I would give zero stars if I could. Terrible experience.
When we purchased our home, we discovered a carpenter ant infestation. When I called Orkin, the first service rep I spoke with told me that during the first visit to our home, the exterminator would spend 1-2 hours total in our house and would locate all nests to treat/remove them. According to him, treating for carpenter ants without locating the nests was pointless, because they would return. None of the other 7-8 exterminators I called promised to find the nests, so I decided to go with Orkin.
I called back and spoke to a second service representative, who had a *lot* of trouble figuring out how much my services would cost. First, she told me that the price quoted by the original service provider was wrong. Okay, no big deal. She quoted me a second price. A few minutes later, she told me that she had calculated it wrong and gave me a third price. Fine. But I wanted to understand why the prices were different, and she couldn't seem to answer the question.
Whatever, it wasn't worth wasting time to figure out. I prepaid for a year of services, which included a more expensive first visit (the one where I was told the nests would be found) and then shorter, cheaper follow up visits every other month.
I confirmed with her before hanging up that the exterminator would be at our home for at least an hour during the first visit and that he would find the nests at that time. Her exact response to me was, "Of course! What's the point of treating for them if they don't find the nests?"
The first exterminator was polite and respectful, but when he arrived and I asked about him finding the nests, he looked very confused and said that that wasn't normally part of their service. I expressed my surprise and told him about my previous two conversations, and he apologized and told me that he didn't know why I had been told that, but that he wouldn't be able to do that that day. He said maybe the next person could do it.
Well, two months later, and I get a text about 3 days in advance of a service date saying that my next appointment had been scheduled (I was *not* contacted in advance to schedule my service; Orkin scheduled it without contacting me). When the next exterminator arrived and I opened the door to greet him, he literally asked me why he was there. He seemed to have no clue about what service he was to be providing. Didn't inspire much confidence, and it seemed pointless to ask him about finding the nests. He was at my home for maybe 5 minutes, and that was it. He didn't even check or change the ant trap the previous exterminator left on our first service date. I've never spent $90 for 5 minutes of work before. Unbelievable.
Again, two months later, I received a text message stating that our next service date had been scheduled for about three days later (again, without anyone contacting me to schedule it).
I called Orkin, because I wanted to cancel this appointment based the issues above and wanted a refund for the services we had prepaid for four months earlier that we hadn't received.
The first woman I spoke to told me that scheduled appointments had to be cancelled 30 DAYS in advance to get a refund. I asked her how she expected me to give them 30 days notice to cancel my service when I was only informed of the service date four days before the service. She had no answer for that and quickly transferred me to a manager.
The manager asked me about why we were cancelling, and I was honest. I told her everything I wrote above. She seemed disbelieving that I had been told that the nests would be located, saying "There's no way we could provide that service. We just don't have the time for an exterminator to spend an hour at one house." Which, as I told her, is fine...BUT they shouldn't promise it if they can't deliver. I told her repeatedly that two different service representatives had confirmed for me that they would find the nests, and she continued to question me. After I insisted multiple times that I wanted my money back for the services I prepaid for, she finally agreed and said that I should receive a check within three weeks. She ended the conversation by telling me that she was sorry that I "was confused about their services." She took absolutely zero responsibility on behalf of the company that their reps had misrepresented their services to me and instead blamed it on me, telling me that I had "misunderstood." I don't know how it would have been possible for me to misunderstand when two people told me "What separates Orkin from other exterminators is that we find the nests. It's pointless to treat for carpenter ants if you don't find the nests."
Altogether an atrocious experience. Never again, Orkin. Never again. read more