Alterra

This company did some door to door solicitation and my husband signed us up. Now a year later and no improvement to our seasonal ant issues… they keep coming out (and sending bills) even though we have repeatedly called and cancelled. In the middle of the «first year» contract, they said the would have to charge several hundred dollar if we cancelled «early» so we agreed to continue until the end of the contract. We sent a final check out in July and noted to cancel the service on the bill.
Now, nearly six months since the contract has ended, we have been billed twice. We can’t confirm whether they have been out to treat but each time they call to say they are coming out and leave a message, we’ve called back and said DON’T COME AND CANCEL — and they just continue to come back!!! My husband has been on the phone with them for over 30 minutes arguing with the latest bill and trying to cancel. Stay away or be prepared to get scammed!!!

Watch out for this shady company. They will sign you up without your permission. Their rep, Brendan Watson, came to my house and told me few things about their service, then he just started signing me up. It was really surreal, so I told the guy that I wasn’t interested in the service, so don’t sign me up. Then he asked for my e-​mail and cell number so he can contact me next year, so I gave it to them. Few hours later, I received an email from Alterra saying that I have signed up for their service. This company is FRAUD. I tried to email them back, but email bounced back, and their website only has phone numbers. BEWARE OF COMPANIES LIKE THESE.

We tried their quarterly service and it sucks. They say they are there for 15 minutes. 10 of that is spent in their pick up truck. Save yourself the money and you can spray it all yourself for a fraction of the price, and it’s more effective. Would not ever use them again after seeing how ineffective their service is. I had them come back several times — and it’s all the same. Do NOT do it.

Not impressed with cold caller who came to the door at 9 at night. Hint: if it’s dark and my porch light is off maybe don’t even knock?

A rep just came to the door and when I explained I wasn’t the home owner he started to get slightly irritated (maybe he thought I was brushing him off, but still). When I explained when the homeowner would be back he said rudely «I’ll be sending someone everyday until he returns!» And took off through the bushes to leave the yard. Clearly he was not having a good day. Alterra needs better basic customer service training and just guaranteed a loss of business from me and everyone I know.

Stacy B. – Paul H came with a professional attitude and was very efficient. His customer service was the best and he represented the company well. I truly appreciate the service he provided.

Josh, showed up at our front door cold calling for Pest Control. He left open my front gate while my dog was in the yard. My dog took off. As my other dogs barked in the house he would not let me off my porch to chase the dog he had let out. He kept getting in front of me to talk to me about «Who I used for pest control». I told him I had to chase a dog he let out and to go away.
He showed up 4 hours later again. Banging on my door. I would not even open the door this time as he was so unprofessional the first time. He stood there talking to himself and complaining to me for not letting him in. What… if I wanted pest control I would never use this company.
He cold called the neighborhood and was VERY aggressive. People called and complained and the manager (Clay) and he defended him. Never ever never use them… ever.

Don’t fall for their sales pitch. These guys are the worse pest control service that I have ever had. They spend 5 mins spraying your house. $ 109 per visit for a 5 min spray. The service is not very thorough and afterwards the bugs are just as many as before. Their service people are rude and lazy and untrustworthy. I would not recommend getting their service unless you want bugs back in your house.
Update: I had my last service with these guys a few weeks ago. I had rescheduled the appointment so these guys would come when my wife was home. However when my wife asked the guy to come in and spray, the guy backed out saying that it would not be a good time to spray and to reschedule an appointment for another time. The service person obviously did not want to do anything at all. My wife watched him work, he did everything in less than 5 mins and sat in his truck rest of the time to fill out paperwork. On the paperwork it said he did the front and the back and cleaned up the cobwebs for a total duration of 20 mins however my wife was watching the clock when he came and it did not match the time he put on the sheet.
My wife said the tool they use to clean cobwebs was in his truck, and it never left his truck during the whole time.
When I came home and looked, there was still one big web next to my front door, with the spider still in it!
Judge for yourself. I wished I had read the better business bureau report on these guys before I submitted to the high pressure salesperson. I could do a better job than these guys spraying my house. At least after I spray, there are no live spiders still running around on my front door.

