Western Exterminator

unknown

.

I will preface this review by mentioning this service request was made through my home warranty provide (Old Republic Home Protection). I am not sure if this affected any aspect of my service so I will only focus on the quality and responsiveness.
OVERALL
I would not recommend this service for the south county location. The pricing was good but the quality and professionalism was lacking. They were only offering service M-F from 7am to 3pm (no exceptions) and there was only 1 technician available in my area (24 hour service provided to businesses only). This made it very difficult for me to arrange time for multiple appointments that often get cancelled the day of. The technician relied on me to initiate contact for any follow-up visits to check the traps, otherwise we would probably never see each other again. I do not feel I was valued as a customer or perhaps my job was not worth their time.
PRICE
The home warranty provided charges a standard trade fee for each claim. The service technician estimated it would be in the order of $300 for both services as a direct claim (without their monthly maintenance plan). This seemed reasonable and competitive based on my experience with exterminator services in the past from other providers.
QUALITY
Specific to work performed the amount of traps and the patch work performed in the attic was satisfactory. The technician was not prepared with baiting the traps and I provided a new container of peanut butter which he ended up taking with him for the rest of his clients.
The technician claims he sprayed for spiders but there is no evidence this part of the service was performed. Video surveillance and my guard dog in the backyard do not support his claim. There has been no appreciable reduction in spider population inside or outside of my house.
PUNCTUALITY
Technician arrived within 15 minutes of each appointment.
PROFESSIONALISM
The technician was very knowledgeable on his trade and took the time to explain the plan. Communication between visits was difficult because he would prefer sending text messages rather than voice calls. When I did call it would go to voicemail and I would rarely get a return call; reason provided was because he was driving. Maybe we are supposed to work with the dispatch and not directly but this was not clear to me.
RESPONSIVENESS
This was the major weak point in my service. When I setup my first appointment I indicated to the service coordinator that I work in the city during the week and would prefer to have work after 4pm or Saturday appointments. The operator did indicate Saturdays were available in my area.
Traps we set on my first appointment and then technician mentioned he will be on vacation until 2 January 2015 (15 days later) to follow-up; the cold weather would preserve anything that was trapped. I called on 2 January but the technician indicated he was back to work but not coming to my house until next week. He also indicated he only works 1 Saturday a month and would not be able to make it the next Saturday he did work. The week after he never called back so I called him and left a message. A few days later he texted saying he was sick and can come the following week.
Next appointment was in the last week of January. Walked away with 3 rodents in the attic and set the traps again. Never heard from the technician for 3 weeks so I called to follow-up. Next appointment he came by and removed another rodent and sealed the intrusion point in the attic. He told my wife the job was done and to call if there was any new developments.
In March the upper floor of our house had the lingering stench of dead rodent. I called the technician and he verbally confirmed the traps were removed and there should be nothing dead in the attic. I asked if he could check when he comes back to do the spraying for the spiders but he assured me twice there were no traps and the spraying was done. I bought ladder and checked the attic to find 2 traps with decaying rodents and the third trap flipped upside down covered in teeth and blood.
On 16 March called the toll-free number to speak to a supervisor on this matter and request a new technician to help clean up. The operator collected my information and stated the operations manager for this location will contact me personally. Nobody called and when I called back to follow-up the operator had one question "Oh, he did not call you yet?". At this point I was done.

They are excellent.  They are reliable, on time and they do a very good job.  I have a maintenance contract with them.

Western is very responsive.  I have used them for years to assist with pest control.  They come every quarter and call the day before to make sure I'm aware they will be arriving.  At times, I may need a second spray if the pest are really bad and they don't hesitate to come out again at no charge.  I recommend quarterly spraying because it keeps the pest under control.