Against the advice of my friends and family, I went for Godrej hicare termite control programme rather than the local guy who would have done it for less than one third the cost. Their hotline as advertised was prompt and I had an appointment soon. The person assigned came over to assess and assured me that there wouldn’t be any disturbance to my infant or to general life, that they would be injecting some stuff which is perfectly safe, in all the walls and woodwork and spewed the usual promotional stuff which you find on their website. His assessment was perfunctory to say the least. He saw the heavy infestation - broken cupboard shelves - but was sure that they could swing it.
Come the D-day and I find that I would have done better to have arranged for a day out for my child, because the house is turned inside out. All the furniture has to be moved away from the walls - and its not like this is a professional organization that they will do it for you, and covered well to protect from the dust from the drilling. While the chemical is being injected too, you and your baby are better elsewhere. No food to be left uncovered, no toys either. We have a small flat - no mansion here, and stuff was out in the open. If I had been warned, I would have made arrangements accordingly. I suppose I ought to have thought about it - but I kind of trusted these guys. Their covering up the resultant holes was effective, but quite shoddy so if you have just got walls painted, forget it.
The guy who actually did the treatment was of the opinion that we needed to take the cupboards out, but they could assure a year of termite free existence. This was a bit of surprise and hardly the time to decide in a snap whether or not to get the carpenter first. So, of course, we said, go ahead with the treatment.
The receipt, I later noticed, has a place for mentioning infants or invalids, and these guys have not entered any so it doesn’t sully their records.
Quarterly free check ups are part of the plan - nobody contacts you even to ask about it.
Five months down the line, a fresh and very much active termite infestation breaks out, and I called the number given on the receipt. Auto answering, am told to wait for a representative, then suddenly a message saying to record your number - after which, your name and address, and all the answering machine will do is to ask if you want to listen to it or erase or re-record. Nothing else. Nobody calls to return your call.
Tried the number given in their advertisement for new cases. Guy on line very polite, says their team will call in four hours, claims that all complaints are routed through him - has no senior person’s contact no. or whatever, but that he will call back in 15 mintues with a complaint id no. after it has been registered at HQ. Four days later, somebody calls to make an appointment on the no I had originally given but had revised when I called now. Am waiting to hear their new rigmarole, but am disgusted with their performance. Very unprofessional conduct, and quite makes you wonder if you ought not to think twice before buying another Godrej product.
And here is the update another three months later. We got all the cupboards pulled down, and these guys gave it another treatment before getting the new one made - lived like nomads for a couple of months. Now, in a nearby previously unaffected area, another attack. This is the area which I had specifically asked them about - whether it also required a retreatment, and they said no. I am still waiting for the technician to show up at a convenient time.
Final update: New cupboards were duly made and demolished by termites, again. The Godrej guy who turned up said that they were recolonizing from the top floor or the house next door(shared wall). I think it is fairly obvious that it would occur, given how flats are constructed, so why didn’t anyone talk about this earlier? We finally went with clunky steel cupboards. The termites went and ate said neighbours’ furnishings as well. End of story: doesn’t seem to matter if you go for Godrej or local guy. You have to know that termites in the walls are all over, and if you do block their entry from the lower level, they are still there - termite treatment won’t work in a flat unless all flats treated simultaneously!