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bell bed bugs wants $400 a room
(7 posts)-
tisIsaidthefly
junior member
Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 103
Posted 2 months ago
Tue Dec 29 2009 0:52:26
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After getting deathly sick from my landlord's use of insecticides, I called Bell Bed Bugs
to find out the price of their freeze method. I could NOT believe it. They want four hundred dollars a room and they say it will probably require two treatments. I have six rooms in my apartment so that's thirty two hundred dollars. I do NOT have that kind of cash available
and there's NO WAY my landlord will spend that amount of money. So now I'm trying to
find out if there's some way to get the freeze treatment and do it myself. Does anybody
have any information on this? -
cilecto
oldtimer
Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 875
Posted 2 months ago
Tue Dec 29 2009 9:54:39
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Not surprised. When I was shopping for a PCO for a NYC apt a year ago I got quotes from two well known local firms.
1. Price by room; first=500, second=400, third=300. Includes vacuum, steam, chems & follow-up.
2. Quote for entire apartment. Similar treatment. $3,500. -
Hi,
The freeze equipment is made by a Swiss company and is provided under technology license for bed bug treatment. I don't think you will find its a cheaper option, they once tried to lease one to me for about £250 per month and that does not include the liquid CO2 that makes it work.
I appreciate that good quality bed bug treatment may not appear to be cheap but when done properly its a time consuming and attention to detail job that often requires multiple visits.
I would also say that its much easier to treat a property where someone has not been "have a go harry" with amateur use products and aerosols. There have been a few cases where without realising it people have pushed bed bugs into such remote locations that I have had to recommend a full site decon rather than a normal treatment because although the level on infestation was low non of them where in the "usual" locations.
Sooner or later your landlord will realise that its not a problem that you want to mess around with and that professional help is actually very cost effective if done correctly.
David Cain
Bed Bugs Limited -
This is not unreasonable at all. A bed bug treatment is very extensive. There is a lot of risk involved in dealing with bed bugs because they are so difficult to treat.
You could try to kill them yourself, but if they are all over your apartment, it could be difficult to get rid of them on your own. I would get multiple estimates before making a decision.
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BugBoy911
member
Joined: Jan '09
Posts: 200
Posted 2 months ago
Tue Dec 29 2009 22:10:59
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I"m sorry but $400 per room for a freeze job? What you home owners do not understand is that their is no preventative medicine using this method. What your paying for is basically a licensed technician with basic understanding of bedbug elimination. What your not getting is a specialist with a true understanding of how to prevent and attack bedbugs effectively with an understanding of PREVENTION! As far as the price, I SAY BS.. $3400 is a quote for a few rooms in an apartment is just overwhelming and will destroy a persons economic sanity and feelings of hope. Your paying for high priced advertising, very low educated technicians, and fancy freeze equipment that is completely not NEEDED!!! At all, not even a little bit do you need such fancy equipment that will just bash the customer thats needs you economically.
I don't understand why you people suffering from bedbugs and cannot afford such high priced treatments to look up my posts and READ THEM!! Affordable, effective, %100 guarenteed bedbug elimination is available and totally possible. Pay what you want, and read what you want, but hey if you have an extra $4000 for a small apartment that has bedbugs, then by all means..... Unreal.....
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bait
senior member
Joined: Jul '08
Posts: 520
Posted 2 months ago
Tue Dec 29 2009 23:55:57
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TisI, I know that some high-end restaurants are using a cold blow torch to freeze dry foods instantly. wchicago has this equipment. Contact the Culinary Institute, or private message wchicago and ask her/him.
You can also try private messaging BBCouk. He said he knows the Swiss company. I can't tell you what 250 pounds is in US money today. Then again they probably won't allow non-professionals to handle their equipment. But it can't hurt to ask.
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Hi,
You missed the subtle reference "once tried".
If they had succeeded it would be because the system worked.
In a diffused infestation it is far from an ideal solution because it is in essence a contact killer with no residual activity, therefore you would need to apply to all infected areas and it would be to say the least a time consuming process.
I personally feel it would be difficult to improve on the low volume chemical solution with a focus on how people got exposed in the first place. Its a bit like the difference between western and eastern medicine. I am more interested in how people got infected so they can avoid the sources than the traditional western approach of treating the symptoms.
We charge about $230 dollars a room for local jobs and cover visits for 3 months or until the source is identified as something out of our control that a customer can or will not take action on (such as regular visitor or adjoining neighbour). Even at that price we are often told we are expensive but usually from people who do not appreciate what is entailed in the work we do. I used to get upset by some of the myopic comments but now I just wait for them to call back a few months later when they have spread it to multiple rooms and the cost has gone up.
More affordable solutions are out there and there is a lot you can do to work with your PCO and if you find one of the ones who understands the benefits of a co-operative client then costs can be lower but having treated over 14,000 cases I can tell you its often as much about controlling the customers as the bed bugs.
Would I recommend someone tries a DIY CO2 treatment well start by reading the first two sentences above and look back through my posting history to read previous threads on the subject. I did write a document about selecting pest controllers to deal with bed bug problems:
http://www.bed-bugs.co.uk/newsletters.html
I will revisit the document again in 2010 but its difficult because I want people to know what things to think about and ask rather than just giving a phone script for people who work the phone at larger pest control firms to follow. Although competitors always forget to ask the same questions that customers do so we weed them out quickly.
David
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