By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CITY HALL — Unscrupulous bed bug "experts" are praying on desperate consumers trying to cope with infestations, a City Council committee warned Wednesday.
As the bed bug epidemic has raged across the city, crooked pest management firms have been cashing in without delivering results, members of the council’s Committee on Consumer Affairs said at a hearing addressing the issue Wednesday.
"This is becoming a very lucrative business," said City Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who has been on a crusade against the resilient pests since 2006.
"We are all dealing with...fly-by-night exterminators," Brewer said, adding that nobody "knows who to call."
Bed bugs have become a serious problem in the city, with 3-1-1 complaints soaring 150 percent from 2006 to 2009. Recent high profile attacks include an AMC movie theatre, Lincoln Center and Bloomingdale’s.
Eliminating the bugs is also pricey, with home treatments costing anywhere from $600-$2,000, said Gil Bloom, a certified entomologist and member of the city's Bed Bug Advisory Board, who testified at the hearing.
Legitimate bed bug experts are certified by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, but members of the city’s Advisory Board testified that anyone with a website and a cell phone can advertise themselves as experts even if they've never been trained.
"There are people out there who are not regulated businesses, who are not certified people," said Bloom, who recently filed a complaint with the state after seeing a sign by the side of the road that advertised a "Bed Big Expert! Results Guaranteed! $120."
"These are the people who are taking advantage of people," he warned.
Bloom and others urged consumers to beware and do their research, checking for references and asking firms how long they’ve been in business and what methods they use.
Councilman Oliver Koppell, who said his wife has been afraid to go the movies since the spate of outbreaks, also called for the city to do a better job making information available about who to call.
"People are in the dark about the people they should have confidence in," he said.
The Department of Consumer Affairs has not received any complaints to date about false ads, deputy commissioner Fran Freedman said.
In addition to discussing the issue of uncertified exterminators, Freedman promised to sit down with the owners of laundromats, dry cleaners and second-hand shops to discuss steps they can take to prevent spreading the bugs.
A list of registered pest control businesses is available here (PDF).
