Our pest control guy came by for the yearly treatment/inspection. It runs about 280 a year.
He gave us this routine about the Formosian termites invading the area. We live in Pensacola, Florida if it makes any difference (a sub tropical/near tropical area).
For 1600 dollars now, we can get special “treament” which WILL work against the Formosan termites or at least we get repair insurance that covers the damage those particular buggers might cause, which apparently our coverage now does NOT cover.
And for that we then pay nothing for 5 years, rather than 280 a year. And after those 5 years are up we start paying 150 a year to continue the treatment/inspection/insurance.
Is this a scam, a good deal, or something inbetween?
damn. what is the name of that company?
I want a policy like that. $1600 up front to buy $1400 of coverage plus termite insurance. Can’t beat that.
If it is too good to be true then it…
I would need to read the fine print of the contract to make sure they cover the full cost of repairs. I can imagine them covering replacing the stud but not tearing out the wall to get to it-or some trick like that. Check out the fine print-perhaps even have a lawyer read it. Make sure all the treatments to get rid of an infestation are covered (that is usually what is covered in termite insurance).
then go online and find out whether what they are selling really is effective against formosans. Few things are. If they have a treatment that really works, great. If in fact what they have are bait stakes that tell them when the formosans are in the house, that is what you usually get. Almost the same thing, but instead of killing off the termites immediately, the stakes simply mean that the exterminator has to come to your house and treat. In that case, who does the monitoring? They should, but OTOH you know what is going on if you do it.
Personally I put in my own monitoring stakes, which are treated with a termicide. Not sure how effective the poison is, but since I do the checking, I have a good idea of what is going on around my house. And it helped that I tore all the walls out of the house after Katrina and was able to a inspect like you wouldn’t imagine, and treat with borax. There was one stud that had been hollowed out by termites years ago. Just the single stud, no active termites and no damage anywhere else. Kind of odd.