I was terrified to be seated in a chair in my bedroom, when all of a sudden the largest rat that I have ever seen in my life ran across the room right in front of me. I called several friends and family members to get help and advice on my new roommate. The over all information I was able to obtain was that about 5 years ago or so roof rats had been assumed to have been transported into our little town of Ridgecrest, by deliveries of manure from Bakersfield to one of our stores for resale. Who knows, but I have lived in Ridgecrest all of my life and we have never had rats here before. I was told that they are very smart, very large and was advised to get a professional exterminator to handle the job. I called Stafford Pest Control because I had used them years ago and was very satisfied with their service. I called and was told that I had to pay up front $250.00 before someone would even come out. This would cover inspection, traps, glue trap strips and poison, what ever it took to get rid of the rat or rats. That there would be regular checks and a inspection would be done to detect how they were getting in the house. The first guy showed up a week later put down 4 spring traps and he was going to leave. I asked him about the glue traps, he did not have any on the truck, so he would have to come back and bring them back to me. Oh ya, he said they don't used rat poison, when I asked about that type of extermination. He never brought the glue traps back. I had to call a couple of days later and ask for them again. During that first visit he also told me that the rat exterminator would be coming in few days to do his inspection. This 2nd guy showed up about a week later, did his inspection told me that he had to write up the bid and he would bring it back in about a week. He brought back the bid which stated it would be a $1000.00 to block a few holes that he suspected the rats could have gotten in. He told me no to call the office because he was going to talk to the owners because the $250.00 should have been included the $1000.00. That has now been 2 months ago. This was right before Christmas and I am a Senior citizen that is confined to a wheel chair. I was scared to death of this rat in every way, I was not sleeping, eating or handling this very well having to live with this rat. I had to cancel having Christmas with my family in my home. It really started affecting my health by the middle of Jan. Then one day the rat got trapped in a vent in my utility door.I called my Son and he can and killed it. This was truly the worse service that I have ever received from any business in my life. I also loaned a tool to the rat expert that he has never returned to me. Long gone just like my hard earned $250,00. I am very thankful I still have my $1000.00. read more
