I've never had such strange and unprofessional experience with a vendor... and I deal with various types of vendors all the time.
Sorry this is long... I want to try and provide most the details.
I scheduled a job with Sam to spray the exterior perimeter of the yard, exterior of the home, interior of the home, and check/remove rat traps in the attic (which were installed by another vendor who we have since continued service with). I gave Sam all the specifics about the property for the job. All seemed well... until their employee arrived.
I work for the homeowner. The FPC employee was younger than me so I'll just refer to him as The Kid since I don't know his name. He arrived 45 minutes early but didn't ask if it was ok to start working... we needed to bring the dogs in from outside first but he went straight into the back yard anyway.
The owners decided not to spray inside the house that day because of the dogs... The Kid was unhappy about it and called his boss. He then told me they wouldn't be spraying the entire yard because they thought it would be smaller. That still makes no sense to me, why would you only spray part of the yard for bugs? Plus I already told Sam the lot size etc... ok whatever, we agreed to pay extra for him to spray the whole yard.
About 25 minutes later, the owner approached me about concerns that cobwebs/spider webs were still all over outside. I checked where The Kid had dusted and the owner was correct. I tried to politely ask The Kid, "How clean is it supposed to be?" He snapped back at me that he had already been doing it too long-- that he's only supposed to clean the exterior for 20 minutes-- and that he will call his boss if I want him too. I was taken aback; his response was uncalled for.
After that, I went to show him into the home where he would enter the attic to remove the traps. I told him I'd help him with our ladder since his was too small to reach. He became reluctant and worried, saying, "Wait how high up is it? I don't know... I'll need to see it first." The ceiling height to the attic is only 12 feet.
Anyway, we got the ladder set and I held it while he climbed up, poked his head in for about 20 seconds and shined his phone around before saying, "No, there's no traps up here." I told him that the traps are inside, that he couldn't see them from the ladder. I also offered him a flashlight and told him that the lightswitch was just above if he actually went inside.
What happened next was out of the twilight zone... he freaked out, ran outside, and told me to give him a minute. I waited and figured something was wrong so I followed to ask if everything was ok... he yelled at me, "Just stay back! Give me a minute. Stay back!"
I had no idea what the problem was. I figured he was calling his boss. Sure enough, within minutes Sam called me and started yelling at me, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? YOU CAN'T ABUSE MY EMPLOYEES LIKE THAT!" I was shocked, and confused. Nothing had even happened. He was accusing me of abusing his employee... forcing him into a 120-degree attic with no lights, and for yelling at him. This is unbelievable to me, and I'm still upset by the accusations.
I didn't know what else to do or how to explain this to the homeowners--but I fired Facility Pest Control and asked them to leave. This whole ordeal still upsets me. read more