How can I get Landlord to communicate?

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About 3 1/2 months ago I was bitten by something that evidently I was allergic to.  I first visited an emergency clinic then on to see my physician as I was getting no relief.  The places were spreading and itching like crazy.  I take medication for anxiety on a daily basis.  As you can imagine I was absolutely falling to pieces.  I had shots, seven medications to take by mouth and still they were not going away.  Luckily about 3 weeks of continued medical care I started getting some relief.  This had indeed created a poor performance of my work at my job.  I woke one day to find a little bug and thought that is probably because I have slept a few nights with the windows open.  Not ever in my wildest dreams did I think of a bed bug.  My apartment was new when I moved in and I have not traveled other than by car and that was to visit my family. 

I live alone and keep an extremely clean apartment.  One might say I have an OCD problem. I took my rent in and began speaking with the manager and he informed me that 80-100 of the units had been rented to corporations.  They never disclosed any of this information to the tenants..but I had noticed that the people on one side of me moved out after two months and at the same time another couple and their child moved in above me during the same week.  Of course these are professional people from other countries and are traveling on a regular basis.  I feel unsafe knowing that my neighbors are never the same and that they come and go.

On Sunday, November 14th I returned home and went to my room to find that my skirt on the bed had marks and when I turned the covers down there were 3 or 4 bugs that went running very quickly and I only was able to kill one.  I freaked at this time – got on the internet and determined that I indeed had bed bugs and that the bites I had encountered were identical to the ones observed in my research.  I contacted my family and of course no one wants you to come to their house and no I did not and could not afford a hotel room so I was left there to stand guard over a small spot on the leather sofa where I felt I was ok due to the chil of the leather.  After no sleep that night I showered, dressed for work and immediately contacted the apartment managers office to tell them of my findings.  After several calls I was advised that someone would be there Wed. at noon and a list of things that I had to do would be posted on my door.  OMG!!! I had to wash, dry everything in my apartment – even my shoes had to reach a certain temper.  Let me first tell you that I am over the age of 55, have had bag surgery and they want me to wash three closets full of clothing and accessories before Wednesday at noon?  No way…I finally ask the Dr. I worked for to allow me 1/2 of a day off and my grandson drove over 100 miles to assist me in carrying the laundry.  I spent $70.00 at the laundry and paid my grandson $20.00.  They came and sprayed and completely took everything off walls moved furniture, etc.  I was told he would return in 10 days to redo.  It was fourteen days and I have tried numerous times to contact the manager and they lack communication skills as they will not let me know if I can or cannot stop living out of plastic bags, and no sleep.  My water bill and my electric bill doubled due to the amount of laundry I still had to do at home.  I am still sleeping sitting up on my sofa and afraid to turn on heat or do anything that may cause them to reappear.   My mattress is new but there is no way I will ever be able to sleep on it again.  I paid $2,000 for the set.  I am lost.  I have filed the claim through your services but rent was due so I did have to pay yesterday but feel I should be reimbursed to some degree.  They have not checked with the other neighbors nor have they sprayed their units.  They are keeping this hush hush.   Not everyone will admit to having bed bugs as I did.  It made me feel like I was dirty. 

Let me just advise everyone to please take photos at first sign and research the plans of any apt complex’s you plan to move into as they may not be creating the community you are looking for.

Another little hint!  Put alcohol in a spray bottle and spray your mattress and everything around that area.  They also do not like thyme so a sprinkle here and there will not hurt.  Please keep a very secure tight fitting cover on your mattress and if you cannot find one for your box springs wrap it in saran wrap.  This will suffocate them.  I did use the alcohol and I did have a cover over the mattress but it was too late for the alcohol and the mattress cover helped a little per the exterminator.

The girls at my workplace now say I shake like a wet dog…could these be from the mental stress that comes with going home at night and not knowing what you may find crawling around in your apartment.

This is a serious situation – please take all precautions to prevent this from happening to you.

Stressed and very tired!

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