Smithereen Pest Management Services Review

Company Review

Smithereen Pest Management Services is a 4th generation, family-owned pest control company founded in 1888 in Chicago, IL. Its current Northern operation is headquartered at 1635 South State St, Chicago IL, 60616. The company serves the greater Chicago area but also has services reaching far north into Wisconsin and south through Indiana and Illinois.

A large variety of different services are available through Smithereen Pest Management Services for both commercial and residential customers. Specialty services for extermination and exclusion are available for wasps, bed bugs, spiders, rodents, cockroaches, termites, ants, mosquitoes, bees, and wildlife. The company also has three comprehensive preventative packages called Home Guard, Home Guard Plus, and Home Guard Premium that are periodic treatments to deter all pests.

Smithereen is an old name in pest control. More or less the oldest name. In 1888, Smithereen’s founder, E.R Jennings, discovered that pyrethrum was an effective nontoxic pesticide. The company he founded, Smithereen, would be one of the first pest control companies in the United States, and he would go on to trademark the word “insecticide” in 1910. The company claims that its legacy should be evidence that its core values of dedication to customers and employees deliver a great value for a great product.

When it comes to the reviews, customers have mixed reactions about whether the company can deliver on its promises. Many reviews are excellent. There are many extremely happy five-star reviews, particularly talking about how knowledgeable, professional, and friendly the technicians that service customers’ residences or businesses are. Dozens of Smithereen’s techs are mentioned by name in reviews, all with glowing comments from a wide variety of customers about a wide variety of jobs. Customers pretty unanimously seem to enjoy their technicians from Smithereens and the work that they do.

There are, however, some reviewers that are rather critical of some components of Smithereen’s operations. A few reviews point out that Smithereen’s costs can be too high compared to competitors, depending on the specific job. Many reviewers give negative comments and scores for customer service issues, particularly over the phone. A consistent and continual problem mentioned is reception services being unhelpful, rude, or a bit incompetent. Anecdotes about scheduling snafus, poor communication about cost, and rude interactions over the phone are in every negative review. There are very few negative remarks about technicians, and those are all immediately preceded by poor interaction with office staff over the phone. There seems to be a strong disconnect in consistency between the customer experience dealing with a technician in your workplace or home, and the experience in dealing with administrative staff over the phone. This theme in negative reviews has been consistent over the years.

Overall, the reviews of Smithereen Pest Management Services are mixed but in a rather consistent way. The company scores 3.5/5 on Yelp, 4/5 on Google, 5/5 on Facebook, and is A+ rated with the BBB. The picture the reviews paint is one of a company that you can rely on to have excellent technicians onsite, but you may have an unreliable experience when calling in to schedule that technician or answer questions about that bill. Smithereen is a very large company with a very wide service area, however, and it’s worth noting that the positive reviews about great technicians far outnumber the negative reviews about customer service.