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Orkin

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6.2

Overall Score

Author: Kalicia Bateman

LAST UPDATED: April 18th, 2022

Orkin was founded in 1901 by teenager Otto Orkin. Over the last century, Orkin has grown and expanded to be an industry-leading pest control service. Orkin specializes in protection against common pests including termites, rodents, and insects. Orkin collaborates with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and major universities to help prevent and control pests, all while caring for the earth's environment.

Orkin reviews indicate that Orkin is a reliable pest control company, but a common complaint is that the Orkin service is pricier when compared to others in the industry. However, many customers were happy with the exterminator services the company provided and stated that the service technicians were helpful and professional. The overall consensus was that homeowners felt the price was well worth the end result.

Whether looking for residential pest control services or commercial pest control services, Orkin has a solution for you.

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The Good

  • Orkin Pest Control
  • Orkin Termite Control
  • The A.I.M Approach
  • Free Re-Treatments
  • Money Back Guarantee
  • Technician Training and Certification
  • Home Services

Orkin Pest Control 

Orkin works hard to ensure that pests are unable to take over your home or office. Each Orkin employee is trained to handle a number of different common pests and critters:

  • Ants
  • Spiders
  • Wasps
  • Hornets
  • Centipedes
  • Cockroaches
  • Earwigs
  • Millipedes
  • Rodents
  • Silverfish
  • Mosquitos
  • Bed bugs*

*Bed bug control services are not available in all locations.

Orkin's Commercial Pest Control services help businesses with any pest problem. Orkin knows that even one pest can have a negative financial impact on a business and a larger pest infestation could be damaging to a companies reputation. An Orkin Commercial Pest Specialist will work with a business to target and eliminate pests and rodents to the customer's satisfaction.

During the winter months, Orkin focuses on indoor pest control with an emphasis on rodents, pantry pests, and other common household pests.
Though the services listed above are fairly extensive, Orkin also provides pest control services for a number of other less-known pests including the following unwanted pests:

Flies, stinging pests, amphipods, beetles, box elder bugs, caddisflies, centipedes, chich bugs, cicadas, crickets, dobson flies, dragonflies, firebrats, flea and tick control, horntails, Jerusalem crickets, kissing bugs, kudzu bugs, lace bugs, leaf footed bugs, leaf miners, lice, locusts, mayflies, mealworms, mealybugs, mites, moths, scorpion flies, snails and slugs, sowbugs, spiders, springtails, stink bugs, thrips, walking stick bugs, weevils, and whiteflies.

Orkin Termite Control 

According to Orkin's website, homeowners spend an average of $3,000 when taking care of termite damage, and not all pest control companies offer termite services. To ensure that you receive quality services and excellent results, Orkin offers a number of termite control solutions to customers:

  • Termidor liquid termite treatments — This liquid solution is safe to use both indoors and outdoors and is commonly used in building foundations to provide a protective barrier around your home. Not only does it provide immediate protection, but it helps avoid future infestations.
  • Dry foam and Orkinfoam — Foam solutions are used to treat voids in interior and exterior walls. These may include areas around heating ducts and water pipes as well as spaces under slabs of concrete. Foam solutions have a very low moisture content to help prevent it from soaking through drywall and causing further damage.
  • Sentricon bait and monitoring — A termite treatment like Sentricon includes termite baits that can be placed in areas where termites may congregate. These termite baits disrupt the termite molting process, therefore stunting their growth and avoiding an infestation. 

If you are worried that you may have termites in or around your home, it is important that you have a professional conduct a termite inspection as quickly as possible to avoid further damage. Treatment for termites is usually in demand between March-May and August-September, but Orkin has teams equipped and ready to provide service on a year-round basis if needed.

The A.I.M Approach

The company's integrated A.I.M. (Assess, Implement, and Monitor) pest protection process works to assess, implement, and monitor a home or business' pest population.

In the Assess phase, a local Orkin pest professional conducts a comprehensive inspection of the property to identify what makes the property unique, what sanitation issues or structural conditions could attract pests, and how pests might get in or why they may want to. Building type, geography, climate, soil properties, and any conditions conducive to pest activity are considered.

In the Implement phase, Orkin works with the customer to develop a custom Precision Protection™ program that suits the customer's specific needs. If a product is needed, an Orkin specialist will select the most effective treatment with the least impact on the environment.

