I give them 5 stars for:
* excellent, friendly, professional service
* highly knowledgable and willing to explain their services in detail
* effective results to the root of the underlying problem (so it won't re-occur)
* fair and reasonable in price
* "truly green" (not "green-washed") and sustainable in their integrated pest management techniques.
Here's our experience:
My older parents had an uncommon and serious problem with biting mites that showed up as an occasional rash, that would eventually go away with topical medication from the dermatologist. Only many months later, after several cycles of rash/medication/relief did we learn that invisible biting mites were suspected...but how to know for sure? The typical approach appeared to be spraying toxic substances throughout the home somewhat indiscriminately, escalating the toxins and intensity "as needed..." This seemed to be a very irresponsible and potentially hazardous approach, but virtually every exterminator proposed this approach when pressed.
Because of my general concern about dangerous substances used by pest control companies, the unknown effects they may have on humans and the environment, enhanced by the fact that we have a young toddler that often visits my parent's home...this was not acceptable to my family.
Through substantial research, contacting a venerable (30 yr old) bay area organization called BIRC (Bio-Integral Resource Center www.birc.org) that specializes in "finding non-toxic and least-toxic, integrated pest management (IPM) solutions to urban and agricultural pest problems;" I learned that most extermination companies offered useless "guarantees" where they come out repeatedly if necessary and spray increasingly toxic/risky stuff until the mites go away (or until you give up). Louis Agurto of PesTec was highly recommended. And all the other mainstream companies I spoke to recommended using an agent that my research indicated was commonly *misused* for mites and is essentially useless (works for fleas)...they would presumably have to come back and use the much more toxic stuff.
Louis Agurto, the owner of Pestec and he and his son (Louis, Jr.) gave us several free phone consultations (no other company had nearly enough knowledge nor caring to deal with our less mainstream problem). PesTec educated us, helped us narrow down the problem with trapping/testing we could conduct ourselves, and then even asked us to send samples to them (as well as the health dept) for positive microscopic identification. They even told us how we could do it ourselves if we wanted, but we elected to hire them to do the job. When they came out, they were professional, knowledgeable, and efficient. We learned that birds/rats were suspected of hosting/carrying the mites, so Pestec did a very effective and reasonably priced rat "exclusion" effort (ie blocked any/all entrances rats might find into the basement, attic, walls, ducts, etc.). The project went very well, and they were absolutely correct in their assessment. We had Zero toxics sprayed in our home, and the problem was finally solved!
Had we gone with any one of the other companies I had called, and I called quite a few, I'm sure we would have had ongoing problems, and toxics sprayed throughout our family home. I'm thankful we didn't go there. I later heard other good things about Pestec (their green ecology approach and eco-management techniques), and i learned that they lead an innovative initiative for sustainable eradication of west nile mosquito in SF using bike messengers instead of trucks to set/refill traps throughout the city.
So I naturally assumed these guys were golden...but to my surprise when I checked Yelp when recommending them to our friend, some people were just slamming them! Why? I'm not saying that PesTec is the model of perfection, but I suspect a major problem is in people's expectations: Most people want a quick easy fix, and really don't care to look deeper into "minor details" like how exposure to highly toxic, poorly understood substances might affect their family in the years to come, or how these agents affect the environment. And some people are not willing to look into a pest problem to solve it at it's root, because it may take a little longer or may be a little more complicated than they would prefer. It's much easier (and profitable for mainstream pest companies) to just "call in an air strike", repeatedly without any real thought to the consequences, and avoid concerning oneself with the environmental and the yet unknown physiological effects this may have in the future... read more