JP McHale Pest Management, Inc.

My experience with JP McHale, unfortunately, has left much to be desired. I initially began my service contract with them in the winter, and they came to the house to tend to an ant issue within a two day window. It was great. They were knowledgeable, attentive.. took care of the problem. But then the spring came. I had carpenter ants in my kitchen. Called… and needed to wait three weeks before someone could come out to the house. Yes- after paying upwards of $700 for an annual contract- I was now expected to wait three weeks for someone to come address my ant problem. When I questioned this, as I wasn’t happy begging expected to “live with” carpenter ants in my kitchen while I waited 21 days for a service technician to come, I was told that it was their busy season and that’s the best they could do. Fast forward to the beginning of June, when I called about flying ants in my laundry room. Lots and lots of gross flying ants. I was told, again, that it would be a two week waiting time before someone could come. Then- that day- (I called on 6/2 and someone was supposed to be coming on 6/14) I received a text message saying that the technician had to cancel. When I called the next day to reschedule the appointment, the next available date I was given was 7/6! Yes- I was now expected to wait FIVE WEEKS in order for a technician to come to my home to address my flying ant situation. So, what I learned from being tricked into a service contract with JP Hale is that they are quick to come out before you sign up/pay $700. But once they have your money, you are then nothing to them. How they consider this at all acceptable is beyond my understanding. We will not be signing up again once this contract runs out, as the two recent times we needed the service, we had to remedy the problems ourselves before they could get a technician to come to the home. What’s the point of having a service contract if they do not come in time to help service the problem?

The only reason I give the company “3” is because it has been reliable for us for years. Otherwise, the “new” version is a solid “1.” Tech came out and said a few traps are missing; he will report it and someone will come up to replace them. DID NOT HAPPEN and I had to call. 2nd tech comes out. I receive report via email that the devices were just covered in dirt BUT he had non-operational (broken) equipment so he could not read and service the traps, meaning I PAID FULL FOR ONLY PARTIAL SERVICE. So….A) 1st tech neither competent nor B) capable of follow up and C) 2nd tech not prepared, having faulty equipment and D) company takes full charge ($$$$) for partial service and E) laughs all the way to the bank.

We have been loyal customers for years, including hiring them to insulate our crawl space less than three years ago. We paid more to them because we trusted them to know what they are doing. We took all of their recommended advise on scope of services. They especially sold the rockwool type insulation as being resistant to mold growth. We had never had an issue with mold, but figured we'd just go with the best. The job came to over $8k. Fast forward to today and we are trying to sell the house. At the inspection they discover that the crawl space is full of mold. As I said before, we had never had any even potential issues with mold before the new insulation. The only change made to the crawl space was the new insulation and a sump pump they also recommended and we had them install. When we got a second opinion for the mold removal we were told that the insulation moisture barrier installation had been done incorrectly. Despite this, they are taking no responsibility for helping to create the conditions for mold growth and are now trying to charge us $25k to remove the old, moldy insulation and reinstall new insulation. It feels like they are running a racket and we are livid. Spend less elsewhere and save yourself both a giant headache and a fortune.

I am very unhappy with the condition of my plantings after JP McHale was hired to spray trees and shrubs to prevent bug infestation and fungus. I called to their attention to issues several times over a 2 year period. Their solution was to do deep root feedings in the spring and fall. Now, the browning has spread to other shrubs and many shrubs look like they are dying. I fault JPM for lack of oversight, follow-up, inability to address the issue. It will cost me thousands to replace the shrubbery that appear dead.

I've treated my lawn via annual contracts for the last decade and the one year with JP McHale effectively undid that decade of work. I could not imagine my lawn being any worse had it not been treated at all. It turns out that the key to managing JP McHale is to call them out for visits between the regular treatments - which I did not realise (was not told) was included in the contract until August. The photos below show some of the weeks and also grub issues that were evident in the summer. It's such a shame because I've used JP McHale for other services (pest) and their service was excellent.

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I have a contract with them. They come every few months.

Excellent Technician explains everything

I just pay the $450 per year. Their service technicians are very good. Mostly, they show up when they are supposed to show up. They give you advice and recommendations on how to take care of something, even if it's not under their service contract. They are very responsive.

The cost is a lot. We pay for the year thing, but they add on all this extra stuff. It's expensive. I would use them again, because I don't know who else to use.

Would hire again.

They did fine. The price goes with the annual contract. They are going to come out through the year. Then I can call if there is a problem that develops in between the routine checks. They were right here. I am going to use them in the future. They get here when they say and they will tell you what the issue is. They will give you some alternatives and explain everything to you. They will give you a recommendation and it’s up to you to follow it or not and they don’t give you any trouble what so ever. Np pressing and they’re not trying to sell you 20 different things.

