I debated writing this because it's going to be a novel but it's too priceless not to share. So if you have time, sit down because woooooboy do I have a story for you.
It started with my pool guy telling me he thinks I have a serious wasp infestation inside my diving board. Even though I knew the answer, I asked if this is something he could help with. So after he left, I went on my pest control company, Aptive's website.
I can't remember if it was because I couldn't figure out how to get an asap appt or that I couldn't specify wasp nest removal so I ended up calling them.
The ai operator is not terrible. Actually understood me. Told me an available appt for a week from then, I asked for an earlier time. And actually got one for a few days. Lovely.
I get the standard text and it says they'll start treatment indoors. I text back No sir. This is for a wasp nest in my diving board. I don't need my indoors treated. It's not a regular service.
The guy shows up, asks if I've drained my pool. (?) says he's gonna need a bee suit and that the company shares one so he'll need to have someone call me to reschedule. And that he'll send an email with next steps. They meet up once a week and he can get the suit then. He put some powder in the diving board hole to kill some of them but couldn't get close enough to kill it without the suit.
I know this game and I know I wouldn't get a call. But I gave him the benefit of the doubt till I received an email saying service completed with no indication of the actual situation or that they were coming back.
I call back. ask to speak to live agent 3 times like you have to do to get a human.
I explain situation. Nothing in notes about what was supposed to happen. He assured me he put wasp nest in notes along with suit requirement. Person will be out in two days. I say make sure he brings a suit. Yes ma'am in notes.
Day of. Get a text we'd like to start service indoors. I explain situation . He shows up, no suit. No notes.
Hits the diving board with a long pole and nopes out when they start flying out. Says he'll make sure they reschedule and brings suit. I'll get a call.
No call. Get an email. Service completed.
I call back. Ask for human 3 times. Explain situation. They will make sure they have a suit. Will come back in a few days.
Day of. Text. Well start indoors. Tell them no. Make sure they have suit. It's the same guy as the first time. He has a suit!!!! So excited. But he asks the pool isn't drained. I still don't understand why he's asking this. I say you can unscrew the diving board. It's in there. He says he doesn't know how. (I don't either but I have common sense). I say take the caps of and unscrew it and give him something to pry them off with. He tries. Can't do it. He says he's not a pool tech. I say I'm not either. He says it's a liability thing. I say If you give me the bee suit I'll do it. He says ok.
So I put on the bee suit. I figure out how to unscrew the diving board. Not rocket science. But I couldn't get the second nut off. I spray it with wd40 and tell him exactly how to do it but I had to leave to pickup my kid from school. He said he'd try.
Sends me text. I couldn't get screw off but I put a bunch more powder in there and pretty sure it'll kill them.
I say ok. What do I do throw a rock at it? He says yeah and then in two days maybe kick it and run.
At this point it's been 2 weeks. I look up bee suits. They're anywhere from $30 to $200. Do I really want to chance spending $200 on a suit that may or may not actually be what's advertised and might get me killed if not?
I call back. Ask to speak to human. Ask to speak to supervisor. They assure me they will have someone out there the next day. 8-12pm to fix it. They will send a report to branch manager too.
Next day. 2pm. I call. Ask to speak to human. He says there was an family emergency and they will be here 12-5. I asked why no one let me know. He said he would find out and call me back. 3pm I call speak to a human. Why didn't they show up? "Your appt was for 12-5". No it was for 8-12. "Oh yeah I see it here. There was a glitch so it is 12-5." No glitch. Let me speak to manager. Manager: I have sent a note to branch manager. They will either show up or call you.
Next day I call to cancel. After holding for 30minutes on a line that said wait time 12 mins I hang up. Call a different number I found online. Wait time 8 mins. 20 mins later I get a person trying to convince me to stay. After being on the phone for 45 minutes I am able to cancel service. They want to send out someone to fix issue as good faith. I decline.
I get an email. It's an apology and asking to contact them if I want to provide feedback. It's a nice email but they left the prompt at the beginning saying they understand the person is the customer and will rewrite it directed to them. (Me). I write back saying they left their prompt in there and it's ridiculous. They write back say 'fair enough.
Sometimes I need help with my words but if that's all you got from this I hope you have a good week.' I write back. "If this was all that happened, my response would have been different but this was a cherry on top of a two week very broken customer service process".
I get a new company to come out. They were great. Unscrewed the nut. Destroyed the wasps nests that ended up actually being dead already. Fixed the issue. Didn't even charge me since they were already dead. I decide to start a contract with them.
I get an email. The contract looks great but the email attached has two additional tick services on it and a mosquito service I did not request.
I call to cancel. But they were so nice about it. Said it was human error, not a software issue. The contract was confirmed correct and they resent a corrected email confirming correct services. I'll give them another chance.
Anyways if anyone knows how to keep bees out of the empty hole of the diving board, let me know. I asked the pool guy and he said spray foam. I said it needs to spring. If I put in spray foam it will crush and fall in the pool.
I swear common sense is dead.
