Door-to-door pest control contracts trap consumers with hidden cancellation fees

Companies like EcoShield Pest Solutions use aggressive door-to-door sales tactics to sign homeowners into multi-year pest control contracts on the spot. Sales reps tell the customer they are getting a one-time discounted service, then a technician arrives within minutes to spray -- locking the customer into a binding agreement before they have time to read the fine print. When customers try to cancel, they discover cancellation fees of $200-$400 that were never verbally disclosed, framed in the contract as 'repayment of the initial service discount.' Federal law requires door-to-door sellers to orally disclose a 3-day cancellation right, but these companies allegedly skip this step routinely. Customers who dispute charges face 14+ harassing collection contacts. The Michigan Attorney General issued a cease-and-desist to EcoShield in 2024, and a national class action was filed in June 2025. The problem persists because the door-to-door sales model generates enormous revenue per rep, the FTC's cooling-off rule is enforced reactively (only after enough complaints accumulate), and individual consumers rarely have the resources to fight a $300 cancellation fee in court.