Have you noticed segway-riding pest control salespeople cruising your neighborhood in recent years?  You are not alone!  During the spring and summer, a number of large out-of-state pest control companies recruit college-age folks from across the country to go door-to-door selling pest control services throughout the Puget Sound region.  They equip these ambitious and confident young adults with highly effective sales tactics to capitalize on the natural fear of pests that many people have, and these companies train their salespeople with just enough information about pests to reinforce those fears.  The pay structure is usually 100% commission, and each sale puts a sizable paycheck into their pocket.  Due to these financial incentives, some of these doorknocking salespeople are predacious in their efforts with overly aggressive methods and oftentimes outright lies.

We hear similar stories of regret and disbelief every year, after a happy client of Rambo Total Pest Control is pestered by one of these doorknockers and unwittingly signs up for the other company’s services – even though they charge more money and offer an inferior service.  Or the complaints about the persistent ones who ring your doorbell at 9PM hoping to catch you in a moment of weakness.

Some of our clients have sent us copies of the agreements they signed, and if they ask for our assistance, we have helped them to cancel those contracts a few times as well.  In studying these agreements, they usually offer quarterly service frequency (once every three months) with monthly invoicing automatically charged to their credit card.  That’s correct, 12 invoices per year for 4 services. These monthly invoices usually range anywhere from $59 to $89 a month.  They present this as if it is a tremendous deal, but if we do the math on this it equals $177 to $267 for ONE quarterly service.  A comparable quarterly service offered by Rambo Total Pest Control would generally be $145, which includes no-charge extra services if needed in-between the quarterlies.  The way they explain this awkward invoicing breakdown creates confusion, and people often think they will save money by switching providers.  In the example above a client would save $128 to $488 over the course of the year by using Rambo Total Pest Control.  These are actual figures they regularly quote for their services, but the manner in which they explain the pricing is so confusing that people think they will save money by going with the doorknocking company.