Woman Seeking Compensation After Bed Bug Incident At Local Hotel
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - On a recent overnight stay at the Microtel in Robinson, Deondra Tillar was jolted from her sleep.
"At about 5 a.m., I felt a stinging sensation on my arm. So, I jumped out of bed and turned on the light and when I turned on the lights, I saw these bugs scattering across my sheets and pillow."
Tillar took out her smartphone and began snapping pictures of the two remaining bugs and even took video of one crawling over her sheets.
"I am at the Microtel Hotel and Suites and this is a bedbug moving in my bed," she said.
Days later, after having an allergic reaction to the bites, she would check into St. Clair Hospital with alarming welts covering her arm face and neck.
"It bit me so badly, I couldn't feel anything up and down my arm," she said.
Bed bugs have always been around, but have struck in earnest in recent years after pesticides used against them were banned.
Spring and summer are their strongest season, but sometimes they hit in the winter months as well.
Generally, hotels compensate their guests and call an exterminator. In this case, Tillar said Microtel's co-owner, Rushna Patel, refused to refund her money.
Tillar: "She says, 'I'll never give you your money back and the best I'll every do for you is 15 percent.'"
KDKA-TV's Andy Sheehan: Fifteen percent?
Tillar: Fifteen percent."
Sheehan spoke with the other owner, Hiren Patel, who is also Rushina's husband about Tillar's complaint.
Sheehan: "She said there were bed bugs in her bed."
Patel: "Actually, we inspected that room and we didn't find any bedbugs. So, we don't know what she was complaining about."
Patel says he personally inspected the room and found no evidence of bed bugs. So, Sheehan showed him the pictures and video.
Sheehan: "Do you have any explanation for that?"
Patel: "I have no explanation. I need to recheck that room. I've never seen something."
Sheehan: "You've never seen these pictures?"
Patel: "I've never seen them."
According to the owners and the Microtel staff, the confrontation that morning spiraled out-of-control.
Desk clerk Autumn Lieberman said Tillar was belligerent.
"She was so rude, you couldn't get two words in. She was waving her arms around. She created such a fuss, my housekeeping crew came down thinking there was a problem in the lobby," Lieberman said.
While Patel said they offered to refund the money, it turns out that was only a 15 percent discount.
Sheehan: "A discount isn't a refund."
Patel: "Yes, that what it is."
Sheehan: "A refund would be a full refund of her money."
Patel: "No, not a full refund. If she don't like it, we offer a discount."
Sheehan: "She was bitten by bed bugs and ended up the hospital. She should get more than a discount."
Patel: "I understand."
Now, the Allegheny County Health Department has contacted the Patels and has started its own investigation.
"We started with the phone call. made the recommendation that he check it out. We'll then send an inspector and see any documentation he might have. Hopefully, he'll hire an exterminator." Dave Maloney of the Allegheny County Health Department said.
Any communication between Tillar and the Patels are being done through her lawyer.
She said she had to trash her clothes, luggage and wants compensation for her medical bills and pain.
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