We are renting a perfect home on Big Pine Key. Well almost perfect. The beds are infested with bed bugs! We let the agent know by leaving a message and e-mail and hour ago, so we'll see how they deal with it. For now, 11/13/11, we'll start with one star and upgrade depending on how they deal with the problem. My wife is covered in rash like bites and I have a sample of a half dozen bed bugs I'll be taking into the office today!
11/16 UPDATE
Here's my update for the way Schwartz Property Management handled the problem. The agent arrived called back within a couple hours on Sunday morning and arrived mid-day for a horrified visit. She had set up a pest control visit the next day and brought an air mattress out for us to sleep on in the living room, so add one star! Things did not go so well after that losing them two stars. However, alls well that ends well, and thanks to the involvement of the owners of Schwartz Realty we were moved next door to a bug free environment, earning them three stars back.
It turns out bed bugs (actually a form of lice) are popping up all over the keys, like most other places on the planet. I think the folks at Schwartz are still figuring out how to deal with this, but after a few fumbles, we are now in a lice free home and happy. It was a bumpy experience for me the consumer but hopefully we can bump them up to 5 stars next year. read more