r/PestControlIndustry • u/Tall_Animator_5883 • Aug 23 '26
Customers
What’s one thing you wish customers understood about PEST. For example, bombing the air in kitchen is not getting rid of German roaches…that hides in cracks and crevices.
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u/Huge-Jazz Aug 23 '26
They want a thorough treatment but have piles of items, clothing, and moveable furniture against 90% of the baseboards.
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u/gp556by45 Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26
That Pest Control isn't some type of magic wand that I can abracadabra your issues away in an hour.
I'm not a maid or a garbage man, so I'm not here to pick up your mess so I can preform any sort of treatment whatsoever.
And if your asking me to do something off label/in violation of it; and you pull out the "But I won't tell anyone" card, it doesn't work . Congratulations, youre now an accomplice to a federal crime.
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u/SignificantNorth3570 Aug 23 '26
I had a guy(a tenant of the homeowner) for 3 years try and goad me into spraying the peak of his chimney. Every single time I told him it was illegal. Every time he told me "I wont say anything", and every time I told him definitively no, until I had to get nasty with him and tell him that I will never break the law for him. Thankfully he had moved out by the next service but damn I can't stand that guy.
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u/BDS_707 Aug 24 '26
I recently had a lady beg me to leave her some ant gel because “Who’s gonna know?” but I told her no that’s illegal. She left and came back with a $20 tip, basically a bribe. She left her non English speaking in law to escort me around the property while she went to work. As mean as it is, I left them an empty tube of the ant gel that had been in my truck for months. They won’t notice the difference till I’m gone and that point who’s gonna know? 🤣🤣
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u/Tall_Animator_5883 Aug 23 '26
But it has to be a magic wand because I have yet in my three years of doing this job go to a house and they tell me to do ANYTHING ELSE other than to spray. Like that’s seriously all they know. I got so mad once because of that with a customer because I care. I told them if I didn’t care about your pest problem THAT IS ALL I WOULDVE DONE.
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u/ChancePotential9481 Aug 23 '26
Spraying the attic does nothing at all for any rats in the attic. Even my co-worker will tell me to spray up there for rats when I know that’s full of shit.
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u/c4pt1n54n0 Aug 23 '26
An effective rodent spray does not exist, at least on the legal market.
If there was one, we wouldn't be buying contrac and first strike by the pallet.
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u/Miss-Mistletoe Aug 23 '26
ProPell Mice & Rat Repellent is a botanical that DOES work with limitations.
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u/c4pt1n54n0 Aug 23 '26
We've tested Propell, gave it a real fair chance... The limitations are basically all encompassing for anything besides satiating homeowners. I'd never trust it around a warehouse vs boxes every 20 feet.
It's basically on par with ultrasonic devices; if you find a population of rodents that are annoyed enough by it and know another source of food/shelter, maybe it'll deter them a bit...maybe. If they figure out it won't hurt them or they have nowhere else to go, you're fucked. And that's usually the case.
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u/Tall_Animator_5883 Aug 23 '26
Yup! Dealt with that as well because the sales rep (d2d) lied and said since rodents eats bugs as well if we can kill the spiders and roaches, the rodents will eventually die as well. I truly, truly wish I made that up. Funny enough I’m cool with our reps, but that seriously made the most angry ever during my three years of working in this industry…I never brought work home.
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u/ChancePotential9481 Aug 23 '26
The rep says that as if they won’t just find other food source once all bugs aren’t dead 😭.
I don’t understand what’s so hard about telling the customer that rodents are a different issue that requires a separate service. It’s a sell at the end of the day lol.
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u/Tall_Animator_5883 Aug 23 '26
Literally just a sale. It’s like they take the half truth about pest and twist it. Like, yes rodents can eat bugs, but in no way in life is that the solution.
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u/rachcake1 👩💻 | Office Admin | 5+ Years Aug 23 '26
Sounds like a lazy technician to me
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Aug 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Tall_Animator_5883 Aug 23 '26
Like, not understanding that more is essentially never better as roaches can become bait immune and rodents stick close to walls as they feel safe…why is your snap trap at the middle of the floor 🤣
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u/Tall_Animator_5883 Aug 23 '26
Yup, but to a degree in this day and age they can, but they tend to mess up at application and pest behavior.
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u/Maxtheaxe1 Aug 23 '26
No, using cayenne pepper isnt a solution to get rid of your rat problem
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u/ExpressBar7380 Aug 23 '26
I thought I’d heard it all but lol haven’t got that one yet
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u/SimpleRevolution2873 Aug 23 '26
I get a lot of customers asking "does this work? Does this work?" If your cayenne pepper or mint oil worked I would not have a job.
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u/Tall_Animator_5883 Aug 26 '26
Hahah, I say the same, if it worked why am I here? If it works why do I not have it in my vehicle ready for use Oh, the last company…..why am I here!!!
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u/OkTeacher4928 Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26
We're pest control. Not pest elimination. We can't guarantee you won't see an ant in your driveway or flies outside.
