Sure Shot Pest Control

Description of Work: Hope I can get the entire story before getting tired. We just bought a home - with a lot of woods around and decided to shop for pest control. Yes, we know the usual Vikings and the big companies around. i was under the impression, small co, gt a good price, better personal service and all good. We got this recommendation from a very nice contractor (unfortunately we did not use him - we hired someoen else) but, we met Yasir, the NJ manager for Sure Shot on the day after my call to him. On teh phone he was extremely accomodating and was 15 minutes late - but my take was - what the heck, I called him yesterday and he is here today to look at the property. We walked the hose in detail and all the issues were covered. He gave me what he caled a deal - $100 per quarter visit, to be done 4 times a year. and it will cover most of the insects. If any major issues crop up, they are always here - but he did not break the "detailed" service pricing down - not that I asked. Now came to schedling the actual pest guy's visit. i had asked and was guaranteed that it would be done - that we were about to move in 10 days (on aug 20) and that the inside the house should be sprayed before we move in. He "warned me" that scheduling is tough but if the customer needs to be home, it needs about 2 weeks notice and a lot of other caveats. I told Yasir - my contractor is working daily doing the kitchen cabinets and painting, just let him know and take care of the spraying. I even gave the contractor's tel num to Yasir. A week went by and no news. The tuesday befopre we were to move, Yasir called and said the tech would be in on Wed - well, no call, no show. same for thursday ( wed he had gotten tied up). We were to move on Saturday - you can imagine, at that point, i just could not push Yasir. I even called him Thu PM and Fri Am. Yet, to no avail. Finally, we move in. That very day, i went to home dept and bought teh stuff from teh shelf and sprayed teh heck out of the house so, we could start setting up some stuff. I am not new to pest control but with a 3 year old running around, i rather have teh inside sprayed before we moved in. The house had been unoccupied for about 7 weeks. God knows when teh last spray was. At that point, when i did not hear from Sure shot even on Monday morning, i thought it was all over and the deal was off. I had signed a doc when Yasir and i met - just agreeing to the service and price. Wednesday afternoon, I get a call from my contractor that the pest guy just sprayed the oputside of teh house and the large (empty) liuving room and left. After a brief altercation with my contractor - why he had just let anyone in, i called Yasir - to no response to follow up that this was done without any prior call (do pest contropl guys just show up and do "their thing" and leave uyou a bill?? - guess so). I reach home and there is a bill for $107 in the mail box. - well, we talked of $100, taxes were not diclosed. OK, you gotto pay taxes but that $7 was a tad sticker shock. Next week again I calld Yasir - no response. I got a bill in the mail few weeks later - I did not pay it since yasir did not answer the phone - even his cell phone. a month later they sent a bill saying - if its not paid in 15 days, they will take legal action against us. At that point, i called and left him a VM that the service was not done properly. There was no assurance (its the tech's word against mine - the contractor guys had washed their hands off - saying they dont know what he did) what work was done. Yes the outside was sprayed - i saw dead bugs but what about the crawel space and the inside. Yasir argued it was all done and I have to pay the bill. i requested a discount - something ( even if he gave me 25%, I would leave him alone). At that point, he said i was just trying to reduce the bill. My talke was- well I already asked you for a discount and he knew that I went straight for Sure Shot, and did not shop around. Yasir did not budge. He insisted on the quality of his man's work and his bill being paid ASAP. So, I told him, I did not need his services any more. Then I called in viking - they had the house before we oved in. Well, the guy who came - Mr. Cubano, was very courteous and knew the property and gave me their standard price - \$99 plus tax ~ $106. FOOLISH ME ! I should have gone with Viking from day one. their guy came on time and in front of me and did the entire property that way I wanted it and left. They also advised me on what all i should look around ( termites are important but not worth the big annual bill) - its a gamble you can work with. But, cover carpenter ants. Stuff like that. He advised me on trees and leaves etc. I dont know how Sure shot in other states are but in NJ, I would not use them Pardon my spelling.