What Should I Ask When Making an Enquiry With a Pest Control Company?
What Should I Ask When Making a Pest Control Enquiry? It is unlikely that many people would have considered what they should be asking a pest control company, at least until they have pest activity and need prompt advice. However, asking the right questions at the outset can help you decide whether they provide the right level of service and support for your particular needs.
Are all Pest Control Companies Equal?
The short answer to this is no. As with all service-based businesses, there are a huge range of service offerings from pest control companies.
Some are small, local, independent owner-operator businesses (such as iX5 Pest control); others are franchises; some are larger PLCs; and every other option in between.
At this point, we would just offer a word of caution; a few of the businesses that rank higher in search engine results are in fact not pest control companies in their own right, but are simply call centres that take bookings and sub-contract jobs out to pest control companies. We offer no particular judgement on this, or any other type of arrangement, but have included it here just so you are aware of the different business models.
What Should I Ask?
The nature of your enquiry may be guided by price and speed of attendance alone, or you may be more interested in getting bespoke advice from someone who takes time to listen and provide supporting information to you.
Below is a list of key points we recommend you ask when you first make contact with a pest control company. This includes both enquiries as a one-off reactive matter, or if you are a business looking for an ongoing pest control contract.
- Type of company (owner-operator / multi-national / franchise / sub-contracted arrangement etc)
- Where are they based
- What lead time is there to attend
- What service is on offer (initial survey and quote; single visit; multi-visit; follow-up advice and guidance etc)
- Do they offer appointments at a time to suit you (evenings or weekends etc)
- What training the operative who will be attending have
- What experience do the company have in dealing with the particular pest scenario you have
- What treatment options are available, such as toxic, non-toxic, trapping etc, along with the pros and cons of each
- What might be the best treatment and why
- Whether any treatment is guaranteed, and if so, for how long, and are there any special terms applying to the guarantee
- You may wish to ask questions about the safety of the proposed treatment bearing in mind any pets, young children or other unique hazards that may be present
- Whether they can quote a fixed price over the telephone or whether a survey is required before quoting
- What is included in any price quoted
- Do the company offer additional services such as pest proofing, drainage repairs or other remedial works
- Whether there is a charge for an initial survey visit
- Payment methods and terms
- Whether the company maintain public liability insurance (this is not a legal requirement but is absolutely recommended)
Additional Considerations to Inform Your Decision Making
We also recommend you have a look at any reviews that might be available online, see whether the company have a website and social media channels that give you a better idea of their credibility and experience.
At iX5 Pest Control we always try to offer as much information as possible at the time of initial enquiry. For some jobs we do not provide a price over the telephone as we prefer to see exactly what we are dealing with to ensure we can offer the most appropriate level of service before quoting. This is because the pest activity may be far more or less widespread than initially anticipated.
We always aim for 100% customer satisfaction, and that’s why many customers use us again and recommend us to friends and family. In short, iX5 Pest Control are Trusted With Results.
If you require assistance or advice on any pest matter, please contact us here or call us on 01604 328545