Like most first time visitors to this site I arrived here while doing research for a new mattress. We have new bedroom furniture coming within the month and needed to replace our mattress which my wife bought over 20 years ago before we got married. In a guest room of our house I have a Serta Perfect Sleeper which I also bought 20 years ago as a bachelor and loved. It is not heavily used now but is still in great condition. Foolishly I thought “well, we’ll just buy another Serta set”. THANK GOD I DID NOT DO THAT.
Searching the web I came across the countless horror stories about the big mattress makers shamelessly fleecing consumers and quickly realized I had a LOT more leg work to do. I didn’t want to become another cheated, disgruntled consumer out thousands of dollars. That’s when I began to learn the truth: the company that made my old mattress is nothing like the company that exists today. The name may be the same, but the company is just riding the crest of a reputation earned generations ago and no longer warranted. The same is true for the other “Big S” makers. I found out my brother, who purchased a top of the line famous maker set for over $2000 not long ago and which failed (sank) quickly, was also a victim of the unscrupulous marketing, shoddy manufacturing and famous warranty scam. They refused him warranty coverage thanks to some loophole.
The “Big S” makers have taken consumer-unfriendly business principles of supersizing profits taught in MBA programs to new heights: use the cheapest materials and production methods, mislead people with patently false advertising (lies) and unscrupulous marketing tactics, cheat on warranty coverage and do everything possible to derail consumers’ efforts to educate themselves and to prepare well for the purchase process.
It’s an industry that’s desperately in need of regulation, in my humble opinion. It’s a racket.
Back to my story. We started off looking and the high end retailer from which we bought our bedroom set. We got sticker shock. They were showing us $3000-$5000 sets. We asked about something in the $2000 or less, and the salesperson said “let me check to see if we have anything discontinued that’s lying around”. Huh? For $2000 we have to look for last year’s leftovers? I knew there was better value out there. We tried other “better retailers” only to quickly learn that salespeople who may be quite knowledgeable about furniture know little to nothing about mattresses - be that by design or otherwise. None could actually tell us why one was better than the other. The common response we got was that Sealy, Simmons and Serta are the best makers and that price somehow determines quality. Simply put, there are thousands of angry consumers on the web who would refute that claim. I even found many people who’d been duped by the “Big S” makers two or more times in a row, having bought a mattress only to have it fail prematurely then replace it with another expensive disappointment.
But the marketing tactics are working, and working well. We were furniture shopping at a venerable, reputable major department store’s furniture showroom near our home. The parking lot was full but there was no one around so far as we could see. We asked the salesperson helping us with bedroom sets where all the cars were from, she told us the bedding dept in the basement was packed with people thanks to a huge sale. What brands do they sell? the “Big S” makers, exclusively.
I think the salespeople at the major retailers and many franchise bed shops are so poorly trained in this area they may actually believe they are telling people the truth. But, one can’t disclude the possibility that many know better but simply won’t let pesky ethics stand in the way of a sale. Even Costco, where we shop regularly and which was praised by Clark Howard as one of the best mattress retailers in the country, fell short. For questions they direct you to the manufacturer’s customer service, which I found frustrating and unenlightening. Additionally, for innerspring lines they only sell a few of the “Big S” makers. (In fairness to Costco, their memory foam and latex lines seem to be supplied by makers with better reputations). Of course I’m no expert, but one always has the Costco satisfaction guarantee to fall back on. Still, we weren’t about to start down that path. Returning a shirt or a blender is one thing. Returning a queen mattress set is quite another. Wanting innerspring, we quickly ruled Costco out.
So once I started digging deeper I found a glut of valuable information I could use to make an informed purchase decision. Soon I found your website and started taking what I could from the wealth of information therein. I have to admit, a lot of it is way over my head and quite technical for the layperson. But we found out what to look for and learned more about Quality Sleep Shop, a small manufacturer about 30 miles from our home. I’d seen their website after learning to stay away from the big guys but knew nothing about them. Your praises for their work convinced me I needed to look closer. My wife and I drove to their showroom and talked at length with a seasoned salesperson who was able to describe in detail the manufacturing process, materials used and warranty coverage to expect. You can even see their factory floor from a window in the showroom. We stayed for two hours checking out all their mattresses, but settled on the Emily pillowtop set. We bought it finished on two sides (something the Big S makers won’t do as it extends the life of the mattress) and upgraded to all wool padding from Dacron. It’s their most popular model, and I can see why. We got a semi-custom set at a price that is just awesome, and we feel really great about the purchase. I’m sure it will bring us years of comfort and value. Down the road I will update mattressunderground.com forum readers on how our new mattress performs.