EcoShield Pest Control North

On the afternoon of June 18 I was approached in my front yard by a man who I had seen on our street all day. He introduced himself as Gordie D and wanted to know if we were interested in pest control. I said no, we have a pest service, Economy Pest Control. He asked if they offered tick control. I said no. He pushed the tick control as important, when I showed an interest ( I have been bitten by ticks and needed medication for them). He also listed the names of half a dozen or more of neighbors he had "already" signed up for pest control, especially the special anti-tick solution. He further baited me by saying EcoShield was offering a one time new customer initial discount of $161 from the normally $300 for their solution. I'm old enough to realize this was a complete come-on but I took the bait to ask what $139 would buy. He explained they would granulate the front yard and back, plus our woodsy area behind the back yard of our 3/4 acre property. He said if we found a tick they would come back and repeat the granulated solution at no charge.The salesman did not tell me they would come 4 more times @ $139 a service which would include spraying our house foundation and inside of our basement. Our pest company does that. Mr.D*** never explained to me that the service included yard, foundation and basement or that his pest service was for 5 applications over a year. Had he told me, I never would have signed the contract agreement, which I NEVER saw before signing on an iPad and giving Mr. D my credit card, unbeknownst to me, as debit. When a "technician" showed up on 7/15 to spray, we called the company to cancel our contract. Several calls and emails cancelling our contract went unanswered. A text got a response that we owed them $161 for the Initial Discount Chargeback Fee. We disagreed having already paid twice. We filed a complaint to the Consumer Protection Division in Baltimore. We cancelled our credit card for their use but continue to get texts saying we owe them $161

The sales format included an initial hustle, followed by a trap and an illusion, then a disappearance, ending with a denial,confrontation, and threats + My complaint against : EcoShield Pest Solutions Address: 12011 Guilford Rd Suite 102, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701 Phone: [protected] Complainant: *** 19 August , 1:20 PM(date of last communication with Ecoshield, A salesman came to my door mid-June and said we had pest problems and that the neighbors were using them and since he was in the neighborhood he could give a big discount on services and that we needed them, as his treatments might run the problems more my way. We had known ticks and the grandkids were coming for a visit, ergo, a good idea to treat now. Seemed like a nice guy and my neighbors were responsible people. He presented many of their names saying they were all using him; so I didn't ask them. He wanted me to sign an iPad contract and said I could end it at any time with just the treatment fee paid, which would go on my Amex Card. This was paid. His team immediately arrived and did what seemed like less than a 30+ minute job to remove all the pests from around the near outside of my home and to kill the ticks over my .8 acre property. Said I needed a second tick treatment in 1 month to kill any hatching tick eggs, but I could stretch it to three if necessary. (In essence, the short application and the variable hatching protocol seems inadequate professionally.) My grand children, 2 & 4, arrived as planned. I looked up the chemicals they used and decided these would not be compatible with this age of child and did postpone the next application due in July. (I likewise stopped my usual lawn treatments.) Toward that time, after much difficulty reaching them, they would put it off until 8/3. Again they rescheduled to 8/13 that I again put off. But due to unforeseen circumstances, the children would be staying for an indeterminate time. I have tried on several occasions to get through to their office by phone and email. I have left a call back. I sent a message stating that I was cancelling the contract that they seemed to ignore. They scheduled an application for 8/27. Today I got through, not by their answering the client number, but by the new customer number. I related my problem and said I needed to cancel the applications and that I would get back with them when the situation cleared. But they said I could not do that without a $155 fee to close the account. I could only cancel the contract 3 days after I made it. I told them that was not the verbal agreement we had with the salesman at the door. That it was unethical and dishonorable the way they were doing business. They said the chemicals could not hurt children and that I would be put to a collection agency. I then reviewed the Complaintsboard.com notes on other Ecoshield complaints and found similar behavior, several I included. (Similar modus operandi and near scam to me.) I called and advised Amex to stop payments from this company. 19 August . Below are several of many complaints to Complaintsboard.com on this company found on the internet. And there are lawsuits. *** The pattern is basically the same as I experienced. Fast talk, need, everyone else using, contract not a problem, good service, very safe, unreachable...set up apparently like a MLM, and hires smart summertime young salesmen, which may be part of problem. But the manager was hard nosed, pay or collection agency. Also, typical of the complaints.