Moxie Pest Control A Rip-off Scam San Diego, Los Angeles California

Just commenting on Mike's post regarding the chemicals people buy at Home Depot and the mention of Spiders.



Although I agree that the "Homeowner Grade" Pest Control chemicals are useless at best, there is NO RESIDUAL CHEMICAL for spiders, even though spiders are on the label of most insecticides.



A spider is a "direct kill" insect. This means that you MUST use a CONTACT INSECTICIDE and spray directly on the spider to kill it.



If you are truly a "Manager" at a "Large Pest Control Company", you would surely know that.



I own and manage a Pest Control Supply Distributorship here in Sarasota, FL. and I stay current with all available CEU's and deal with factory reps on the chemicals and products.



It is the "belly drag" of most insects that kills them with residual chemicals as it gets ingested through the resp. tract of the insect. Spiders do not drag on the ground, nor do the "wash" themselves, so residual chemicals are useless.



You should get some more training before spouting any more jibberish.

Warning to Author: Please take notice that EcoSure Pest Control, LLC has initiated legal action in the United States District Court, District of Utah, Case No. 2:09-cv-01108-DB due to false statements made by the person responsible for this post.  In this action, EcoSure seeks to subpoena the records of Xcentric Ventures, LLC for your contact information and any other messages that you have posted on the website ripoffreport.comunder the pseudonym Paul Bridges Mira Loma (U.S.A.) or any other fictitious name about Moxie Pest Control.  If you do not respond to this posting within five (5) business days with your true and correct contact information to: R. Brett Evanson, Esq. via email at bevanson@hmho-law.com or facsimile at (801) 374-1724, we will subpoena that information as outlined above.  You may have the right to respond to the above referenced subpoena.  If you intend to respond to the above referenced subpoena, please notify us of your intent to do so.  Please note that EcoSure recently won a lawsuit against Johnny Hebda who also posted libeled online about David, EcoSure, and Moxie Pest Control.  The judge awarded David $1.9 million in damages plus attorney's fees.  If you do not remove this post at once, we will seek a judgment against you for a similar amount of damages and request from the court that you also pay all attorneys fees.  Thank you for your presumed cooperation and willingness to resolve this matter amicably.

Hi All,

Thought I'd share a few things.

I've had many a long chat with the salesmen and the technicians at Moxie/Joshua's.

First, Moxie operates as Joshua's Pest Control in San Diego and Temecula. In LA they operate as Homefront Pest Control. I don't know what the names of the branches opening in Phoenix, Corona, or Salt Lake City will be, but they're all heads of the same hydra.

The salesmen do call themselves managers. They're not, but rather they're a personal prelature of the owner, who also functions as the sales manager. Any discrepancies between the salesman's promises and the technician's work arises from that conflict within the company.

In the State of California, to sell pest control, you must have a Field Representative license. None of these sales kids do. You cannot legally identify a pest without a Field Rep in this State, period, no ifs, ands, or buts. They're all hired at LDS hiring fairs in Utah and Arizona as summer help. Those salesmen who fail to make quota generally get the option to work as technicians. In the State of California, you can only do applicator work for 30 days without having your own Applicator's license. Few of these kids even get sent off for the Applicator license by the time the summer is over, months after they've been working as field technicians.

However, it is true when they say a second treat is often needed a month later. This is because the technician cannot successfully disrupt the egg cycle with only one spray during the Southern California summer. The OTC pesticides are often far more hazardous to the user than the professional grade one, but have better knockdown (with a shorter residual).

The salesmen are so pushy because they get a really high commission per $400 contract- so high that the company doesn't make a profit on a contract sold until the contract expires and the service becomes month-to-month. Amazing huh? This is why the cancellation fee is so high- the salesman will tell you an initial service normally costs $219 but he's giving you a deal because there is a truck nearby, and doing the initial for $69 (or nothing, often times). The cancellation fee is that $219 minus the cost of your initial. FYI, rarely is there a truck nearby.

