Critter Control

Not impressed with the attitude of the manager Tino or mike they didn’t seem vary knowledgeable. Chris the technician was very helpful. And helped solve my problem with large rats.

An almost $ 1000 bill from catching squirrels from the neighborhood, and an unwillingness to discuss a compromise… not really the way to do business

My initial experience with Critter Control was good. We had a woodpecker that had pecked a hole in the side of our house. They came out quickly, gave us several options for scaring the woodpecker away, and repaired the hole/​installed the «flashers» quickly. Our house looked a little silly with the brackets and CDs on fishing wire, but it worked.
Within a few weeks, we noticed a thwacking sound and realized the CDs were hitting the house. I called them, and they came out quickly to tighten up the fishing line.
All was good for a few months, but the wire loosened again and the CDs started hitting the house hard enough to scrape the paint off the side of the house. I emailed CC, and this time they were completely unhelpful. They told me that the warranty was only good for 30 days, and that they would charge $ 89 just to come out and look at the house, plus additional for repairs. This was considered «maintainance.» I disagreed completely, as it wasn’t like I had a repeat pest problem — their solution was literally damaging my house. They stopped responding to my questions.
I am very disappointed in their professionalism. This seems like it should be a predictable problem — the brackets should be longer to keep the flashers further from the house as the fishing line loosens over time, or they should build in maintainance (tightening) or removal of the flashers after the job is done. As they are not standing by their work, I’ll instead be paying someone else to come remove the flashers and patch up the damage.

Raccoons did so much damage to our home and we live in a gated community that hired Critter Control to remove and relocate, so far, 3 raccoons, and one opossum in about ten days of trapping. They were quick and efficient in giving an estimate, and highly skilled in animal retrieval. The trappers themselves showed a keen understanding of the animal behavior and habit, so the traps were ideally located. One even identified a female as not the one whose babies were seen ranging in our area. The only fault with this service is getting through to them with a robotic answering service. It is difficult to understand, too long winded and at the end it hangs up and says «good bye». Only one number called gets you to a human with a nice voice and is clearly understandable. (253) 922‑8274. For this «handicap» I reluctantly feel that 4 stars is sufficient. While I have had no previous experience with animal control organizations, I do feel that they are exceeding expensive. One additional sad note here is that I, in a humane gesture, release two squirrels which we may be billed for.

The techs are very knowledgeable of what they are doing and they are very time efficient. They have eco minded solutions to many animal problems. There customer service is able to get a tech out the same day if there is a problem with the traps. They charge flat rates for moles, and they charge per animal for anything bigger than that. Bee, wasp, hornet, ants, mice, rats, voles, squirrel, pigeon, beaver, raccoon, opossum, skunk, coyote, deer, bob cats ect… they have got you covered.

I found Critter Control via Google, they had a sponsored add. My problem was a mysterious noise coming from my chimney and I asked their representative if they would come out and give me a formal bid to see how much it would cost to have a raccoon removed. (my assumption affirmed by their representative was that it was probably a raccoon or squirrel and I should not attempt to open the flue and find out) The representative asked for my credit card number, told me that there would be no charge, and that generally they charge $ 180 for establishing a removal plan and $ 40 per animal removed, cages, repairs etc. That’s fine, I thought it was weird that they would take my credit card before they came out to generate their plan, but it didn’t concern me.
Their representative was on time and professional. He quickly removed the small bird that was in my chimney and told me that 99.9% of the time it is a bird. He then proceeded to charge me $ 220 for his 1 minute of work. No written estimate, no discussion that I probably have a bird not a raccoon, no inspection for potential repairs, but he was very courteous. I challenged him, saying that on the phone the representative assured me that I would be provided a written estimate for removal, and that there would be no charge for an inspection. He called in the office and she changed her tune, saying that she told me it would be $ 180 to come out and $ 40 per animal removed.
I am happy that the bird is gone, but I am extremely unhappy that they asked me to pay $ 220 to remove a bird. If the lady on the phone had told me that 99.9% of the time the noise is a bird, I would have opened the flue and removed it myself. My fear of rabies and their strong armed business practices cost me $ 220. At this point I would have given them 2 stars, but three days later, on a Saturday morning the same tech showed up unannounced at my home, put his ladder up to the building and climbed on the roof. I happened to be outside, and went to talk to him. He explained he was there to finish the inspection part of the job, but he did not ring my doorbell to tell me he was there, he did not call in advance to tell me he was coming, and if i wasn’t outside he simply would have come and gone. After he was done he did leave without saying goodbye or letting me know he was done. For all i know he was casing my home for a robbery. This last little bit took Critter Control down to a 1 star… if they planned on coming back to my home, they should have called and let me know why and when.

Critter Control did a good job with removing the bats we had. Their critter expert did a fine job, even though the final seal of the bat entrance was very ugly. Unfortunately their customer service is not great, but if you are willing to deal with unexperienced and rude customer service, then go ahead. Their quotes are on the expensive side.

DO NOT USE THIS PLACE! You will be ripped off royally. They have actually made my bird & woodpecker issue WORSE after spending $ 530 for pretty much nothing! Their fees are ridiculous and their recommendations do NOT work! After calling back to explain the on-​going problems, the only solution I was given was another «free» assessment (aka — looking at the birds) and an additional $ 120 of crap (including a $ 60 beach ball). This place is WORTHLESS! NEVER USE!

I didn’t have a bad experience with them but they do charge per critter/​per rat/​per mice they catch in addition to the initial fee so I would not go back to them because after a few hundred dollars the problem was not fixed. I ended up going to a different company with flat rates. The people that came to the house were always on time and they have very early morning appointments.

The people here did not solve our problem, accused us of taking their old fashioned wood/​wire rat traps (which we later found on the ground under our bushes and in the gutter of the house – apparently fallen down in rain storms?) and charged us an inordinate amount of money NOT to rid the house of critters. Never again will I give such a company my credit card number. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.