• Report: #163567

Complaint Review: Orkin Pest Control

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  • Submitted: Sunday, November 06, 2005
  • Last Posting: Tuesday, December 26, 2006
  • Reported By:venice Florida
Orkin Pest Control
All Locations Nationwide Canada

Orkin Pest Control Orkin's dirty little secret from it's past All LocationsAll Locations Nationwide


2Author 1Consumer 2Employee/Owner

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I have decided to respond in an effort to expose Orkin for what they are,DISHONEST. This is my personal experience with this so called professional organization.

Back in 1999, while working for a Commercial Pest Control Company known as Prisim which was then part of Johnson & Johnson, I learned my company had been bought out by Orkin. And the end result of this was going to be the creation of Acurid Commercial Pest Control, a division combining Orkin's and Prisim's commercial divisions into one.

So prior to this creation, my regions Prisim employees gathered in Austin, Tx, to meet with Orkin management personel to discuss what to expect from our soon to be new company. And this is when Orkin's dishonest ways came into play.

During this meeting, Orkin's management team kept saying over and over again how together we would become the best commercial pest company on the market, that we [Orkin] welcome everyone of you into our family. And this was the nature of the speaches changed. All of a sudden the part about having all Prisim employees sign a statement giving up their rights to severance pay was mentioned as a "and by the way before we go..." I can remember one Prisim employee stating his concern about this document by saying he had 20 years invested with Prisim, and what if he didn't like Orkin? This employee was immediately silenced by a team of so called Orkin management. And yes everyone signed the forms giving up their right to severance pay.

With several years of working in this field already, I had already made up my mind to end my employment with Prisim before this merger. At this point I only had a few months with Prisim, and I knew all about Orkin, so my decision came very easily.

And the sad part of this story is that all Prisim employees that became Orkin employees lasted only a few months at best. They were all forced out by Orkin, and they all lost any chance of getting their severance pay. And believe me when I say this act of dishonesty was decided long before this merger took place by high level management. From what I have been able to find out over the years not one single Prisim employee survived the merger. And shame on you Prisim for selling out your employees in order to save money.

And I will close by letting you know this about Orkin. Of all the residential and commercial pest control companies out there, Orkin has the biggest sales department. And there is a good reason why this is. About 60% of Orkins employee base is in sales because their customer loss rate is extremely high. And this is how Orkin survives as a business. Orkin management knows the loss rate will continue because they have sorry employees who's only purpose is to cheat the customer. In some ways Orkin has created this problem by how they pay their employees, COMMISSIONS!

So with this in mind, ask yourself why would a company like ORKIN give their employees about 20 plus homes or commercial accounts to do per shift? You do the math, can one person possibly perform all this work to standard on a shift, NO! So the loss rate continues without fail because Orkin is only concerned about the daily money totals per employee and not the level of service it provides to it's "temp" customers. My advice to anyone thinking about hiring a pest control company, STAY FAR AWAY FROM ORKIN!!!

Robert
venice, Florida
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 11/6/2005 8:52:32 PM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/pest-control/orkin-pest-control/orkin-pest-control-orkin-s-dir-fbaem.htm.

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
2Author 1Consumer 2Employee/Owner
Updates & Rebuttals

#1 Employee

You are not completely accurate in all of your facts

AUTHOR: Lee - Richmond (U.S.A.)

I am a relatively new employee of ORKIN and work in the office versus in the field. But, I can tell you this: this company values customer service and retention above all else!! The branch where I am has a loss rate of LESS THAN 1% of total accounts. Also, the route managers are NOT expected to do 20-plus calls a day! They do between 8-15 per day. I have seen the over-zealous few who CHOOSE to work 14-17 hour days and cram in alot of services. It seems that they do that so that they can get off early on Fridays, or take longer vacations.

You may have had a bad experience in your area...BUT...that does NOT make it true for the whole company!! Be honest, you only know about your corner of the world--all the rest is hersay.

I do agree with you on one point, when you merged, you should not have had to sign away your chance at severance pay. I feel that they could have worked something out if they had tried hard enough.

Since you chose not to stay with the company, you can't really say what its operating philosophy is now, CAN YOU??

...I THOUGHT NOT!!
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#2 Consumer Comment

Orkin works on commission?

AUTHOR: Leticia - Anytown (U.S.A.)

Then I really feel bad for the people who were scheduled every 3 months to come out for my mother's free termite inspection. (She had just called them for a routine spraying. They noticed the wood and gave her free inspections for 3 years. (She moved then).)

Also what about the original guy who showed my mother how to work her water softener and also informed her of the cheapest places to buy good salt for it. (He spent about an hour of his OWN time doing just that.)
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#3 Update By Author

In Response To Your Posting

AUTHOR: Robert - Venice (U.S.A.)

This rebuttal is directed to Lee. Being a new employee with Orkin, I can tell you have much to learn. And if you are smart, you will avoid wasting your time by leaving Orkin as soon as possible. And unlike you, I speak from experience. In your posting, you stated I had no idea of Orkin's current company customer service status. Well, you are 100% wrong!!! Although I am no longer in Pest Elimination, I have many friends [both upper management and tech's] who are. So I do know of Orkin's still continuing horrible customer service status. Also, my many years of experience stems with Ecolab in Commercial and Industrial Pest Elimination, not so much on the residential side of the house. And Ecolab is the real deal above all else. I'm retired now, but if I had to do all again, it would be with Ecolab. And don't even try to justify your position by claiming I must of had a bad experience with Orkin in a certain location. I had the luxury of working in several states across our country over the years. And it was always the same, the vast majority of new accounts were always from Orkin. Oh, and the complaints I heard every single time from management spoke for themselves. So do you think the countless managers spread out over the U.S.A. are wrong as well? Bottom line, your company is not going to change how they operate, and if you think for a moment they will, then you are a fool. Do yourself a favor by leaving Orkin before you invest too much time in a lost cause. And remember, today's consumers are by far more aware of substandard service. So in reality, Orkin should fear not cockroaches, but today's educated comsumer as well.

Robert
Former Proud Ecolab Employee, RETIRED!!!!!!!!!!
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#4 Ex-Employee

The Sad Facts for YOU

AUTHOR: Randy - Wichita Falls (U.S.A.)

I was hired by Orkin Lawn Care. (much different than the pest control) I had to go to different 70 houses a day on a predetermined route. At each address I had to come up with "problems" on the free (unwanted by the homeowner) lawn analysis. We would call those folks back in the evening 5-9 pm to tell them what we found, and what we could do to help them. Sometimes the homeower would scream at me telling me his lawn looked so poor because we ruined it the year before. Sometimes I got hung up on. Our quota was 3 sales a night. I gotta tell ya, they didn't care about nuttin but selling. Period.

This job lasted from 12-26 till I think May. Then they found "reasons" to fire you. (I worked in Florida so the lawn season was just in the winter and early spring. Once it gets hot there, you can't really add a lot of stuff to a lawn.) they also go through spray techs ALOT too. Oh well.
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