Budget Pest Control Inc

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted].  I stand behind my comments from my original complaint. It was recommended to me to seal off the entry point immediately after the first squirrel was caught. I was assured repeatedly that if there were any remaining babies, they would die within a day and that they would not smell because of their small size.  I was relying on the expertise of the professional to advise me on the best practice. I took their advice, only to discover that additional squirrels remained, now locked inside.  When I discovered that a squirrel had now made its way into my air duct, they came out once to try to extract it. They were not able to and basically told me it was my problem at this point. I called repeatedly to try to find a resolution to a problem that I was not an expert in solving. It was not until I threatened to call the Game Commission that I received a call back from the owner. At that point, he was attentive and offered to hire an HVAC company to resolve the problem.  They set up a time with an HVAC company to come to my house, but they did not consult with me about that time, and I was not going to be at home.  In the meantime, a handyman doing work at my home offered to open the ductwork to remove the squirrel that was now starting to smell.  I contacted Budget Pest Control to ask if this was agreeable to them since they would be paying.  They agreed that it was, and the squirrel was removed at their expense. Therefore, I stand behind the comments I have made about what happened. However, I do acknowledge that Budget Pest Control did eventually work with me to solve the problem as they paid for the subsequent squirrel removal from the duct. When I wrote the original complaint, I had called and asked for the owner on numerous occasions, but never received a call back. This prompted me to write the complaint.  He did eventually reply when I stated that I would contact Revdex.com and the Game Commission. At that point, he helped me to solve the problem.  I only wish that it had not required such action on my part. I do consider this issue resolved at this point. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Regards,
[redacted]

Hello, I hope you’re having a good day.  We are emailing you in regards to the recent complaint we received.  To be honest we were a bit surprised to see this complaint as this customer had multiple interactions with our office throughout January and at no time expressed her displeasure...

with our company. We never want to call one of our customers a liar, but what has been laid out here by this customer is full of falsehoods and outright lies.  The owner of the company did not hang up on this customer.  During this call the customer was extremely offensive and proceeded to verbally accost the owner.  The customer was asked multiple times to please stop swearing at the owner and asked multiple times to please stop screaming and insulting the owner.  He politely informed her that he was willing to work with her to resolve the issue, but would need to end the call unless she stopped the verbal assault.  At this point the customer only continued, prompting the owner to end the call.  Before ending the call however the owner made it very clear that she could contact us once she was willing to have a civil conversation. As far as addressing this customer’s actual complaint.  As we mentioned above, this complaint is made up primarily of falsehoods and has actually been revised since the initial post she shared.   In regard to getting six different answers to the same question.  As the initial complaint listed this as four and somehow there have been two other individuals added, we would need more information about this.  As with any office our staff each have their own way of explaining a potential treatment, but the answer is always the same.  In regard to charging for a service and/or rebaiting and moving a trap, this is something that we would have explained in great detail during the initial call.  We lay out all of the costs associated with our treatments before ever setting an appointment with the customer.  That way the customer knows exactly what everything costs prior to them hiring us.  In regard to receiving a past due invoice.  Unless a customer specifically gives us instructions to run their payment information we will need permission to do so.  If we are unable to reach a customer our system will automatically send a letter to the customer.  We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.  In regards to the trapping in general.  Our wildlife techs are fully licensed and are well trained in baiting and strategic trapping.  Thank you for your attention in this matter.  We look forward to resolving this issue in a satisfactory manner.  We’d also like to specifically lay out what happened.  We were initially contacted by this customer on January 3rd, 2017.  On January 6th we sent a wildlife tech out to this customer’s residence to perform an inspection and place a trap.  During this inspection it was determined that it was squirrels causing the issue.  Our tech placed the trap as we discussed with the customer during the initial phone call.  As nothing had been caught  the first two days we rebaited and moved the trap to a more strategic location on January 8th.  During this visit the customer expressed doubt that the target pest was a squirrel.  The customer stated that she believed this was a pest much larger than a squirrel.  She was insistent that this was something more along the lines of a raccoon or groundhog.  Our tech completed another inspection and again determined that this was definitely squirrels.  Our tech also informed the customer that she had what appeared to be a rodent infestation, as well.  Rodents require a completely separate treatment and charge from trapping, which our tech would’ve offered to complete.  The customer was not happy that we told her she might have rodents and was unwilling to pay for a separate treatment.  She was insistent that this was not rodents, that it was not squirrels, that the only issue she was having was with either a raccoon or a groundhog despite our repeated diagnosis to the contrary.  Over the next 2 days, January 9th & 10th nothing had been caught, with us removing the trap on the 10th.  The next day the customer called into our office.  She had some general questions and asked us to email her the paid invoices for her records.  As nothing had been caught we offered to send a tech back out to place another trap, but the customer declined.  She thanked us for our time and ended the call.  During this call the customer was very polite and did not express any dissatisfaction with the service.  Our office emailed her the paid invoices and sent a separate email with a breakdown of the costs.  We did not hear anything from this customer for over a month.  It was not until we sent her a letter asking her to contact our office that she began expressing reservations.  From there the customer began calling into our office periodically, each time the customer became more and more verbally abusive.  After being berated multiple times our office staff was instructed to forward all inquiries from this customer to the owner.  I laid out the phone call the customer had with the owner in the paragraphs above.  That call followed the same pattern as the calls between our office and this customer.  We’d like to thank you for your attention in this matter and look forward to resolving this in a manner that is satisfactory to the customer.  There was another complaint posted by this customer on February 8th, 2017.  We would like to request that that be taken down as it is completely unfounded. Regards,Budget Pest Control, Inc. PGH, PA. 15237[redacted]

