Submitted by "meow" on 03/12/2007

the landlord let me out of my lease. as i was moving and met with a neighbor, she informed me she had had bedbugs a year earlier and that another woman on the floor had had them earlier as well. i got rid of most of my belongings - the whole thing was a terrible traumatic mess and expense. before i realised what i had, my sister came for a visit, stayed in the apt and accidentally brought them back to her building all the way on the west coast and started an infestation there...i immediately moved and got rid of just about everything rather than staying and living there and calling 311 and fighting. the super eventually put off some bug bombs in the apartment, i read the label and it was for roaches, ants.... i'm sure it did nothing. to top it all off, i paid for my last month's rent there and moved in with my boyfriend. i just used that month to carefully clean and pack the few things i was trying to salvage, and sterlized myself between visits to the apartment so there was no chance of carrying them with me. i told the super i was not staying there during that month and mysteriously..... someone with keys went into my apartment while i wasn't there packing and stole my air conditioner then locked the door behind them. also while showering before going back to my boyfriend's pace after a packing/cleaning session, a group of people (i believe the super showing the apartment) came walking through the place- i just got a brief glimpse of them but heard them in the hall, i was too busy trying to cover myself.......
i wish there had been a better way to handle this, but there was no way i was going to get any sort of sleep keeping that place. i lost a lot of $$$$$ in dry cleaning and throwing out a new bed, dresser and rugs, hiring movers, getting a storage space. i'm still scared to take my stuff out of there almost a year later after reading that the adults can live up to 18 months without a meal! plus my sister had to hire an exterminator on the west coast because she did not want to move. she lives in a duplex and had to go through all sorts of expenses and aggravation. bedbugs really take to that west coast humidity....