A-Alert Exterminating

TERRIBLE! I DO NOT recommend this company! Their customer service stinks but that’s not the worst of it. I had them come in for a gnat problem today and when they left, I STILL had a gnat problem. The gentleman that was sent over to «exterminate» basically came to my house, told me where the gnats were coming from and then left. He didn’t spray anything and didn’t take care of the live gnats that are currently flying around in my kitchen. I keep my home clean and the last thing that I want is gnats flying everywhere– it’s disgusting. Per my understanding, Kevin (his supervisor whom I spoke with after nothing was done) explained to me that they don’t in fact take care of the adult gnats that are currently there, that they only tell you how to prevent them– which is great but I could’ve done that myself. He stated that he doesn’t «spray» chemicals everywhere for a «fly with a short life span.» I don’t care if their «life span» is 2.5 seconds, the purpose is to come in and rectify the situation. I’m the customer — -if I’m ok with chemicals that will kill the LIVE ones, that should be MY decision. If I wanted to go the organic route (which WASNT working) I could’ve watched a YouTube video. Waste of time, money and effort.

They did a great job with my apartment when it had bed bugs. The only complaint I have was there was a scheduling mix-​up with my apartment. Otherwise, they answered all my questions, did a great job treating the place and were courteous. They even told me to come right over and identified a bug for free that I found several months after treatment (turns out it wasn’t a bed bug). My apartment was free of bugs 1 year after treatment. I have since moved (for unrelated reasons).

Yes you do have me in your database because you just send me an invoice for $ 85 because you went for a treatment earlier than what I instructed you to do (you came monthly instead of quarterly) After I had a talk with the manager or owner, (whoever it is he never introduced himself, so it could be the owner or you the person who responded to this review) and told me that no treatment will be done but WILL STILL CHARGE ME FOR THE REGULAR VISIT! Are you kidding me??? AVOID AVOID AVOID

AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE! The company engages in abusive billing practices and the customer service is traumatizing — not only was I informed to have ‘screwed up thinking’ but my tenants were accused of lying about the infestation continuing despite multiple rounds of treatment.
Based on these favorable Unilocal reviews I hired A-​Alert to exterminate bed bugs/​roaches in a 3-​flat I own. I negotiated an all in sum of 1600 $ for a continuing program of treatment till the infestations were gone («the warranty»).
Firstly, when I look at my credit card I see a bill for 1850 $. Shocked, I call the company and am informed that those charges were because the exterminators found «additional sleeping areas».
The treatment program continues, and after 2 rounds, I still continue to receive complaints about bed bugs/​roaches from my tenants. When I ask Kevin about this I am told this is «normal», and that I have to be patient. However, one of my tenants couldn’t take it anymore and decides to leave.
After the 3^rd round of treatment, I still continue to receive complaints. At this point when we contact Kevin/​A-​Alert for a 4^th round of treatment I receive an enormous email detailing a list of «warranty violations» by my tenants.
Essentially, I was threatened with the program being halted mid-​way unless I paid 300 $ to «re-​instate» the warranty. As a brand new service would cost me another 1500 $, I had no option but to cough up the money.
After the 4^th round (and 2150 $), the bed bugs are finally gone (or so I have been told by A-​Alert). However, the roaches still remain.
At this point, Kevin informs me that the warranty program was only for the bed bugs and NOT for the roaches. I have to pay 75 $ a month for a no end in sight «ongoing service program» if I wanted to have the roaches treated. What? Where did that come from?
There isn’t any transparency in their pricing, business practices or what exactly they have contracted to do. Essentially once you enter the work contract they will find ways to extract more and more money out of you. BE WARNED!

Right on time and called when he was outside. Armando came in. I explained the problem and he looked for was to solve or alleviate. He knew what he was doing and where to look. Very thorough and great job. He explained everything plus suggested a potential cause that is currently inaccessible but now I know where to look.
Reasonably priced and great work

A Alert is top notch. My wife was convinced that she had found a bed bug in our bed. We were able to bring the bug to them and they quickly told us that it was not anything to worry about. That saved my weekend!

A-​Alert is AMAZING! They really helped me with my problem. They are so knowledgeable, really seem to know what they are doing, professional, and did a GREAT job! They spent time with me on many occasions answering all my questions on the phone and in person. Further, they seemed to be so THOROUGH in what they do. Kevin and Sam helped me on the phone and Armando did the actual extermination. I simply can’t say enough good things about them! Thank you so much guys! I highly recommend them!!!

