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Post by ouiparis on Nov 21, 2008 2:02:20 GMT -5
I've been working up the courage to write this review. Here it goes. This past September, we stayed at a studio at Place Dauphine that I found through www.beau-paris.com. Price was 600 euro for six nights. No deposit required. Location: Centrally located on Ile de la Cite; Metro stops are Cite (#4 line) and Pont Neuf (#7). A few cafes and restaurants in the area, very popular with locals. The Palais du Justice is just around the corner and you're five minutes away from St. Chapelle and Notre Dame. Amenities: Washer, satellite tv, free local and international calls, internet connection. Upon our arrival, we found the studio quite charming and couldn't believe our luck. It was everything that was advertised online. Unfortunately, a few days after we returned from our trip, we both developed rash-like bites all over our body. After doing some online research, we realized that we had been bitten by bedbugs (hereinafter referred to as bbs). I emailed the owner and he confirmed the infestation and reported that previous tenants had complained of the same problem, but that he had hired a professional cleaning company and it was their recommendation that he simply replace the bed (which is why there was a mattress sitting out in the hallway when we arrived). There were other signs during our stay (blood on my night shirt in the shoulder area one morning and a dead bug that we now know to be a bb) that we dismissed due to our ignorance. Of course, it didn't help that we had a delayed reaction of several days to the bites. To make a long story short, we brought them home and have spent thousands of dollars on treatment. We opted for aggressive treatment despite a relatively minor infestation because we wanted to nip it in the bud right away. We recently got the "all clear" from a scent detection canine, but I won't feel like they're completely gone for a long while as these things apparently have a tendency to rise from the ashes. As for the owner of the apartment, I emailed him a few times in the beginning to request a refund (among other things). He never responded (but for the one time when he confirmed the infestation), even when I emailed him a photo of the bites on my arm (I know, a bit macabre). Anyway, suffice it to say, I would NOT recommend this apartment. www.beau-paris.com/apartment-rentals/index.php?pid=47&user=det |
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Post by Shoesy on Nov 21, 2008 2:22:08 GMT -5
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Post by Anne on Nov 21, 2008 3:26:14 GMT -5
OMG !!!
I naïvely believed that we have no bedbugs in France, because the climate isn't hot and humid enough ...
As per the refund : one good point for you is that Beau Paris is an American company, I guess it makes it easier for you . Even if their disclaimer states that they have no legal responsibility, it also says that you can at least complain to them and then they may cancel the listing (although I have some doubt about this) . You can also post about your experience on their Discussion Board for other customers to read it (and hoping that your post won't be removed - sorry, old reflexes from my TA days ;D) . Both things in order to try and put pressure on the owner .
But I guess that the big question is : where does the owner live ? If it is in France, I bet that he will assume that you won't take the trouble and expense to sue him for the refund, but if it is in the States, well, I think that you should go ahead . Thousands of dollars on treatment !!! I feel that the guy is not basically dishonnest, or else he would never have confirmed you in writing that there is indeed an infestation . But now he obviously thought it twice about refunding you ...
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Post by GitteK on Nov 21, 2008 3:43:04 GMT -5
Anne - there have been numerous threads in TripAdvisor about bedbugs - also in hotel reviews. Poor ouiparis, I am so sorry for your experience .......  nasty critters !!  Often it is not the fault of the owner/hotel, because your suitcases can be infected in the airport/airplane, because they can crawl from one suitcase to another.  When I read about the problem in TA, I called a desinfection company for advice, and they told me these security measures: 1) never put your suitcase on the hotelbed 2) check mattress at the edges/seams for small brown dots (dried blood), especially at the headend 3) put your dirty clothes/linen in plastic bags and tie a tight knot on them, so they are sealed 4) when you come home, unpack suitcases outside 5) put plasticbags in deepfreezer at (at least) -18 C for 48 hours 6) spray empty suitcases with some "kill'em-all-dead" poison A good time after that I was hysterical at the thought, but then I chose to put it aside. I cannot go anywhere, if I scare myself stiff about such things. Be observant and use your common sense, that's all you can do, really. |
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Post by jo on Nov 21, 2008 6:14:05 GMT -5
We were afflicted with bedbugs at our Disney hotel during our September trip with our grandson!! Disney was very proactive, they were the ones who notified us on our last night that we had bedbugs, they wouldn't let us take our luggage home for fear of bringing the infestation home and got us all new luggage from the hotel gift shop, as well as new clothing for the day and night we had left, since we couldn't wear the clothing that had been in the room. They made sure we put all our clothing in big plastic bags that they provided and told us to wash everything in hot water as soon as we returned home. Of course, they also switched our rooms. They did neglect to mention that the bites often only show up 7-10 days after being bitten, so we were surprised to find ourselves covered with little bites a week after our return. Our daughter was not impressed that her son had to go back to school covered in bb bites. She did a bit of research on the net and found out that Disney had had this problem before. We wrote them a letter and long story short, they offered us $1500 in compensation for our troubles. I have to say that I was impressed with the way Disney addressed this, but it was still surprising to find out that you can pick up these nasty little creatures even in the best hotels!
