IDIOTS! born every....

I get a call from a PM(30min S. of me). They had a fire, temp moved renter out. Things are fixed and they need the carpets cleaned asap. They moved the renter into a vacated unit, they need her out and back into her unit.
So I told PM I'm on my way(still dragging from flu, but feeling better).
I get there and SHE informs me there are bed bugs in there. Couldn't get a pro in over holidays....
She start to tell me that she was told steam cleaning will take.... "ABSOLUTELY NOT", I say. I will not go in until it has been professional taken care of. I tell her 1 type of treatment it to heat up the place for afew days-that will kill them. Then she turns around and tell the tenent to turn up the heat to 100°... Ikid you not!
-so for her idiot moment, I made a dry run.
Gave her the name and # of a pest control co. a friend works at.
My Spidey sense tells me she will not have it done processionally. Could run $1500++

Why did she not tell me on the phone about the BB.?? Instead, tells me after I arrive.

Be very thankful that she told you at all....my guess is that she will call another cleaner and not tell that person. I hate property managers, they all want to be in real estate, but never want to pay the costs involved with it.

Heat is a hit / miss method and is quickly starting to fade in popularity. All those flood companies that invested in those trailer mounted TES systems before the insurance companies refused to pay for their usage are now becoming pest control experts with them....good luck.

Those damn bugs are difficult to kill off as they hide so well and are so small to begin with. I think we will start seeing a different methods (Ozone shock treatments or just strong negative pressure and hepa vac).

It isn't a business service that I want to get involved in at all.

For the first in 11 years I didn't get paid for a job and it was for a PM. I knew I should have never done business with

It is just one of the worst customers unless the PM is also the owner and is local. Most of the PM's have to invoice the owner to get paid before they pay you....if they pay you.

Worst problem is that most PM's try to keep the security deposit for themselves and only clean / repair a portion of it. A cleaner is cutting into their personal profit plan.

Nope, no more for me. Those jobs will not be accepted any longer by me unless it is the owner AND I have done business with them in the past with good results.....which is a very small list.

It isn't just some people on the running the business, end of things that are stupid. I see MANY people both behind the counter and in front of it that are SO incredibly dumb, I wonder how they survive day to day.

Many people are just becoming incredibly stupid. Common sense is nearly extinct, right along with MANNERS and the sense of right and wrong.

People just DON'T care anymore, at ALL.

I wish I could say that you were just a pessimist Freemind, but I happen to agree with you.

I just came back from a 4 mile hike around town in -18 weather. I have 3 layers of clothing on and wasn't affected, but I passed a lot of people leaving their house in t-shirt and jeans and jumping into a pre-warmed car on their way to who know's what. None of them would survive 10 minutes if they were stranded or slid of the road on the ice.

Idiots...all of them.

milspec6 wrote:Be very thankful that she told you at all....

What Bob said ! I'm past the "pissed off" point when they tell me they have bed bugs AFTER I get there, I tell them the same thing but we all know as soon as we leave, they are going to call the next cleaner and not tell them a thing about bed bugs, I wonder if I was ever that 2nd cleaner that cleaned bed bugs infested unit without knowing, I'm sure I had ! Yikes !
Regarding payment, I don't take checks or bill new customers ever, it doesn't matter even if the job is $ 5000 or more, if I don't know you, payment is due or call other suckers.

I am sure that we have all been the "2nd cleaner" before and likely will be again. I wonder if it would be beneficial to have them sign a statement that they do not have such problems as lice, fleas, or bedbugs prior to accepting the job?

I am starting to believe it would be.

As for payments, I think that is a regional thing. In my area, a check or even a promise can be as good as gold. That is one of the benefits to small towns I guess.

Perhaps it would be the right thing to do, is to have some legal-ese that effectively says:

If you have any type of insect/bug infestation or any other potentially harmful or dangerous bacteria/virus/communicable issue, YOU agree to be completely liable to us for any and all expenses/damages caused by it, including any attorney/court fees associated with collecting for damages.

I think you have the right idea Freemind, the industry really should move into that direction both to protect yourself and your business.

Say you ended up cleaning that place and only discovered the bed bug issue after it was passed onto the next customer who now wants to sue your business for damages? You would be screwed.

Great idea guys !
I'll have to remember to add those to the fine print.
I honestly don't care that the industry follow our footsteps in protecting ourselves, if they want to be that 2nd cleaner that infects your own home or even worse, your customer's homes, then it's on you. I hope lawmakers will make law about that though, people are more abiding when there is fine and / or potentially being sued that they are doing something illegal rather just relying on this industry guidelines.

milspec6 wrote:I think you have the right idea Freemind, the industry really should move into that direction both to protect yourself and your business.

Say you ended up cleaning that place and only discovered the bed bug issue after it was passed onto the next customer who now wants to sue your business for damages?  You would be screwed.

Can you imagine how fast your business would tank, if you passed bed bugs to the next customer? You would likely be done, especially in a small town, or if there were ever any media articles published about it.

The only one who really cares about that, is us. The cheap ass slum lord, just wants a "cheap" fast (non)fix. Cheap home owners only want to side step trying to save a dollar.

If we don't protect ourselves, nobody else is going to.

Yup, tank in a heart beat! Have to be careful.

That is a good idea never really considered infesting another house. Hopefully our liability insurance would cover that damage but do nothing for the damage to your reputation