Critter Bros contacted me via Angi to set up an inspection at our house in the SF Bay Area. We talked to about a dozen contractors and their tech was among the most personable and patient in explaining what they noted and the services they could provide. While we had initially started this process based on seeing a mouse in our house a few months prior and our priority of getting rid of anything that would attract rattlesnakes to our property, Critter Bros was the only contractor to 1) note the presence of bat guano on a few of our walls (confirmed by everyone we talked to about that afterwards), 2) have the qualifications for bat approval work, 3) claim to be able to work on our steel tile roof type, and 4) promise to provide work that would exclude both rodents AND bets. Most importantly to us, we were promised that their services would include technicians sealing all entry points on our roof and the second-story eaves since our roof has a void between the outer metal shingle layer and the existing wood shake the shingles were installed on top of.
Their quote was a bit higher than the others we received, but they assured us that their work would eliminate and exclude both bats and rodents, so it seemed worthwhile. We signed the agreement and were happy with our choice.
After the first visit, we realized that nobody had even gotten on the roof as promised. I was home all day and in an upstairs room, so I definitely would have heard the sound of a grown man walking on the roof - I can hear a squirrel running across that thing. Instead, they simply sprayed some neon orange foam gap filler at a half dozen seams, installed a couple bat funnels and a few plastic anti-bat spike strips (puncturing our downspouts in the process), and replaced our existing garage sweep (which had a small gap on either end) with a new sweep that left even larger gaps and could be pushed in by any animal even in the center part that actually touched the ground. They did not install the wire mesh in the large gaps as discussed, did not install the 8ft garage sweep on the third garage bay (since we told them during the initial walkthrough that that door couldn't open regardless), and most importantly didn't do any work whatsoever on the roof.
When I reached out to ask about the roof and whether we could get an itemized invoice to determine deductions for the work that wasn't done or was never needed, those requests were ignored in favor of claiming that the roof work WAS done, the techs just forgot to take photos of any of it.. even though they took thorough photos from every angle of the work they did do. Sure. They promised that the techs would take photos of their roof work when they returned, which was a pretty blatant way to give them time to do that work the second time they came out rather than just admit that the work wasn't done as promised. The deductions for unnecessary or poorly done work was never even considered.
When the techs (who are awesome by the way, they're only working with the awful instructions they've been given) returned to remove the funnels, they found rats in the traps that were placed in the garage attic, proving that the concerns Critter Bros had dismissed in favor of upselling us to bat work were valid. At no point were the techs ever instructed by the office team to go on the roof and fill any gaps, not even the ones visible from ground level that the initial salesperson and I pointed to during the first walkthrough.
Of course, nobody reached out regarding the trapped rats. I had to email them, and only after providing a deadline to respond did they get back to me claiming that they did not receive the first email (it was sent to the scheduler I'd been working with the whole time and the owner of this company) and that they have no idea what rats I'm talking about.
At this point, I strongly doubt that I will ever get the promised work actually completed. If the Nevada contingent of this company wants to reach out and let me know how they can make this right, I'm all ears. I have given this local office more than enough chances to be honest and diligent about their work, and instead of offer to refund me for work they didn't do, they just keep gaslighting me about what is or isn't needed to control pests at our house, gaslighting me about what work was even performed on previous visits, and sending these poor dudes out to perform more unnecessary work concocted in a clumsy attempt to justify the initial inflated costs.
At the end of the day, we are out more than $3k and our house is not any better protected from rodents than it was on day one. With the punctured downspouts and awful garage sweep, we are likely worse than when we started. Unless this is addressed soon we will just recover those costs through small claims. read more
