Hi aviator79,
I don’t see anything in your first review that I would call “inflammatory” but it also appears to clearly indicate that your mattress wasn’t the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your Personal preferences) when you purchased it.
Your comments about the issues you had with stomach sleeping are fairly typical of stomach sleepers who tend to need a firmer mattress to prevent the heavier pelvis from sagging into the mattress and sleeping in a swayback position (which is a common cause of back pain for stomach sleepers).
In very general terms and based on “averages” … side sleepers tend to need a softer mattress because the body has more curves that need to be “filled in” to provide suitable support (such as the waist) and more “pointy parts” (such as the hips and shoulders) that need to sink in more to relieve pressure when you are on your side and generally need thicker and softer upper layers that can contour to the shape of the body more effectively and more deeply. Back sleepers have less curves that need to be filled in (such as the small of the back or lumbar spine) and less “pointy” pressure points and generally do best with a little bit firmer mattress that has either thinner or firmer comfort layers to reduce the risk of their pelvis sinking into the mattress too much which can put the spine out of alignment and cause lower back pain. Stomach sleepers have the flattest and least “curvy” sleeping profile of all and so they tend to need a firmer mattress yet with thinner and/or firmer comfort layers to reduce the risk of their pelvis sinking into the mattress too much and sleeping in a swayback position which can put considerable strain on the lower back and also lead to lower back pain. Stomach sleeping is the “riskiest” sleeping position in terms of back and neck strain (the head is turned sideways which can strain the neck). Putting a thin pillow under the pelvis/lower abdomen may also help prevent stomach sleepers from sleeping in a swayback position
For combination sleepers the best choice is generally a mattress with comfort layers that are “just enough” in terms of the thickness and softness of the upper layers to relieve pressure points when you sleep on your most pressure prone position (generally the side) but not so soft that the pelvis will sink into the mattress too deeply when you are sleeping on your back or stomach which can put your spine out of alignment.
“Support” is often misunderstood and many people believe incorrectly that “firmer is better” or “more supportive” when the real goal of a “supportive” mattress is to keep the spine and joints in good alignment and this requires the type of contouring support that allows some parts of the body to sink in more (softer) and some parts of the body to sink in less (firmer) and this will vary on an individual basis. There is more about primary or “deep” support and secondary or “surface” support and their relationship to firmness and pressure relief and the “roles” of different layers in a mattress in post #2 here and in post #4 here that may also be helpful in clarifying the difference between “support/alignment” and “comfort/pressure relief” and “feel” and how they interact together.
It can be very difficult to change habitual sleeping positions but some people have found that taping a tennis ball to the front of their pajamas have helped them to avoid stomach sleeping because it wakes them up when they switch to their stomach.
Based on your comments and the timing of your first review your issues are clearly be a “comfort” issue (as opposed to a defect or quality issue) that is the result of choosing a mattress that wasn’t a suitable “match” for you in terms of PPP. These types of issues are the reason for their 120 day trial period so that you can try the mattress at home to make sure that you sleep well on it and if you don’t then you can either return the mattress for a refund or exchange the mattress for another one with a different firmness level that would be a more suitable match for you.
Unfortunately if you aren’t sleeping well on a mattress and you decide to keep the mattress longer than the trial period without initiating a return or an exchange then you would lose the exchange/return options that are available to you which are designed to give you enough time to confirm that the mattress you purchased was a suitable choice. In some cases if you call and talk with them and you are only a little over the trial period they may make an exception but it would certainly be too late now to exchange or return your mattress unless it qualifies as “defective” (which as you mentioned is unlikely).
Having said that … it may still be worth calling and talking to them on the phone to see if they have any suggestions that may be helpful.
Phoenix