Joshua's Pest Control Repeated violations of no soliciting signs Kansas City

I've read numerous posts lately on Nextdoor about pest control services violating no soliciting signs. The problem we have had recently is with Joshua's Pest Control.

We kept having problems with solicitors coming to our door. And, about a year ago, a police officer educated us about no soliciting signs that can be printed off from the city's website. He told us about this after asking to review our Ring coverage when our neighbor's trailer hitch was stolen. I decided to opt for a funny sign for my own amusement, but I figured it would not be taken literally and it would distract annoying solicitors from our doorstep. The sign reads, "No soliciting unless you are bringing me a Starbucks or an Amazon package. Yes, really". I assumed the really would be taken as "no soliciting".

About every 2 weeks or at least once a month, a pest control company has been banging on our door or ringing our doorbell. The last 2 times the employee identified himself as a Joshua's Pest Control employee. One of the times his company vehicle was parked down the street. This time the employee rode a segway. I pointed out the sign a few weeks back and asked the employee if he had seen the sign. He claimed he had not seen it. I educated him on Olathe city ordinance and instructed him not to come back. I reported the behavior via phone call to Joshua's.





I immediately went to the city's website, printed off the ordinance, and taped it over the sign. I called the police department. The Olathe police said I can file a report and it can go to court. How in the world does a company think they can gain business this way?

I immediately started placing calls to Joshua's to complain. I eventually got through to a supervisor named Korbin. He asked me to send them the Ring coverage. I have also sent them screen captures from our Ring doorbell. I posted them to Nextdoor, because I keep reading posts from people complaining about this company and other pest control companies and not being able to identify the employee(s).

This employee also claimed a couple of our neighbors use their service down the street and dropped their names. The sales rep had told us on our Ring doorbell that he treats 78 neighbors in the area and listed 2 neighbors by their last names, saying they were down the block. So, I spent a couple of hours this weekend doing property searches from home going out 2 blocks in each direction. I only found 1 matching last name about a block over.  I am still searching for the other name.

I contacted this neighbor to ask them to verify if they do business with Joshua's, how they feel about their service, and if they would recommend them. The homeowner told me they had only just signed up for service. So, he couldn't verify how effective their product works. He did say they arrived on time and spent ample time at the residence for treatment. The problem is the appointment was on Monday. The sales rep was at our residence on Friday. So, this neighbor was not a current customer. And, he had not been a customer long enough for us to judge whether to use them. Clearly, Joshua's should not have used this neighbor's name. When you name drop a customer, the potential customer expects the other customer will actually be able to provide a decent reference.

Here are the following e-mails to write formal complaints if you are experiencing problems with this pest control company in Kansas City: korbinn@joshuaskc.com and JPC@joshuaskc.com. I would also urge people experiencing similar problems with this company or others to file a complaint with the BBB and our state attorney general's office. I know they handle no soliciting complaints on phone calls, so I would think they would be interested in violating signs displayed on doors. And take the time to file a complaint with the police department. Here is a link to the no soliciting page on Olathe's website: olatheks.org/government/…. Here is another link: olathe.municipal.codes/C….

Finally, if you don't have a Ring doorbell, I would strongly suggest you buy one in order to properly document any inappropriate behavior. Our Ring has come in handy on numerous occasions, and we are strongly considering investing in Ring cameras for additional protection.