Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Bed Bug Treatment
Vikane not working
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itchy landlord
newbite
Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 4offline
Posted 3 years ago
Sun Oct 18 2009 2:03:44
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For many years we have owned a single family home in the mountains with a tiny detached granny unit that we rent out. Our current renter has been with us a couple years and came to us last month saying that she has had bed bugs for about a month. She was distraught. She asked us to caulk up holes in the walls which we did (not knowing that we could be picking up bugs just by being in there, a mistake).
She said she set off three "bug bombs" (mistake). We had no idea what we were getting into. She couldn't sleep so we told her to stay in our guest room until we could get an exterminator out (mistake). The PCO from Terminix came. A couple days later they tented the granny unit and treated it with Vikane gas. We put the guest bed from our house plus most of the guest room furniture into the granny unit to be gassed too. She had her car detailed. We all stripped down, showered, and put on clean clothes after moving the furniture. We did everything we could think of to be safe.
After Terminix took the tent off the granny unit, our tenant had maybe one good day and then she started getting bites again, and finding bugs. Is this possible? We chose the expensive but supposedly effective treatment because we wanted to take care of the problem immediately. I did some research on the internet on Terminix and found quite a few complaints and scary stories. Did I pick a company with a bad reputation?
Terminix promised us encasements for two beds, but it took them two weeks (and many reminders) to finally bring them. They finally came out and did spot treatment on the mattresses and the granny unit (the freezing technique). Our tenant is still getting bitten.
All our guest room furniture is out on the porch. We are afraid to bring it back in our house. Meanwhile we are afraid we got bed bugs anyway. We haven't actually gotten any bites that we know of, but we are itching like crazy and crawling out of our skin at the very idea of them.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what our legal rights are in regards to Terminix? Can we insist that they tent again. We live in California, and I am sure the laws differ from state to state.
Does anyone know when it might be safe to bring the furniture in, off the porch? Do we need to be obsessively vacuuming? Can we wash our laundry at home, on hot, or do we need a commercial washer?
We are really trying to be good landlords. We had no idea what a nightmare this could be. I have such compassion for each of you who has been dealing with this issue. Any advice you could give a new comer would be greatly appreciated.
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hathead
junior member
Joined: Jun '09
Posts: 64offline
Posted 3 years ago
Sun Oct 18 2009 10:24:35
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did you have a written contract with terminix which specified warranty, or other terms of retreatment? that is the first place i would go to see what recourse you have. sorry don't know anything about state laws (and i am in ma anyways)
your home laundry should be fine if you have a dryer which gets up to at least 120 degrees
most home dryers do, but it doesn't hurt to check - i threw in my digital thermometer with my laundry, but i don't really recommend doing that as it isn't great for the thermometer. most people here recommend getting a thermometer that does some kind of laser read to check your dryer.
if you don't have a dryer, you might want to buy one, or take your stuff to the laundromat
those dryers are generally very very hot!
you can put clean dry clothes in the dryer for at least 1/2 hour and that will also kill bugs and eggsotherwise in terms of your own house, you are in a wait and see position
sorry!!! not fun -
Bugbitten Meg
junior member
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 78offline
Posted 3 years ago
Sun Oct 18 2009 11:15:16
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itchy landlord - 7 hours ago »
After Terminix took the tent off the granny unit, our tenant had maybe one good day and then she started getting bites again, and finding bugs. Is this possible? We chose the expensive but supposedly effective treatment because we wanted to take care of the problem immediately. I did some research on the internet on Terminix and found quite a few complaints and scary stories. Did I pick a company with a bad reputation?
Terminix promised us encasements for two beds, but it took them two weeks (and many reminders) to finally bring them. They finally came out and did spot treatment on the mattresses and the granny unit (the freezing technique). Our tenant is still getting bitten.
All our guest room furniture is out on the porch. We are afraid to bring it back in our house. Meanwhile we are afraid we got bed bugs anyway. We haven't actually gotten any bites that we know of, but we are itching like crazy and crawling out of our skin at the very idea of them.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what our legal rights are in regards to Terminix? Can we insist that they tent again. We live in California, and I am sure the laws differ from state to state.
Does anyone know when it might be safe to bring the furniture in, off the porch? Do we need to be obsessively vacuuming? Can we wash our laundry at home, on hot, or do we need a commercial washer?
We are really trying to be good landlords. We had no idea what a nightmare this could be. I have such compassion for each of you who has been dealing with this issue. Any advice you could give a new comer would be greatly appreciated.Some people have delayed reactions to bites-- maybe up to 10 days later? But it sounds like your tenant is well past that point, and if she's finding actual live bugs, it's moot anyway.