I just got this today.  So,  I need to tell the man how to do his jib? And it was for real estate.  It was to do an inspection before we closed on the property.  I did not "clean up" the droppings.  They were still there.  The seller was still moving his stuff out.  Why is it my fault he did not inspect the entire house? ?????? The sale of the house was contingent on top to bottom as they and the realtor were told,  over and over again.  Once again I DID NOT CLEAN UP RAT DROPPINGS.

Hello,   Thank you for the review.  We would first like to apologize and say that we never want a customer to be unhappy with our work.  We are genuinely sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.    With that said, what the customer is saying here is...

incorrect.  Below we lay out exactly what happened, this is simply to provide context to anyone reading this review.  As a company we have done everything in our power to resolve this customer’s issue.  We set an appointment, placed and baited a trap, caught a squirrel, removed the squirrel, and sealed up the possible entry point all in the same day as specifically requested by this customer.  This is obviously a bit out of the ordinary when dealing with wildlife, as these things typically take at least several days to wrap up.  Because the customer was intent on resolving this issue ASAP, we completed the entire service in less than 24 hours.  If you have not read the customer’s review already we would encourage you to do so, as it’s contradictory in and of itself.  She clearly states in her own words that  we assured her that no other squirrels were present, yet also states that we told her that the “remaining squirrels” would die-off in 24 hours.  We typically set traps in 5 day intervals because of the unpredictability of wild animals.  Exclusion work is typically completed about a week or so after setting the first trap.  Once we were contacted by this customer and told that there was still a squirrel inside the home we immediately moved to resolve this issue and sent a tech out right away.  After several visits to this customer’s house and because of the aggressive nature of this customer’s phone calls to our office we felt the best decision was to just refund this customer’s money, in-full.  Any work we completed here was for free.  Including removing the additional squirrel that she mentions above at no cost.  We even went out of our way to contact an HVAC company and try to set an appointment for them to get out to this customer’s home.  When we tried to set-up an appointment for our tech and the HVAC company to go out to this customer’s house we were informed that the customer had her own maintenance person cut open the inaccessible vent and remove a baby squirrel.  We were informed that this issue had been fully addressed and as we had already refunded this customer’s money there was nothing further to resolve.  We also reimbursed her for the full amount that she paid her maintenance person.  This ended up costing our company money in the end and we were still given a negative review.  We were a bit surprised to find that a customer whom we had refunded, paid for additional work to be done at her home, and went out of our way to accommodate had written the above review.    We hope this is helpful to anyone reading this.  Whether a negative review or a glowing 5 star review we appreciate and welcome all customer feedback.  We will use this to better serve our customers in the future.    Thank you, Budget Pest Control, Inc.

