A-1 Inc Exterminators

"As always, we appreciate the member taking the time to leave a review and we also appreciate the very frustrating process of selling a home but regretfully, we were unable to give her another customer's records and that is not what she wanted to hear. She was very distraught, excited and argumentative. I tried to ask her if there was something specific she was looking for but after several minutes she would only tell me it had something to do with cracks in the foundation. But then she said there was no issue with cracks in the foundation. It was puzzling at best. After she hung up on me, her husband called back to say that she was just getting overwhelmed with the process. We had the previous owners of this home as customers with our last visit being six years ago. We did not perform the inspection required for that closing and so our last records with the previous owner amounted to simple general services. When this member called us in 2018, she requested information involving possible structural work being done to the home. We had not yet performed an inspection for her closing and so we weren't sure what type of information she was after. That wasn't the issue as far as we were concerned. We will NOT release property or service information to anyone other than the property owner. Period. Moreover, most work done 6 years prior would have no bearing on work needed today. What this member was asking for was outside of the scope of a standard Wood Destroying Insect and Moisture Inspection and Report but again, we had not performed the inspection for this member's purchase and had not yet performed the inspection for this next purchase. We simply had no information to give her. We suspect that this member's buyers had a home inspection that noted issues of interest or concern and she was trying to eliminate these problems for the new sale. This is very common and we understand as much as anyone could. But we cannot provide information related to the condition of a property for the purposes of its sale outside of the four corners of the standard Wood Destroying Insect & Moisture Reports. These are legal representations that a buyer will rely on when completing the purchase of a home and we take that responsibility very seriously. It is not necessary to defend our reputation here. Our records with all verifiable, reliable sources speak for themselves."

"We thank the member very much for the kind words. It has been a pleasure being of service to her thus far and we hope to be of service as long as the members needs us."

"As anyone would be, we are disappointed to hear that Mr. [Member Name Removed] was not pleased with our company on Saturday, July 29. But we feel he may not have had or was not aware of the information we had been given by his wife when the appointment was set. We were contacted on July 27th by the member's wife with a complaint about possible rats. We were able to get her scheduled for Saturday, July 29th for a free inspection, and would arrive between 12:00 and 3:00 p.m. Although we do try to set AM or PM stops on Saturdays to allow more flexibility for all parties, we also understand that a customer may not wish to wait for us and offer "call in route" appointments whenever needed. This was not requested by the member. I checked our GPS system and find that our technician did not arrive until 3:19 p.m. which IS late so we understand this member's frustration there. We should have called them before we were late which is our policy. We were told that the member suspected they had a rat issue and so we performed a solid exterior inspection of the structure (which is on a slab foundation and not a crawl) for possible entry points or signs of rodent activity. The rat problems we see recently are Roof rats or Norway rats and we typically bait on the outside of the structure and make recommendations about over hanging tree limbs or other possible entry. This can be a difficult process because these rodents can scale a brick wall or jump onto a roof from a power line and this is why exterior baiting is recommended. It was the Mrs. that had ordered the inspection but we were meeting with the Mr. and he appeared to be already annoyed about the fact that we were 20 minutes late to arrive understandably. Our technician tried to explain that he did not see any potential entry points on the outside of the structure but the member challenged each and every thing the technician said or tried to explain. At that point, the member wanted our technician to go into his attic but he did not have pull down stairs or a ladder of his own and we do not routinely carry ladders on all our trucks. This fact served only to annoy the member more and he would not accept that we do not carry ladders to every stop. We do not now and haven't for 46 years. Much of our work is not in attics but had we known that the attic was a concern, we would have brought one along. We just didn't know. But it is important to note that we will not crawl through an unfloored attic under any circumstances. If an attic is floored, we can inspect to some degree but these rat issues are originating outside and that is where we prefer to bait. In any case, the member wanted to do nothing more than argue the point and then refused to let the technician bait at all because we did not have a ladder that day. We did all we could. We would agree with the member that he should contact another company, explain his needs in detail and schedule a time that is convenient for him to ensure a positive experience."

"The member had been warned about excessive wood moisture in his crawl space from our first inspection with him in 2013. We offered then and up until our last visit in 2016 to consider our Closed Crawl Dehumidification System. At no time did we offer to "enclose" his crawl space. We do not offer that service. And in fact, every year for the past three years he has been sent a VPMA Bulletin explaining why one CANNOT encapsulate crawls and continue termite protection. Running a vapor barrier up the foundation wall to any degree prevents a termite and moisture inspector from monitoring for termites and moisture intrusion where a structure meets the ground. This is, of course, where termites come into a structure, from the ground level. This member continued to argue with our findings, calling in other companies to debunk our findings or offer other opinions and then this year we arrived to find he had done exactly what we warned him not to do. He had encapsulated the crawl. Given that, the technician told him we cannot offer him termite protection. The member continued to argue that he had "just" spoken with me, the owner, directly and that what he had done was acceptable. This was just completely untrue. His last conversation with us was in August 2016 as follows: " 08/03/2016 12:53 p.m.: He had 2 other companies come behind us and he has moisture meter as well and they got much lower readings than we had - highest was 16% . He asked what constitutes high moisture readings - I explained Virginia set the number - he understood and said he has 12 mil under there now that got damaged and he needs to replace which he will do himself. Does not understand why conflicting readings just a couple of days later after we took ours - told him we can recheck with him to present or prove to him there are issues since he has high moisture since 2013 - he was not aware of that - exwife at that time did not tell him much about anything at that time. Told him I would need to send him a letter about the moisture and what it entails. He said he has no problem having us recheck moisture levels, but he is not there nor is anyone else. Sending letter to have on record and he will have as well so maybe he will call us when he is back in town. Dont care that he thinks since it was hot outside its a given his crawl would have high moisture. He's some sort of engineer type - good grief! Sent cc for excluded areas for high moisture; see docs tab" (This was the last call of many over the last 4 years) I fully expected the member to be left with a bad taste in his mouth after our visit yesterday. No one likes to hear that their service has to be cancelled but we do everything we can to educate our customers. It is certainly not our goal to lose accounts but we cannot accept responsibility/liability for termite problems under a Termite Protection Plan when the homeowner decides to cover over the areas that we need to inspect. This member suggests that the joists are visually accessible but what he fails to understand is that by the time the termites are visible on the joists, they are in the hollow block, likely the sill plate and bandboard, not to mention baseboards, door frames, etc. This leads to a much more involved and extensive treatment to eradicate the problem and is simply impossible to offer for $149.00 a year. We hope the member keeps an eye out for problems and calls in a professional to treat when he finds them."