Vikane is usually very effective, but the company must know how to treat specifically for bedbugs (I believe the correct dosage is 3x that for termites. A 'usual' dosage Vikane treatment for termites will bounce right off of bedbugs, and this sounds like what is happening.)
First, pull out the contract. Did they mention dosage or bedbug-specific language anywhere in it?
Also, did their contract have any kind of warranty period? That would be your strongest position -- even if you are now out of the warranty period, if it's clear that there was a problem throughout that time and that the company was dragging their feet on treatment, you may be able to get another treatment on that basis.
If there is no mention of bedbugs in the contract, and no mention of a specific dosage to be used, you may well have gotten the 'termite special.' (Even if they do mention bedbugs, it's possible they didn't treat correctly anyway.) If they were told on first contact that what they were treating for was bedbugs, and they treated as if for termites, you should talk to a local lawyer about CA-specific law covering this. It may be pure 'buyer beware,' but since you went to them as experts, and they set up the treatment for bedbugs, they may be able to be held to 'best practices' (or at least, 'not-effing-incompetent', )for dosage. This is extremely state-specific, though, so I totally can't even guess whether you have a leg to stand on.Crazy and itching -- join the club. Sigh. It doesn't necessarily mean you have bedbugs, tho'.
Also, something like 60% of the population does not actually react to bites. It makes riding out an infestation easier, but it's a lot harder to be positive that you have no bugs alive in the house, so I'd call it a mixed damnation either way. (sorry to add to the bad news, but you're better off knowing...) -
itchy landlord
newbite
Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 4offline
Posted 3 years ago
Sun Oct 18 2009 11:30:50
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Thank you BugbittenMeg and Hathead. Time for more laundry, and contract reading. It's going to be a great day.
Does anyone even know where to start looking for specific state laws on bed bugs, PCO's, and landlord/tenant issues?
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cilecto
oldtimer
Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 3,851offline
Posted 3 years ago
Sun Oct 18 2009 11:44:21
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This is another story that makes it harder to convince people with BB to not "go it alone"; the promises not kept (i.e., the encasements), the lack of clarity to what the treatment is for, etc. It also underscores that our current treatment modalities are predicated on "perfect" conditions and "perfect" clients. So the granny unit was gassed. Was there proper prep? Was there stuff in air-tight containers that contained BBs (and escaped the gassing)? What about the car? Was it infested? What, exactly would "detailing" do vis-a-vis BB?
And finally, did anyone positively ID that tenant is a, being bitten by BB and b, the BB are in the granny unit (as opposed to elsewhere in the tenant's life)?
Aargh!
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itchy landlord
newbite
Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 4offline
Posted 3 years ago
Sun Oct 18 2009 14:07:54
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cilecto - 2 hours ago »
It also underscores that our current treatment modalities are predicated on "perfect" conditions and "perfect" clients. So the granny unit was gassed. Was there proper prep? Was there stuff in air-tight containers that contained BBs (and escaped the gassing)? What about the car? Was it infested? What, exactly would "detailing" do vis-a-vis BB?
And finally, did anyone positively ID that tenant is a, being bitten by BB and b, the BB are in the granny unit (as opposed to elsewhere in the tenant's life)?
Aargh!AARGH is right! We tried to be really good, but there are so many opportunities to make a wrong turn without even trying. You ask all good questions. I am afraid that our tenant is so worried that people will think she is "dirty" that she is not telling people.
Meanwhile, I haven't seen a bug in our house, and yet I feel like I should be careful. The question is, how careful. Do I stop going out? Hugging people? Sitting on their couches? What about work?
WARNING TO ALL: Make sure you read the fine print on the exterminators contract. After reading Bugbitten Meg's suggestions, I finally read the multi-page contract. It does not state what gas they were using. It does not state the dose. It does guaranty no termites for a year, bug there seems to be no bed bug guaranty. Lesson learned: never sign in a hurry, when you are stressed out. Read the contract and make sure you know what you are getting. Ugh!
Hopefully I will still have some recourse since they failed to provide bed encasements for over a week despite multiple calls. Later they stated that they had run out of them and that is why they hadn't brought any.
This bed bug thing makes lice, scabies, and cockroaches look like a day at Disneyland in comparison.
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watkinsnewan
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Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 346offline
Posted 3 years ago
Sun Oct 18 2009 14:13:17
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the whole reason I did not sign a contract I a hurry!!! had to weed through all the Bad PCO"S who knew nothing to find ONE who knew what the he** they were doing and fighting!!
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