Hello,   Thank you for the review.  We apologize for any inconvenience or trouble this may have caused you.  The following account is simply to provide context to any potential customer reading this.  We would first like to state as clearly as possible for anyone reading this...

complaint that this customer did not hire our company for a real estate inspection.  We were hired to determine the extent of a possible rodent infestation, which is generally referred to as a “pest inspection”.   The sale of the home was not contingent upon the work we were hired to do.  Please note that when hired to complete this type of work we are typically given full access to the home, top-to-bottom.  This is the only way for any company to get a full picture of a customer’s pest issue.  There was a small amount of rodent droppings found during the initial visit, as the customer had cleaned up most of the droppings before we arrived.  The customer did not previously disclose to our company that they had already cleaned up the majority of the rodent droppings before we came out.  It was not until after our visit that the customer informed us of this.  During the initial visit our tech was asked to take a look at the basement and the exterior of the property as specifically requested by the customer and her husband.  The customer actually emailed our office afterwards and clearly states in the email that they did not have our tech check the whole house.  When we enter a customer’s home we are a guest.  While we always recommend checking the entire home/property, we have to work within the areas we’re given access to.  We’d also like to point out that the customer contacted our office the same day to set-up service.  The service was completed several days later, so we’re a bit confused about the customer’s timeline of finding rodents after their closing.  We had pointed out the small amount of rodent droppings during our first visit, along with several possible entry points.  Before completing the actual treatment we explained that once we service it will take approximately two weeks to resolve their rodent infestation.  This complaint was posted on June 14th, about a week after the service.  We also provided a two month warranty with this service, that the customer has declined to utilize.     Regards, Budget Pest Control, Inc.

Review: Feb. 17 We received carpenter ant treatment inside our house but were concerned about spraying the exterior where fruit trees grow against our home's foundation. The tech assured us he would be careful. When he finished, I gave him a credit card, & signed a form which I assumed was for the card authorization. The service included a 2-month warranty & wed get free follow-up treatment.April 14 We received follow-up treatment after seeing ants around April 5. We told the tech "no spraying outside!", because our yard was filled with birds & fruit trees were budding.June 30 I got a call at work from a tech outside my house to do a treatment. I hadnt scheduled a service and hadnt seen ants. He said to call back when I wanted another treatment. My wife came home and found a bill in the door for $63.13. We concluded the tech confused us with another client & there was a misunderstanding.Afterwards I got 2 calls from a Rep to schedule a treatment. Both times, I told him wed call when we needed one. August 2 My wife came home & found a bill in the mail for $63.13. We assumed the bill was a duplicate from June 30 & was a billing error.September 6 My wife found a bill stuck in the door for $189.39. This was getting weird. She called Budget and spoke with [redacted] who said a tech had serviced our home that day. My wife said that was impossible because no one was home. [redacted] said the bill was for servicing the exterior on 3 separate occasions, after we signed up for the Regular Service. My wife insisted we never signed for that and never authorized spraying our homes exterior. [redacted] said we received the treatment & it must be paid.At one point, my neighbor said he noticed the Budget truck, saw the tech knock on the door, return to his truck, and then stick a paper in the door. He never saw him spray anything. So, our blackberries, strawberries, tomatoes, basil, and peaches that were growing were either contaminated or they didnt provide the service they stated.Desired Settlement: Settle bill in full.

Business

Response:

In response to the complaint filed by Mr. [redacted], our records indicate that service was initially provided to him to treat for general crawling insects, specifically carpenter ants in February 2013. Budget Pest Control's technician, [redacted] provided them with this service and proceeded to sign them up for our regular service program per their request.

Our procedure for our regular service is this: If a customer signs up for regular service, we contact them for their very first appointment to explain our program. It is very important to have us come out every two months to keep their home protected and under warranty as the treatment starts to break down after the two-month mark. We contacted the [redacted] via the phone number they provided on April 19th at 12:49 pm where we explained in detail how we provide our regular service and told them exactly when we would be out to service them and did this for all subsequent appointments. If we do not get ahold of our customers after one week's time, we automatically place them in our schedule, but do leave a detailed voice message. We left messages for them each time we serviced letting them know exactly what day and time frame we would be there.

