Antimite Pest Control Fraud Rancho Cucamonga, California

I purchased a home on 06/24/05 that had a full termite inspection report done by Antimite that cleared the home of any termite infestation; the date of the report was 05/27/05. Over a month ago (05/05/06), I found what I believed was termite damage in my living room wall, so I contacted Antimite to discuss the matter. They told me that the inspection results were not under warrantee, however that they did tell me that they did some spot treatment (Thermal treatment) in 2004 which would be covered if it were in the area of treatment, but the area I found (of course) was not an area they spot treated, however they said they would be happy to send an inspector to check the damage in a few weeks.

I found this un-acceptable, so I called Terminix and they sent someone the next day (5/8/06) who said that the living room wall damage was definitely termite damage as well as some in the garage (were Antimite spot treated). For the safety of my home, I scheduled Terminix to come out to fumigate my home, I have just did not have confidence in Antimite.

The State board believes that Antimite or their insurance company should have to reimburse me for the cost of the completed treatment of this termite damage which is $2086 and was done the weekend of 5/19/06, however they do not have jurisdiction over money matters so they gave me the contact information of Antimite's bond company, HCC Surety Group. I contacted them and they looked into the matter and declined payment based on Antimite's refusal to approve it.


Antimite's response thru the BBB:
In response to the summary, ANTIMITE was not given an opportunity to reinspect and address the accusations against our company. The new owner chose to contract work with another company and now expects compensation. This matter was already looked into by the Structural Pest Control Board of California, which is the regulatory agency for our industry. They found the case was not correctly addressed by the complainant i.e..for not allowing ANTIMITE to reinspect the property before contracting work with another company. Because of the fore mentioned reasons ANTIMITE feels this case is closed.

Sincerely,

Drew Moore
District Manager, North County San Diego

HCC Surety Group response thru the BBB:
Company states at this time, they are continuing to investigate the claim filed against bond #131759 by the consumer. They received a correspondence from the consumer, notifying them of his wish to file a claim on 6/23/06. He alleged that although the principal (Antimite) provided a clear termite inspection report on 5/27/05, termite damage was found on 5/5/06. It is their understanding that although the principal offered to perform an inspection after being contacted by the consumer, he hired Terminix to fumigate the home. They forwarded his information to the principal for review and response on 6/30/06. On 7/12/06, they received a correspondence from the principal, disputing the claim.

The principal states that he performed a spot treatment on 7/19/04 and that he provided a one year warranty for that work to the person who previously owner the consumer's home. Upon performing a termite inspection during the escrow process on 5/27/05, the principal indicated that he did not find any termite infestation. The principal confirmed that the consumer cancelled the inspection scheduled and had the home fumigated by Terminix. On 7/24/06, the consumer stated that he cancelled his appointment with the principal because he did not want to wait 2 weeks for an inspection.

Matthew Slowik, Claims Examiner, sent a letter to the consumer acknowledging receipt of the new information on 8/2/06. On 8/3/06, Mr. Slowik contacted Terminix in order to discuss their findings and learned that the person who performed the inspection was no longer with the company. Mr. Slowik spoke with Mr. Stone at Terminix and was told that responsibility is difficult to determine.

They intend to contact Terminix again in order to discuss this matter in further detail. They are attempting to determine if termite damage was present at the time the bond principal issued an all clear report for the escrow process. Once they have made this decision, they will notify the consumer.

My response thru the BBB:
That's a LIE and I have proof and so does ANTIMITE. I gave ANTIMITE the first opportunity to inspect the damage, I called on 5/506 to schedule an appointment, they gave me an unacceptable date of 5/16/06, which was not only too close to the 5/27/06 year of treatment date to be acceptable, there was also noticeable damage to my wall as well, I'm not going to sacrifice my $800,000 home to appease ANTIMITE.

Also the Structural Pest Control Board does hold ANTIMITE responsible, however they have no jurisdiction in money matters (I have the letter), that's why they gave me the name of ANTIMITE'S insurance company, HCC SURETY GROUP ANTIMITE/HCC SURETY GROUP has until September 15th, 2006

My Contact information:
Chris J**
Home ph #: (858) 883-***
Work ph # : (858) 677-***
Cell ph #: (619) 851-**
Work E-mail: (((ROR REDACTED FOR SECURITY PURPOSES)))
Home E-mail: c.***

Antimite Pest Control
7365 Hellman Avenue
Rancho Cucamonga,
CA 91730
Primary Contact: Lee Blevins,President
Primary Phone: (909) 483-5300
Primary Fax: (562) 490-7393

HCC Surety Group
9841 Airport Blvd., Suite 94
Los Angeles, CA 90045
Contact: Brad Gibson,
Phone: (310) 649-0990

Chris
Poway, California
U.S.A.
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