On Your Side: Motel owner reimburses woman who claims bedbug infestation

CHESTER, VA (WWBT) - A Super 8 Motel in Chester, has decided to settle a bedbug dispute and pay the woman the money she's asking.

You may recall the complaint we investigated last month. The customer says bedbugs bit her as she slept in her motel room. She wanted reimbursement and her medical expenses paid.  But the motel owner refused to pay, citing a report from Orkin Pest Control that showed no evidence of bedbugs in room 209.

So, how did she get her money?  We're making it clear that Super 8 owner Amul Desai is not admitting the woman got bedbugs at his establishment. I just got off the phone with him a couple of hours ago, and he says he settled to cut his losses. The former customer says it was our investigative reports and a letter from her lawyer that prompted him to pay up.

Marcia Bradby called 12 for help and says, "I got a phone call a couple days ago that my attorney received a check and I went to pick it up yesterday."

Bradby says the itchy, parasitic insect bites caused her extreme aggravation and $373. She wanted total reimbursement and got it.

Bradby adds, "It covered the clothes I had to throw away, my medical expenses.  He even gave my money back for the room."

Super 8's GM told me he still doesn't believe Bradby got bedbug bites from his motel, but says it was cheaper to settle, so he did and avoided racking up a larger amount in legal expenses.

When we visited Amul Desai's motel back in June, this is what he said about Bradby's complaint: "If there was live activity they found, we'd reimburse her the money and we have done in the past.  When somebody in the middle of the night comes and complains with the bedbug in their hand, our desk clerk doesn't even call us.  They reimburse them."

Bradby responds,  "I came there with nothing on my body and I left there with all these bumps on me.  I was red and I was itching. I'm healing, but I still have scars."

She says she's glad Call 12 looked into her complaint. "I am, and I want to thank y'all for helping me out. Even though he still denied it and he didn't want to pay, but it helped a whole lot."

Marcia Bradby says she remembers the tips I shared in one of my investigative pieces and plans to follow them from now on. They include conducting a total mattress and room inspection for bedbugs, regardless of where you rent a room.

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