisted, despite HomeShield's negligence about appointments made and lack of communication with the customer, that we were contractually bound to pay for services performed. He did waive the finance charges (after a year of non-communication regarding our written complaint I guess he decided they were unfair) but threatened HomeShield would turn our account over to collections if we didn't pay for the last service in October 2008! Back when he wasn't around to know what had really happened, but his "decision was final." I contacted the corporate office and they offered to close the account if I would pay for half the service fee, which I did. It just wasn't worth another year of hassle. There was some professionalism shown by the account representative, who agreed there had been problems with the Washington, D.C. HomeShield branch in Fairfax for a while, and many complaints received about the manager there. My advice to consumers would be to check any contract before signing and to choose another company that values its customers more than the fee for one service.

My experience with this company has been dismal from the beginning. The man who sold me the contract was misleading, and the service they provide, which is treating the ground level of the house, isn't sufficient. My laundry room was full of crickets, my decks were covered with wasp nests and wasps, and the eaves and rakeboards were full of carpenter bees. When I called to complain and asked to cancel my contract, I was told I would pay a $73 fine. Since they had not provided the service our contract promised, I didn't feel I should pay a penalty to cancel it, so I asked to speak with the manager. I was told he was unavailable but would return my call. Several hours later I called again, and he was still unavailable. The next day I called the Baltimore office and they promised to try to help, but they never called back, either. Many hours later, I called the Fairfax office again, but the manager, Mr. Murray, was still unavailable. As I tried to explain my problems, the customer service agent, whose information was incorrect, yelled at me for interrupting her. She was exceedingly condescending. I finally asked, yet again, to be released from my contract. She offered to send a technician at no further charge to do what was supposed to have been done, but I refused. I just wanted to be rid of this company. At long last she assured me that I would pay no fine, and I did not have to pay the $100 bill I received yesterday. I hope she was telling the truth.