Due to the type of treatment we provide, we are able to service exterior only to help keep our valuable customers protected from their pests. Our customers are able to cancel services at any time as we do not have contracts. All they have to do is call the office and state they want to cancel services. We have no record of the [redacted] cancellation and we ultimately had to cancel their service due to non-payment. We leave work orders for our clients at their homes after each service letting them know that we provided the service. The [redacted] admit to receiving the work orders three times but did not contact the office to cancel services or ask about any "billing errors." They received six months worth of protection and warranties for carpenter ant and general crawling insect treatment and did not pay Budget Pest Control, Inc. the $189.39 they owed.

When we treat the outside, we only treat along the foundation of the home. We do not treat plant material, nor is the product we use an airborne application. It is a controlled treatment that does not go into the air and affect trees, birds or any other living creature. The tech that did the initial service was the one that did all subsequent appointments, minus the final. Our technicians are registered and thoroughly trained and know exactly where treatment needs to be applied.

To assist this customer, in good faith, we offered him $63.13 off of his account and will still honor this. He stated he would think about this and get back with us.

Consumer

Response:

We never spoke with anyone from Budget on April 19 about the regular service or who gave us a detailed explanation about the service.

Review: I received a bill for two service calls that were not authorized. Budget is claiming a service man came to my house and performed a service. As the service would involve coming into my home to perform an inspection and there was no one home on either date, I don't see how a complete service could have been performed. They are claiming they provided an outdoor service. No one was home to witness any service being provided.Desired Settlement: Ideally, I would like the charges zeroed out as I cannot verify that any service was provided. I have paid for services rendered when I was present at house and had authorized service person to come into my home.

Business

Response:

Dear Revdex.com of Western Pennsylvania,

Aforementioned customer called on June 13, 2013 and spoke with Office Manager of Budget Pest Control, Inc. Since October 2, 2012 customer has been enrolled in our Regular Service Program. We service every two months to keep the customers property protected. We service the exterior, or if the customer would like we service the interior and exterior. The price remains the same either way, as long as the services occur in two month intervals. Customer can cancel service at anytime. A verbal or written statement is all that is needed to cancel services.

The customer stated that she is not going to pay for the two services and will ‘fire us’ if I refuse to remove the charges. I explained to her that we keep records of our calls, and we called and left a message on her voicemail on 5/28, 6/1, 6/2, 6/3, 6/4, And on 6/6 left a detailed message stating we would be out on 6/10 between 4-6p to perform a service on the exterior to keep the property protected and if wanted to have interior service also to call us and we can adjust the appointment or do the interior anytime during the two months after. We arrived at 4:41p and finished the service at 4:58p In April 2013 she returned our two messages left and scheduled interior and exterior that service. In February 2013 we called and left a message on her voicemail on 2/5, 2/7, 2/9, 2/11, And on 2/13 left a detailed message stating we would be out on 2/18 between 4-6p to perform a service on the exterior to keep the property protected and if wanted to have interior service also to call us and we can adjust the appointment or do the interior anytime during the two months after. We arrived at 3:58p and finished the service at 4:19p. This call and complaint on June 13 was the first time we have heard from the customer expressing dissatisfaction on our services.

Not only do we feel we have satisfied the terms of agreement but we feel we have went above and beyond by offering to come back out to customers property at no charge to do interior service.

Thank you,

President

Budget Pest Control, Inc.

Consumer

Response:

The problem I was having in my house involved animals getting into the attic. I have a wooded lot, the animals climb the trees and drop onto the roof and get into my attic. The ground treatment will not prevent this. I also take exception to the voice mail messages, the February matter in particular. There was not even a bill left in my door to show they were there in February. No one should come to my house without my permission.

I offered a compromise on the bill and paid half as payment in full as only exterior service was rendered.

Regards,

Business

Response: