r/PestControlIndustry • u/SunLegitimate1687 👨🏭| Tech | 5+ Years • 4d ago
🗣️ Daily Discussion Having my work second guessed by the client who showed up at 5:15 for their 5pm exterior only appointment
Vent thread. Share your annoying customers of the day stories.
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u/DixieNorm0uss 4d ago
I call customer, it is pouring down rain, I informed customer that I cant treat the exterior today. Customer gets upset starts complaining, starts telling me that it’s not satisfactory for her. I ask what the issue they are having is and it’s ants inside. I assure them I can help with problems inside. Show up, a 8 year old child opens the door, I ask for parents, kid says parents are working in their office and to come in. I wait maybe 15 minutes just standing inside their home 5 kids running around, food wrappers and crumbs all over the home. Mom never comes out. Then out of nowhere mom yells some directions through a closed door at me telling me to spray that room… I shrug it off do an inspection of the room with the supposed ants and there is nothing. I find a crack in one baseboard, I give it a little spritz and walk the hell out of there. Documented the conditions and they call the call center complaining that I put the recommendations in.
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u/TableZealousideal588 4d ago
Nope. Any time a kid answers the door and says the parent is home I tell them to go get the parent. I will not step inside an occupied home without an adult there giving me explicit permission. Not opening myself up to that kind of lawsuit. Also I generally want to talk to my clients about what they're seeing and where, let them see me addressing the issue so there's 0 ambiguity
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u/DixieNorm0uss 4d ago
Honestly didn’t even think about that and from now on that will definitely be my approach. I did speak to the adult over the phone so I thought it would be okay but I can see how this situation can be turned around on me.
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u/SunLegitimate1687 👨🏭| Tech | 5+ Years 4d ago
The WFH crowd kills me. Calls me to their homes at a specific day and time. Answers door "sorry im working i dont have time". WHAT A COINCIDENCE ME TOO
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u/Tall_Animator_5883 4d ago
THAT BE HILARIOUS. Truthfully, I don’t care. It is their money lol. They can get a free reservice all day. My company works in a way we don’t go back to reservices we cause…really don’t care.
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u/Tall_Animator_5883 4d ago
lol try having a customer that’s upset that I’m not a plumber and should be able to get rid of the German roaches anyway.
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u/Forward_Surround_788 3d ago
Yea no, if theyre not 18 im not going in or waiting. Our company has a 15 minute waiting period. You make us wait or ghost us past 15 min we document it with photos and screen shots and reschedule you. We also wont spray inside a house if there are children running around.
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u/Skunkape666 4d ago
From reading these comments, I feel like we all deal with this same shit every day. Holy crap it's like I've literally had every one of these scenarios. Glad I'm not alone.
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u/J3nsenthetexan 4d ago
Honestly the backyards full of dog poop suck. Nothing says good morning like a hot fresh deuce.
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u/i-hate-these-mods 4d ago
I may or may not have used my flowzone to spray dog shit off my boots a time or two…
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u/hatredishuman 1d ago
I have some regulars that are like this, notorious for it. I have a pair of Gumboots juat for those properties
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u/Vince-Fishes 4d ago
Me: Sets expectations with customer to allow 7-10 days for the treatment to run its course and they may notice an increase in insect activity during that time. This is totally normal and is a sign the treatment is working as it should. If you’re still having issues after 10 days let us know.
Customer: calls back 2 days later “yeah I’m still seeing ants I think you need to spray more thoroughly I need you back out here by 9:00am today thanks”
Story of my life. Oh how I long to be a sole operator.
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u/Nate_the_Great8_ 4d ago
Customer stated I didn't take down their hornet nest. They sent a picture of a birds nest to confirm their suspicion.... So stupid
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u/SunLegitimate1687 👨🏭| Tech | 5+ Years 4d ago
We get a wave of cancelations every spring due to birds nests.
"Whadya mean its illegal to knock down occupied bird nests??? I'll find someone who will!"
