I recently had the great displeasure of doing business with Rob, the owner and proprietor of AAA Exterminators, in a contract offering guarantees for the removal of a honey bee colony near the eavestrough of my home.
When I initially called, Rob politely gave me a quote and told me that he could remove the colony. I agreed over the phone and he came to my home the following day. He arrived without any proper protective gear, and applied a powder treatment from a pump. He was perilously moving about on the ladder ducking and swaying from bees and I was concerned he might fall. When I asked about protective gear, he said that if he wears gear he won't be able to see properly.
When he came down from the ladder he told me that the problem would be resolved now because the bee colony would collapse from the treatment he applied. He stated that the treatment would poison the honey and that would be the end of it. "No problem everything is taken care of," he said. Unfortunately, I had to call him again because there was significant bee activity around the eavestrough when I came in the following days. I assumed that because he prominently offered a guarantee on his work, that he would return and complete his job as the professional that I expected him to be.
When I called Rob the second time, he was very upset, and rude and anything but professional. He told me that he didn't think I needed a second treatment (as if I wasn't telling the truth about bees buzzing around the house), but he relented and reluctantly came upon my insisting . When he came to my house the coming day, he was extremely rude, impolite and belligerent. He came to my door and said that I didn't need another treatment and walked back to his truck like an angry toddler. When my husband came, he came out of his truck and reluctantly sprayed the powder under the shingles and eavestrough. He bluntly stated at that time he would not be coming back anymore.
A week later, it was clear that the bee colony's activity was like before. I called him and he asked me to send pictures to his cell phone of the bees activity. I took several pictures that showed basically a cloud of activity near the colony and sent it to him by email. The next day he called me and was extremely belligerent and told me: "keep the contractor ready, I'm going to rip your roof off." This could only be interpreted in a negative way, and in fact sounded to me to be a sort of passive-aggressive (or perhaps outright aggressive) threat. I was taken aback by his comments because I thought I was dealing with a professional. There were several phone calls back and forth, where he made the same flippant and offensive comment. At this point my husband was considering taking him to small claims or complaining to the BBB because of his attitude, communication style and failure to deliver on his guarantee. He refused to come because we dared to stand up to his bully-like ways.
This isn't how you speak to customers! If he meant that the shingles have to be lifted or that he has to take some other action on the property to do complete the job - THEN SAY IT, don't make loaded and threatening comments in a hostile and immature tone and delivery.
I ended up calling someone else who took care of the bee colony. Night and day when compared to this guy.
Be warned: this is an "exterminator" who 1) offers guarantees but doesn't have any real intention to fulfill them, 2) will speak to you in a hostile tone and way when called to do his job (as if he is a doing a charity service), and 3) who will not honour his word.
I've attached a picture of the bee activity from when I requested him to come a third time.