Southern Fumigation and Pest Control, Inc. at 522 East Macclenny Avenue, Macclenny, Florida.

Summary: Shady billing practices, thoroughly negative customer experience and zero communication, poor work quality, HUGE surprise charges after the fact – in short, why would you give them your business when there are so many other options?

My experience with Southern Fumigation was totally negative at every point of contact. We scheduled a WDO with them because my closing timeline was tight and they were the only ones available at that notice.

The inspector, Ashley, was perfectly pleasant but inattentive to her work. She used a PVC prod instead of a metal one like my real home inspector used, and totally missed one area of wood rot. Because she only marked two in her report, the seller would not pay to correct the one she missed (even though my home inspector easily caught it).

This was frustrating, since she failed at literally her only job, but since wood rot is fairly cheap to fix and it was done and I had already paid my $125 invoice in full at time of service, I figured it was done and dusted and moved on.

I might add that the house I was purchasing is a simple 950 sq ft box with a single gable roof. There could not be a simpler house style to inspect, and she still missed things. Imagine if your home had any level of complexity, how much would be overlooked!

Then the real fun begins. Weeks after I’ve closed and moved in and am settled in my new house, I’m notified of ANOTHER invoice from Southern Fumigation and Pest Control. They decided to bill me an additional $75 for the WDO re-inspect as a separate fee, with no notice. Ashley did not mention this additional fee when I met with her for the initial inspection, and the other pest control services I had tried to work with ALL included this fee as part of the inspection - since there is no inspection without the reinspect to confirm the repairs had been made. The two are not separate services. One cannot exist without the other - unless somehow a house had absolutely nothing on their original report (which pretty much never happens).

Obviously I was pissed. This was bait and switch pricing! “Hey we’re only $125, $25 less than the other guys!” But they’re not. The true cost was $200, significantly more than their competitors. They’re deceptive about this to take advantage of stressed homebuyers juggling a million fees and surprise bills, and it’s despicable.

When I tried to get in contact with literally ANYONE of management or decision-making capability in the office, I got nowhere. My emails were IGNORED. My calls went to the receptionist with a horrid attitude, Robbin, who immediately jumps to a defensive catty attitude when asked basic questions (“Why have I not heard back from a manager yet? Why has no one responded to my emails about my billing questions?” etc). I’m not sure if this is because it was her fault my messages weren’t getting to the right people and she was covering her ass, but it was a really dreadful experience. I tried emailing Randall directly too, the only other contact address I had, but heard nothing from him either.

Don’t work with these crooks. Give your money to someone who stands by their work and bills you with honesty. Or at least returns your calls.

And for the record, I warned them that I would be writing an honest review of my experience with them… in one of my emails… that they ignored. So they were given every opportunity to fix their horrid customer treatment, and ignored it. It's not just the surprise extra $75 fee. It's the disgusting feeling in your gut of being taken advantage of by a shady business and being powerless to defend yourself against their billing.