Mama racoon and babies in basement
We had a racoon access our finished basement ceiling. We knew that the racoon was accessing it via some sort of old vent or access point under our backyard deck. We called SWAT to investigate and Randy came to visit and immediately saw evidence of a racoon under the deck but since he could not visibly see the access vent he pushed me fencing off the entire deck area or installing a one way door at one entry point. I ended up paying $500 for a one way door on one access point under the deck but the racoon continued to visit our home without every leaving through it. When Randy came back to remove the one way door, he realized that there were many more way to access under the deck but he already got my $500 so who cares I guess.
Randy inspected the basement, said he saw no evidence of a racoon in there and he thought it was a male that was just exploring once and left.
A few days later we heard some weird chirping noises in the basement...turns out mom moved in and had babies in our ceiling. I called a second company to come and investigate. They were able to remove the babies and mom, find the actual access point under the deck and seal it and seal up all other entry points around my house.
I learned several reasons why using SWAT was a mistake through this experience. 1) SWAT does not offer any sort of guarantee, whereas the other company is providing me a lifetime guarantee for their work against all animal intrusion. 2) The other company immediately rejected any idea of fencing off my entire deck as a waste of money. SWAT kept pushing me to do this which, with no guarantee, tells me they care more about getting paid than actually solving the issue. 3) There were many access points into the house that SWAT did not notice or care to even attempt to call attention to. Maybe part of their strategy is to ensure that animals can access my house so they keep coming back to remove them?
I am shocked that SWAT has such high reviews on Homestars based off of my experience.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $500.00
- Company Response
Seegz. Sorry that you feel this way but what Randy did offer you full exclusion by protecting your deck You only wanted to do the one area with the door system and take your chances. We Warrenty our work of course but work that wasn't completed and is clearly a problem and suggested is not. As far as life time Warrenty, that's just not realistic and I would proceed with caution but it's your right as a home owner to hire whom ever you like.
We would gladly complete the rest of the deck screening for you and Warrenty the entire structure for the a discounted rate to ease your frustration as it should have been on the day of your initial service. I hope this clarifies how our Warrenty works and why Randy suggested the additional work. It's for this very reason. We have been doing this a long time and sometimes the cost of the work increases due to the scope of work but it's always recommended your proceed with our technicians suggested work.