:S
I find it frustrating when salespeople spout wrong information. But what pisses me off is when they insist arrogantly that they know and others don’t.
I have been told by a store owner that a particular foundation is made with hardwood when it is actually made with softwood.
I have told by the same store owner that I’m worrying too much about details and because of that, I’ll never find a perfect mattress.
I have been told by the same store owner that I should never buy a mattress with a topper, that if the mattress can’t do it all by itself, I’m buying the wrong mattress. If a store suggests a topper (even though he carries them), they’re selling me a line. Toppers are for fixing wrong or imperfect mattresses.
The same store owner told me that Vi-Spring’s warranty says that you have to be happy with the mattress for life, that it’s warranty is about being happy with the mattress for life (which left my wife and I a bit skeptical). While Vi-Spring does offer a more generous warranty than other brands I am aware of (a one-time switch out on spring or firmness tension if you’re not happy, and that involves a user cost of $300, if I recall correctly), it is essentially only a warranty against workmanship for life, so wear and tear or use are not covered.
I have been told by a GM of a direct sales manufacturer that it is against US Federal regulations to use wool as a fire barrier or retardant. He told me that he had asked the FR contact if there was any way to use wool as a fire barrier and contact insisted that the answer was no, particularly with latex mattresses. If a store tells you that a mattress is not using some sort of rayon or petroleum-based barrier, they’re lying, according to the GM. I believe him that he believes that. How did he get misinformed?
Another store salesperson said that latex is the coolest, most breathable type of bed to sleep on.
A salesperson from yet another store says that a mattress brand, Berkeley Ergonomics (which they sell), uses polyester in the wrapping of the the coils as well as the wrapping of layers because the company found that cotton doesn’t wear as well.
Part of the problem, as a prospective mattress buyer, is that I want to believe the things I am hearing so I can make the best choice. None of the above examples are from mattress superstores. These are all from either “organic” mattress stores or stores that promote “natural” mattresses.
How am I to base my decisions on “facts” when I can’t tell if that are actually factually correct. When I go back to do my research and come back with different information that the salesperson tells me, and the salesperson tells me that I’m too worried about the details (No apology, of course).
This situation is, of course, not unique to mattresses. I recently had a dealing with a new (to me) optical shop which utilizes Davis Optical as a provider. Every two years, our plan provides for free eye exams (including for contacts), and either: 1) two pairs of eyeglasses, 2) 1 pair of eyeglasses and a dispense of contact lenses, 3) 2 dispenses of contact lenses, or 4) $150 towards glasses or contacts not listed on their plan. I have been using Davis Optical for decades.
This optician insisted that a contact lense dispense only included paying for his services and a trial pair of contacts. This doesn’t even make sense. Davis will pay for 2 pairs of eyeglasses or pay $150, yet he is insisting that, w/regard to contacts, that if the model of contacts is in Davis’ plan, Davis only pays one pair of trial lenses (even if they’re daily disposables!). The optician told me that he KNOWS, and that he has been doing this for fifty years!
I immediately called Davis’ customer service, waited on hold, got a CS agent and told him what the optician said. The Davis CS person told me that one dispensing of contacts is equal to 6 months worth of lenses.
I put Davis’ rep on the phone with this guy. I heard the optician hem and haw, pause and say “Well, I thought…”. We ended the call with Davis. I got NO apology from the optician. That he had already had my money, I followed through, but I won’t go back to him again. Not that I believe he was trying to rip off his customers, but he clearly had not serviced them well as perhaps it has been 50 years of them paying for contact lenses when Davis would have covered them.
Why is it that I know more than most of whom are supposed to be “experts”? Almost all the knowledge I have gleaned from this site and other researches have helped me make a more informed choice with regard to buying a mattress. Yet one store guy is insisting that my research was somewhat needless.
Any business person or salesperson needs to be treating their knowledge base like a scientist does – constantly updating and challenging their own knowledge. Get second opinions. Keep looking at what new information is out there and then vet it, etc.
It just makes for a potentially frustrating experience, and again, I was hoping that going to the “little guy” stores would be an improvement. It hasn’t been that way, for the most part.