Alterra door to door salesman showed up at my house and was using high pressure tactics to sell service that I wasn’t even given a chance to think about. He was not ready to hear what the potential customer has to say. He was disrespectful and impolite. That’s definitely not a confidence inspiring start.

Altera is ahead of the rest, seriously. I had Theodore Richter roll up to my tick-​infested, ant-​ridden yard. Once I told him about my problem he hit all the entry points (he found them easily WITHOUT me even telling him) from the inside and outside. No bull$hit, I stalked him to see if he’d skimp on the treatment because it was like 105 degrees outside. He was thorough, polite, informative, and fast. If the ants make a return in the next week or so, they’ll come back and re-​treat. I know because they’ve done it before (last year my wife wasn’t happy that treatment was done the day before a big rain, so she had them come back and completely re-​treat). They don’t behave like a large pest control company; they act like a neighborhood mom-​and-​pop operation. That’s one reason I dish out the dough for professional treatment.
Now, in the event you think you can buy professional-​quality insect treatment from Home Depot as one reviewer suggested, I say Bull$hit. «Home Defense» does NOT work like a professional insect treatment. I know because I have two jugs of the garbage in my shed. Two days after I treated, ants were gathering in droves, right where I had previously saturated with Home Defense. Not after rain, not after cleaning, just simply after i treated entry points like crazy. Altera uses powerful granule treatment in the grass, repellants around the exterior perimeter, and a chemical that is tracked back to nests at entry points.
The professional treatment is worth it to me because we have horse farms all around us and a metric ton of DEER TICKS. My wife got Lymes disease once, she ain’t too keen on getting it again. My daughter’s friend got it (resulting in a 104 degree temperature). So I have no qualms about killing those nasty little things.
Marc F.

They have more then once come out to my house for the «quarterly treatment» and do almost nothing but then write how they cleaned webs around my whole house, inspected for other inspects, sprayed, and so on on the slip they leave all in around 10 minutes. Every time I call and complain its the same song and dance, their managers making excuses and telling me they are supposed to be there for 20 minutes minimum and they cant believe it happened (only reason they get a 1 instead of a 0 is because they resend someone to redo the work they should have done in the first place). How am I paying $ 109 for a quarterly that lasts around 10 minutes and not only that but I have seen much more bugs this spring then last spring. Alterra’s product is sub-​par and their employees dont seem to care at all. Don’t even get me started on their door to door sales person who sells you the moon and then their excuse for not living up to his treatment promises is that he is an «independent contractor». Big disappointment.

I can’t comment on Alterra’s effectiveness yet, but Takeisha came out today to do my initial treatment, and she was incredibly friendly and very apologetic about a mix up that caused another technician to miss our appointment yesterday. She was thorough in her treatment and made sure to confirm hat types of issues we were having. When she was finished, she mentioned areas where she’d found wasp nestsad ant hills and how she had treated those areas. I’m hoping the effectiveness of the treatment is as impressive as her customer service.

Shameless… We signed up for Alterra over a year ago. They performed a «treatment» where they basically put down same ant traps you would purchase at grocery store and same with mouse traps in garage. We paid 89.00 a quarter for this. When we actually needed them for some ground bees, that was an additional charge. Turns out, most things you would need an exterminator for… require an additional fee with Alterra. Feel cheated… certainly read all fine print with these folks…/eak

Excellent services provided by the expert Lavelle Jones who was very friendly and diligent with the work performed. Once again, Alterra continues to surprise me with their great services and professional staff.

The service I receive from Alterra is always top notch. All of their techs are professional and always treat my home like there own.
Thanks to Mr. D. Adams for my most current treatment

I would definitely not recommend this service to anyone. You’re better off buying Home Defense at home depot and spraying around your house because that’s basically all they do but charge you $ 1000 for it. They even tried to pitch winter treatments because they’re necessary in preventing bugs in the spring (of course they are, why wouldn’t this company try to sell you that and make you pay for it?!) II have had enough, this service is a scam! Their aggressive sales force tricks you into a year-​long plan which they tell you is billed quarterly, but is actually 5 installments. For the initial installment, they double the list price and give you a «discount» butr you are required to repay this discount if you ever cancel, even if you are dissatisfied with their service. I used them for 3 quarters and after several missed appointments, no call-​backs, and absolutely no difference in the amount of pests, I tried to cancel. They told me they would have to penalize me and charge me for the «discount» which is completely ridiculous.
They are liars and thieves and I wouldn’t recommend this company to anyone. Their competitors (All Star, American Pest, Orkin etc.) all offer superior service at a better price. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY, it’s a complete SCAM!

