Western Exterminator

I've been with Western for 14 months and am tired of their crazy system. They just robo-call or robo-email you to say they are coming. If you have to reschedule, you get put through a maze and are told the service tech will call back to reschedule. They rarely do. One time the guy called me, rescheduled, and didn't show. This last incident, I was on vacation. I was able to cancel service, and it was another month before I got a guy to come out. Now 3 weeks later, they sent out another guy. Why they would not simply reset my date to 60 days past the last service date is beyond me. I did not need or request today's service. I called and spoke to someone in the corporate office and she just hung up on me. This service is expensive - it's not in the budget to pay for two service calls in less than 30 days! I have no problems with the service itself - have very few pests - but dealing with the scheduling hassles is a nightmare. And frequently the service techs won't knock on the door to do the interior - and then I have to fight to get them to come back out to do the interior. It's just messed up. Poor communication between the techs and the office.

They come every 2 months now. I have an agreement with them. I have an automatic payment for them. I use them continually. There was just one guy. They go around and check outside. They are not here any longer than an hour.

Today I kept seeing hornets climbing on the inside of my windows, just a couple at first, then more. We vacuumed them, then noticed an increasing number on other windows. We found an entry point outside on the corner of our roof, and they had made another hole INTO the house in the corner of the den ceiling and were coming into the house. I got upset, and my husband got stung which alarmed me because he is allergic to honeybees. He took some Benadryl and seems to be fine, thank goodness. I called Alpha Ecological Pest Control, who sprays our house quarterly for carpenter ants (we live in the country). I explained the situation to the woman who answered, and she told me that they could not get anyone out until Friday, October 16. ELEVEN DAYS AWAY. I tried to express what a big problem this was, but she displayed ZERO concern and said that that date was the soonest that they could come. We will be changing pest controls, and I highly encourage my friends and neighbors in King and Pierce counties that they look for other pest control companies if they need one. Can you believe this lack of customer care? I am livid.

The technician did not have the right equipment to spray the interior of the house the spray nozzle was leaking and I pointed out to him that he made puddles of insecticide in the middle of the hard would floor. He proceeded to step into the puddles he made and seemed to be unaware of his mistakes. He actually ended up spraying my wife's exposed arm by mistake also. He seemed not to be in control of the spraying device and he admitted later that he had requested a new spray gun because the one he was using was not working correctly. I was very displeased with the quality of service and would not recommend this company...I will try to get a refund for the outrageously poor quality of service...

The products they use are not harmful, not especially toxic. I do think we can find them less expensive but we go back because of the ecological aspect of it.

We were pretty satisfied with their services and will probably use them again. We haven't seen any bugs since they have been to our home.

It went well, good company, but busy and sometimes hard to get in-person meetings scheduled as quickly as I'd like.

John has always punctual, courteous, and thorough. He cares about my animals welfare. I had tried other pest controls (at least two) prior to Alpha Ecological, but they did not show up on the day as promised and gave lame excuses. Alpha calls with reminders, and service dates can be set up on different schedules of your choosing.

We think they are a good provider. They seem to listen to what our problems are and they are not trying to sell us more than we ask for.

There is no evidence that they actually performed the service. I was unable to be home at the time of the most recent service, and the notes left did not indicate how much bait was placed in each trap/how much had been eaten. This is not the first time that this has happened (we've had their service for over a year). I called to complain, and was told that the tech said he put '75%' of new bait in. Since we have three stations, and there were no specifics provided, it was evident that they were just trying to appease me. I continued to complain that I did not receive the service I was being charged for, and requested a credit on my account and that they provide specific data next time they performed the service. I received no response from the company, and then they just continued to invoice us. My mom had a similar experience. I do not recommend this organization, they try to up-sell everything and are not focused on serving customers.

Keith inspected our house, out buildings and property for infestation. He patiently and completely answered our questions and concerns.

Keith was courteous, patient in answering all of our questions and respectful of our home.

Pest treatment seemed satisfactory. However, Colton made a couple of cuts on a piece of plywood, added a handle and then pushed it into place at crawl space hole. He said he changed his mind about our needing the crawl space entrance cover even though some wood had incurred insect damage. He charged me $200 for the simple job of cutting a perfectly flat piece of plywood and adding a cheap handle. This took 20 minutes tops to complete. It seemed like constructing a custom crawl space cover was much more complex. Yet he only offered a $45 refund. Both he and the office recommended leaving this credit on file in case we needed service again. They said it would take several weeks for the credit to be processed. Nevertheless, I insisted on having the $45 returned to my credit card. Plus he left the sawdust on the garage floor. I have never had a workman leave a mess behind when a job was completed. I just don't feel good about this company. I would never call them again.

