bugs. The company she used was Global Pest Control from Airmont, NY (www.globalexterminating.com). Global Pest sent an inspector on August 9. He did not step foot inside the apartment. Instead, he looked at the bites on my ankles from the stairwell and said we had bed bugs and he left.

We had our first treatment with Global Pest on August 12. We were meticulous with bagging everything and vacuuming, and we took all the precautions as listed on their prep sheet. They also sprayed on August 19 and 26. After the initial three sprayings I was bitten again and so we had a fourth spray treatment on September 8. A week or so after the fourth treatment I again had bites and so did a roommate in the forward room of the apartment.

After a long conversation with our landlord, where we again requested that they hire a bedbug-sniffing dog, they spoke with a few other exterminators and building managers and discovered that Global Pest had in fact been using outdated chemicals that most companies do not even use any more for bedbugs. So we had at this point wasted a month and a half of time, money, and energy using their company.

They then hired Green Earth Pest Control, Inc. Josh at Green Earth was very helpful and professional, as were the technicians. Green Earth sprayed on September 27 and October 4. They had guaranteed that after two sprayings the bedbugs would be eliminated. As of now, October 18, we are crossing our fingers that the problem is resolved, though we are unsure. We plan on hiring a bedbug-sniffing dog at our own expense (Our landlord had Josh inform us they were not required to pay for a post-inspection) at the earliest date possible (the middle of November) so we can know for sure that the problem is eliminated.

Despite the initial yelling and the mistake with Global Pest, our landlords have overall been accommodating and supportive and have covered the costs of the exterminators.