Hi MeJane,
There may also be some better retailers in your area that are more knowledgeable, experienced and transparent and where helping you choose a good quality and value mattress that is the best “match” for you is more important than just “selling you whatever they can”.
Who you deal with can be one of the most important parts of a successful mattress purchase and dealing with “experts” who already know what you would otherwise need to learn and who have your legitimate best interests at heart can be one of the most important “shortcuts” in buying a mattress. If you let me know your city or zip code I’d be happy to let you know of any of the better options or possibilities I’m aware of that are close to you.
The name of the manufacturer means very little since all manufacturers use the same or similar materials and brand shopping is among the worst ways to choose a mattress (see post #5 here).
The two most important parts of a mattress purchase are how suitable a mattress is for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) which involves careful and objective testing on a mattress in the store and the quality of the materials inside the mattress which determines how long a mattress will last and maintain its comfort and support. There is some brief information in post #13 here about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase but the name of the manufacturer on the label has very little to do with the suitability of a mattress or the quality, durability, and useful life of a mattress.
Again … I would completely avoid any manufacturer that plays these types of games where the same or a very similar mattresses are sold under many different model names so that different stores can claim that their mattresses are “exclusive” to them and they can avoid price matching. In almost all cases these are the types of manufacturers (mostly major brands which I would avoid anyway) that either use lower quality and less durable materials in their mattresses in the fewer cases where the materials are higher quality they don’t compare well to smaller manufacturers that use the same or higher quality materials in their mattresses and sell them for lower prices.
Part of successful mattress shopping is knowing what to avoid and why and I would include these types of manufacturers and stores in your “exclusion list”. If you make a blind purchase then your risk of buyers remorse and buying a mattress that doesn’t maintain its comfort and support for a reasonable length of time relative to what you paid for it with no warranty recourse (warranties don’t cover the loss of comfort and support and have little to nothing to do with the useful life of a mattress) would be much too high.
A mattress is one of the most important purchases you can make and can have a bigger effect on your wellbeing than almost any other purchase and I certainly wouldn’t just “flip a coin” when you are making your choices. Again … especially in circumstances such as yours … who you deal with can be one of the most important parts of a successful mattress purchase.
There is also a more simple “short version” of the mattress shopping tutorial at the end that may also be very helpful and a little easier for you to read.
Phoenix