When we moved here, we continued to use the same pest control service the previous owners had used since 1989. We figured why mess with what seemed to be working, and for almost five years things were great. Very few small things made it into the house and the few that did were easy prey for the spiders that share our house.
Before you go “ewwwwww” about the spiders, you should know we’re a pretty spider-friendly household. As long as said spider is not in the way of daily operations, a grass spider that won’t do well in the house, or a black widow, we’re perfectly happy to share our space with eight-legged beings. The benefits are immense, as spiders make quick work of flies, leaf hoppers and most other things that manage to get in the house.
Getting back to the main story here…the pest control service was a local one and helped keep the icky earwigs and millipedes at bay, but then earlier this year, the technician who’d for years been taking care of things here left the company. I know this because the new tech told me that our original tech had gone to work for a company “just down the street” from where he had been employed. I was bit unhappy with the change, but figured it wasn’t a dealbreaker. That was until a month later when I was notified the company had been sold off to a major pest control chain.
Fast forward to mid-May, when a technician from the “new” company arrived and was really clueless about what needed to be done, even though he had the notes from the last 30 years’ worth of service. Fast forward another month, and we keep finding earwigs wandering about the house. Granted, it’s spring and a few extra creepy-crawlies are to be expected, but this was enough to goad me into making a spreadsheet of all our paper records of what chemicals had been used here over the past years. (Side note: I was surprised to find the most-used chemicals were actually natural oils, namely Essentria G – Eugenol (Clove Oil and Thyme Oil) and Essentria IC3 (Rosemary, Pepperment and Wintergreen Oils).)
While adding entries to the spreadsheet, an idea hit me–why not track down our previous technician, the one with whom we’d been so happy. Now this just wasn’t because of seeing a few earwigs; the other annoyance with the big huge chain was their annoying website–I was unable to properly create an account to pay invoices online nor get any support for my issues.
So this morning I pulled up Maps on my computer and entered in the address of the original pest control company. Then I searched for other similar companies nearby. I was a bit disheartened to find that there are over a dozen. Still, organized as ever, I looked at the first option’s website and ruled them out since they’re only a termite shop. Then I looked at the next one which was a general pest control company, so I called their offices. I explained that yes, I am a bit crazy, but that I was looking for our old tech and why. Man did I get lucky. They knew exactly who I meant and he does indeed now work there.
A short time later the tech called me and said he’d love to have us be his customer. Needless to say, in about 10 minutes, everything was sorted, the new company (Killroy Pest Control) has our billing details and we’re all set up to begin service with them.
The kicker? I had to sit on hold for 22 minutes waiting for a customer service rep with the big chain company so I could cancel my service with them.
And if you need any proof, or if you missed it when it posted a few years back, we really love our male Tarantualas: