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I signed up for service for Preventive Pest Control and the service was fine until late 2006, when my normally appointed serviceman was apparently replaced by a substitute.

I work at home and was always there to receive their house call. They also typically called the day before to verify that service was to be delivered the following day. They called that late 2006 day and confirmed that they would be arriving the next day.

In the past, if they had shown up to my door and no one answered, they would leave an invoice stuck in my screen door to show they had been there.

On that day, no one showed up. I was home and working all day. No one came to my door and my dogs never barked to alert me of anyone outside. There was nothing stuck in my door either. A few days later I received a receipt in the mail. That had never happened before and I thought it was very odd. Why mail it if the serviceman was there and could have left it on the door?

Of course I knew no one had actually come to my door. They mailed the receipt because no one showed up to put it on my door or have me sign for it. I called and told them I wouldn’t pay it unless someone else showed up and re-sprayed. No one did.

Then I started receiving late notices, which I refused to pay.

And then I started receiving bills for future services that were never even rendered. They were billing me for subsequent months, even though they weren’t showing up for those services either. They wanted me to pay my past balance before showing up again, yet continued to bill me!

A few times, salesmen came to my door, not realizing I already had issues with the company - trying to sell me their service. I told them my problem and they said they’d try to help. No one did. At one point I even offered to pay the balance if they would just come and spray again. The salesman agreed and said someone would be there the next day… but they never showed up.

In each case, these salesmen admitted they were “having problems” with some of the servicemen. One salesman even told me he knew of cases of servicemen submitting invoices for jobs he did not actually do.

So now I have over $350 on my credit because one substitute employee was too lazy to do his job, and no one at the company bothered to step up, admit their mistake, and make things right. And I remind you that this is $350 for services that were never rendered at all.

For this reason, I recommend avoiding Preventive Pest Control in the Las Vegas area. They might be fine for you, but you could find yourself with a negative item on your credit if you happen get the wrong guy assigned to you, or a bad substitute. It’s not worth the risk.

I would rather live with the bugs and avoid the real pests… Preventive Pest Control in Las Vegas.

I will also be posting this blog entry on ripoffreport.com and will link to it when it is there.

I have a very nice Kinetico water system that I financed nearly 4 years ago. My financing was through Aqua Finance. I’ve been paying on this Aqua Finance account for nearly 4 years. I’ve paid faithfully and regularly. Sure maybe a couple of late payments over the years, but nothing significant.

I received a letter stating that they were going to raise my interest rate from 17.99% to 21.00%. No reason was given. The end of the notice reads as follows:

“If you cancel your Agreement you must return any charge cards and pay your entire balance due under the terms of the Agreement.”

I called them and they said I had to pay my entire balance immediately. I stated that the final line could be interpreted differently. I pointed out my interpretation, that I could pay my balance due under the original terms, which was $73 a month at 17.99% interest. I could tell my education level was considerably higher than the customer service rep and her even less-educated supervisor. I knew it was a losing battle, so I said it was unethical and unfair. I called them “scumbags” and hung up. OK, the “scumbags” part may have been a bit too far out of frustration, but still…

Even if my interpretation of that line of the new agreement is incorrect (I still attest it is not, but they shouldn’t leave something so important up to interpretation), I still feel that changing the terms 4 years into an agreement is unfair, and the rude treatment I received by customer service was salt in the wound.

Since I can’t even fight this war, I owe it to everyone out there to issue the following warning:

If you are considering doing business with Aqua Finance, I highly urge you to reconsider. This company has kicked a loyal customer to the curb with an insulting and misleading form letter and shoddy customer service. It is my opinion that this company is dishonest for the reasons stated above.

Until we as consumers stand up and refuse to be treated this way, unfair and uncaring businesses such as this will continue to take advantage of hard-working and honest people.