I thought I was smart about bedbugs.
I have worked with A Alert for years, contracting their services for bedbug extermination in varied apartments. Never had any issues; cases were thoroughly isolated and exterminated. Kevin and Sam are very easy to talk to and love talking about bed bugs — maybe even a little TOO much! But hey — that’s why I’ve always trusted them hah! They also recommend great subcontractors, such as those who train canine bedbug sniffers (they help for those too lazy/​apathetic to clean up for a proper visual inspection). And Armando is the best tech — great on a professional and personal level.
So, from a management perspective, they are excellent contractors to work with. And business sure is booming: treatment costs sure have risen since I started working with them. :P
So I thought I knew bedbugs.
But after a neighbor on my own floor of my building was found to be hoarding these suckers for WELL OVER A YEAR and not reporting them to my building manager (they travelled to a neighboring apartment), I got nervous. I laid traps under my door. I checked my bedding every few weeks since my bed is by my door. I thought I’d been spared.
Then one day: the inevitable. Found one. And even though my bed was clear and the top of my boxspring was clear, I found em: a little group of bedbugs under my boxspring. Heart. Crushed. Prep work for this is NOT fun, but you gotta do it.
The next morning I called A Alert. I prepped that night. And the next day Armando was out and treated my apartment. I knew the drill. After treating, he wrapped my bed and boxspring up in protective covers (I paid for them but didn’t expect him to do it for me!) to entomb any possible survivors forever. Mwahahaha. I sleep upon your corpses, bitches.
So now: peace of mind and not a sighting to be had since. And if the suckers come back, I know they’ll have it covered. So take it from me as someone who’s had to live through this treatment, as well as someone who’s worked with them professionally. They’re great.
Still want to throw a fireball at my neighbor who hoarded these little shits though.
A Alert is A Plus.

A Alert is amazing. I was horrified to learn that I had bedbugs. They are pesky little buggers (pun intended). You definitely need an exterminator to get rid of them. I spoke w/​2 companies and A Alert had a much more comprehensive approach to combatting the problem. Kevin and Sam spent a ton of time answering my numerous questions and talked me off the ledge more than once. My tech Armando was more than amazing. He was very mindful in keeping my condo clean as he kept working. He even fixed my vacuum when I told him it wasn’t working. I’ll say it again Armando is the best!!! I would 100% recommend A Alert to anyone needing an exterminator.

This company should really be called FA Alert Exterminating because they are f#$&ing a$$holes. Twice I called to remind them that I needed my furniture put back together because of my asthma and the fact that I have other major medical issues. Each time I called I was told that yes we have made a notation and are aware of that. Well I just got home and guess what, none of it is put back. It would have taken him 10 minutes tops for this to have been done. If you were not going to do this the professional thing to do would have been to let me know and tell me why you could not do this. Don’t hire these guys. This is not cool or professional at all. As an addendum it has been 2 months now and no sitings. I wish I could delete the negative, but because of the severity of my medical issues I can not. It serves as a warning to those with special needs or requests that you must be vigilant. I would speak with the person who responded to my review as I do believe that he would make sure your request would be handled correctly and completed. However, I have raised the one star to three.

Discovered bugs in my nightstand table last night. Called AAlert this morning (Saturday) and not only did they answer the phone but he was able to identify the bug and told me how to take care of it on my own first, if I needed more help to call back.
He also said I could bring in a bug and they would look at it and identify it for me that way.
Excellent help!

STAY AWAY from A ALERT EXTERMINATING SERVICE
Ive used Unilocal for 3 years and have never written a review but after this awful transaction I just had to.
Yes so I recently bought a multi unit building and had renovations done. During construction I never had a bug problem. But since I’m renting the units I would want my landlord to do the same for me. I arranged to have a one preventive service done on all units. Roughly three weeks later while showing the place I had a live roach problem. The next day I called A Alert and I was told that they would not stand behind the service that was done and the only way they come out is if they charged me for additional services. I was taken aback that they would not stand behind the service that was done as I had them come out just 20 days ago. I talked with the a supervisor who repeatedly told me I made a mistake in choosing a onetime service and that I should have chosen a multiple visit package. My question to that is if it doesn’t work why offer it? With a combo of a crappy product and terrible customer service my only advice would be to all is STAY AWAY from A ALERT EXTERMINATING SERVICE

I didn’t even actually need to use their services because their phone consultation was so great. We had several wasps around a backyard play-​set and my daughter got stung. Thinking there was a nest I couldn’t see, I called them for removal. After talking, they realized that there probably wasn’t a nest, the wasps were just coming to take the wood from the play-​set. They suggested a few courses of action and said to call them back if that didn’t work.
It’s rare to find a company that will spend time on the phone diagnosing a problem, and then tell you that you probably don’t need their services, as opposed to just trying to make a buck. If I ever have any pest problems in the future, I will definitely call them.

