Apartments Baires and bedbugs

[riikkaba]

I want to share an experience I had with Apartments Baires (www.apartmentsbaires.com.ar). My flatmate and I were staying in a flat we got through them and ended up getting bed bugs. When we arrived the flat seemed dirty, bedlinen was scruffy and old. We arrived exhausted after travelling from Europe so we figured we’d just let it pass and settled in. After the symptoms started and we couldn’t get rid of the bed bugs we contacted the company to let them know and to ask for a thorough clean up of the flat. They were totally non-responsive and completely denied any accusations refusing to take any responsibility. They lied to our face saying the tiny flat had been cleaned for six hours before our arrival and that linen and mattress were new (which clearly wasn’t the case).

When we decided to move out and finally confronted the company owner face to face he belittled our experience, lied to our face with claims that we knew couldn’t possibly be true and had an extremely condescending approach to our claims. We realize that when travelling these things happen and it can sometimes just be a matter of bad luck but we can assure you that bedbugs are not something you want to risk it with as getting rid of them takes so much time and effort! We trust people to make their own sensible judgment but bare this experience in mind when dealing with Apartments Baires.

 

[cujodu]

I heard last year that bedbugs are making a comeback since some of the powerful pesticides used to kill them all back in the 40's & 50's have been off the market for a while. I saw a 60 minutes (or some show) special on how even in the USA there have been many reports in recent years. They said no matter how clean a place it can still have bedbugs, they don't die! But the real issue here is how you were treated, which doesn't surprise me, nobody in the country is responsible for anything and they'll scream and swear on their mother's life with their fingers crossed behind their back.

 

[DanBA]

Apartmentsbaires bedbugs

These persons are acting in incorrect faith. They arrived at the apartment on March 4th 2009 and signed a rental agreement for 30 days, until April 4th 2009. During that period of time I met them to replace a light bulb and the phone batteries. They never told me they had any problems in the apartment. On March 25th 2009 I received an e-mail asking to extend the rental agreement for three more months. Finally, on April 4th 2009 they signed a new agreement for one more month because they didn´t know when they were leaving Buenos Aires.
For more than a month they didn´t mention any bedbug problem.
Furthermore, the apartment is very clean, brand new as some of the linen delivered to them.
On April 17th 2009, after 44 days living in the apartment I have received the following e-mail:

De: Rixxxx Lxxxxx <[email protected]>
Asunto: Bed bugs
Para: "Daniel " <[email protected]>
Fecha: viernes, 17 de abril de 2009, 10:24 am
Hi Daniel,

I have some bad news. A week from when we arrived in this flat we got some symptoms which were later diagnosed by a doctor as scabies ie. bed bugs. We have been suffering from severe nausea, diarrhea, itching and headaches. We decided to go through the treatment without informing you as to avoid fighting about expenses etc. As part of the treatment we had to wash ALL our clothers, ALL bed linen, towels, covers etc in this flat and desinfect and clean the apartment very thoroughly as well as pay for all of the medical expenses (doctor appointments and medication). It ended up being very expensive.
As it turns out, we have not been able to get rid of scabies and we have it AGAIN. We now need to go through the entire treatment, medicines, creams, washing up etc again.
We have strong reason to believe that we contracted scabies from this flat. We both arrived here from our homes where none of our relatives have it. The symptoms started within a week on our arrival. Also, to point out to you that scabies can only be contracted through long lasting skin to surface contact, for instance if you come into contact with infected items, such as towels, bedding, or clothing. It is not possible to contract scabies throuhg brief contact like hugging or hand shaking. So we have ruled out all other options as the source of contamination.

I am contacting you to inform you that we believe to have contracted scabies in a flat that your company is letting. We presume that it is in best your interest to get rid of this issue as soon and as smoothly as possible. I would like to suggest that you organize a thorough cleanup of this flat and contribute to the costs of laundrying all the bed linen, covers, towels, clothes, etc.
I hope for your co-operation on this matter so that we can resolve the issue peacefully and quickly.
Please feel free to contact me on my mobile xxxxxxxxxxxx or Kaxxxx on xxxxxxxxxxxx
BR,
Rixxxxx


When we made contact, they asked for a sum of money as indemnity.
To sum up, there were no bedbugs in the apartment at the moment they arrived, we don´t know if there were while they were living there, or if they just needed money.

 

[DanBA]

Apartmentsbaires bedbugs

Looking in Internet we discover this people where looking for volunteer work with dogs and is probably they get the scabies with these dogs

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/message.jspa?messageID=15468799#15468799

We think that we would have that to demand these people by the problems that brought us.