In the Monitor phase, an Orkin professional will monitor whether the treatments implemented were the best fit for the customer's situation through regular inspections and ongoing customer service. Orkin checks for signs of pest activity like eggs, structural damage, or any new conditions that may have surfaced since the last visit. All services performed, pest activity and other recommendations are documented.

Free Re-Treatments 

Customer satisfaction is Orkin's goal. If a customer isn't completely satisfied, the company will aim to make it right. If pests return between treatments, an Orkin specialist will return for a re-treatment at no extra charge. If Orkin is unable to solve the customer's pest problems, it will refund the last service payment as long as they're a current customer.

See how Orkin's re-treatment guarantee matches up with Terminix.

Money Back Guarantee

If you aren't satisfied with Orkin's service or you see pests and critters return after treatment, Orkin provides a 30-day money back guarantee. Free re-treatments are provided, but the company will also provide a full refund of a service payment if your expectations aren't met.

Technician Training and Certification

Orkin's training facility is a state-of-the-art facility containing several stimulated customer environments. Each Orkin technician is trained using an award-winning certification program that includes class work from Purdue University, treatment techniques, and various specialty pest issues and industry-specific employee training. This ensures that technicians are not only certified, but are pest control experts.

Home Services

A number of companies in the pest control industry do not offer any kind of home services. Along with providing pest control, Orkin offers a few home solutions. With Orkin, the homeowner can help protect his or her home from heating and cooling losses with the company's OrkinTherm® or Orkin ComfortZone®. The OrkinTherm® is an environmentally friendly wall and attic insulation service and the Orkin ComfortZone® is an innovative and cost-efficient radiant heat barrier.

All home insulation services come with a free inspection of the home's existing insulation and pest control needs. If an updated is needed, an Orkin technician will create a custom plan and discuss which of the following options are best for you:

  • Install OrkinTherm by blowing the product on top of the existing insulation in your attic or walls.
  • Roll formaldehyde-free batting insulation in your attic or crawl space.
  • Install Orkin ComfortZone in your attic space or garage.

Orkin's insulation products are made of 85 percent recycled materials and are the only pest management products to earn an Energy Star label from the Environment Protection Agency.

Additionally, homeowners can hire an Orkin Man to install a vapor barrier to treat for excess moisture in their home which if left untreated can lead to mold, structural damage, or pest control problems like bedbug or termite infestation.

Florida residents have the option to receive year-round lawn care. The company will take care of lawn pests, weeds, and any diseases that will hurt the yard.

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The Bad

  • Not Available in All States

Not Available in All States

Orkin has an impressive service area that includes 83 countries and 5 of the 7 continents. However, the company currently does not operate in Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

To see how Orkin's national coverage compares to Terminix, visit our compare page.

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The Bottom Line

With over 100 years of experience in the pest control business, professional pest technicians, a variety of services, and continuing research and development, Orkin is a sound choice for an exterminating company.

In addition to an exhaustive inspection process, the company offers treatments for a variety of insects and rodent trap devices, utilizes the A.I.M. process to assess, implement, and monitor unique pest control services, has additional home solutions, and offers a money back guarantee with free re-treatments. Orkin's service technicians are pest and termite experts and strive to offer the best pest solutions - whether they're spraying for mosquitoes, getting rid of ants, or treating a termite problem.

We recommend reading Orkin reviews before making a final pest control decision.

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Star Rating

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3.5

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247 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

42%

4 grade

20%

3 grade

8%

2 grade

4%

1 grade

26%

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Quality

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Jane Kuehn Huxley, IA

I have an issue with voles and called Orkin. They showed up on time, and explained to me that they had a program for 3 visits for about $400. So I signed up, and the first visit was quite successful. Then the second visit, they came and I get a bill for $80. I have tried calling to find out why I'm getting billed, and well over 10 times, I have been told they will look in to it and call me back. I have yet to receive a call back. I'm paying it, but it is NOT what I was quoted. The only reason they are getting 2 stars is because the first treatment was pretty successful, but I would give them 0 stars on customer service and honesty with what they promised. I am calling it quits with them. They promised me something I ended up paying way more than I was promised. I give up trying to hear from them...seriously, horrible local customer service!

5 years ago

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SHUME Rockford, IL

I have a log home in Lone Rock Wi, and rely on companies in the ares, since we are there only a few times per month. I had Orkin for years to control any ant, mice, or insect problems, I noticed on our last visit that our out building had mice and ants. I e-mailed the La crosse office not to forget to treat this building on the next visit. NO REPLY. I then e-mailed the La Crosse office and again, NO REPLY. I then filled out a complaint form on Orkins web site, again NO REPLY, Since I did not received a reply, I filled out another complaint form on the Orkin web site. Again NO REPLY. I then called Orkins Midwest office and cancelled by service.

