I purchased my house in December of 2010 and before moving anything into the house I had Orkin treat my house and check for activity from any pests. Based on their recommendation, I've had them come out quarterly to treat my house for bugs and mice. They've been coming to my house for three and a half years and never missed one of their appointments. I've even had to call them to come back between appointments, because I've spotted activity.
My house backs to the woods and every winter I have to deal with mice entering my house. Since I've lived in my house the issue has gotten worse each winter. This winter has by far been the worst to where I can hear them inside the walls and in the attic. Orkin has come out to try to take care of the issue, but all they've done is put glue traps inside and poison outside. They clearly weren't trying to figure out where they were getting in, because one night while sitting outside I noticed a good size hole where it looked like the mice were getting in. I had to bring the hole to their attention and then they finally filled it with wire mesh. If my untrained eye can see the hole from six feet away, I don't know why they couldn't find it.
I told them for months that I was hearing something in the attic and I was ignored. The last time they came out, I told them again that I was hearing something in the attic and nothing was done. I was told an inspector from Orkin would call me. Weeks went by and no inspector had called me. I called Orkin again to see if someone was going to come out to check the attic and they finally sent someone. The inspector opens the attic hatch and immediately tells me my attic is infested with mice and they're nesting in there. He shows me pictures of the mouse feces and the tunnels they've been making in the insulation. He says all the insulation is going to have to be removed, the attic treated and replaced with new insulation containing boric acid, which of course is a service Orkin provides. He then proceeds to tell me that it needs to be taken care of immediately, because my health is in danger and he's surprised the dogs and I haven't been feeling sick lately and that he's shocked my house isn't also infested with snakes, because they usually follow the mice, which are their food.
After working up a list of what needed to be done he gave me an estimate of roughly $6,000 to perform all the work needed to clean my attic and rid it of mice. I then explained to him that Orkin had been treating my house on a regular basis since before I even moved in, so he spoke to his supervisor and they deducted what I had paid in their services for the last two years and he gave me a total of $3,700 to perform the work. He told me it needed to be done immediately before it affected my health even more and wanted to start first thing the next morning.
When I moved into my house, the home inspector went into the attic and there was no sign of rodent activity. Shortly after that I also went in the attic and I saw no sign of rodent activity, so all this happened while under the care of Orkin. Even after repeatedly telling them I was hearing something in the attic, it was ignored for months and months until Yesterday. I was clearly paying for a service that wasn't being provided to me, now Orkin wants me to shovel out more money to cover what they neglected.
For months now I've been living with everything from my kitchen cabinets and pantry on top of my kitchen table, counters and in my sun room, to try to keep them from the mice. I've had no use of my kitchen table or counter this whole time.
I'm afraid to see the damage the mice have done to the wiring inside my walls, but I now have a GFI that trips constantly when nothing is even plugged in, even after it was replaced. I fear there's more damage inside my walls that I can't even see, because the cost could get much higher.
To make things worse, I actually have been feeling sick lately and have developed a constant cough and had been to the doctor two weeks ago for it, thinking it was allergies. Now I have a strong feeling it's from the rodent feces my dogs and I have been breathing in for months.
After complaining, I received a call from the manager at this location. He was very professional and lowered the cost to $2,400 and gave me a written guarantee that the new insulation would take care of the issue. I was later contacted by the area manager who wanted more information after receiving my complaint from the Better Business Bureau. I explained the situation to him and he gave me two quarters of free service. He also gave me his cell phone number and asked me to contact him if I had any issues with pests in the future.
I had them perform the work of removing the old insulation and installing the new insulation with boric acid. It's too soon to know if this will actually fix the issue, but I do know one thing and it's that I'm out $2,400 because of their neglect. read more