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Excellent company! They came out Sept 2nd (a Friday... the same day I called) and killed a large nest. This is Labor Day weekend. By Sunday, the bees were back as apparently there was another nest in close proximity. I called this morning (Tues 9/6) and explained that not only were they back but this was a real problem as the nests were around the home entry point. In less than 2 hours the technician was back out here addressing the problem. The folks on the phone were attentive,professional, and kind -- and so was the technician. I do think they are a bit pricey but frankly if they provide excellent service like this for the annual contract, they will have me as a customer for a long time to come.

Don't know. They do an initial inspection and set some termite traps around the property and they never come into the house again unless you call them. In our previous homes in CT with other companies for the same annual service contract price, we had monthly interior and exterior inspections. We are not experts, so waiting until something escalates to our attention doesn't seem like the best approach.Will try someone else this year.

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They were okay we thought they were a little pricey and overall we thought that we never really eliminated our particular problems so we ended up not renewing with them. We had an annual contract but we had never know when they were coming they didn't come inside the house they just do outside work, we do have that they would come when you have a problem but from the contract they were to come four or five times a year we never get a heads up upfront so if we wanted to do something indoors we really didn't know when they are coming.

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The tick control service is okay but I didn't see that they eliminated pesky mosquitoes.  The problem is the service with their CSR's.   

Originally, Eric Welch was unresponsive so then dealt with the Supervisor, Tanya (?; not sure of her name as she didn't email me her contact info as I asked) but she didn't respond to me a few months later so I called Rich McHale who upgraded to their VIP CSR, Mickey Morello who was fine initially but did not respond to my email concern that their crew came out in mid November for their last spray despite it being cancelled twice!   He knows I'm unhappy as he did not bother to contact me this year to re-start my tick control program which is fine with  me but I want Rich McHale to know this as I am more than happy to give my
business to someone else, like Garrie Pest Control.  So much for VIP treatment.

Re: Landscaping
Rep Bruce Peterson came out to look at my lawn and he came back with a $800 estimate to remove a 12' tall
Apple tree saying that since he didn't have a grinding tool, it would take 2 guys all day to remove.   I hired another local Landscaping company and it took their 2 guys 50 minutes just using shovels.   I asked Bruce how he can charge so much.  His answer was that since it's not his specialty, their prices would be higher.  W**?!  One pays more for expertise and less if they don't have the specialty skill.   I wonder if he understands the absurdity of his rationale.  I wonder if I would have been stuck with the $800 charge if I had used Bruce and was not home not knowing how long it actually took to remove that tree.  My experience with contractors is that they will give a low and high range quote but the customer will always wind up paying the upper end.

Re: Insulation work done by their subsidiary, Enviorcare

I would not recommend Enviorcare because they are NOT NYSERDA certified (I only discovered this after the work was done) so a homeowner will not receive any state subsidies but even if they were,  I still wouldn't recommend them to anyone because I found the rep, Chris Puleo, who's also a junior partner to be obnoxious and at times condescending.  Whenever, I had questions about the borate cellulose material, the work being done and the cost, the tone on his voice was never welcoming.   It was as if I was bothering him and I felt as I was being scolded.  He has very in-your-face personality.  I told owner, Rob McHale, about Chris's obnoxious behavior and he laughed it off and said, "...I don't know what you want me to say..."

Also, I initially was rejected on the 1 year interest-free financing program.  It turned out it was because I had put my rental address instead of the home address but when it was rectified, I asked Envirocare to put the $3K deposit with the entire loan, Chris called me to say it would cause problems; a liability issue?  Huh?  My gut tells me it was all about money; them not losing any.

Recently, in early January '16,  I emailed their Marketing Director, Rob Rieger, about having one of their Technicians (other
than Chris Puleo) to come back to my house with a thermal imaging camera to see how well of a job Envirocare did with properly insulating my house as one room is still very cold.  I had to email Rob again after 3 weeks to get an update and he tells me on 1/27/16 that he would be get back on my scheduling someone to come out and ".. I would appreciate it if you could
take your negative review down that is still up on Angie?s List as previously discussed."  Over a month as passed and I have not heard back as I have not deleted my review and will not compromise my integrity.  I will only update a review once a company rectifies a problem.  I guess, this is what Rob means by "mutually beneficial relationship."  I wonder how many other negative reviews are missing from Angie's List because of this "arrangement."  

If you decide to use Envirocare, make sure they come back with a thermal imaging camera to assess their work since the insulation is behind the walls.  Keep in mind that Envirocare uses borate cellulose and I heard about other products available after installation.  Do some research as this company (link below) does not like cellulose in the walls because it settles over time and prefer tri-polymer foam.

http://goodlifeenergysavers.com/products/
http://www.seattlecrawlspacecleaning.com

JP McHale has lots of negative Yelp reviews; scroll to the bottom: https://www.yelp.com/biz/jp-mchale-pest-management-inc-buchanan
 

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