I recently did business with Beeline for a rental property from far away. I only talked with the company on the phone to resolve a mice issue. In general, I always try to stay away from contracted services. I believe that I may have said that Beeline could continue to treat my rental for pests as needed. Apparently and unknown to me, they signed me up for a contract for services based on the phone conversation. After cancelling, they told me I had a contract with them and that there would be a $30 fee to cancel. After a heated discussion, I told the office manager and the owner that I had no contract with them because I had not signed any paper work with them. The office manager and owner said that the phone conversations were sufficient to constitute a contract. As far as I know, contracts always should be in writing. I didn't even know that they were recording phone conversations. What about my privacy rights? They also said they would e-mail me proof of these conversations which they never did e-mail. They also didn't e-mail me copies of what their technician found when he came out to my rental which seems irresponsible. Later, the owner rudely said that I was trying to take advantage of him to get a ""smoking deal"" but I actually think it is the other way around. To me, this seems like a dishonest business model to keep customers' business without their consent. The owner said he would take me to collections and didn't care if I complained but I think prospective customers should know about his unethical means of running a business and getting unlawful gain.
more