I love that there is not a "contract" to sign, I can stop and start service anytime, or I can put a service on hold whenever I want and restart with simply a phone call or email.. I like that they can handle scheduling the appointments via email and notify me of the date/time via email of the appointment and I don't have to be there when they come out (unless I need them to do something inside, then I just email them back to reschedule if I need to). There price is good, and best of all I don't have to worry about the safety of my kids or animals around the work since it's all safe. I do recommend them

If they don't find a problem then they don't charge for the visit. We were fortunate again in that our issue was either not present or could not be detected at the time of visit (previous visit was to check for termites). They always have good advice to give in case of future issues and the techs are very knowledgable.

They are very consistent and come on the day they say they are going to come. They have really good services such as the months I do not want them to come they will do that. They plan out with me as to what has to be done. If I have any bugs or infestation they will take care of it even if they have to do the inside as well as the outside of the building. A guy named John who works for them is really good.

I've used them for years. They're very dependable and nice, and it works. They don't cut corners. I've never had a problem with them.

I have been using them for several years, and they do a good job. They are very environmentally cautious, and I like that about them.

I was happy with their work for the first two years, but then noticed high turnover (different technicians at each visit), which left me to explain the situation and hot spots each time with the new technician. Ultimately, I caught a rat myself in the attic with old school trap in late 2011. I called Alpha in a panic. They came out right away, but wanted $175 to patch a small hole in the roof, and also noticed 1/2" breach along the gutters so the small patch would not guarantee source of problem. I had a feeling based on previous experience that they would gouge me to patch the 1/2" breach all along the perimater of the house, so I have turned to other prest control vendor.

About half way through the project/day, the technician came down to tell me I had double insulation (batting and blow in) and the price would need to be doubled. What do you say to that?! Everyone is there in their hazmat suits and you need the job done. I have since learned that other pest control companies remove all the insulation regardless of contents and the price includes reinstallation of insulation. Alpha is the most expensive service and I feel like I was taken. In addition, they actually contract out their insulation jobs and I learned that you can go directly through insulation companies for better rates.

We recently purchased a home and noticed lots of spider webs inside and outside the home, as well as some evidence of rodent activity in the attic area. Called Alpha Ecological on the recommendation of several people and they came out very quickly. They baited rodent traps inside the attic and outside the home in several areas- also sprayed for carpenter ants and spiders. The tech also went into the crawl space and sprayed for spiders there. Everything was very professionally done and we have had no issues with pests since. We signed up for their quarterly service and have friends who have done the same for a # of years.

What they were spraying didn't faze the ants. We had to replace the deck. They were fine for rodents.

It was an easy experience. The representative on the phone told me about their service, what the initial visit would cost, what a quarterly maintenance program would cost if I decided to to do that, and described what they would do for ant treatment including the eco-friendly gel that would be used and how it works on the ants. He also assured me it was safe around pets since I have a dog. The respresentative that came to the house was on time and friendly. She quickly determined the type of ants we were dealing with and that it was not a bad infestation. She recommended a quarterly maintenance program rather than a monthly program if I wanted to continue with the service after the initial treatment. She described how the gel treatment works on the ants and told me not to kill them when I see them so they would ingest the gel and take it back to their colony to share with the rest. She described the quarterly service and what it would cost ($69). I decided to sign up for the quarterly service since I had a rodent problem the last 2 years and the other pest control company that helped me with that were not as up-front about their services as Alpha Eco seems to be. The ants seem to be gone now about a month and a half since Alpha Eco came out and treated.

They were willing to come back if there were still problems without any fee. They were clear in describing the situation and what they were going to do; it made sense and it worked.

Upon the inspection and spray of the crawl space area, the tech Jordan informed me that we needed a complete crawl space restoration because we had a mouse infestation. I received a quote later that afternoon for almost $4,000 for the restoration which did not include replacing any insulation on the subfloor. I called two more companies, one pest control and one that specializes in crawl space restoration and had them come out and give me a quote. Neither of them suggested a restoration. We set some traps for mice just in case and we have caught nothing no seen any other signs of them. The other companies also saw no active signs on mice or rodents in the crawl space. Trying to "up-sell" a restoration when it's not warranted is bad business and dishonest. I am sure their quarterly pest spray is just fine just be careful with any suggestions they may give beyond that.