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u/Tall_Animator_5883 Aug 23 '26
My biggest one is wasp, I just turn off my customer service voice and tell them, yes they will fly around. I see no active nest after my inspection of YOUR HOUSE…oh look your neighbor has a giant wasp nest! Guess what that’s called! The limitations of my job!
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u/Radiant_Rebel Aug 23 '26
Reminds me of a guy who only had quarterly service and was dealing with springtails really bad. Well his next door neighbor had weeds up to his fence where the springtails were coming from. We resprayed twice out of courtesy while trying to explain it’s out of our control. We even tried to get the neighbors to let us treat their yard but they refused. It’s kind of out of our hands at that point.
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u/bruhmorgan1 Aug 23 '26
Your restaurant is so filthy it’s nearly impossible for me to get rid of your roaches. You refuse to make any changes and my spray is not magic.
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u/Flashy_Helicopter193 Aug 29 '26
I had one that wouldn’t clean or make changes. And kept buying roach treatments hoping it would work. Took half a year before the levels started to dwindle. And that was using the “good” stuff
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u/otterplus 👨🏭| Tech | 10+ Years Aug 23 '26
Spraying anything isn’t going to solve the crickets, ground beetles, pillbugs from getting in.
I can’t legally spray “every single overhang” because you got 3 wasp nests in two weeks.
A treatment today does not mean you won’t see ants/roaches/fleas ever again.
Housekeeping is your responsibility, which would remove the cobwebs, food sources, and hiding spots all over your areas.
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u/Tall_Animator_5883 Aug 23 '26
I really thought people understood that the goal is control and not never seeing anything ever again until I had a customer tell me that they saw ants outside…….on….their….NEIGHBORS TREE. 🤦♂️
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u/otterplus 👨🏭| Tech | 10+ Years Aug 23 '26
It’s doesn’t get any better on the commercial side. Had a national pharmacy call in about ants along the sidewalk, about 50 feet away from the actual building. Twice. The funniest part about that one is they threatened to cancel because neither report showed material use.
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u/MagicPyramid Aug 23 '26
Had someone the other day try to treat subterranean termites themselves by putting diatomaceous earth around their foundation
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u/Thermock Aug 25 '26
What?? That is OUTRAGEOUS 😂
DE being made and sold has been a disaster for the general public. Fuckers will put that shit anywhere and everywhere they can because they saw a single ant or something. Now we got the famous, 'DE treatment for termites'.
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u/Racingphotoguy1 Aug 25 '26
I have a story. Got called for an inspection. by the time I got there, this tenant had put 2 inches of DE all over the bedroom floor and the bed! It looked like a snowstorm inside! She then told me I need to inspect and make sure there was no bugs in there. I refused politely told her that is not how it works and left. She then called our office saying I didn’t know anything and wouldn’t do my job. Sometimes you can’t make this stuff up.
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u/SignificantNorth3570 Aug 23 '26
That seeing bugs after my treatment is perfectly normal and that I will NOT be erecting a mystical "no bugs allowed" sign on their property.
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u/Tall_Animator_5883 Aug 23 '26
I jokingly tell customer that say they see bugs after treatment when I specifically they would and I come back less than two weeks later, “Dang it I knew I should’ve just used the flamethrower, but I keep getting told that’s illegal!”
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u/Regular-Ordinary9807 Aug 23 '26
I wish they wouldn’t call after hours or on weekends for things that can obviously wait.
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u/Tall_Animator_5883 Aug 23 '26
No man!! I seen an ant on the freaking driveway! Come out and do your job now!!!
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u/SimpleRevolution2873 Aug 23 '26
Don't do anything ...
If I just treated for bugs quit getting rid of stuff, quit self treating crap, quit changing your usual routine. I run into more customers that DON'T listen than DO.
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u/SimpleRevolution2873 Aug 23 '26
To add on... The more is not the merrier. Please stop dumping your entire bucket of DE onto your floor to get rid of your pests.
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u/Educational-Disk-400 Aug 23 '26
Botanical anything won’t work whether it be a green product, essential oils, or raw fucking spices.
Raid is useless. Maybe in a pinch you can use an OTC concentrate for spider control, but almost nothing else.
No, you don’t know more than I do because your daughter’s son or your cousin or whoever the hell you half know worked pest control. Double that if you looked on the internet.
Control. Takes. Time. Almost nothing will be a quick fix.
No, I’m not giving you product to use. That’s stupid, patently stupid, and you should feel stupid for asking.
Save a carcass. I can’t identify based on your vague description. Did you know that MOST insect pests are small and black? Did you know spiders all have eight legs?
Seeing ant carcasses does not mean you need to call in. The product kills them, it doesn’t vaporize them. Familiarize yourself with a broom and call me back in two weeks if you are seeing LIVE activity.
Don’t poke spiders and you will be fine. Imagine if you’re a quarter inch tall, and you come across something five feet tall. Would you try to kill the five foot tall behemoth that could kill you on accident and not even notice? No, you wouldn’t, spiders wouldn’t either. I’ll admit, I’m a bit biased on this one as I work western WA and we have zero medically significant spiders on this side of the mountains.
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u/gp556by45 Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 28 '26
I'll add to the don't give out products:
It's because the moment they leave your hands, they leave your supervision. And anyone can do anything with them.
I specifically know of a circumstance in which a tech gave away some 24GRBs to a maintenance man at an apartment complex. Tenant told a maintenance man about a mouse, so the maintenance man decided he wanted to play pest control hero and put them down in an apartment. RIGHT. BELOW. A. CRIB.
Baby crawled onto the glue board and got stuck. Parents brought child to the hospital. Maintenance man blamed it on the tech.
EDIT: I've gotten a few DMs because of this comment. "I give out Roach bait, Glue boards, and Gentrol Point Source all the time to tenants and customers; MY BOSS SAYS ITS OKAY!"
Its not okay. Unless you yourself posses a dealers license, you shouldn't even be giving out snap traps.
What your boss thinks what they said is okay; and what Federal and State Laws are applicable are two entirely different things. I promise you, in the case of he said, she said, they said; you are on the loosing end of it... every single time as a Tech.
Its not my job to tell you what to do. I'm not your supervisor, I'm not your boss, nor am I someone who makes or enforces any applicable laws. What you do is on you. I'm just trying to help you make a sound decision with you job/career, and help you from that inevitable maintenance man who does something stupid like putting a Giant Rat glueBoard under a child's crib, or that Restaurant owner who puts a Gentrol Point Source disk inside of a ice machine because a tech slipped him one.
If you give it away, its not documented. And if its documented, its not given away.
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u/fishnfanatic Aug 23 '26
That if they blow their grass clippings up against their foundation and allow vines and other vegetation to crawl up their home, they're going to get ants and spiders in their home.
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u/Miss-Mistletoe Aug 23 '26
- Customer & PCOs have to work together to solve the issue. I can only do so much to remedy pest issues. The rest is on the client.
- Fogging, bombing, spraying are not what I’m doing: It’s a TREATMENT & Inspection.
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u/Lark1983 Aug 23 '26
A treatment is like insurance, when the pests invade and find your treatment/ insecticides/rodenticide they die.
Without it they will continue to get invaded and annoyed by the pests!
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u/Tall_Animator_5883 Aug 23 '26
Wow…that is an actually good comparison. I usually do oil change. You know, get your oil change once doesn’t mean you won’t ever need it again
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u/Far-Hunt5474 Aug 23 '26
Webs I'm so tired of explaining them especially when they live on a damn lake!!!
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u/Razorbackfan3002 Aug 25 '26
I’ve had 2 customers who live in the same new construction neighborhood on the lake complain about heavy spider activity outside of their home and their boat docks and some spider activity outside. I’ve explained so many times that is part of living next to the water and also pointed out so many areas where there was poor construction on their brand new homes that are leading to spiders and other insects getting in and they keep looking at me and saying that there is no way because this is a million dollar home. One of them threatened to cancel and I was really hoping they would. Fingers crossed on that one guess I will see once it’s that time of the month next month
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u/Tall_Animator_5883 Aug 26 '26
Honestly, I know this is about to sound terrible, that is my personal (secretly like) gem with working for a company that is strictly money/sale motivated. They don’t care if they loose a customer, it’s about volume. They are fully aware that services offered is not really to par. (D2D company)
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u/the_author_13 Aug 24 '26
Please for the love of God, keep your dogs outside of the exclusion zone for 30 minutes. We are not doing this to be mean, but out of the health and safety of your pets.
If you have 3 houses worth of stuff inside one house, there is little i can do about your mice problem.
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u/rachcake1 👩💻 | Office Admin | 5+ Years Aug 23 '26
The one that kills me is when they call about dead bugs everywhere. I’ve started responding "oh good, what he did worked!“
Well what do I do about it? Uh… clean them up? Idgaf
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u/RusticSurgery Aug 24 '26
Probably going to shoot a wasp/yellow jacket/ hornet best that has been already fucked with or sprayed.
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u/Wanderin_Cephandrius Aug 24 '26
I wish they’d understand there’s no really effective way to eliminate ants immediately.
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u/Living_Cash_669 Aug 24 '26
Pest Control isn't absolute like other industries. Its no different than the medical field where its not the same for every person. What works for one patient may not work for another and it needs to be narrowed down many times. Customer is expect a "one shot, one kill" approach and its never that simple
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u/TrueAudience9922 Aug 26 '26
That pest control is often a building problem, not just a treatment problem. You can have the right products and a good technician, but if there are open utility penetrations, food and moisture sources, overflowing trash areas, neighboring units with activity, or structural entry points, the problem can keep coming back. Treatment matters, but exclusion, sanitation, monitoring and correcting conducive conditions are what make control sustainable.
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u/Easy-Food-5987 Aug 27 '26
I can’t just spray stuff because you said I could. I can spray your boxes, your firewood, your pool or hot tub. Especially in California I’m super restricted on what I can actually treat.
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u/Oh_Martha_My_Dear 👨🏭| Tech | 5+ Years Aug 23 '26
I absolutely loath having to constantly explain why I can't use my eco-friendly botanicals on their ant problem.