Pest Control Recommendations? (Huntsville, Madison: sales, house, theatre)

[Nlambert]

A few years ago we used Cook's to spray our old house. We ended up getting rid of them because I caught the tech lying about what he was doing (long story).

Fast forward and we need someone to treat our new (to us) house.

Our neighbor uses Cook's and likes this tech so we called them out for a quote. 290 linear ft of yard, 2400 sq.ft. house. The back yard backs up to the woods and we have a pool so spiders, wasps, and ticks are our biggest concerns. We have a mosquito issue in the evenings so my wife asked for a quote on that as well.

The inspector quoted us $55 per month for mosquito treatment (don't know how this could possibly work for a month), and $43 for pest control treatment. We would be required to sign an 8 month contract on the mosquito control (which I doubt we get) and a 12 month contract on pest control.

Before we pull the trigger, I'd like to get some recommendations of other companies that people have had good luck with.

(And no, I don't intend to self treat anything other than mosquitos....)

Thanks for feedback!

[robisc]

Spectrum Pest Management is a small locally owned company that I've always had excellent dealings with, they've been in business for many years. Spectrum Pest Management

[writerwife]

We've used Cooks for 27 yrs and never had a prob but.. not for mosquito control.
I haven't looked but check Groupon. Frequently there are a few local places that run specials on mosquito control in the Huntsville area. Worth a look see.

[harry chickpea]

I used to manage a drive-in theatre that backed up to a swamp. Mosquito control required a motorized vaporizer that sent a fog of malathion into the air. It worked, more or less. In Florida, many people had the big screen domes above their pools, which is the only sure way to stop the problem and was surprisingly inexpensive. Our landscape limited that option and we discovered that the city trucks spraying was all that was needed anyway. Fast forward to today, and I live surrounded by forest and a couple hundred feet from a creek. I don't have a problem, which I attribute to a full ecosystem with resident frogs and skinks and birds, and the fact that my deck is significantly above ground level, where most mosquitoes live in that five feet of air space. If you don't already have a solid fence around the pool, you could find installing one to be a significant help.

When dealing with pest control companies commercially, I found that the individual tech was almost always the key to success or not. The one company that I had consistent problems with was Terminex, but that would have been a different franchise than up here. In your shoes, I would be walking around with the tech the first time through, asking questions, and making sure that he was going to be the same one to come out in the future. The fact that your neighbor likes the tech, and the tech is around consistently is a huge plus.

[LCTMadison]

Waynes or Kirklands Pest Control

[Emptynester1]

Originally Posted by LCTMadison

Waynes or Kirklands Pest Control

I second Kirkland's. They maintained my termite bond at a former property, and handled lawn insect control for a friend. Good people - quality work.

[RocketDawg]

I use Joey's Elite. He's a one-man small company, but does a great job and is a nice person. He was an Army Ranger in Afghanistan, I believe. Not sure if he's taking new customers or not, but it would be worth a call.

[Nlambert]

Thanks for the recommendations. I'm putting out the word to all of these folks now.

[Nlambert]

Just to close out the question, we chose Kirklands. They cut the initial fee down to $75 and then it's $40 per month to treat the inside/outside of the house and detached workshop, and all the way around the pool. They were fairly competitive on pricing compared to Cook's but I felt more pressured to use Cook's and some of the sales tactics came across very clearly as just that.

They start this Friday so we shall see how it goes. I appreciate the recommendations!

[Nlambert]

As an update....... Kirkland's came out last Friday for the initial treatment. The sales rep scheduled us for a 12noon-1pm appointment since our son had a heart doctor appointment at 9am Friday. At 9:10 am, the tech called and said that he was on the way to our house. Luckily we got into the doctor early and were finishing up so we raced home to meet him.

The tech went inside and immediately began spraying around the baseboards with his hand sprayer. No explanation of what he was doing.... just did it. Then he went outside and made a hot lap around the house with the same handheld sprayer. He sprinkled some granules on an ant bed in the front and rear and then got back in his truck. I stopped him to inquire about going into the attic to bait for mice. He got back out of the truck, handed me two bait stations and told me that he would let me put them anywhere I'd like and left. Total time at our home was <30 minutes. He made two comments while there that we weren't thrilled about. 1)He took this job because it didn't require physical labor and 2) he wanted to take off early that day.

After he left I got swarmed by wasps that had a nest built at the top of my son's bedroom window. (Mind you, he was supposed to sweep around all windows, doors, and corners with a brush to remove any cobwebs, nests, etc... per the contract) I called the main office and the lady there told me that Kirkland's does not treat wasps, does not go into attics, and will not treat around pools. I told her that my contract specifically called out those items and that I paid extra for those services.

I then decided to call the sales rep, who apologized and said that he would take care of the issue. I advised him that at this point we did not feel comfortable with that tech and requested a different tech. We did not want him back at our house. 5 minutes later, the same tech called and asked where the wasp nest was that he missed. I told him it was a total of 3 wasp nests all the way around the house, and that every window had cobwebs on it. I also asked why he didn't use the large pump sprayer in the bed of the pickup like Cooks and other companies use. He said he has one, but didn't want to use it since the house has a pool. The pool sits 20 ft from the house and the ground is sloped away from the pool with a French drain between it and the house. As of today, the ants around the pool are worse, wasp nests are still there with wasps on them in the windows, and bugs have began congregating on the front porch and in the foyer of the house. Not only did they not treat the house, the issue is worse than it was before. It seems as if the tech sprayed just enough to stir everything up.

I received a phone call from the supervisor this past Monday apologizing for the tech and the lady at the desk. He said that the tech had just went out on his own and that he thought he was ready. He intended to write up the tech and the office lady for giving us bad information. He re-assured me that they will do everything listed on the contract and that they should have used the large sprayer in the truck to flood the perimeter of the house. When I told him that I felt we had made a mistake using them and wanted to cancel the contract, he asked if they could send another tech to the house first to make it right. I hesitantly agreed to let him do that to be fair. If they didn't do a satisfactory job, we could go ahead and cancel the contract. He was going to call me back with a time for the new tech.

Fast forward two days, and thus far we have not received a call or any communication from Kirkland's. I have left another message for a return call, but if we do not get one by COB today we are going to have to switch our service to someone else.