I’m a first time mattress buyer. I’ve been really busy lately, so I haven’t had much time to research. Bought a mattress today and didn’t feel great about it after the fact. I feel like I wasn’t informed enough to make a decision and was under a lot of pressure to get a new mattress before moving.
I went to Sit 'n Sleep today and bought a mattress from their in-house brand at a small discount, which seems to check out when I compared it to their online price.
It seemed really comfortable and to my taste of firmness, but I feel like it’s hard to make a decision after only laying on it for a few minutes. I also have no idea how to judge mattress quality and don’t know how well this thing will hold up over time. The mattress was $425 after the discount, before taxes. I tried to haggle with the salesman more, but he didn’t seem interested in going any lower. They also threw in free delivery, setup, and a bed bug/oil/moisture liner.
So, since I’m feeling unsure about this, I’m asking the experts. Did I get a good deal? Did I get a good quality product? Did I get totally ripped off? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
I’ll do my best to address your concerns, and also help others in similar situations.
The biggest mistake you made was not taking enough time to learn how to properly assess and shop for a mattress. It’s your job to become an informed consumer. The Mattress Shopping Tutorial on this site is a great place to start. It helps you learn about what questions to ask and how to find products using better quality materials, and to assess if a retailer is knowledgeable about such products. When you shop in a hurry and are uninformed, you’re then at the mercy of the store/salesperson you choose to visit, and at that point you’re “rolling the dice” to see if you landed at a place with better quality materials and educated salespeople.
You can’t feel quality or durability when testing out a mattress in person - all you can judge is comfort. Hopefully the salesperson there was able to place you into something that was appropriate for your body type and sleeping style.
That is determined by the quality of componentry within the mattress, primarily the density of the padding materials being used. This is described in more detail in the Mattress Shopping Tutorial I linked to earlier.
There’s certainly nothing wrong with asking for an extra discount, as many stores are set up this way, expecting the customers to argue about pricing and then bringing the price down a bit to provide the perception of a “deal”. Other stores will offer you their best price right away to take away the stigma of having to arm wrestle to get what you think might be a good “deal”. Maybe it was a good deal, maybe not. It really comes down more to value - how well the product will serve you for its intended purpose. It seems like you got a few extra things included, such as delivery, which is nice. I always advise to pay attention to the final price you pay, regardless of how you got there. I discuss this in a bit of detail in my Beducation video - The Truth Behind 50% Off Sales.
Unfortunately, there isn’t any meaningful information on the Sit 'n Sleep website speaking to the quality (density) of the padding materials used, or even an entire listing of the layers used in that mattress. The spring unit, a VertiCoil 460FE, is one of the more basic spring units in the industry, and while the spring unit isn’t usually the weak link within a mattress, this is a unit primarily targeted at mattresses for children, guest rooms, and entry-level adult use. While I can’t be too accurate with a comfort life estimation, as I don’t have the particulars of the comfort materials used within the mattress or your body type/dimensions/mass, something like this (price point, spring unit, where it falls in the company’s lineup), you can probably expect a comfort life under 5 years. I think that would be a reasonable expectation. You don’t tend to see companies producing quality mattresses using higher-density polyfoams atop a VertiCoil 460FE spring unit.
Be sure to use the mattress protector you were provided (BTW, unless it’s a completely zippered encasement with a special zipper, it’s not bed bug proof), rotate your mattress monthly, place it upon a flat and firm surface, use a bed frame with a center support, and you’ll be able to get the maximum use out of this product.
Unless you were delivered a mattress that was different from what you ordered, you didn’t get ripped off. It’s the consumer’s job to be informed before making a purchase, not the job of the business to do that for them (although it would be nice if more mattress stores were educators and knowledgeable about componentry and ergonomics). The old saying of caveat emptor definitely applies. While I wasn’t part of your sales process, I’m guessing that you were looking for something that you could get fast, was in stock, and that keeping a more moderate price were all factors.
I don’t know if I did a good job at answering your questions, as I’m limited by the information available, but overall I think your post here can be a useful example to others to take a few minutes to learn a bit about mattress componentry before visiting a store and making a purchase.
This is incredibly detailed, thank you! I ultimately decided to return it and roll with the bed I have now. It’s still in good condition and I can still get some decent mileage out of it. I am definitely going to refer to this post and the tutorial link you posted when I start mattress shopping again (probably in a year or two). I really appreciate you taking the time to provide so much detailed insight, it’s very helpful!