6 years ago

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L. Santos San Diego, CA

Scammers. Be aware. At first I was positively impressed by Orkin’s fast response; I had an ant infestation and called them on a Thursday evening after 9pm, hoping to leave a voice message and schedule a visit for two days after the call, but a representative answered my call right away and scheduled a visit for the next day. The same person talked about the plans they offered and I choose the one time visit (that would give me 30 days to be sure the ants were gone) he insisted on putting me on the monthly plan, but I insisted on the one time visitation and hang the phone certain that he had honored my request. The representative who came to my house, Danny; told me that my order was designated as monthly and that I should wait to cancel it after few days but I insisted on changing the order to what I have requested and paying the price for it; Danny told me that he would change the order and keep the price and since they had made the mistake. I accepted his offer. Danny contacted me a week later to know if that were ants, and since there still were some inside the outside planters, he offered to send me his availabilities for the next week, but never did. The next Monday, since I didn’t hear from him, I called the company and requested the follow up visit, complained about his disappearance and they schedule my visit for the next Wednesday. The same person came to my house again to reapply the venom. A week later he sent me a text message, asking about the ants and I explained that there were still ants and asked if he could come the next day, he ignored my message for 24 hours, responding it Thursday evening that he could be at my house between 10 am and 12pm the next day, Friday. Since I was going to travel that day I declined his offer and called Orkin and talked to his supervisor about all the situation and how I would be out the 30 guaranteed days because his employee wasn’t a good planner; the guy assured me that they would send me a person as soon as I came back from my trip at no charge; we schedule date and time. Well, that day came and Danny reapplied the venom, but since it was only outside and I had a meeting around the time he was suppose to come, I sent him instructions of how to enter and leave the backyard without needing me to be around. I thought it was the end of it, until yesterday I found a (charged) invoice of $50 for the follow-up visit in my junk mail. I called the company and Debora, the person on the phone, promised to refund my card, but at the same time she started talking about how I changed my plan and kept giving excuses for her employees behavior...l lost my patience and told her that I was tired of dealing with them, and that I don’t need their apology, what I need I that they train their employees first to honor the clients’ requests then to plan their day better so they don’t let clients waiting.

7 years ago

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Lily Betria Scottdale, PA

Giving two stars because the workers were nice. Giving such a low rating because they told us they’re the best in the world and it’ll fix our problem it didn’t. I pay monthly and sometimes they don’t even come. I had a fly and ladybug infestation in my room upstairs and they guaranteed it’d stop it. Nope dead flies everyday as well as ladybugs and now I have a stinkbug infestation. And they won’t refund me.

4 years ago

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Alayna Myers Maryville, TN

Even though very pricey went with Orkin for the name. Bad experience with the way that the workers left my house after the termite protection application. The holes that they drilled in the drywall and exterior brick joints were left open, no attempt to seal them. The Quality Manager who came out to do his required inspection never offered to provide me with anything to compensate for the time I had already spent fixing this mess, just said sorry. Do yourself a favor and go with a local business.

5 years ago

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Kathy Kerber Olympia, WA

Orkin had a great reputation, but we had a big problem. We found out we had mice, though we had regular service weekly. We hired a new company and found out the technician had not been putting fresh bait under the house, and since we lived close to the woods, that was problematic. This company did poison the mice, which had become so populated we then had to hire a company to come out and remove the huge nest of stinking dead mice under our children's playroom. This was something I will never forget. I hope the company has improved their reliability, but pest control and reliability go hand in hand. We never got so much as an apology from them, by the way after spending hundreds of dollars to deal with an infestation. We had a toddler and an infant with respiratory issues, and there was poo all through the house. This was a health hazard and I actually had to leave the house with the children for several days. I would say.....don't take the chance with Orkin.

4 years ago

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Ger Yang Chicago, IL

Lots of miscommunication and way overpriced for the service provided. First inspector lied to us for months about rodent droppings

5 years ago

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Noriko Johnson Pleasant Grove, UT

Poor customer service poor products. They didn’t provide the service they charged us for and then would not return and do the service

7 years ago

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Bella Mee Petal, MS

I didn't care for the products that where used for treatments .

4 years ago