Diamondback Pest Management, Inc

Review: I contacted Diamondback Pest Management in May of 2014 regarding a rodent issue. I met the person at my home and explained that we had some type of rodent. He looked at the house, said the ridge vent was bad, and that there were bat droppings in our attic. He said the issue was most likely bats and that he would net our home for the summer. In July after the house was netted, I observed a chipmunk entering the chimney area. I called the gentleman and left a message asking that someone come over and look by our chimney as I had seen the chipmunk and heard him running above the ceiling. In this voicemail I advised to NOT DO the ridge vent replacement or anything else to our home without speaking with me first. In August I returned home and found two men from the pest company here. They had already torn off the ridge vent, despite my prior voicemail to not do anything without speaking to me first. Now I keep receiving a $1300 bill from them for replacing the ridge vent, which I did not authorize, and 8 months later we still have the chipmunk problem near the chimney and in the attic. I did some pricing on the ridge vent work with a contractor and found that an average replacement was $500, which even though I did not authorize, I would be willing to pay for. I am not willing to pay $1300 as nothing else was done and we still have the same rodent problem. Never during any of this process was a contract given to us and we have nothing in writing from them, and they have nothing in writing from us.Desired Settlement: We would like to receive a new bill for the ridge vent work only, as nothing else was done pertaining to the rodent problem.

Business

Response:

This is a response to your letter regarding service performed by Diamondback Pest Mgt., Inc.We first went out to inspect the home on June 16th 2014. The exterior roof and soffit area as well asthe attic were inspected for the type of wildlife and points of entry that were causing the pest issue.It was determined that bats were getting into the ridge vent area. The ridge vent is the most commonarea where bats are able to squeeze into due to warping of ridge vent materials. On the inside of theattic a large amount of mouse feces and bat guano were found. There was no evidence of chipmunkdroppings. In fact since chipmunks are burrowing rodents we have never ru n across a situation wherechipmunk droppings are found in the attic. After the inspection you did agree to the work proposedand the cost of $1,300, in the state of Wisconsin a verbal agreement is binding. As far as getting aprice of $500 for ridge vent replacement that price would not include; exclusion, clean-up ofhazardous materials (bat guano) or sanitizing.Unfortunately, we have no records of a voice mail being left not to do \he ridge vent work so thework was done as first agree to. As far as the clean up and sanitizing this is done when the ridge ventmaterials are removed from the outside, we do have before and after pictures. We do guarantee ourwork but do not recall getting a call after the work was completed that there were still issues. We dofollow up on calls after the work is completed but the customer does have to contact us.We would be happy to come out, weather permitting and inspect the property to address any issues.

Consumer

Response:

Took a long time to get down here to take care of bat issue in our house. Had a hard time getting warranty for services in writing on paper. Sent Check with letter requesting warranty and rec'd zero response back. Several weeks later a response was given to our insurance they will send written warranty/gaurantee. 2nd issue: Work not completed. After they "Finished" the job, We still found another live bat in our house. They came back and put up netting. Need to see if this works or not. Another pest control service came by to put out baits for possible mice in house. They found mouse dropping AND bat droppings. Do we still have a bat problem?? Why is there bat droppings after Diamondback did a cleanup? Unknown variables. Job is not completed until we know the bats are no longer able to enter our house. Must wait until warmer weather to determine if bat problem is actually solved or not. Bats will hibernate for winter. Bat problem unresolved for now.