Dewey Pest & Termite Control

Deceptive sales tactics, pressure contract, illegal charge after cancellation.

We had a representative come to our home for what we believed would be a professional inspection. Instead, what we received was a sales pitch.

No confirmed evidence of bed bugs was found. The representative openly stated he was "not sure what the issue was," yet immediately pushed us into a one-year contract, claiming that treatment was not available as a one-time service and that a contract was the only option. Under stress, we agreed.

Within less than 24 hours, after reviewing our rights, we exercised our legal right to cancel under California law (the 3-day cooling-off period for in-home contracts). That is when the problems began.

We were then told:

That there was a one-time service after all (directly contradicting what the salesperson told us). We were told a one-time service would cost $350, despite previously being told one-time service was not even an option.

That we had received a "discount" for signing a year.

That cancellation fees applied, despite California law prohibiting penalties during the rescission period.

To be very clear: we explicitly told you we were willing to pay the $150 charge for the initial visit. We had no issue paying for the technician's time. We only wanted to cancel the yearly contract, as the law allows.

Instead, we were bounced between multiple people, given conflicting explanations, and then woke up to a $300 charge placed on our card anyway, without authorization, after cancellation.

This was not transparent, not professional, and not lawful.

If you are in a vulnerable or stressful situation, be extremely careful. This process felt designed to pressure consumers into contracts, not to provide clear, neutral guidance.

We are now pursuing a credit-card chargeback and filing formal complaints with the Department of Consumer Affairs regarding an unlawful post-cancellation charge.

Even if a cancellation fee is buried in the contract's fine print, California law expressly prohibits any cancellation fee or penalty when an in-home contract is canceled within the three-business-day rescission period. Under California Civil Code §1689.7, contract language that attempts to impose such fees is void and unenforceable, and charging them anyway is unlawful.

Technician did not have all information about my house that I gave to his office mgr when the appointment was scheduled ?? I had to remind him of a few things, and he knocked over a couple of boxes in my garage! Overall, I think it will be ok!

They are inconsistent with telling us when they are going to drop by so our backyard hasn’t been treated in awhile. Whenever they do that, they make you call customer service to set up a time for them to come back again otherwise is goes untreated. If they would just contact you ahead of time every time this wouldn’t be an issue. Also, one time they did go to the backyard they broke my patio lights by knocking the strand off the hook and didn’t say anything. The bulb shattered all over the patio and the strand was left dangling.