The Reliable Blog
Celebrating the Life of Phyllis Hanstra
Phyllis HanstraAugust 19, 1933 - October 8, 2017 We are mourning and celebrating the life of our dear matriarch Phyllis Hanstra. She has been instrumental in the integrity and legacy of Reliable Exterminators. Once her husband Jim Hanstra purchased the business from his uncle Charlie in 1971, she became involved, supporting Jim, doing accounting, and making calls from home after hours. It wasn't until 1982 that she became full time. After...
Employee Spotlight: Javier
Javier is our technician that is known in our office for getting the most gold stars (see this blog post about gold stars.) It's not an inner office competition but a majority of our customers that call with a compliment are calling about Javier. He's warm, friendly, caring, and still quick and efficient. Jav says he thinks customers like him because he's honest and goes the extra mile. If they have a beetle, he could...
Employee Spotlight: Jeff, the Bug Man
If you live in any of the northern counties in our service area (Jasper, White, Benton, Newton, and Pulaski), you've probably seen Jeff. He's been driving a Reliable truck up there for the past 20 years, but most people only know him as "the bug man". The year was 1997 when we set Jeff loose on the northern territory. He is quite the salesman and has sold so many pest control jobs that we've since...
Feeling the Love
Often when a customer calls and gives a compliment to one of our technicians, we write it down on a goldenrod, star shaped paper to show the technician and post to our bulletin board. We love hearing feedback from our customers and the technicians are really encouraged by the praise! I'd say we get more compliments by phone than any online review sites. Our excellent reputation has been built by 81 years of honest, reliable...
Employee Spotlight: Geanie
I'd like to introduce each of our staff members through a series of blog posts. We have phenomenal people that work for us and I hope to spotlight each one! Our first employee spotlight is about Geanie. She has been with us almost 5 years and is the only office staff employee who worked with our matriarch, Phyllis Hanstra, before she retired. Geanie was hired as a Customer Service Rep in the fall right...
Super Service Award Winner – 6 years in a row!
Reliable Exterminators Earns Esteemed 2016 Angie’s List Super Service Award Award reflects company’s consistently high level of customer service Reliable Exterminators has earned the home service industry’s coveted Angie’s List Super Service Award, reflecting an exemplary year of customer service to members of the local services marketplace and consumer review site in 2016. This achievement is particularly significant as Angie’s List experienced unprecedented member growth in 2016. More than 1.6 million consumers, many of whom...
Reliable Attends Purdue Pest Management Conference for 81st Time
Recently two individuals from Reliable Exterminators attended the 81st annual Purdue Pest Management Conference. Philip Patrie and Andrea Patrie spent the three days of the conference attending various lectures and demonstrations having to do with mosquito control, particularly relating to two specific species of the insect. One of these two mosquito species was the Aedes mosquito, which carries the Zika virus, with the other being the Culex mosquito, carrier of the West Nile virus. The...
Hiring Service Technicians
It feels like spring and that helps us prepare for another busy pest control season! We just posted ads to hire two new Service Technicians! Come work for Lafayette’s #1 pest control company, which means lots of phone calls to answer, no outside sales, and busy days! Be part of the legacy! Apply here!
Bed Bug Summit
Philip Patrie, General Manager Philip Patrie, General Manager, and Javier Williams, a seasoned service technician, attended this year's Bed Bug Summit conveniently held at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis this past December. They were among over 450 attendees that came to hear from leaders in pest management about new control solutions and the latest research in bed bug management. The National Pest Management Association hosted the event. “NPMA is very excited...
Celebrating Together
Sometimes its fun to be a "bug" man or lady. Last week Reliable Exterminators held our annual Christmas party. We reserved a room at Walt's Other Pub and were served a delicious dinner with appetizers, drinks, and dessert! Around Christmastime we always serve a big meal for our employees and summarize the highlights of the past year. This year Andrea spoke of our history. About half our employees have been here less than 5 years...