This must be the summer for things to go wrong in our house! This is totally gross but we found ourselves with a fly infestation. YUCK! When I made the phone call to this company, not only did the owner understand and talk me down from the ledge… he put me at ease and told me some things we could do right away to solve the problem. By the time Sean came the next day he did the most thorough inspection we ever had. Turns out our problem was related to our plumbing problem but I would not hesitate to call them again (hopefully not)!!! :)

I have to give Kevin cudos for being responsive and personable, but he freaked me the $%^# out by mistakingly telling me I had bed bugs! I found several little critters crawling around in both my master and guest bedrooms, around the upholstered headboards. Since we travel a lot, I immediately panicked thinking they had to be bed bugs. I captured 4 of them, put the little guys in plastic pill vials and, based on good Unilocal reviews, sent 2 to Kevin @ A– Alert and 2 to Jim at Eco Tech Bed Bug Experts. 3 days later Kevin called me with some bad news… he said I had bed bugs and they apparently had just feasted ’cause the little guys were full of blood. I explained that neither my partner or I had any bites whatsoever. He said we just must be «non-​reactors». I freaked out. He sent me a list of the preparations I needed to complete for the bed bug elimination. OMG!!! It’s a nightmare.
Then I called Eco Tech and spoke to Madeline just to confirm their results. She told me I did NOT have bed bugs, that they were harmless carpet beetles. I called Kevin back and asked him if he was sure they were bed bugs and he said «absolutely… been doin’ this for a lot of years». I asked if I could come by to look at them with him and he said «sure, got ‘em right here on my desk». I drove up to his office off Peterson Road. He couldn’t have been nicer. He invited me into his office and when I told him I had someone else take a look at the bugs and they said they were not bed bugs he said, «well, let me put them under the microscope and take a better look». Sure enough, he confirmed the little dudes were NOT bed bugs. «Whatcha got here are carpet beetles». Then he showed me what real bed bugs looked like and my little guys looked nothing like those.
Anyway, I was relieved and a little pissed off all at the same time. Had I only gotten one opinion, I would still be washing, drying, folding and ironing all of our clothes, bedding, sheets, towels, etc. Why he hadn’t put them under the scope BEFORE he called me with his dianosis, I don’t know, but getting the 2^nd opinion saved me a lot of time, money and anguish. My advice? Get a couple of opinions before you embark on a costly and time consuming bed bug extermination.
A side note: When I asked Kevin what they would charge to just come out to do a pest service to get rid of the carpet beetles, he quoted $ 185. I then called Madeline and Eco Tech charges $ 125 for the same service. Since they diagnosed the probelm properly the first time AND were $ 60 less for the service, I went with Eco Tech.
Based on other Unilocal reviews and just dealing with Kevin, I’m sure he’s more than qualified to do a thorough bed bug extermination if you have them, but his misdiagnosis lead me to give him this less than satisfactory review.

I’m very satisfied with my 2 encounters with A-​Alert.
The first was for bedbugs. I probably had a very mild infestation. I called them after I found 1 live bug (freshly fed, eww) marching across my sofa, and when A-​Alert came out, the specialist found no other bed bugs, nor any evidence of bed bugs. So who knows, I could’ve picked up this guy on the CTA Or something.
At any rate, I had done an extraordinary amount of prep work because I work from home, so my living room and office had to be treated as well. The specialist said that I didn’t need to do any heat treatments, and probably didn’t even need the 10-​day follow up treatment, but «you’ve already pre-​paid for it as part of your package, so you may as well do it.» Since all my stuff was packed up for the treatment, I figured sure, why not make the most of it. A different specialist came out for the second treatment.
Both specialists were really great about telling me where they were going to start, what they were going to do, and how long it was going to take. One kindly pointed out a cat toy that had been snuck into the living room, so that I could remove it into a non-​treatment zone.
As an added bonus: I used to have ants and carpet beetles and those were GONE after the bedbug treatments. Nice! Maybe there is enough residue to keep the centipedes at bay for a summer??? :-)
Kevin was very communicative and supportive throughout this entire process.
The second time I called them was a few months later when there was a bat in my furnace (which is right in my apartment). I talked to someone who explained how bats are taken care of in Chicago (no killing or trapping, thank goodness). He was on the phone with me for a good deal of time to make sure I understood everything. Very helpful.
Thanks guys!

