LEE COUNTY, Fla. (WINK) — A Lee County woman turned to WINK Listens after being hit with unexpected charges from a local pest control company
Joan Keuhm was preparing for a trip to her granddaughter’s graduation when she noticed holes in her lawn outside her Lee County home. She called her regular exterminating company, but they couldn’t handle the job, so she contacted another.
“The man came, and he said he could take care of the moles, and that it would take 15 days to get rid of them,” Keuhm said. “And I asked him how much it would cost, and he said it would cost $200. So, I gave him a check, he took picture of it, and he gave it back to me.”
Keuhm went on her trip, thinking the pest problem was resolved. But the bills kept coming.
She was charged $106 on July 28, followed by another $161 charge on the same day. In August, she received another bill for $70.
“Then I called Terminix, and I got someone off shore,” Keuhm said. “Then I called again, and I finally got through to them and told them the story, and they said to me, ‘Oh well, we’ll stop your contract and we won’t charge you anymore.’ I said, ‘What contract?'”
WINK News reached out to Terminix to ask about the contract. Keuhm wanted a one-time service and said she never authorized anything more.
Shortly after WINK News reached out, Terminix called Keuhm and told her she would get her money back. She hopes others hear her story and stay vigilant.
“I don’t want to see that happen to anybody else, especially at our age, where I think for our generation, people who really care about our bills and things, and I think that that’s very, very part of me emotionally,” Keuhm said.
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