The technicians are a whole other story. Few, if any, seem to have have any real training. Many are failed salesmen, without licenses, operating outside of that 30-day grace period the SPCB allows. The company has copies of the state exams around to prep technicians for licensing the day of the exam. You will rarely see the same technician at your house twice, leading to inconsistencies in service. This is because the ownership is afraid technicians will build a relationship with customers and then steal said customers should the tech start his own company. They do have a few good technicians, but whoever comes to your house is totally random. Technicians have such obvious scripts they recite to you- if the company can't keep you as a customer past the contract, he loses money, and those scripts are based on missionary training to fabricate trust/honesty/value.

Chances are you won't need professional pest control more than once a year, if at all (except in severe cases, especially with rodents). Skip the contracts and just buy a one-time service from another company. They're usually warrantied for 30 days anyway.

Hi All,

Thought I'd share a few things. First, Moxie operates as Joshua's Pest Control in San Diego and Temecula. In LA they operate as Homefront Pest Control. I don't know what the names of the branches opening in Phoenix, Corona, or Salt Lake City will be, but they're all heads of the same hydra.

The salesmen do call themselves managers. They're not, but rather they're a personal prelature of the owner, who also functions as the sales manager. Any discrepancies between the salesman's promises and the technician's work arises from that conflict within the company.

In the State of California, to sell pest control, you must have a Field Representative license. None of these sales kids do. You cannot legally identify a pest without a Field Rep in this State, period, no ifs, ands, or buts. They're all hired at LDS hiring fairs in Utah and Arizona as summer help. Those salesmen who fail to make quota generally get the option to work as technicians. In the State of California, you can only do applicator work for 30 days without having your own Applicator's license. Few of these kids even get sent off for the Applicator license by the time the summer is over, months after they've been working as field technicians.

However, it is true when they say a second treat is often needed a month later. This is because the technician cannot successfully disrupt the egg cycle with only one spray during the Southern California summer. The OTC pesticides are often far more hazardous to the user than the professional grade one, but have better knockdown (with a shorter residual).

The salesmen are so pushy because they get a really high commission per $400 contract- so high that the company doesn't make a profit on a contract sold until the contract expires and the service becomes month-to-month. Amazing huh? This is why the cancellation fee is so high- the salesman will tell you an initial service normally costs $219 but he's giving you a deal because there is a truck nearby, and doing the initial for $69 (or nothing, often times). The cancellation fee is that $219 minus the cost of your initial. FYI, rarely is there a truck nearby, and if there is, the technician gets your house dropped on him midday when he thought he'd be home in time to see his kids before bed. This is why the technicians have such obvious scripts they recite to you- if the company can't keep you as a customer past the contract, he loses money, and those scripts are based on missionary training to fabricate trust/honesty/value.

The technicians are a whole other story. Few, if any, have any real training. Many are failed salesmen, without licenses, operating outside of that 30-day grace period the SPCB allows. The company has copies of the state exams around to prep technicians for licensing the day of the exam. You will rarely see the same technician at your house twice, leading to inconsistencies in service. This is because the ownership is afraid technicians will build a relationship with customers and then steal said customers should the tech start his own company. They do have a few good technicians, but whoever comes to your house is totally random.

Chances are you won't need professional pest control more than once a year, if at all (except in severe cases, especially with rodents). Skip the contracts and just buy a one-time service from another company. They're usually warrantied for 30 days anyway.

I was happily employed at moxie pest control for two years. I have also been fired three times, but they kept hiring me back. I didn't care one bit that the owner used his religion to gain the trust of everyone involved, including customers and employees alike, because he paid me. Im very pleased with sean's report and just wanted him to know that just about every person who has ever worked there, at least in the corona branch, agrees. Dave Royce (the owner) was tollerable until the end of october when called a special meeting. He bought the entire company pizza and started going into this long diatribe which ended with "Im a sellout and your all out of jobs".But it wasn't all bad, he also said that the company that he sold it to was now hiring. I won't work for terminix so I left. Dave sold his company and soul for 50million and didn't give us employees a day of warning. So to rap it up, if you hear the name Dave Royce, run. He destroys other small businesses with his decietful sales methods and if you want to work for him, he will drop you when you need him the most. BEWARE dave is already in another state doing the same thing to other people. If anyone disagrees with me then say so, because I was their happiest employee.

