Rant: Landlord blamed me for roaches he created over 6 months

I took over a pest control contract for a 12-unit building in Portland last spring. The manager swore he'd been on top of things but I saw the place was nasty, food crumbs everywhere and leaky pipes. Fast forward to fall and the roach problem is worse than when I started, not better. Turns out the guy was telling tenants not to let me in for treatments and was hiding the fact he had a hoarder in unit 4. I wasted 6 months of bi-monthly sprays because he wouldn't fix the root causes. Now I'm out the cost of extra gel bait and he's threatening to sue for breach of contract. Has anyone else dealt with a client who sabotaged their own job and then tried to pin it on you?

3 comments

3 Comments

mason.drew12d agoMost Upvoted

...and that's exactly it, nobody wants to own the mess they made. You did the work, you showed up, you spent your own money on extra gel bait, and the landlord was the one blocking the whole thing. But now he's gonna sue you for breach of contract? That's a special kind of nerve. It's like that grocery store example, stockers don't rotate the shelves but blame the driver for the expired milk. Same thing here, the guy created the roach heaven with his hoarder and his leaky pipes, then points at you when the bugs won't leave.

white.keith12d ago

Dropped the ball" is right lol, had a client blame me for ants they were feeding.

ray61312d ago

Man that's such a frustrating situation. It feels like everywhere you look these days people pass the buck instead of just owning up to their part in things. I see it all the time at my grocery store where they blame the delivery drivers for expired milk when really the stockers just don't rotate the shelves like they're supposed to. It's like nobody wants to admit they dropped the ball so they just point fingers at whoever's easiest to blame.