Pest control is a complaint business & I remember my first one. It was in my training and I was with the service mgr. on an ant call which was oddly enough not a regular service but a complaint. We couldn’t find ant one in this house even though we scoured every nook and cranny. The lady wasn’t happy at all but my boss handled it all in stride even though she had more than one rude thing to say. At one point the manager asked me to treat the 2nd floor and he’d handle the rest, (I think he was just trying to get me out of the line of fire) We left with no real success but since I was so new to pest control I was hoping not everybody would be like this.
I remember this complaint well because a few days later I was shown a letter that the eh emm, lady had written to my branch manager with a cc to corporate. She stated a whole bunch of things like how we sucked at our jobs and she still had problems etc etc. and the letter went on like that for about the whole page. The thing that most struck me however and a lesson I’ve never forgot but still have to deal with from time to time was this. She was very upset that I went into her closets and sprayed and how ridiculous that was because everybody knows there aren’t any ants in closets and now she had to throw out a bunch of things she couldn’t launder and triple washed all the rest.
Now being new I’m sure my treatment wasn’t all that and I did open her closet doors–I opened everything in search of even one ant and not knowing the layout of the home I had no idea which door went where. The impact of the letter and the years of dealing with this issue has led me to one conclusion and a question for you.
In my company I have made it a policy NOT to treat personal closets unless the customer requests it. In reality you can’t effectively treat a packed closet anyway except perhaps with a silverfish pak and people always give you a funny stare when you get around the closet door as if they’re hiding something that they don’t want you or anyone else to see. (I’ve seen some strange stuff) Others WANT the closets done and feel they didn’t get a complete job if this tiny packed room doesn’t get treated. I’ve found my policy is the most effective for me and quite often the look of relief on a clients face says it all. Even the ones who later say to include it seem to understand but;
My question to you is; Do you as a customer want your closets left alone or treated? And to the bug pro’s reading this, do you service closets at all as part of your regular visits or pass it by?
