Sean is right, that a qualified PCO — one that knows bed bugs — would be able to find bed bugs if they were there. I am surprised they treated you without evidence, but since your building is infested, AND you have itchy marks on your skin that appear to be bites, this makes it likely to be bed bugs. If your building were not infested, I would seriously send you back to the doctor, since most people at least see some small black fecal specks, like poppy seeds or large flecks of black pepper.

Given your building has a problem, you need to get a better PCO, right? If they deal with bed bugs, they will inspect. They have to inspect before they treat, by law, they’re supposed to find evidence.

It’s difficult for us to recommend anyone. First, I am not in SF. We don’t have many active commenters there. (Realize that hundreds of people read our site every day, but only about ten different people comment every day, and most of them are regulars.) Second, even if someone here is from San Francisco, there’s a chance they are a PCO and advertising themselves. Caveat emptor! Third, a good local PCO recently pointed out to me the dangers of people in the media (even bloggers) recommending PCOs: when one is written up in the media, for example, they’re often very good. But the more coverage they get, the more chance they will grow too fast. A good PCO will take lots of time on bed bugs– hours talking to you and hours on every treatment, and so sudden, huge growth may not necessarily be good. They can’t necessarily meet the demand while upholding the same quality. They may have trouble getting enough good techs to work for them when they expand. That’s definitely not to say that all the heavily interviewed companies are letting their quality slip, but it does stand to reason.

In any case, I am sure there are lots of good PCOs there. We have a FAQ about choosing a PCO (which Sean wrote) and you should read it and follow the instructions.

Nobody can tell you if a move will work, but your plan sounds reasonable. It would be good to get a good PCO in first, since, if you do have bed bugs, it will be easier not to take them along if you get treated now. You wouldn’t want to infest your new home.