Comments on: Aaron Rents: furniture rental firm sued over bed bugs

By: Rohan H. Blake

Rohan H. Blake — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:13:43 +0000

I want to fight these bed bugs

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:11:35 +0000

Hi Sherry,
It seems like you have two questions: what to do about the rental company, and what to do about the bed bugs.

As far as the rental company, that seems like a legal question. I’m not a lawyer–I just post bed-bug related news. You need to talk to a lawyer (there is a FAQ about how to find free legal assistance if paying for a lawyer is a problem).

Obviously, if you are also talking to a lawyer, get their advice about how to document the problem and treatment.

As for the bed bugs, you need to get professional help in dealing with them. They are very hard to eradicate as you have seen, and you need someone with lots of bed bug experience. If you go to the forums, someone there may be able to recommend PCOs in your region. We also have a FAQ on how to choose one (what questions to ask).

By: sherry newman

sherry newman — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:58:01 +0000

hi there i rented furniture from aarons october 2007 living room furniture and the sofa had a nest in it and when i contacted aarons they told me that it would be a week before they could come and get it so i contacted the corprate office and they sent some one out that day to pick up the furniture and they sent an exterminator to spray the house but they only sprayed were the sofa was the bug man told me the the sofa had a nest now my home is infested what should i do every room has them now and every one is getting ate up aarons has given me a hard time in the past and thats why i’m contating you i have tryed taking care of it my self but nothing works and i can’t afford to throw every thing away again i’m a single mother of 2 boys no child support coming in thats why im not able to keep buying furniture and beddings its even in our clotheing please help me

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:31:02 +0000

Cody,

A lot of people do not know enough about bed bugs, and a lot of folks do the wrong things before they learn what they should have done instead. (And I think it’s fair to say that there’s a lot more information available now than there was a year or two ago).

IMO, we need more public education campaigns to help people learn about bed bugs and tell them where to find more information.

By: Cody

Cody — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:26:48 +0000

I just read this article. The family is stupid for throwing all their things away and moving house twice. Jeez, they should have just done some research and could have handled that initial infestation pretty easily I reckon.

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:11:09 +0000

Jim,

I do appreciate that agencies renting furniture do not intend to rent out furniture infested with bed bugs.

However, you must agree that the person renting items is still right to expect they are renting clean and pest-free furniture.

If I rent furniture, my contract is with the rental company, not the person who rented before me. Companies that rent or sell items infested with bed bugs have to be held responsible.

Think of it this way: perhaps I rent a broken TV. The person who rented before me broke it by dropping it down the stairs, but the rental company had no idea it was broken.

Do I blame the company? Or do I seek out the guy who broke the TV? Obviously, I can only deal with the company.

But renting an item with bed bugs in it is much worse than renting a broken item, because bed bugs spread, easily. So if I rent furniture from your company and get bed bugs in my home, I then have to pay a lot of money and spend a lot of time getting rid of them.

The good news, is that rental companies can actually prevent the spread of bed bugs from one customer to another via rental items, if they care to. Thermal heat, properly applied, is one way rental companies could de-bug items they pick up from tenants, and it could be done in a truck or specially designated warehouse.

There would be an initial investment, but renting bed bug-free items will likely attract many new customers away from other companies who want to shirk this responsibility.

Renting or selling furniture which is bed bug-free just makes good business sense.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:12:57 +0000

What everyone needs to understand, its not rental places that they get bed bugs from, its their own neighbors. If you purchace something used from a rental store, its used because someone in YOUR own city had it and that someone in YOUR city has bed bugs.. Rental stores do not have a supply of insects that they put into a living room set then deliver it to you. People need to stop using rental companys as their scapegoats.

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 04:05:11 +0000

Shawn,
It is fully possible for a rental company to remove bed bugs from furniture by heating it properly.

If they did so, and delivered it in a truck free of bed bugs, it is possible the bed bugs are not coming from the furniture.

They could instead be coming from the apartment. All adjacent neighbors (top, bottom, sides) must be professionally inspected and treated. Your apt. must be retreated at 2 week intervals until bed bugs and bites are all gone.

Please click the “forums” button at top right to come to our forums if you’d like to discuss this further. You’ll get more responses there.

By: shawn ragon

shawn ragon — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:11:11 +0000

I have a corporate apt, with rental furniture from Peoples 1. I have been bitten quite extensively, had to resort to steroids and antihistamines as I am severely allergic to bites. I am suffering at night with very little sleep, as I get up many times to turn on the light and check for bugs on my or anywhere near or on the bed. It’s terrible! The furniture company first denied their part in it by offering that they “cook” their furniture to a temp of 145 degrees and spray something on it. Well, here I sit with all new furniture in place, a fumigated apt, and awaiting the return of these dastardly creatures because they’re just hard to get rid of. I am now afraid that I will take them with me when I head to my next job, even though I have washed every item of clothing at least 2 times and with bleach and hot water. Help, I feel like I’ve lost my sanity, and not to mention the money I have spent for Dr, and things I had to get rid of….

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Fri, 23 May 2008 09:21:05 +0000

I think the odds are worse than a crap-shoot, Vectorguard!

Steri-fab is fine for killing things you can spray directly. As we know, bed bugs don’t just hang out in the open like that.