Bed bug incidents cause frustration for Cottages of Martinsburg residents – Martinsburg Journal

The Cottages of Martinsburg where many residents are dealing with bed bug problems that are costing thousands of dollars.

MARTINSBURG Several residents at the Cottages of Martinsburg, located at 17 Cottage Road, have filed complaints with management and the West Virginia Attorney Generals Office about bed bug problems.

As many residents struggle to pay the rent, they said they find themselves with the additional cost of treating the bed bug problem that many feel is the responsibility of the landlord. They also must replace their furniture. For some residents, the cost of this problem has been in the thousands.

They said they are also unable to see any paperwork or billing from Ehrlich, the pest control company that is doing extermination work on the property. Some bills from management are as high as $1,750. The residents have asked Ehrlich for a copy of the invoice, or at least the work that has been done in their homes. Ehrlich has claimed they can only provide that information to the management at the Cottages of Martinsburg.

Bed bug-bitten children have been sent home from school as parents struggle to pay the high extermination fees and, in some cases, find ways to independently end the bedbug problem in their homes. Management has claimed that the residents have brought the bedbugs in, and therefore are responsible for the extermination bill.

Resident Branden Parks found bed bugs soon after moving into her home. Her child had recently been to the doctor for a wellness check just days prior to moving in. There was no sign of any bed bug bites during that medical examination.

I signed my lease Feb 17. I did not move my belongings in until the weekend of the 25. I went out of town for work on the 27. I did not get home until (March) 2. The 2 was me and my childrens first night (at their new address), Parks said.

He had just had a wellness check and it specifically shows he had no skin abrasions on him. That should prove I did not have bed bugs before this. She (property manager Nadine Kennedy) said to me, That doesnt prove anything. I also have my security deposit receipt that shows I didnt have bed bugs from my prior place either.

Resident Joy Cole-Jones moved into the cottages in April 2012. In August 2016, she saw bedbugs in her home.

I told them right away, and they sent somebody in a couple of days later Ehrlich to inspect. Well, they didnt find nothing, Cole-Jones said.

She killed and bagged a bed bug and took it to management. Ehrlich was called in by management.

They came about two and a half weeks later. It took a long time, I thought. They found, I think they said, one dead one, Cole-Jones said. They said, Your case is a mild case so you wont need the heat treatment. You just need the spray, and well do that three times, a week apart, and then well come back and look again. While that went on, I had to do everything they tell you bag up everything, take the pictures off the walls. After the third treatment, I had got rid of my furniture in the bedroom and me and my husband moved out to the living room.

But that treatment did not fix her problem.

After the third treatment they said, You should be okay, and so I went out and got new bedroom (furniture). Well, that same night I felt something. I turned over and there was one right there and I said, Oh my God, how can I have a mild infestation after you did three treatments and said I was clear and theyre still in here? And I did everything you told me to do and I am taking every precaution that I can,' Cole-Jones said.

Kimberly Sheer found out she had bed bugs from her childrens school.

I got notifications from the school and thats when I brought it to Nadines attention, and she said, Well, well get somebody out to look at your apartment, because I didnt know what bed bugs looked like, Sheer said. I never had any type of infestation of any type of bug in my life.

Like other residents, Sheer had to remove all her furniture.

I had to get rid of everything, all my beds, everything. I had to replace all my furniture. I had brand new furniture delivered on the day we moved in there, Sheer said.

Sallie Grant is a widow and lives alone. She also had to dispose of furniture, but one piece had great sentimental value.

I had to get rid of a sofa that was given to me by my mother, Grant said.

To prepare for treatment is time-consuming. The residents said it can be a hardship.

I have to empty all these closets and have them ready by Monday for Ehrlich to come in, and quite honestly, I dont trust them, Grant said. They never came back to inspect me after the first treatment. Its crazy. Nobody, nobody should have to live like this.

Residents are following every precaution they can to keep the bed bugs out.

