Florida residents: Are termite warranties worth $200/yr?

We are in a new house. We moved in at the end of January 2005. As
required by Florida law, termite protection was applied during
construction, and a one-year warranty issued by the pest control
company. The warranty expires in about a month (since the treatment was
applied in August 2004, early in the construction process).

Today I received a notice from the pest control company that we can
renew our warranty for another year for $200. So my question for any
Florida residents who might read this, is this: Is it worth it to
renew? The pest control companies, of course, all state that it is not
a question of whether a Florida home will have a termite problem, but
rather a question of when the problem will arise. That's what I'd
expect them to say, since the more fear is out there, the more folks
will pay for warranties and treatments. The State of Florida maintains
a web site about
termite control, and they recommend renewing the annual contracts. But
I wonder how much money was spent in lobbying ...not that I'm cynical,
mind you.

So does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? Apparently,
the approved termite prevention chemicals can only be applied by
properly-licensed contractors, so Joe Homeowner (that would be me)
can't go out and buy the stuff and lay a perimeter around the home.
Given how little some seem to care for the environment, that's probably
a good thing, as I could see some schmuck tossing unused pesticide down
the drain and further polluting the water table. I may just send the
money in, but I'd like to be educated first. Of course, I'm also tempted to take matters into my own hands, being the control freak that I am :)

Comments

[jonvon]

the pest control service we use only charges 100 per year. i can send you contact info if you like. if they used Termidor (that the marketing name of course) then you should be good for several years, assuming they applied it correctly. the guys we use charged 400 for the application and then they come and do a thorough inspection of the whole house for 100 per year to keep the guarantee going. i think its 100 per year for like four years. the nice thing i guess is that they inspect everything so if you had another problem it would likely turn up.

still seems like a bit of a racket but what the heck, i have to protect my house. we actually had the beginnings of an infestation and caught it in time. i sorta thought about just having them come out every two years and redoing the application. the water table is quite high in our yard, esp on the side where we found the termites. we started finding flying ants floating around this year, we thought at first they might be termites but it turned out we are in the clear. can't mess around with these buggers...

[tony wall]

Our termite company tells us that the subterranean termites just discovered in our house are not covered by the contract.Do we have any legal redress here, since the subterranean variety are the most commonly occurring?It seems the company took our premiums for the lesslikely type of infestation and did not bring it to our attention.IO believe this is misleading at best, and possibly illegal in terms of consumer protection.Should we complain to the BBB, and consider a small claims lawsuit?Tony