Pest Control Not Working? Your Rights, the Re-Service Ladder, and When to Switch

Work up the re-service ladder before you switch companies. Use the free call-back clause in your plan, allow for biology delays — bait programs take 2 to 4 weeks, and egg cycles mean German roaches and fleas often look worse before they look better — then document with dated photos, ask what changes on the next visit, and escalate in writing. If the company stonewalls, cancel per the contract’s actual terms and file a complaint with your state pest control board. Switching is sometimes right, but it is the last step, not the first.

The re-service ladder

1. Use the clause you already paid for

If you are on a recurring plan, the return visit is free. Call, describe the species and the location precisely, and ask for a service date within the contract’s stated response window. Put the request in writing — email or text — so there is a record of when you asked. A company that ignores the first request is a different problem than one that responds and fails to fix it.

2. Learn the biology before you judge the result

Some treatments legitimately look like failures in week two:

• Bait programs (roaches, ants): 2–4 weeks to see meaningful decline. Bait is carried back to the colony; the colony collapses after, not during, the first week.
• Fleas: pupae in carpet and bedding are not killed by most treatments and emerge on their own schedule. Expect continued sightings for 2–3 weeks after treatment, sometimes longer.
• German cockroaches: a well-treated apartment can look worse for a week as harborage is disturbed. The trend line matters, not the day-three count.
• Ants: repellent sprays can split colonies and make activity appear to spread. Bait-first programs look slower and work better.

Judge the trend over three to four weeks, not the count on any single day.

3. Document like you mean it

Paper moves companies. Keep a simple log: date, species, location, approximate count, and a photo with the date visible. Ten entries over three weeks is persuasive in a way that “it’s still bad” is not. It also converts a vague complaint into a specific service request, which is what the branch manager needs in order to justify a return trip to their own operation.

4. Ask what changes on the next visit

This is the diagnostic question. A competent company rotates chemistry — different active ingredient, different formulation — because repeated use of the same product against the same population is how resistance develops. It also changes method: bait instead of spray, crack-and-crevice instead of broadcast, granular or dust in voids instead of liquid on surfaces. A company that shows up and does the identical treatment a third time has run out of ideas.

5. Escalate in writing

Send one email to the branch manager with your log attached and a clear request: a re-service with a method change, or a cancellation under the contract terms. Keep it factual. If the branch does not resolve it, forward the same email to the owner or the corporate customer relations address. Written escalation gets answered far more reliably than phone calls, in part because it creates a record the company knows could reach a regulator.

6. Cancel and complain

Read the contract’s cancellation clause before you say the word cancel — notice periods, cancellation fees, and auto-renewal windows all matter. If the company has failed to honor its own re-service guarantee, document that in your cancellation letter. Then, if they still refuse to make it right, file a complaint with your state’s pesticide regulatory agency. Licensing boards take re-service guarantee failures seriously because they go to the core of what a plan is sold as. See contract traps to check before you sign if you are still shopping.

When to switch instead

Switching is the right move when the ladder has been climbed and the company still repeats the same visit. Do the math first:

If the current company has been out three times for the same problem with no method change, the initial fee is worth paying. If they have been out once and the biology simply needed three weeks, it is not.

The most common cause of “not working”: the wrong species

Misidentification is the single most common reason a treatment plan fails, and it is easy to miss because the wrong-species problem often looks like a stubborn version of the right one. Ants that are actually termites. Carpenter ants treated as general ants. Drywood termites treated as subterranean. Rodent species that require different bait and different exclusion. Fleas treated in a house where the real reservoir is a crawlspace raccoon.

If the same treatment has failed repeatedly, a fresh set of eyes is not a luxury — it is the diagnosis. Ask a second company to identify the species before quoting anything, and see when a second opinion pays for itself. Also confirm the company is applying products according to the label — dose, site, and method are legal requirements, not preferences, and off-label application is both a failure mode and grounds for a board complaint.