When I come in from work, Im at the door stripping, putting my clothes in bags, hopping in the shower. As soon as I get out, theyre in the dryer getting heat to keep it from happening, Cole-Jones said. Nobody is coming to my house. There was too many other cases to say my family bought them in there.

Not being able to speak with the exterminator or see any invoice or other paperwork has many residents upset and confused.

They wont give it to you and they wont talk to you, and youre the resident. I called them and I tried to ask questions, and they told me they couldnt talk to me, they could only talk to the landlord, Cole-Jones said. So, I called Nadine and she said, Well, they said you was in the clear, and that was it, so I said, Well, Im not taking no chances because I know that its an infestation. I was in there crying. I said we are not bringing them in.

U.S. Residential Group, a third-party property management company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, manages the Cottages of Martinsburg.

I wasnt aware that anybody ever asked for that information, said Anne Beard, regional property manager at U.S. Residential Group.

As word spread through the community about different amounts for which others were being billed, neighbors began restricting their children from playing with their friends next door. Many said they struggled just to make their bills and felt they would not be able to afford to exterminate. Some just dealt with the bed bugs, or tried treating the problem themselves. Others moved away.

Theyre not admitting to it, and not only that, some of them have moved out and just didnt tell because they knew they were going to be charged, Cole-Jones said.

Sheer said she has been charged $1,700.

We are making payments. Weve paid at least over $1,100, said Sheer, who has moved out of the Cottages. (After moving out,) the owners contacted us and asked for payment.

Other residents have been charged different amounts.

She told me $1,500, Parks said about the amount that management charged her. After filing her complaint with the Attorney Generals Office, the amount fell to $500. Now Parks spends evenings after work meeting with other residents and has seen a pattern of exterminations and billing. The working, single mother of two children has retained a lawyer. She said she knows of 15 neighbors that, Has them (bed bugs) or has had them.

Many residents said they dont believe they have brought the bedbugs in and should not be held liable for the extermination bill.

Now your kids are getting bitten, and you call Nadine and say, I think I have bed bugs, and they say, Its your fault, you brought them here,' Parks said.

I live in a two bedroom apartment. I have never in my 75 years ever (had them). I moved here, I got bed bugs, Grant said.

The Journal acquired six consumer complaints that were filed with the West Virginia Attorney General. The AGs office stated, The Attorney Generals Consumer Protection Division, as of today, has received a total of nine complaints filed against The Cottages in 2017.

Under most circumstances, the law does not permit the Attorney General to disclose the existence or absence of any investigation, said Curtis Johnson, press secretary for West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morriseys Office.

According to a statement from the Attorney Generals office in February, The landlord is responsible for maintaining habitable housing and cannot pass that responsibility onto the tenant under West Virginia law. Also, requiring tenants to pay extermination fees without proof the tenant caused the infestation violates the states Consumer Credit and Protection Act.

U.S. Residential Group has agreed to allow Parks out of her lease.

You gave me an uninhabitable home. My home is not habitable for living. I moved into this problem, Parks said.

I consider the issues with her resolved. We have been willing to pay everything, we have been cooperative with her, trying to make her happy. To be honest with you, we are trying to take care of all the residents at this point and resolve this situation, Beard said.

As for the other residents, Beard said they are not being charged except for tenants in the past.

There are some that are paying for it from last year. We have changed policy and we are no longer charging; we are paying for it, Beard said.

The Better Business Bureau in Texas, where U.S. Residential Group is headquartered, has an open file on the company.

We do currently have 34 complaints filed against the business. The most important part is there are 22 complaints that arent answered. So its not just that they have complaints, but out of the 34, 22 of them are unanswered, said Phylissa Clark, vice president of public relations and communication at the Better Business Bureau serving North Central Texas. They havent responded to the customer or the Better Business Bureau. Of the ones left, three of them are unresolved; the consumer indicated that they werent satisfied with the result. They currently have an F-rating. We have been reporting on them since 2011; thats how long weve been monitoring the company.

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Bed bug incidents cause frustration for Cottages of Martinsburg residents - Martinsburg Journal