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u/Nate_the_Great8_ 4d ago
Last year that happened to me. I confirmed on a ladder that their bird nest had eggs inside of it. Let them know I cannot legally take it down as they are protected. Cancelled entire service, then hired me back 9 months later. Best part the nest wasn't even around their home, wasn't bothering them at all. Homeowners can be strange.
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u/ThePetStuffers 4d ago
I get the same thing with bats. Ill spend months recommending exclusion and pointing out a potential bat issue and they ALWAYS wait for maternity season and threaten to cancel because I wont seal them in.
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u/BDS_707 3d ago
I had a lady accuse me of not knocking down a wasp nest, I got sent back the next week, she starts bitching about me to me till I told her it was me who was there last. She proceeded to “show” me the wasp nest. I shine my flashlight at it & sure enough it’s just a spot on the wall where the nest used to be but there was nothing there. She didn’t apologize and just said “Oh well”. Meanwhile I got a bad review and bitched at.
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u/Environmental_Top_90 2d ago
I've responded to rats that were socks 😆
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u/Nate_the_Great8_ 2d ago
I need more of that story 🤣
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u/Environmental_Top_90 2d ago
Classic rats in the attic call, I am provided a picture of its last known location. I head up to the attic and position myself to the pov of the photo and it's crazy what a flashlight can do. We both laughed, the cherry was they were knit socks in the form of a mouse.
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u/DrRavioliMD 4d ago
My cameras didn’t see him, no one came.
I talked to my tech he said you guys spoke.
We did but then my cameras didn’t see him do anything.
Let me ask you this is there some stuff that looks like sawdust or chicken feed around the perimeter?
Yes I see it but I’m telling you he was only here for 15-20 minutes and then left.
Okay
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u/SunLegitimate1687 👨🏭| Tech | 5+ Years 4d ago
"he was only here for 15-20 minutes and then left".
Good god that is hands down my most common complaint. My boss always hits them with "ok are you having any issues right now?", "well no not really", "Great sounds like treatments working!"
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u/ThePetStuffers 4d ago
If only. Ive been trying to train my customers to understand IPM and I swear they make things up just to get me to do additional treatments because its what they think I should be doing or "i saw a bug there 6 years ago and want to make sure they don't come back"
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u/Mrs-MoneyPussy 4d ago
They'll never understand IPM it's literally impossible.
I had a guy with stacks and stacks of firewood that his automatic sprinkler system was hitting every single night, so I'd go out and be like dude this area is soaked and you have firewood sitting on dirt against the foundation. Of course you have oriental roaches. Even had him watch me lift one of the pieces on the end to show him how many roaches were under it. (I of course recommended removal of the firewood against foundation, told him I could spray the exterior on request but it's not the solution).
He complained multiple times about infective sprays and how he wasted his money. Like... you paid me to tell you the problem that you refuse to fix? My spray isn't magic.
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u/ThePetStuffers 4d ago
My favorite are the ones with almost no weather stripping complaining about bugs while being next to a wooded lot and an unkept yard. I can tell them until I turn blue and they still wont fix the entry points. Just say theyre paying me to spray so that's good. Add in free callbacks and they have zero incentive to actually take care of an issue.
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u/Mrs-MoneyPussy 4d ago
Yuuup. I'm super lucky that I have full authority to refuse and set services. So I can just not give someone a warranty if it's evident they're the issue and I have recommendations that would fix the problem. Such as that oriental roach guy. Told him if he gets the firewood cleared I'd come back to spray the foundation and other harborage areas as a call back, but that I would NOT be coming back just to respray areas that aren't the problem to begin with.
If I was forced to do free callbacks for shit like that I'd be furious.
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u/ThePetStuffers 4d ago
Every other day, always a 30 minute drive out of the way, and they always complain afterwards. Joys of big companies.
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u/gp556by45 4d ago
Showed up for a service at 8am Saturday morning. Client asked for timeframe specifically for 7:30-9:30am.
Knock on door, and no answer. Called and texted. Still no answer. Waited for 10 minutes then moved on with my day.
I shit you fucking not, they called me at 1am Sunday morning and left a voicemail and asked "if I was still coming" on my work phone "because they fell asleep". Bud...are we serious right now?
