When we purchased our home (2011) we had a termite inspection done as part of the purchase agreement since termites are prevalent in KY. The inspection came back clean no termite tunnels no damage wood nothing that would indicate termites had been active around the house. I had noted that there were stumps of trees within 20 feet of the home that had insect (termite, ant whatever) activity and wanted to be sure that we were not going to have issues in the future. These stumps were removed and the ground was treated.
We subsequently signed a contract with Orkin for annual inspection, an initial treatment around the house, installation of 48 bait traps and annual service.
After the initial start up inspection and service I was not satisfied with the conduct or service except for three occasions between 20111-2019.
Every year, I had to contact Orkin for service and set up a date. They would send the bill for service 2-3 months in advance of the contract date and according to them, if I did not pay in advance they would not provide service.
The second year I had made time to stay home for the inspection. I was in the kitchen when I saw the truck arrive. In the time that it took me to finish the dishes, get my coat and grab the keys and flashlight for an anticipated inspection of the crawl space (15 minutes) the individual, who turned out to be a sales person, informed me that the inspection service was only to spot check a few of the traps and do an outside surveillance of the property and that the 4 bait stations he had looked at appeared to be fine ( I did not that he did not have a tool for inspection on his person). My expectation was that there was to be an inspection, replacement of bait in all traps and a report from them that we had no termites or to inform us of other pests. This did not happen. And as I told my wife later that day, "If I had not been at the house, how would we even know they had been there to fullfill their (Orkin) part of the contract?".
In the subsequent 7 year period, I had to schedule the visits, had to be present, had only 4 sessions of technicians coming for bait trap re-fill and had to schedule separate dates for the sales persons to come for the inspections, who, when they came on these separate scheduled visits tried to sell me other services that Orkin could provide. These sales persons inspected the premises for Termites (our original requested service) but never provided us with a report. I asked for a report specifically so I could have it for our records of having no insect activity. This report would be of benefit to myself as a home owner and to them as a service provider. None was ever provided. I only have receipts for the visits.
I have had another service come this year and happily can report that we still have no activity and I do have a report.
Please note that the technicians that came, did a great job, the two that were willing to talk to me about the service both stated that they were working excessive hours and the "inspectors" who did none of the bait station work were in effect sales persons.
I support Orkin as a company and believe they have good product. But I would not use the Lexington service. read more