The Fume Company

This company treated a property next to our house with fumigant called Chloropicrin. This substance has a strong rotten eggs smell, causes nausea and migraines. Our house and cars parked in the garage smell horrible. The company doesn’t return our calls and clearly has no clue what substance and what concentration are safe for use.

After getting 3 quotes for termite fumigation, we decided to go with Fowler. They were $400 more expensive than the other two quotes, but our preference was to go with someone local and we also had a better initial experience with them. Everything leading up to the fumigation went well until we were scheduled to return to our house. FYI, they subcontract for tenting, so we ended up having to deal with both Fowler and the subcontractor (Andy, the owner of "The Fume Company" ).

The first issue is that we were never given a confirmed time to return home. Chuck at Fowler said that we should be able to get back by noon, but I wanted to double check so I reached out to Andy the night before the fumigation should have been done and he said that his team would be at our house first thing in the morning and we could be back in at 8am. That morning, before we were about to leave our Airbnb, we checked our Blink cameras and the tent was still up at 11:20. We called Andy to ask what the deal was and he said his crew couldn't remove the tent because it was wet and they would be going there ASAP to remove it. He said that his supervisor didn't notify him about the delay which is why he didn't call us.

The second issue is that we had to keep going back and forth between Chuck and Andy to get updates or confirmation on when we could actually return to our house. At the end of the day, I paid for a service to Fowler, they should be responsible for everything relating to that service, including anything outsourced to a subcontractor.

The third, and biggest issue, is that once we were finally able to return to our house (after the time both companies promised we would be able to return), they had left falsified clearance documents at our house. Andy's company had posted a notice on our door that it was cleared to re-enter at 12:40 when we had videos of his crew still taking fumigant readings up until 12:58. Do I think we're all going to drop dead because of it - No. But I have a huge issue with the fact that since they were under a time crunch to be out of the house by 1pm (which was the new promised time we could return home), they decided to cut corners. If they were okay with putting false information on legally required documents, what confidence should I have that they thoroughly checked my home before I reentered it less than an hour later with my entire family and 1 year old baby?

After bringing up these issues to Chuck at Fowler, he first had me confront Andy about it. Again, not my problem, I was paying Fowler for this service so that should have been Chuck's job. Plus all I got was excuses from both of them on why they lied on the documentation ("the supervisor was lazy," he must have filled out the form before checking," etc) but both acknowledged that it was done inaccurate intentionally. At the end of the day, I got an apology from both of them. That's it.

So unfortunately I wouldn't recommend Fowler, especially for termite fumigation if they are still using The Fume Company as their subcontractor.

Very disappointed with the level of service. We needed a newly purchased home fumigated for termites, so we did so before we moved in. We returned home to an attic door missing and drywall flakes all over the hall. But more annoying was that they did not call sdg&e to turn the gas back on. After a long day of moving, my family was unable to shower or use the stove. I could not make my preschooler lunch this morning. They really phoned it in.