Poor Kevin. I had a complete mental breakdown in his office. Like, sobbing hysterically and telling the whole office how I was ruining my marriage. Let me begin my story (I’ll be brief, I promise).
I was stressed out. My husband tore his Achilles and had to have emergency surgery just days before our destination wedding. Less than a week after surgery we took a 40 hour train ride to California after the doctor told us we didn’t need to cancel the wedding after all (couldn’t fly due to risk of blood clots). So here we are on the 40 hour train ride back to Chicago after the wedding and I have some bites. Immediately I jump to bed bugs. And turn the first two weeks of my marriage into a nightmare.
As my husband accurately pointed out, I would not be happy until I actually found a bug in our bed. And he was right. I was RELIEVED when I finally found the proof I’d been looking for. The whole time I had been calling Kevin, giving him constant updates. So when I finally found my bug (and a dirty bath mat that I was convinced was their lair) I made my way into his office with the proof I needed to have him start spraying. Long story, short I do not have bed bugs. The bug on my bed was an ‘outside’ bug. And the bathmat was full of lint and mold. Sometimes I really suck.
The amount of time Kevin spent calming me down before and after my ‘crisis’ was unreal. I tried to pay him for his time — he wouldn’t let me. I still might send him $ 100 anonymously over Christmas anyway. And he didn’t treat me like I was crazy — he listened to all of my concerns as if they were very real. Sadly, I think with media hysteria, my case is not unusual. Dermatologist said my bites weren’t from bed bugs (I know you bed bug experts will tell me that ‘a dermatologist can’t tell just by looking at your bites where they came from’! Just hush, okay?) Turns out I had a very severe case of stress induced eczema and hives — TMI, sorry.
My point is, if you think you have bugs STAY CALM and call Kevin. I just gave a company a five star review and didn’t technically use any of their services — they’re that good.

Bed bugs suck, literally. These guys were fantastic, and if I had just called them immediately instead of panicking on my own for several days, I would have saved hundreds of dollars and not have thrown out so many items that could have been saved.
Armando can spot an egg the size of a grain of salt, even in unlikely places. He was a tremendous help, and even managed to help us feel better about our very upsetting situation.
We worked our butts off to prep the apartment, and after 3 treatments (all covered by one fee), we appear to have our lives and our apartment back.
Stuff I read about bed bugs on the internet is scary and disconcerting. You are led to believe you might never get rid of them, and that they are nearly impossible to eliminate completely. They can live up to 18 months without feeding. We are looking good after 5 months, and we have A-​Alert to thank.

I had a review posted out here earlier which I have since removed because I believe it was a bit too harsh on the company. Overall, they did a pretty good job with my bedbug problems — I no longer have them thank goodness and for that I am most appreciative. I do, however, believe they need to work on some communication issues.
First off, as most of the other reviewers have pointed out, Kevin is great to deal with and will spend an inordinate amount of time explaining the treatment process. This is good and bad because it means he has to be the sole individual fielding all the calls. I think the receptionist could be a bit more knowledgeable about the subject instead of pushing all the calls off to Kevin.
The technician that serviced my unit was competent but sloppy. Not much more I can say about that one. He also, seemed to get very flustered when it came to helping me install a mattress enclosure. This is not rocket science and only required that one person hold the mattress while the other one slid on the cover. Simple.
It is a forgone conclusion that most of the communication regarding treatment should be with the landlord. And maybe that’s what I found to be a problem: information was coming from the company and the landlord some of which directly contradicted one another.
I also would have liked to be kept abreast on how things were going in the rest of the building. I was often made to feel as though I was the only person in the place with the infestation as well as the cause of it.
So, the company is OK to deal with and they did resolve my problem. They simply need to polish the rough edges on their customer service side.

I am a property manager, so I know a thing or two about bedbug infestations in multi unit dwellings. My Board has been fortunate enough to find Kevin and Singer Sanitation. They have responded quickly and thoroughly to every report we’ve received for our buildings (567 units total), and have been the sole reason we’ve never had a major infestation or a minor one become much worse.
On top of this, my fiancé dealt with bedbugs in his apartment recently, and while his landlord was being willfully ignorant regarding the situation, Kevin helped us through it all and eventually convinced my fiancé’s landlord to let him treat the issue. He’s been bedbug free ever since.
Kevin will sit on the phone with my for an hour while I ask asinine questions about bedbug rumors and he will do it with a smile on his face and PRACTICALLY APPLIED KNOWLEDGE to answer me.
I cannot recommend these guys any more highly than I do. I trust them in my professional and personal life.