OuiParis, I hope you get somewhere with the owner, especially after he had admitted that the bbs were there before you came. Good luck,
JO
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Post by mossie on Nov 21, 2008 6:17:57 GMT -5
Gitte is right, bedbugs are a worldwide nuisance, and the owner is not neccesarily to blame. They are difficult to eradicate.
I first came across them in Egypt and some people used to put the legs of the bed into jars of petrol or paraffin to stop them climbing in. Any stored or folded clothes should be flapped outside and inspected. They look like little round flat semi-transparent things one eighth to a quarter inch across while they are waiting for a meal. After they have found you they become brown and round like a ladybird. They can wait in the bedclothes or bedframe for weeks until a likely customer comes along.
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Post by Jody on Nov 21, 2008 6:29:36 GMT -5
I feel so sorry for you . I hope you can feel comfortable in your own home soon.
I remeber , as a teen-ager, going to the shore with a girlfriend and her mother warning us about bbs. She told us they looked like red dots and smelled like watermelon. We never figured out how she knew what they smelled like!!
Our first trip to England , centuries ago, we stayed in a very upscale hotel and came home with crab lice! What was really embarassing was we stopped in NY and stayed at my MIL's. My poor DH had to call is 75 yr old mother and old maid sister and tell her to have the bed disinfected!
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Post by Happygoin on Nov 21, 2008 7:41:46 GMT -5
Gitte, thank you for those tips. They are timely! I am copying them and taking them with me. Oh, and btw, thank you all for making me completely paranoid that every tiny itch is a bedbug. I'll never get any sleep in Paris now. |
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Post by suzanne on Nov 21, 2008 11:24:41 GMT -5
A few years ago I read something on TA about BB. We went to Paris a few weeks later and I kept waking up in the middle of the night and switching on the lights and throwing back the covers to check for BB. My poor hussband thought I was nuts.
Seriosly I feel really bad for you. This would make me really angry. I'm itching as I type this.
Because of the things I've read I refuse to sleep in a bed with a padded head board. Really no head board would be betther. I try to avoid places with carpeting and heavy draperies. I always check the bed before I get in it. So far we have been lucky.
My sister commented that he hotel room they stayed in in Cancun smelled like Raid. Gee, I wonder why.
I really appriciate your letting us know about this problem. From reading your other posts it sounds like you had a wonderful time in Paris.
Suzanne
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Post by ouiparis on Nov 21, 2008 12:26:06 GMT -5
Wow, there's so many things you've written to respond to. First, thanks for the outpouring of support. As you can imagine, there is a huge stigma associated with bbs and I wasn't so sure that I wanted to publicize the fact that we had them. But if sharing my story will help people exercise more caution in their travels and help prevent anyone from suffering the same predicament, it's all worth it.
Anne, the owner is a resident of Paris. In fact, we met him the first night (to give him the rent money). I did post something on the website, but as you can imagine, it was removed within a few days. I did look into contacting Beau-Paris and I like your suggestion about trying to get the listing removed.
Gitte, thanks for the tips. Trust me, after the amount of research I've done on the subject, I feel that I am an expert. In fact, I often felt, in dealing with our PCO (pest control operator) that I knew more about them than they did. I first learned about the resurgence of bbs a few years ago when we discussed the subject in a torts class in law school and so for the past few years, I've always checked hotel mattresses for the tell-tale signs (blood stains and black spots), but obviously, we weren't going to find that on a brand-new mattress. The other areas you should search, as Suzanne indicated, are the headboards and nightstands (if possible, flip the nightstands over to check underneath).
While I obviously do not blame the owner for having a bb problem, I take issue with the fact that he did not warn us of the problem. Jo, it's nice to know that you can be exposed to them and take enough precautions so that you don't take them home. We would've exercised more caution to ensure that we did not bring the problem home with us had he given us the heads up. There's so many things we did wrong. We put our shoes back in the closet downstairs, we brought our luggage up to our bedroom, we didn't wash everything we brought on the trip, and the list goes on. We even worried about souvenirs we'd brought home for loved ones and had to contact them to let them know about the issue.
