Comments on: Bed bugs in Ventura County (Thousand Oaks, California)

By: thousand oaks california | Reach news channel

thousand oaks california | Reach news channel — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:32:46 +0000

[...] Rene Laraine, what might be causing his bed bugs to persist despite nine bed bug treatments by licensed PCOs, Nicholas Brown brings to mind similar concerns. Brown, chronicling his bed bug experience on the Huffington Post, is now well past his seventh week. He has had five treatments so treatment intervals are not the problem in this case. He is planning treatment six, the last one before he moves. Again, I would bet money on the neighbors as source. Like many of us, on this blog that was bedbugger.com [...]

By: The Bugman

The Bugman — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 02:05:52 +0000

It would appear that the landlord, PCO and the tenants are not working together to solve the problem. But assuming that the other will take care of it and not realizing that they themselves maybe part of the ongoing problem.

By: parakeets

parakeets — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:38:20 +0000

You’re right, Nobugs. It is the landlord’s problem. But when I’ve heard panels about lawyers discussing landlords and bedbugs, the lawyers say the landlords just have to “address” the problem. Apparently if a landlord hires a lic. pest control company, follows their protocol, has tenants cooperate, and treats on the schedule suggested–if the bedbugs don’t go away, then the landlord at least has shown he has “addressed” the problem, which is his only responsibility–and that is enough in housing court. (Of course the landlord has to keep “addressing” the problem if it doesn’t go away–in this case, nine times so far). Same in hotels–if hotel management has protocols and plans in place such as education of houskeeping staff and a PCO on retainer and follows their advice, it makes it harder for guests to sue. It is starting to remind me of malpractice suits in medicine. The doctor doesn’t guarantee surgical results, and you can’t sue regarding surgical results but only on whether the doctor has followed standard protocols correctly or not. I know of no PCOs who can guarantee that you won’t have bedbugs, no matter how many treatments they do. It is so terribly frustrating. Also, though this case might not be a good landlord or good PCO, there are some cases where bedbugs resist treatment, even with appropriate behavior on the part of tenants, PCOs, and landlords.

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:34:33 +0000

In your case, Parakeets, the PCO is not doing a proper job. The landlord may not be choosing a PCO who knows how to or wants to treat as aggressively as they need to (correct intervals, etc.) and it may be so far gone as to need very aggressive treatment. If tenants are not cooperating (surely in every building this is an issue with at least some tenants), that needs to be dealt with.

In Laraine’s and Brown’s cases, I really would put my money on the landlord not having all infested units inspected or treated. Often the good PCOs won’t even treat if such inspections of adjacent units are not included. Which means landlords trying to avoid treating all who need it will also go for less scrupulous PCOs, and so the chances of success are even lower.

At the end of the day, I blame the landlord–because landlords not only have to sanction and pay for inspecting and treating all adjacent units, but also need to choose a PCO who knows their stuff and lets them _do_ it.

By: hopelessnomo

hopelessnomo — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:18:03 +0000

The PCO will just say that the tenant is “introducing” them.

Also, most PCOs don’t use steam, or even vacuum cleaners, they just use pesticides.

This is thoroughly depressing.

By: parakeets

parakeets — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:24:59 +0000

Is there a way people can complain to a professional pest association about repeated ineffective bedbug treatments? There must be a place–other than small claims court–to voice complaints when repeated (nine!) PCO treatments that don’t work. This can make the whole industry look bad. To cover themselves, I’m sure these pest control operators can say that all the tenants didn’t follow the guidelines for preparation, or that some tenants didn’t remove clutter or something … but at least a complaint will have been registered and someone can look into why these treatments are so egregiously not working if they were done following protocols, which of course they might not have. (Is this even possibly a highly-resistant new strain? Can they study it in a lab, for example?) I’m in a buildng that is being treated over and over, more than 9 times over years, but the problem in my building is that they have never told tenants it is bedbugs, have done no education of tenants, most times do not treat adjacent units, and do not monitor and enforce tenant behavior (for example, tenants did not prepare for treatment, and a tenant dragged a possibly infested new mattress that was discarded in our dumpster back into the common areas of our building and the management company, when notified, did not address the problem. The mattress stayed there for weeks). I love the list of possibilities Nobugs spelled out here, but I also hope there is a place to compalin–besides this board–when treatments are not working.

By: Nicholas Brown’s Bedbug Chronicles, Part 7

Nicholas Brown’s Bedbug Chronicles, Part 7 — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 20:44:27 +0000

[...] Again, I would bet money on the neighbors as source. [...]