It is easy to tell that whoever Sean Nichols is he has no integrity himself and only a vendetta. To file a complaint as lengthily and diverse as his and then not be willing to put your actual name to it says something about him, he's a coward. That said, each Moxie Branch has a different owner and the practices of one owner may be different than another, the best way to know is to ask the individual technician. The technicians are the ones who need the licenses and they do, the sales guys are bringing the product to you at your door because its a needed service. Just read the post from the actual owner about where the value is in Moxie. Sounds like Sean wanted a golden retirement package for his dismal effort and was mad when he didn't get it. Man up Sean spend less time complaining and more time working and things may work out better for you.

I have just recently started working for Moxie, i have seen both good and bad things. but mostly i see that the bad things are caused by the people with an Axe to grind. if you are trained by a bad trainer then it is only your fault for not rising above him and doing a better job. anyone with a brain of his own can do this job well its mostly common sense work. there is more material for trainees to learn from then just the guy they ride with. learn the state laws from on-line if you must. it may be true that in the end we make 8 bucks an hour but with the hours we work i make twice what i did as a security guard. a lot of people that complain do so because they do not want to work for their money i feel, but so far this is a much better then my last job.
I was fired because the person that hired me messed up my paperwork and took them 11 months to find that out and i was terminated for her mistake. if i have to work 6 days and it be assured a net pay twice what i was getting before then so be it. i have seen many customers that love us and some that don't for whatever reason.
The guy that said we skimp on the product my or may not be true, if anything i think we use more then we should. and he only mentioned one chemical, we use many items for along the house a different item in the grass and an others in specific areas. it is sad when people get a bad service because of some lazy tech but it is the same at any job. look in your own office and you will see hard workers and poor workers just there for a paycheck and not care about their customers.
So please don't say that we are the lowest breed just because you get a tech from the shallow end of the gene pool. i am much happier at this job then my last and would like to continue doing my best to make our customers feel like they are getting a better deal then they thought.

Where to begin with what's wrong with Moxie...I am a current employee of the Corona Branch of Moxie. I have all of the information that Moxie does not want you to know.

Product:
Moxie's regular service product is Cykick CS, the label states that this product for maximum efficiency be mixed at 1 ounce to a gallon. Moxie mixes it at the rate of 3.6 ounces to a full 35 gallon tank during the winter and 7.2 ounces to a 35 gallon tank in the Summer. To get a good kill you must mix it at the maximum ratio, as you can see Moxie is cutting costs even when it matters the most, in the Summer. The Owner "Shady Dave" is always looking for a way to cut costs, which is understandable being the fact that he is a small business owner, or likes to refer to himself that way, but take it from a well trained professional that this is not the way to save money. At this cost he spends less than $10.00 on a tank full of product that he will service approximately 5 houses with. Which means raking in a staggering profit of $445.00 that's something he cannot deny. By paying his employees the state minimum $8.00 per hour he expects these technicians to service 3 houses per hour. You do the math.

Everybody that knows anything about Pest Control knows that products under the best possible conditions can only last 30 days (if there is no sun or water) which means that these products only last maybe two weeks, which leaves you with two and a half months of an unprotected home. Shady Dave knows this and his business model is that if 1 in 4 people call back for a re-service, the rest is profit. He counts on the fact that only 1 in 4 customers will call back for re-services.

A typical monthly service from a good company will cost you $35.00 per month, totaling $420 for a year. You get once a month service and the same guarantee that if you have any problems they'll come back as many times as necessary.

Here is Moxie...your first service will cost you $69.00 on average, (this is the only way the sales reps get the maximum commission off the first service). One month later you must pay $89.00 for a follow up service to "kill the hatched babies" (any professional will tell you that's bogus) then it will be once every three months after that for $89.00, this totals $425.00! If you decide to cancel you are hit with a cancellation fee..now the first service is discounted, so it's usually $169 for the first service, if you received a discount you must pay the difference of the original price and the discounted price...in this case $100.00. Moxie offers added services which are usually included by other companies such as snail service, mice and rat service, flea and tick, white flies and aphid service, and stored food pest (meal moths and weevels ) at $10.00 extra per service per quarter. Which can run you up to $139.00 per quarter, of course they'll give you a discount. Keep in mind these are things that other companies do as part of your regular service.

