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Going buggy!

By Faith

I moved into my current apartment in June 2011. Everything was going along well untill the last week of November. I began noticing that visitors to my home always seemed to become itchy when they came into contact with my living room couch or chair. Even had a friend complain about receiving bites during a visit. I did a very good inspection of both pieces and discovered little bugs in the chair, which I immediatly took to the property manager since they were still alive. A few days later I was told they were wood bettles, according to their pest control company. Which by the way, another tech from the same company told me about a week or so later that there is no such thing as a "wood bettle". That it must have been a carpet bettle.

Approx 1 week later I complained to management that my youngest daughter and I were receiving bites and spent more time then normal just itching when we came in contact with not just the living room furniture but now our beds. They did have pest control out, though I am not sure why, they did very little to look for anything. I will fast forward to now.
Pest control has been out numerous times since my intial complaint, though they never LOOK in any place you would suspect a bed bug to be, you know like a BED. They put out these little water bottle traps as they call them and come back in a few days. Of course there is nothing in them as I suspect they put nothing in them but water. Even my 12 year old says "Mom bed bugs bite you while your sleeping, hide really really good and know the difference between you and a electric blanket and the pest control company thinks they are going to come running to a water bottle?" (Keep in mind she is smart but still 12)
Meanwhile, I have continued to call the property managers once a week to complain about the itching, that at this point is beyond crazy and the bites that now all three of my children as well as myself are receiving. I have not slept more then 2 hours a night in several weeks. When I do I am woken up to severe itching and you guessed it bite marks in groups of 2 or 3 within a short distance of each other and almost always in a row. Most recently my children are now waking up between 12am and 4am and coming to me with severe itching and/or bite marks. I have done enough research on these spawns of satan to know that what I describe along with other tall tail signs, blood on my brand new white sheets in the shape of a appleseed or tear drop, is more then likely bed bugs.
I have produced several bugs for them to examine, either in ziploc bags or on glue sticky traps and I am told either A. Its a carpet bettle (AFTER they smash it) or B. It is nothing. Now if it is nothing I have one question "Why the heck does it MOVE, by itself?" The bugs range in size and from clear to dark brownish. I have found them in the creases of mattresses, baseboards and the last one in my white load of laundry, which incidently had my pillowcases in it.
The pest control company that the property uses is licensed HOWEVER they have proven time and again that they have little knowledge about these pests. For example, I was told "bed bugs ONLY live in beds", they do NOT leave their hiding places except to feed, and the best one, it takes 9 DAYS to have a reaction to a bite, according to them that is a "Scientific FACT". Should also mention that according to them even though this is a multi-family dwelling if one unit does have bed bugs it is not necessary to treat any other ones as they wont spread, (Remember they say they dont leave their hiding places except to feed). 
I believe they are total idiots and due to their lack of knowledge the problem is increasing. If by some off beat chance I am wrong and they are indeed carpet bettles then why have they nor property owner done anything to resolve the issue. I will say that the on site property manager/leasing agent have been very nice about the whole situation but even they can not do more then contact pest control as they only manage the property and do not own it. What can I do?
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Edited on: Monday, February 20th, 2012 1:46 pm
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2 Responses to “Going buggy!”

My response: (We welcome stories, examples, explanations, answers and a touch of your personality)
 

Sarah Jane

February 20th, 2012 10:20 pm

Oh that’s very sad… I feel for you and my daughter. Maybe it is bed bugs, bed bugs usually suck blood at night and then you’ll have red spots all over your body. It happened to me once and the landlord is very helpful and the pest control worked well. I think your problem is with the pest control company. I suggest you contact the manager of the pest control or look for another company. It seems your landlord is very helpful so I guess you both have to work together to get to the bottom of this. Bed bugs generate so fast that it may spread to your community. The best way to resolve the issue is to contact the capable pest control company so they can use the correct chemical to eradicate those pest.

Faith

March 8th, 2012 9:08 am

Sarah, turns out my suspiccions were correct. After I caught one of those stupid bugs I promptly notified management. I thought that would resolve the issue. However, it took some serious debate with the pest control company, getting the president of that company involved and the threat of a discrimination lawsuit to get them to treat. Management backed me every step of the way and I suspect they will be looking for a new pest control company very soon! Wish I could say that the issue has subsided but it has not. Management has agreed to replace all the carpeting in my unit, since this was the very first place I noticed that I would itch every time I came into contact with specific areas of it, ie all around the edges where there are baseboards and the areas that are directly under the beds in all three rooms. It is a start and that is better then nothing I guess. Wish life could get back to normal……

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