Alterra Pest Control

unknown

We have a contract with Alterra.  I have left dealing with this problem to my husband and it's probably a good thing I did or we would not be using this company based on their reviews.  I was shocked to see so many negative reviews. I had an ant problem, we got it treated and it did not get better.  I called for another treatment about 8 days after the initial service to tell them that now I had dying ants all over the house.  I got Seymour on the phone.  He was very surprised that I was still seeing ants in the house.  I told him, if anything, I had more of them.  He thought that dying and dead ants were much better than live ants.  I disagreed loudly.  No bugs, dead or alive are acceptable in my house.  I did not know that Seymour was the GM of the Worthington office.  I was really unhappy with his sarcasm but scheduled an appointment for 6 days later.  He arrived very punctually.  He couldn't have been more on time if he tried.  I was not thrilled with him because of how lightly he had taken my problem when I scheduled the appointment.  He came in and I told him where the previous technician thought the ants were coming from and that they were field ants.  He looked behind my love seat and found a number of dead ants that he could look at.  Seymour told me that these were not field ants but carpenter ants.  I know that carpenter ants can destroy a house from a previous home out in the country.  So, I immediately became a little alarmed, simply due to the shear number of ants.  I also wasn't sure this guy knew what he was talking about.  While he said he wanted to go outside and in the garage to look around.  I immediately jumped online looking up the difference between field and carpenter ants.  He was correct, they are very difficult to tell apart and Wikipedia gave me more information than I ever really wanted.  He spent almost 2 1/2 hours at my home that day.  He found the nest.  He was trying to figure out where the sliding glass door was above in the basement and I told him it wasn't.  That area of the house is cantilevered off the house.  I told him he could get under the concrete steps as that area was open underneath the house, behind the steps.  It is a bump out on the house.  Anyway, he spent a good amount of time out there and looking around the sliding glass door.  He treated the heck out of that area and after a few minutes ants came pouring out of the area (outside) and he had found our nest.  He treated it with multiple things that day and told me they would be back two more times in the next couple of weeks to make sure that they killed it off completely.  I have never seen a technician (manager or not) spend almost 2 1/2 hours on an ant problem.  Usually, they spray a little and tell you to call if you have a problem.  That was on a Thursday.  We had a few more ants on Friday gasping their last breath inside the house.  After we did a little caulking on Saturday we never saw another ant inside the house.  I haven't seen the Alterra technicians but I am sure they have been here to treat.  So, I wanted to let Angie's List know how pleased I was with Alterra's dedication to eliminating my ant problem.  I couldn't be happier and I rest a lot easier knowing that if I have a problem, all I have to do is call them and they will be out to take care of it.  I went from 20-30 ants a day to 0 overnight.  I will give them a call next week to make sure they think they got the whole nest.

Would not recommend this service to anyone. I think that they are just
out to make money off of people. We had had an increase in spiders and
ants, so when they went door to door a year ago seemed like a good
service and my neighbors were utilizing them. I didn't really see them
do much after the initial service. The guy walked around with a round
brush and wiped down webs but didn't notice the spider nests that were
in around my window trim. Too expensive for the service received. I
tried to cancel my service to start after my last treatment of my
commitment but was told they couldn't do that till after the service. I
think it's so you forget to call them and they re-enroll you for another
year.

I pay $75 per treatment. They could be more thorough. They generally only do the outside unless you call and specifically ask for something inside. Their response to a phone call is great. They will come out right away, but I just hate the fact that their regular service only covers the outside. Most of the time, I need it inside too.

unknown

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I've been with this company for over a year.  Generally speaking their service works.  We have had a reduction in the amount of insects we see in our home.  I typically have to call them out for a re-treatment between scheduled visits.  They came out for a re-treatment both outdoors and indoors.  The indoor treatment they used a "puffer" canister that deposits a brown powder when applied.  The technician that came out treated every room in all the "nooks and crannies" with the powder.  I did not follow him around while he did it, but after he left I started noticing it.  He was extrememly sloppy with the powder, it was on our walls, on our doors, on curtains, even on the dogs bed.  
As the days have gone on, I've noticed it in more and more places.  A complete mess.  I would have attached pics, but my wife spent over an hour going room to room cleaning up the mess.  I could deal with litte mess, but this honestly looked like a tablespoon of powder dumped in multiple areas.  
I called and complained, but obviously the damage was done.  To their credit, the did apologize and indicated they would coach the technician. I will be canceling my service in the coming days.

unknown

unknown

We quit using them for a number of reasons. They missed our last appointment, it was a scheduled appointment. We were on a yearly contract. I won't use them again.

unknown

unknown

At first I thought they were coming too much but they were saying that they needed to do that to get rid of the eggs and stuff.  Now they are coming quarterly.  As far as I know they are reliable and I did not have to call them, they come and when they do come they come to the door and let me know that they are here.  Usually they call ahead and tell that they are going to come so that I could make sure that the gates are unlocked.  They also let us know that the pets should not be out for a certain length of time after they leave so they have been reliable that way.  Price wise I have not compared it with other companies.

First, Jeff Roseberry from Alterra was very prompt. He actually showed up a little early and after explaining what he would be doing, got right to work. He removed an old wasp's nest, sprayed for spiders in the garage, around the house, and in the basements. He also sprayed for ants (recent problem) in the kitchen area. He even got rid of all the existing spider webs. He explained that he would be back in 30 days to take care of all the recently hatched insects. The annual plan requires 4 treatments to be done about once per quarter. Payment is due when each treatment is complete. If we have any issues with pests between treatments, they will come and take care of them. Jeff was very thorough and answered all questions in a professional manner. We plan to continue to use Alterra for as long as we live in our house and highly recommend them for anyone with pest problems.