****By the Way/​Important*** I just looked Alterra up on Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation Business Services. It says Alterra is «Dissolved» and Not in «Good Standing». According to the website, Dissolved means — voluntarily ended its existence (with the state), and «Not in Good Standing» means — has not filed the current year’s Annual Report/​Personal Property Return or it owes a late filing penalty. Doesn’t sound like the kind of company you want to give money to or sign an agreement with!
BEEEEE CAREFUL!!! If you sign their service contract and don’t like their service (which I didn’t immediately after I got it), they will not let you cancel… UNLESS you pay the «IDF — Initial Discount Fee» of $ 190.
THIS basically ensures that most customers will not cancel when dissatisfied because who wants to pay $ 190 to cancel their service that was only supposed to cost $ 535 for an entire year of service.
ON TOP OF THIS, I had a pest control company for more than 17 years and never had a problem at all!
The first time I used Alterra, ants started coming into my house — which had never happened before in the 11 years I had lived here — ridiculous. I called RIGHT AWAY, and they said that is to be expected but would I like move my scheduled service earlier. I said sure. Again, they came out and the problem worsened. I called to say, «As far as I know you are sprinkling sugar water around my house!» You are not deterring bugs, in fact you are encouraging them to come INSIDE since you sprinkle the perimeter of my house (so any bugs at the perimeter don’t die but «supposedly» have no choice but to come towards/​in my house because they can’t walk past the barrier.) HA!
SO, if you try to cancel your $ 109/​quarterly service agreement, they will send you a bill for $ 190.
So far I’ve filed a complaint with BBB, Better Business Bureau, to no avail.
Now Alterra is turning my account over to collections and charging interest.
SO, I am going to take them to small claims to stop the madness.
They have been out to my house TWO TIMES; Once for the initial spray (which sent bugs inside) and 20 days later for my «quarterly service». I have paid them $ 109. They want to charge me an additional $ 190 plus interest for canceling my Service Agreement. SO YOU WANT $ 299 plus interest and credit trouble for coming to my house 2X and causing bugs to come IN? We’ll see. I hope Alterra reads this and I hope MANY «potential» customers do to.
One more note: The second «service» was to include the inside since the bug problem was now inside. After the Alterra rep treated the outside, he was heading to the front door with his receipt so I opened the door to let him inside. He said he didn’t think I was home and was all done. (WHAT?) I said, Well, I am home, so come on in. He OBVIOUSLY didn’t want to do his job completely and was just going to note the account saying «customer not home»…JUST LIKE S.S. said in her 7÷16÷14 post.

My service is ended! Thank God!!! «Technicians» are unprofessional and look like they stepped out of the ghetto. Our yard literally has 2 – 3 inches of water in it, i asked to extend the service for a month and was told that i can only do it for 10 days. Well 10 days later its raining and my yard is still a mess! I asked to reschedule the treatment i was told i could not! Really what good is your product going to do in the rain? Wont it get washed away? Sound to me like i am wasting my money… They dont care, all they want is the $ 99! OK you got me here is $ 99 dollars treat my yard/​swamp and get the hell out of my life!!! —BEWARE!!! — –

Great company, has the most amazing service pros. Always very thorough and very professional. I can definitely count on Alterra to take care of my ants and stink bugs

Through a door-​to-​door soliciation, I sign up Alterra pest control service for one year and $ 99/​each quarter. They did come in every quarter, but I did not feel good of their pest control effect since there is still ants going around in house. So I decided to cancel this renewal on Dec 2013. However, they did not process my cancellation and renew my contract until they sent me the bill for the first job they did for 2014. I had to call in again for cancellation and even not sure it will work!!!
Stay away this company.