Gavin Pest Control
About us
Gavin Pest Control is a family owned and operated business and ownership has recently been taken over by the next generation of the Gavin family. We pride ourselves on an excellent service record as well as a personal relationship with many of our clients.
Business highlights
Services we offer
Exterminate for rodents, ants, bees, centipedes, cockroaches, earwigs, millipedes, spiders. Treat for all insects except for termites and offer inspection services for contractors that are knocking down houses. Rodent inspections for contractors demolishing buildings., wasps
| Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
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| 76% | ||
| 11% | ||
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| 8% | ||
| 5% |
Details: Mike from Gavin placed monitors (like miniature, covered glue traps) in my bedroom to see if the bed bugs from the condo below mine had infested my condo. For the previous few weeks, I had noticed occasional welts on my arms, but I thought they were hives or maybe spider bites. I checked the monitors frequently, but didn't notice any changes. About a week and a half into the monitoring period when I turned on my bedroom light, I saw brown spots near my cat, who was sleeping on the bed. The spots began to scurry out of the light. I caught them in a jar, and the following night I caught several more.
When I showed Mike the monitors, he said I didn't need to worry because I didn't have bed bugs. Then I showed him the specimens I had captured, and he changed his opinion. I (foolishly) agreed to a 3-treatment series. Over the next three weeks, he sprayed the bedroom, including the mattress. Because I nap on the couch, he also removed the cushions from the leather couch and upholstered chairs and sprayed the couch and chairs. He also sprayed the wood and leather dining room chairs (which I never use). He put the mattress back on the bed frame, but left the cushions scattered on the living and dining room floor. During the treatments I confined the cats and dog and myself to the home office for about an hour so the spray could dry. The smell of the insecticide lasted for about half a day.
The $400 fee covered 3 weekly treatments with a 30-day period of free follow-up treatments if needed ($10 discount for seniors through Angie's List).
Because I was still experiencing bites and catching live bugs after a two or three treatments, I asked Mike what I was doing wrong. He replied that it was difficult to get rid of bed bugs and I wasn't doing anything wrong. During treatment 4, I asked whether the bed bugs in the condo below mine were gone, and Mike said they were not. Because that unit started treatments 3-4 weeks before I did, I became alarmed. Mike explained that it was THE WORST INFESTATION HE HAD SEEN IN HIS 8 YEARS IN THE BUSINESS. He also imagined that the condo had been infested for the past year or so. Now this seems odd because the owner of that condo signs up for the routine monthly or every-two-month pesticide treatment offered by the condo association. How could he have not noticed signs of such a major infestation? He did say, however, that he thought he could get rid of the bugs in my condo.
After treatment 5 when I was still experiencing bites and catching live bugs, I angrily interrogated Mike about his credentials and training. He explained that he had gone through the State of Illinois training. After treatment 6, which was a day or two beyond the 30-day free treatment period, Mike explained that I would have to pay another $400 ($390 for senior discount) if I wanted him to continue to treat my unit.
Although the management company of the condo association found another exterminator to treat the condo below mine (and I believe that now a third company is involved), I am almost certain that condo still has bed bugs--just as I do. (I have started using diatomaceous earth on my own to treat the bugs.)
I am outraged about the way the bed bug infestation was handled, but it would be unfair to direct all that outrage at Mike. However, at the least, I feel he should have been more forthcoming about the extent of the infestation--informing the condo association board of which I was a member at the time--of the seriousness of the problem sooner rather than later. He also should have stated that I would probably need to pay $400 every 7 weeks to keep the bugs at bay.
My experience with Gavin Pest Control was a nightmare--a recurring nightmare.
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