So here's the thing with Orkin…read more
First of all, when they sent the document basically wanting blanket auth to charge anything they wanted on my card...no. I refused to sign that, instead I pay by check for each service. You need to know your rights - you are NOT required to give them a credit/debit card nor should you. I understand in this era of fast payments you don't want to write a check - you go right ahead and give that card while they charge endlessly to where you're forced to do a stop. Go right ahead.
I digress.
Second, the techs (both of them) were respectful, polite and seemed to want to do the best job. The problem is procedure.
Orkin is a "spray and pray" service. They don't triage to understand EXACTLY what's wrong. They'll tell you "oh, that's a free service if you want it", then charge you to fix it. So the spray guys are essentially just spraying chemicals with unknown health impacts to the residents and without understanding whether it's even necessary to begin with.
The first guy was specifically told that I needed to understand how insects are even getting in to begin with. He said he would look around. After he was done, he mentioned he had placed stick traps and to keep an eye out.
The problem with this: he placed stick traps at two of the window wells that, when the wind really kicked up, I observed that basically there was a 6-inch gap between the floor joist and the well glass, such that you could even stick your arm completely out. He never brought this to attention, but it means there was no way he checked.
I remediated these myself with R38. Insects are still present outside with no noticeable decrease. 90% decrease of insects inside the basement (after my insulation install). So that was $150 for (basically) four stick traps that cost about $20 total.
Second guy comes, and I tell him to just spray the outside since the inside was an oversight of the first guy and not an actual interior infestation. He shakes his head (at the ineptitude of the first guy), apologizes that happened, the proceeds to spray.
The problem with this: he never asked about specific types of insects. The invoice said that he sprayed for spiders only. While it is true that there's a bit of a spider problem, there are way more problems, such as flies that congregate around the outdoor lights, ladybugs (this is a BIG problem), silverfish, and other crawly type insects. So another $100 for a service that didn't cover the actual problem.
Someone reached out after I submitted a service review, and I explained the oversight of the first guy (the second guy was just doing his job and never made any direct promises or statements of what he would do). She says, basically, that they don't look for problems, they just spray, it's another group that actually looks for problems. Just like it's another group that does sealing, etc. I told them to cancel immediately (and they don't have my card, so they don't have a choice in the matter).
In summary: Orkin's "spray and pray" might work for less aware homeowners, maybe? But it's not the right answer. What they need to do is create a task force approach:
- Assessment guy (or gal) goes out there WITH the spray guy (or gal) and WITH the insulation guy (or gal) to do a walkthrough of all known problems.
- Assessment person makes a plan with the other two about how they're going to solve the problem.
- Between the three of them they rotate visits doing their thing while Assessment person continually checks for needed adjustments to the plan, until the situation is solved.
I know why they don't do this. It's because their charges are 95% labor. To do it right, they would need to charge you $500/visit, and they know most homeowners won't do that (because most homeowners won't pay unless and until they know it's fixed). The way you solve that is with a lien if they don't pay.
Either way, I would never recommend this. And I'm aware that Terminix and others do basically the same thing.
