What would you have done?

[Magic Mom]

In June little bugs started appearing ALL over the outside of my house (ALLOVER) At first I freaked out and thought they were termites, but my mom and I decided they weren't termites, but instead springtails. They were so bad they started coming in through the window sills. They don't bite, or damage the house or eat people food, but still who wants zillions of tiny bugs around.

So when our exterminator came (who is brand new) I asked him what he could do about them. He said he had never heard of them. I showed them to him and told him what they were called and told him they had started to enter the house. I asked if he could find out what do do about them. He seemed pretty uninterested but said "OK."

The next month when he came to spray, I asked him about it and he hesitated and told me "Oh yeah, I asked everyone at the office and they never heard of those kinds of bugs. Sorry about that." What? Exterminators that have never heard of a common yard pest.

In addition he never asks if we are having any specific problems or checks the yard for ants --things the last guy (he moved away) always did. He is not rude and comes on time ,within 15 minutes or so.

So this month I put off scheduling his visit, and fianlly his supervisor called to schedule it, and I asked to switch technicians.. I told him what happened and he asked what kind of bug it was and he said "We deal with those all the time." So basically the technician lied to me. He (the supervisor) sounded very angry and told me he would come out to do this next visit, and then find someone else to treat the house from now on. I hope the guy doesn't get in trouble. But if I'm paying you to provide a extermintaion every month, you should do that service the best you can, not the easiest and fastest you can.

 

[Hutchy]

I had springtails in my house really bad a couple of years ago, they were coming in the house through the A/C vents because they were all over the outside of the A/C in the yard. My exterminator suggested putting fabric softener sheets in the vents to block them from blowing in and I noticed a huge decrease in them after that and my house smelled great! They had to come out and treat 2 or 3 times before they finally went away. My exterminator was actually here today and we were talking about them because I was surprised they weren't bad after the flooding earlier this year.

 

[Missy1961]

You handled that correctly. If the guy gets in trouble, it's his fault. You asked for nothing that was unreasonable. And you are paying for the service, you have every right to let the supervisor know your concerns. In short, I would have handled it exactly the same way.

 

[RitaZ.]

But if I'm paying you to provide a extermintaion every month, you should do that service the best you can, not the easiest and fastest you can.

You're paying for a service. He didn't address your concerns.

Now, it's very possible that the guy that came out to your house has little to no knowledge of pests and the owner knows this. One of my neighbors owns a pest control company. We've used his services many times over the years. One time, I asked the guy that came to spray the yard a question about an area of concern. The guy had no idea what I was talking about. I knew more about the problem than he did. When I told my neighbor about it, he admitted that the guys that do the actual work basically know how to spray the chemicals. That's it.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

When he said that he never heard of them, I would have refused service from him and called the company to complain immediately. Probably right as he was standing there in my face.

Mean, perhaps, but as a horticulturist that would have driven me insane to his level of incompetence.

 

[Magic Mom]

When he said that he never heard of them, I would have refused service from him and called the company to complain immediately. Probably right as he was standing there in my face.

Mean, perhaps, but as a horticulturist that would have driven me insane to his level of incompetence.

I gave him a chance because he was new (and young), but darn, I tell you their name, I show them to you, and you can't even go and research them with that? To me that shows he just didn't care. I'm not paying for that.

 

[MnMomtoboys]

I think you did the right thing.

Now a good revenge would be to pack those little babies up and move them to his house!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I gave him a chance because he was new (and young), but darn, I tell you their name, I show them to you, and you can't even go and research them with that? To me that shows he just didn't care. I'm not paying for that.

No good deed goes unpunished.