As for State Certification for their Applicators and Field Representatives, Moxie has copies of both tests to ensure that their employees do not fail. Most people that have worked in Pest Control struggle to receive their Field Representative license. So can someone explain how a college kid from Provo, Utah that has never in his life even stepped on a spider can obtain this license with no formal training? In order to sell Pest Control Services in the State of California you must have this license. Can you say illegal? One more thing on this subject; the people that should possess this license are the technicians, but are not given the opportunity to obtain this license because then they will know more than the Owner of the company himself about performing quality pest services and that would be a problem.

The owner of the company is one of the most down right dishonest, uncaring, self indulgent, munipulative, people that has ever owned a company, or I have met in my entire life. He has taken good people such as his Branch Managers and turn them into people with the same morals and greed. He uses his religion and claims to be a good practicing Mormon (which are usually some of the kindest people you will ever meet) to gain the trust of all people that he meets from technicians to sales personnel. I have heard many facts about him from creating competition of popularity between managers to firing employees for no reason and refusing to pay unemployment. His business motto is "growth in the summer" which means around March/April he starts to hire technicians and has them sit around doing nothing supposibly training (if that's what you call his training program that consists of riding along with poorly trained and unmotivated technicians) preparing for the summer. Technicians do work 60 to sometimes 80 hours a week. As soon as the Summer months are gone and he has a surplus of employees that have worked hard all Summer long (if you're lucky enough to have made it to this point) he will use his managers to analyze paperwork, time sheets, create situations of entrapment to fire the excess employees. He has gone as far as to have his managers tail technicians that he does not like for personal reasons and find little things that they do wrong to fire them. Other facts about "Shady Dave" include him firing a manager in good standing with the company, that did not agree with the other managers about the way the company was being ran, the day before his wife was to give birth to his child, who I know for a fact is now a manager for a Fortune 500 Pest Control Company that is ranked in the top 3 companies in the world.

Dave Royce cares only about money and those who produce that money... his sales reps (who he calls Route Managers). These are College kids that are primarily ex-missionaries for the Mormon church, there is nothing wrong with these young men they are all well mannered and friendly kids, unfortunately for the time they spend with Dave they are taught to throw away all morals and beliefs to worship the all mighty dollar, which is "Shady Dave's" true God.

Yes, Moxie Pest Control is the 66th best pest control company in the country based on Pest Control Technology Magazine. But ask yourself this question how many people have been hurt or left demoralized by a company. How many people have sacrificed so much to receive so little. How many people have worked countless hours in the summer sun and have had to swallow their pride, cheat, lie, bad mouth, and destroy friendships to receive such a moderate ranking. I think too many. Sure he built his company in 7 years, but at too high a cost. Most Pest Control companies, although rivals, have good relationships with each other, not the case with Moxie. A little healthy competition never hurt anyone but Moxie takes it to another level intentionally targeting the customer based of his competitors (Bullseye, Spot, Smart, and other companies that have struggled to create a good environment for their employees and superior service for their customers). To get these customers to switch over to Moxie service the sales reps will offer the first service for free. When these customers are disatisfied they must pay a $169.00 cancellation fee.

Please do not feel that I am bashing every person that works or has worked for Moxie. I know that there are some good quality people that are currently employed by them, due to lack of options. I wrote this with only the truth and no filler. I want people to understand that I have nothing to gain but everything to lose by writing this if they find out who I am. I only wish to warn people about Moxie's true intentions, which is not to provide excellent service but to make rich the owner and his managers and to provide the least costly service to the company. If you feel anything I said is true please do not do business with this company or seek employment here. It is one giant disappointment and stands for everything that is wrong with the world today. Thank you.

First off im a manager with a big pest control company. Second if you think you can kill ants and spiders with chemical you bought at home depot think again there is no
residual in this chemical once it drys thats it with a licensed pest control company you get much more webbing of your home and a chemical that WORKS sorry to burst your bubble .......

First off im a manager with a big pest control company. Second if you think you can kill ants and spiders with chemical you bought at home depot think again there is no
residual in this chemical once it drys thats it with a licensed pest control company you get much more webbing of your home and a chemical that WORKS sorry to burst your bubble .......

First off im a manager with a big pest control company. Second if you think you can kill ants and spiders with chemical you bought at home depot think again there is no
residual in this chemical once it drys thats it with a licensed pest control company you get much more webbing of your home and a chemical that WORKS sorry to burst your bubble .......

