We were directed to ABC from our pest control service after suspecting that my husband may have brought bed bugs back to our home from a business trip. Very few pest companies do bed bug inspections and treatment so our pest company directed us to one that could.
The exterminator did a very brief examination, flipping only our bed, the top mattress, not the box spring, and did not do a thorough examination of the outlets, window ledges or the bed sheets that were all nearby. He looked at my husband's suitcase and suspected a shell of a bug that it could have shed but rolled it up and tossed it before I could get a look at it or could put in a bag for further examination. I had a few bug bites on my arm, but I was the only one in the family that had this. I stated that we recently had concrete poured and construction in our backyard, could it have been sand fleas from the sand prior to concrete, or spider bites from the disturbance of the ground from the construction? He said what I had was definitely bed bugs (again, no one else in my family had it, and for days after suspecting my bites could have been that and sleeping on the couch, my husband continued to sleep in the bed and had no bites, we saw no feces or bug evidence...remember, his ""expertise"" was that my bites, which could have been multiple things, and a possible shell, which he disposed of before I could see it, was evidence we had bed bugs.)
Without examining our other 4 beds and doing a foot measurement of the outside of our house (did not have the proper wheel to measure square footage, or a measuring tape to measure the rooms) he stated that we would have to have a heat treatment of the entire house and pushed that it needed to be done as soon as possible. During this time, we called another company that did not charge for initial examination and they came to inspect the home. He flipped all 4 mattresses and box springs, inspected bedding, took outlet covers off and inspected inside, did an amazing thorough investigation. Nothing! We didn't have it. I called ABC thankfully in time, before the day that they were going to heat treat my home, possibly damaging it, for nothing, and cancelled. When I inquired why, if bites and a possible shell, was the only evidence he found, would they suggest heat treatment (a $4,000 cost) would be the first thing to do before a dog inspection ($125 cost) or more thorough investigation, they said that just wasn't their process (well of course not, I said, who would pass up a chance to make $4000...it's just enough to make a profit for them and not enough for us to pursue action against them for false claims and fraud!) She was speechless and apologized but said that their dog couldn't come out until the middle of the next month anyway. When I cancelled it all and hung up, she called less than a minute later to say that the dog could be there in a few days to confirm we had bed bugs. Uh, sorry lady, no thanks! Of course during all of this, they went ahead and charged our credit card for $4000+, holding the payment for 2 weeks, and when I called, oh of course it would be refunded in a few business days.
Get another opinion...there's a reason why there is an ABC commercial every hour on the hour, those cost money and they're good at making it off of us through false scare tactics.
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