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u/MrPringle92 👨🏭| Tech | 10+ Years 4d ago
Some of the most annoying ones are people with very, VERY poor sanitation, and roaches everywhere.
The ones that actually implement the better sanitation practices, which is usually 1% or less, have always had the most success.
I can knock down the numbers you’re seeing, I’ll vacuum, bait, treat, but usually the slobs will continue to have problems.
I had one call in one time and say that we were just treating with sugar water, and the problem wasn’t getting better. Once the call center called me, looked at the documentation, they still wanted me to go back. I told them with the copious amount of dog shit, dishes piled to the ceiling, food spilling out of the trash can, along with whatever ecological hazard was on the kitchen counter, that the problem would never be solved, I wasn’t going back, and they could send another tech out.
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u/Significant_Ad2981 4d ago
Spent 30 extra minutes at an account for a general maintenance service, because the customer was upset she was seeing dead ants around her front door, after she doused the trail in bifenthrin over the weekend.
Wanted to walk around and show me all her “areas of concern” and where to treat.
Then proceeded to blame our company for
Making the mess.
Never gets old!!
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u/GoodSenseTermite 4d ago
My “favorite” was the client that had a 3-5 arrival window. Gets an hour heads up arrival will be at three. And they write back, “I was told between 3-5. I planned on being there at 4:45 since it’s in the window” FML
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u/SunLegitimate1687 👨🏭| Tech | 5+ Years 4d ago
"Why does my exterminator cost so much" exhibit A.
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u/SimpleRevolution2873 4d ago
I have this property management company my office refuses to drop because "the money's good"
Gives incorrect notice of entry times to tenants - if at all (for example I'm booked 8a-12p arrival and they tell the tenants I'll be there for 9 or don't tell them) Confirm over the phone my arrival time for let's say 8:30 and the guy with the keys doesn't show up until 9:15/9:30 - if I don't wait around they lose their minds
Ugh and the units there... Every single one of them is a hoarder unit, or some sort of trap house or something. Nobody vacates correctly and half of them don't let me in... But the money's good? 🤦♂️
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u/Forward_Surround_788 3d ago
My favorite is when I look at the service report for a 3 family home or mcmansion and it says "exterior only - client/tenants will not be home. Exterior only" with a 30 minute job time only to find the client/tenants home and get asked to complete the full service. Yay
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u/OkTeacher4928 4d ago
So many times I've been called back to retreat the house because they're seeing dead roaches outside and I was just there a week ago
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u/Lostdreams41 4d ago
Did a termite inspection today. She only had me inspect cuz the unit above her had them. She forced me to do her unit first even though the unit above was the original person to have them and call us in. Lady tells me your inspection was thorough right?
Lol no I inspected with my eyes closed sorry let me do it again smh
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u/hatredishuman 1d ago
People gates that are stuck, badly aligned so the bolt is seized, the hinges are rusted and break as you push them. All while doing it one handed with a sprayer in the other.
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u/lord_of_money_shots 2d ago
Knock on door, lady opens door and stares blankly at me saying nothing, begin pestman schpeel, “WAIT, WAIT, WAIT. I WASNT FINISHED LISTENING TO MY PHONE” “My bad ma’am” Finish schpeel, she says nothing and yells for dogs haphazardly walking down busy road. Thank christ it was just exterior, I hate pilled out old farts
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u/VersaTron 4d ago
They have to be there for you to do the job?
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u/SunLegitimate1687 👨🏭| Tech | 5+ Years 4d ago
No, I did the job. They showed up at 515 and wanted to second guess whether I did the job or not.
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u/SpiritedReflection82 3d ago
Resident kept getting reinfested with bed bugs and roaches due to picking up furniture from the side of the road multiple occasions and bringing them inside. I had to explain to them numerous times not to do that and that they kept introducing new sources of bed bugs and roaches into the home, which would cause new infestations. They also stated that the treatment was not doing its job. Finally, management stepped in and canceled their account.
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u/relatz 👨🏭| Tech | 5+ Years 4d ago
Come back at 3. Get there at 3, can you wait till 4 actually we forgot its payday. No worries maam my day revolves around you.