As Mossie mentioned, bbs are difficult to eradicate. An adult can survive up to 18 months without a blood meal in the right conditions. If you have a minor infestation, like we did, you're going to have a difficult time finding them. We brought the scent detection dogs in right away and they were able to confirm that we did bring them home with us. We opted for fumigation which required us to be out of the house for four nights and since we didn't want to stay with family, we had to stay at a hotel. The fumigation didn't take because there were four holes in the tarp, so the company comped us and did a thermal heat treatment, which only required us to be out of the house for one night. All told, we've probably spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $5500-6000.
The worst part is what this does to you mentally. I was a mess for several weeks. You worry about spreading them to your workplace, to your car, to your loved ones. I even hated Paris for a while and felt that I would never want to go back there. From now on, everytime I get any kind of bump on my body, I will wonder whether it is a bb bite. Anyway, I'd like to end this on a positive note and thank you all again for your support. I'm happy to report that my love for Paris has since been restored and am looking forward to a possible trip next summer. Of course, I'd like to have a meeting with the owner and give him a piece of my mind!
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Post by joan1 on Nov 21, 2008 12:44:26 GMT -5
Oh my goodness, what a horrible experience, and all that money to get rid of them, yikes, that was a whole trip to Paris right there!!!!
I can totally understand the feeling itchy and worrying thing,, I am itchy right now.
Jo, ,wow,, Disney did a class act.. I really am impressed.
I know that the presense of BB's has nothing to do with "low class" or "high class hotels", the only difference in my opinion is a high class hotel( and this is not dependent on rates they charge) gets rid of them as fast and as thoroughly as they can!!
What a shame that apt. looked so nice, and was so cheap too!!
PS I went on the link and left a comment, I am sure it too will be deleted, but at least the owner will be aware that his little secret is not so secret at all!!
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Post by ouiparis on Nov 21, 2008 12:49:52 GMT -5
Joan, I have tears in my eyes as I write this. Thank you for doing that! Yes, it will get deleted no doubt but I'm sure that many people will see it before that happens. Of course, you get an exalt for this. You rock.
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Post by suzanne on Nov 21, 2008 12:52:36 GMT -5
Have you posted a review on Slowtravel? I agree with Joan that apartment looks great and it has no carpet or headboard so I would have jumped at it too.
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Post by Anne on Nov 21, 2008 12:56:23 GMT -5
Oui, re. your comment that already got deleted : did you post it on the Dauphine appartment ad (like Joan's comment) or on their general Discussion Board ?? I would have thought that the appartment owners aren't allowed to edit or delete posts on the Discussion Board ...
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Post by ouiparis on Nov 21, 2008 12:58:04 GMT -5
Suzanne, I'm not familiar with Slowtravel, but I'll look into it. Anne, yes, it was in the same area where Joan posted hers. It was up for 5-6 days before it got deleted. I know which discussion board you are referring to and honestly, it looked so Mickey Mouse that I didn't bother.
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Post by GitteK on Nov 21, 2008 13:05:50 GMT -5
ouiparis - did you post this on TripAdvisor as well ?? I think you ought to, because a lot of people search there for apartments. Maybe with a discreet url-link to this thread........ (no ulterior, scheming motive, naturellement.....  ) |
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Post by suzanne on Nov 21, 2008 13:55:35 GMT -5
I always look at apartment reviews on Slowtravel. I wish more people knew about it and would post there. I really like the way they do the apartment reviews.
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Post by Shoesy on Nov 21, 2008 15:23:28 GMT -5
Oui - I've given you a special exalt for being able to concentrate on writing all those beautiful trip reports while you were still suffering from that horrible bedbug experience. You managed to keep your suffering to yourself so that we could enjoy all the positive aspects of your trip. It's such a pity that a sweetie such as you had to go through that nightmare.
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Post by ouiparis on Nov 21, 2008 16:12:22 GMT -5
Gitte, I did post a similar review on TA, but no link to OPF. However, I did post the links to all my recent TRs there, which I think brought OPF some traffic judging from the responses I got. Shoesy, merci beaucoup, although I must correct you. I wrote the first few TRs before and around the time of our discovery. And then things got a little ugly and then I picked up where I left off when we started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. For all of you who now have heebie jeebies as a result of my revelation, check out this article from a website that was a great resource for me, www.bedbugger.com. It's an FAQ about avoiding bbs while traveling. bedbugger.com/2006/10/19/faq-how-can-i-avoid-bedbugs-while-traveling/ |
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Post by holger on Nov 21, 2008 16:13:43 GMT -5
 You really deserve many kudos for dealing with this horror. The infestation is now so widespread that you can pick them up in airports, from luggage that has been next to some infested while in the luggage compartment of a plane, and so on. It is also difficult for people on tours to know where they may have been bitten since they may be in several hotels before the bites show up. But seriously, the owner and the agency should be far more responsive. I would never book through them given your experience. Thank you for sharing with all of us.
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nasty critters !! 
)
hahahha