First off im a manager with a big pest control company. Second if you think you can kill ants and spiders with chemical you bought at home depot think again there is no
residual in this chemical once it drys thats it with a licensed pest control company you get much more webbing of your home and a chemical that WORKS sorry to burst your bubble .......

In 2001, I purchased a company previously owned by the owner(s) of Moxie Pest Control.

I was investing my life's savings purchasing a company previously owned by the founders of Moxie Pest Control. They had full knowledge of my customer list. The only thing keeping them from calling on my customers was their integrity. I had no enforceable non-compete agreement with these people. And yet they honored their word and did not assail my customer base.

I assure you the owner's and manager's of Moxie Pest Control would be nothing but forthright and professional in their business dealings. If you call them and let them know of your concerns, I am certain it will be dealt with in an agreeable manner.

Dear Rip Off Report,

It has come to our attention that someone has made a comment about a moxie employee on your website. We are sad to see such a negative review and believe the customer was mistaken in his assumptions about the Route Manager involved. We are an established company (having been in business since 2000) with over 30,000 customers in Southern California alone. We have multiple locations across the United States and I assure you we are not a "scam" or fly-by-night company. We are licensed by the state of California (license #4744) to perform pest control and termite work, our San Diego business license is #B2007004500, and we are an accredited member of the Better Business Bureau. Each of our employees is required to participate in two detailed background checks both by the FBI and the Department of Justice before employment. They also receive drug testing, and are required to pass a state licensed exam before becoming a licensed applicator/technician. I believe the following points will help to further explain the situation in response to the complaint:

1) During certain times of the year, our Route Managers and Technicians will talk to neighbors while they are currently servicing an area to help build business and create new service routes. Our daily routes will have anywhere from 14 to 18 customer services per day. It is not our company's general practice to give out the personal information of our customers. Nor would I think it be necessary for one of our employees to give out more than three neighbor's names on that person's street to prove our company's legitimacy. If the person felt like our employee was dishonest because he would not name all fifteen people, we are sorry but this is against company policy.

2) Route Managers and Technicians are able to provide special discounts to people in neighborhoods where technicians will already be servicing the following day. These discounts can be significantly lower than the normal rate the potential client would receive if they were to call their local Moxie office to get a quote. This is because it saves the company time, fuel, and builds a more condensed route for the future. Because the Route Managers and Technicians can offer such a low rate, we do ask the customer to commit to receive 4 services (just once per season) for the first year. This also entitles the customer to unlimited free re-services throughout their entire year's service plan. It is also important to note that many companies are more expensive than Moxie, and that they often require a more frequent/costly maintenance plan of monthly or every-other month services.

3) For the majority of people, pest control is a necessity. While some people do choose to control their pest problems on their own with products from home depot, many people prefer to have a professional service provide regular service maintenance throughout the year. There are many advantages to having a licensed professional service your home including his or her knowledge and experience of how, when, and where to apply chemicals in a safe and effective manner. We pride ourselves in the use of environmentally friendly products that are also the most effective in the industry. We have over 30 different products available, many of which are pest-specific to ensure that each home receives a customized treatment according to their specific needs. The products we use are restricted to the public, which enables us to provide a more effective and longer lasting service treatment than what you could purchase from your local hardware store. We also have the proper equipment to apply our products; equipment that is generally too expensive for the public to purchase on their own. Other benefits include not having to store chemicals in the home, and the extra free time available to our home owners.

I do believe our Route Manager or Technician acted appropriately. It could be that this person perhaps had a bad experience in the past with a person knocking on their door, but I assure you that our employees are trustworthy individuals that would not try to lead anyone into a deceptive trap. I would like to request that this complaint be removed from the Rip off Report. If the person who filed the complaint, or the Rip off Report, would like to contact us directly please call (858) 693-1100 and ask to be directed to management. We do apologize for any misunderstanding and hope to earn your respect and business in the future. Thank you for your understanding, and for providing consumers with the ability to protect themselves from potential fraud and misrepresentation. We do appreciate what you do for our community!

Sincerely,

Moxie's Management Team
7616 Miramar Rd. Ste #5300
San Diego, CA 92126
(858) 693-1100