Last summer, I was having an issue with skunks tearing up my yard. I initially called Nature's Way Pest Control and they referred me here since John is located in Peru and I am in Plattsburgh. As others mentioned, the pricing was not well explained past the $60 dollars. He came when I wasn't home so I'm not sure how much he looked around the property. Set up two traps. Over several days the traps had nothing in them. When I called I was told to just put marshmallows leading into the traps. About 3 days in a racoon was caught. The poor thing was overheating in the trap (plastic walls rather than cage like a have-a-heart) and I was tempted to let it go. John's son came and picked up the trap with the racoon. At that point I decided to just call it quits since we weren't really getting anywhere and they picked up the other trap as well. Another thing that had bothered me was they had political "memes" taped to the traps. While I don't really care who you support, I did not find that professional at all to do with a business. I am only writing my review now because I am currently having another issue with squirrels and Nature's Way referred me to him again. After seeing the negative reviews this time, I decided I should probably relay my account as well to help people decide on a more professional service. read more

I should have listened to the one review I found on yelp for this guy, but was referred to him by another pest company. I first called Natures Way to help with the squirrels in my walls, only to find out once they got here they don't have squirrel service in my area (Plattsburgh NY) so they referred me to John at Critter Getter. He came out, we explained we can hear the squirrels in the walls, we are 90% they are red squirrels, we've seen them out front but can't find exactly where they are entering. John set 2 traps in front of my house, said to call if we caught anything. He never set foot in our home, or attempted to find the entrance besides walking around half the house and speculating that they are getting in the eaves. He never mentioned the pricing, and it's on us for not asking up front, but I'll get to that later. We caught a chipmunk a couple times, and let it go. A couple days later he showed up to check the traps, apparently confused that someone had called complaining on my behalf (which was not us). I informed him we only caught a chipmunk and let it go. He said we should have called him, and that I didn't reset the trap right, he rebaited it, left. Since then we didn't catch another living thing although the bait was gone and the trap was closed today. At this point it was clear this guy was not going to be the help we need. We had another company come out on a Friday and he spent time on our roof and around our home finding the potential sources, rigging them to determine which is the source and preventing anything from getting back in at these locations, and setting traps within our walls (which we have access to based on already having many access panels in our house. Something john could have done if he bothered to come inside). It's now Monday, and we haven't heard anything in the walls since, so I told John he can come get his traps. When he came to get the traps, which never caught a single squirrel, the charge was $60 for the initial trapping plus another $60 for the chipmunk that we released! Because 'we reset it wrong' that meant he didn't have a chance to catch anything else. If we had let his stupid traps sit there we would have racked up who knows how many chipmunks or other creatures that were not the problem in our house - at $60 a pop. I basically paid him just to not have to deal with him anymore, but wish I hadn't. Maybe this guy used to do a good job, but it's time to retire. Don't hire John at Critter Getter, hire Jim Burgess for AFE Nuisance Wildlife Control instead. He serves the entire north country including St. Lawrence and Clinton counties. I wish I had found his info first! He did a great job and actually helped us with our squirrel issue, finding the entry point and sealing it up. read more

Mr. John Phillips was called to come trap and remove raccoons. He said he charged $60. He came and was having trouble breathing, and complained about medication he is taking, so after he spread peanut butter in the traps, his wife and I put them in the yard (one in the back yard, two in the front). He told me not to set the traps until dark because during the day I would catch squirrels. I was surprised that I had to go outside in the dark to set the traps for him. That night, my husband and I set the traps, and commented on how the traps were an odd design we weren't familiar with. They do not look like Have-a-Heart traps. (They are white buckets with tiny screens in the front and a rod that slides through the top.) The next morning we saw two traps were sprung by one skunk and one opossum. My husband had a hard time letting them out of the traps- they seemed stuck and unable to turn around. John, when called was upset we'd let animals out of his traps. (He'd never said we couldn't.) He said he would have done it, and he would have transported them someplace else to release. My mother asked him to pick up his traps, but he insisted we re-bait them with marshmallows for another night. We caught no animals. After researching, we discovered these traps are designed to drown animals (though I do not know for sure if he does that). My husband called and asked him to pick up his traps. John picked them up and left a bill for 129.60. When called, he insisted the extra 60 is because he picked up his own traps- the ones he never set, and baited only one time. I told him that was outrageous. There was no written contract, and NO verbal agreement to pay $60 every time he came to the house. His business is 20 miles from ours- certainly not worth 60 in gas. I told him so, and when I tried to tell him we would pay him only 60 with tax, he said I was "only upset because no raccoons were caught", and he hung up me! I do not believe, because Mr. John Phillips did not provide a written contract detailing his charges he should be able to charge the $129.60 he charged. Additionally, on the phone he said his charge was $60- but did not specify if that was $60 a day, $60 for every animal caught, $60 for gas, $60 for every time he came to the house, etc. If we had known he was going to charge an additional $60 just to pick up his traps, we'd have driven them over to his business. read more