Pat Whitney    |    Leominster    ,    Massachusetts 01453    Landlord Complaint 21-8130

My 2 children and I just moved into this apartment March 2012. Before moving here we did not have bed bugs. I know this because my daughter is highly allergic. I can no longer let her stay at my house, because every morning she is waking up with 5 or more HUGE bug bites. She is only 7, and I have been letting her stay between my fathers house and my mothers because of this whole situation. I have spend well over $500 trying to get rid of them myself because since I told my landlord, they will no longer return my phone calls. I have bought a washer, and dryer, a steamer, DE powder, sprays, bed covers, new pillows and pillowcases (for bed bugs, which are all very expensive items), and spacebags, which we are currently living out of. Everything I own is in big black contractor bags. I am 24 and a single mom, I can barely afford to pay my bills- this put me completely under with money. The entire apartment is carpeted, which I think is a big reason why I cannot get rid of them. Me and my youngest daughter are apparently not allergic because the bites do not show on us. I work full-time from 9-5:30 M-F and everyday when I get out of work I do laundry, and steam as many rooms as I can before I am too tired, and have to go to sleep. I have no time to do anything else and this is just getting so tiring for me. I really dont know what to do, I cry almost every night because of the stress of constant cleaning everyday after work and all weekend, not being able to have my daughter home with me, and going completely broke, I literally counted out $3 in change to get to work this morning, and my boss offered to pay for the application fee to file a complaint. I know if my previous landlord is contacted, he will verify that there are no bed bugs in his building, also I brought my daughter to her doctor once I started noticing the bites, because they are HUGE, red, painful, and extremely itchy.. I brought her a little over a month ago- and they will verify that she has never been brought in for bites before this. My landlord wants to blame this on me, but she had the carpets cleaned before we moved in and I was thinking that if they did not clean out the vacuum they used before doing my carpets, then that is where they may have come from. But regardless, this is their responsibilty as a landlord. At this point I wish I never moved. I am absolutely misersable, this is ruining my life. My daughter is going to be covered in scars by the time she is 8-- do the math.