Guardian Pest Control review: Scam and lies 5

On February 5, 2009, I phoned Guardian Pest Control in Highland, Indiana to come to my property to check for squirrels in the attic. Mike T, the technician that came, said that they don't enter the attic, initially, and that what they do instead is search the roof of the house to see from where they were entering. Because of the amount of snow on the roof, at that time, Mike T was unable to determine anything.

So, no contract was made until February 23, 2009, at which time, Mike T determined that the squirrel/s were entering through the west soffett area of the roof. He said that, more than likely, it was, at least three squirrels. He, also, said that there were two small holes that looked like entries at the base of each side of the soffett and that, if I were to want them to cover up the holes with a temporary patch (which he kept calling what sounded like a 10 patch until I asked him to clarify what the 10 meant) @$65 each patch.

He, also, told me that once the location of entry was determined, that a cage would be nailed to the roof in that location, would be checked daily, and would be removed daily in the event a squirrel/s were caught. No holes could be patched, though, which I totally agreed with, until the squirrel/s were removed from the attic, otherwise, they would either die in the attic or cause major damage in the attic.

So, I agreed to take the 5-day squirrel-cage package for $150, Monday through Friday only, as they do not work on Saturdays or Sundays, even though squirrels do. I also requested that they let me know ahead of time, by calling me the night before or a couple of hours before they got to my house, when they were going to be on my property. All companies that I've ever dealt with always called to let me know that they were going to be on my property. It's common courtesy and good business.

However, the second technician who was checking the squirrel cage every day, refused to call me. I had to call their office, on multiple occasions, to express this concern. I believe I had spoken to Tammy and Connie on this matter on different occasions. After I complained about this, this second technician continued to be slick by calling the office so that they can tell me that he was on the premise already. I was unable to answer the phone at that moment, so, I didn't know he was on my premises. Rather than calling ahead of time, he had the office call me after he got to my property. The first time this happened, I called his office within a few minutes of their calling me, to find out that he was supposed to wait, at least, 15 minutes before leaving. He was gone within five minutes of my returning the call. Anyhow, failure to notify me of his presence on my property, with adequate notice, happened consistently.

On Friday, February 27, 2009, I found this same technician's notice in my mailbox. It stated, 'Account closed. Program expired. Would recommend extension. Call office. Set up for Monday, if wanted.'

I was furious that the worker didn't notify me that he was there as I would have had him patch up the holes as they had caught the squirrels on Tuesday, February 24th, the second day of cages. No other squirrels had returned to the soffett since that day. For the remaining three days of the contract there were no squirrels. The technician could have patched up the holes.

When I brought this concern to their office, they referred my call to the technician who left without patching up the holes. This technician, by phone, told me that the patching of the holes wasn't in the contract. Again, I was furious. Mike T. had told me, initially, that on the last day of the contract I could pay the technician, at that point, so that the holes could be patched up and, that, knowing that there were no more squirrels, he (the second technician) could have patched them. But, instead, the technician left without asking me if I wanted to extend the contract for another week. I believe he did this intentionally, knowing that they don't put up cages on the weekends because they don't work on those days, and knowing that, more than likely, more squirrels would enter the soffett, therefore, requiring another week of $150 out of my pocket.

What resulted was that other squirrels returned to my soffett. So, on Monday, March 2nd, I called Guardian Pest Control, complained to them on how their program was defective and how the technician left without notice on Friday, didn't patch up the holes, and, therefore, other squirrels returned on Sunday evening, March 1st.

I was anxious to get the squirrels out of my attic, which is where I thought they were, so I contracted them for another week, the week of March 2, 2009. After I paid for that week, and, about mid-week, I called the office to tell them that the technician didn't notify me again. At that point, the receptionist told me that the technician had told her to tell me that he would be unable to patch up the hole because it was extremely big and was UNDER the soffett. This was totally different from what Mike T had told me when I initially signed up for this program. I complained to the company that this was a big rip-off because they could put up cages all year long and catch squirrels all year long because on the weekends they don't work, allowing for squirrels to return to their illegal habitat. For example, they caught 2 squirrels in the cage on Tuesday, February 24th, and, other squirrels didn't return until March 1st. On March 3rd they caught another, and on March 5th another. I don't even know if this is true because the only time I got to see a caught squirrel was on March 3rd.

I was really furious but feeling extremely stupid at the same time. On the last day of this contract, March 6, 2009, the technician(by the way, that's what these squirrel catchers call themselves) leaves the official Nuisance Wildlife Activity Report in my mailbox/door: 'Account Closed. Program Expired. Recommend having holes closed ASAP, ' as if I didn't know.

One of the main things that this technician told me was that he wasn't able to patch up the hole not only because it was too big but because he would be required to use both hands, which he would be unable to do for fear of falling off the ladder. I told him, and his company (by phone), that another technician should accompany him on more difficult jobs if that is the case. He said that they don't do that, and the receptionist at the company stuck with the fact that the hole was too big for him and that they don't do that kind of patching.

If the hole was so darn big, how is it that it was overlooked from day one, and wasn't brought to my attention until two days before the end of the second contract week. I believe that they waited for my check to process before telling me.

During this second week, I found out that they gas the squirrels that they catch. They say that they don't return them to their native hangouts because they will be rejected by all of the other squirrels. For all I know, they're selling them to some restaurant to cook for people! That's how much faith I have in their company!

And, guess what? I just found out that they have a store online that sells sprays that keep squirrels away from whatever you want to keep them away from. Why didn't they share that information with me? I would have bought the darn stuff and would have had them spray my house with it. It would have been cheaper!

These guys are real smooth operators. I wish I could get my money back so that I could pay someone to patch up the holes by the soffett. I recently had somebody stuff hot, dried peppers all around the area where the squirrels were hanging out. They haven't returned. I'm sure these guys knew of this remedy also.