After reading a lot of great material on this web site we visited an Urban Natural store in NJ where we tested three Berkeley beds; the Astor triple coil, the Madison interactive coil and the Bedford all latex. The Astor triple coil was our favorite by far. We did not like the Bedford all latex at all.
Our concern is that Berkeley does not provide any comfort guarantee. You have 30 days to return the mattress and must pay a 35% restocking fee (restocking is an ominous expression, do they resell them). We see many other manufacturers such as Flobed (Goldilocks Guarantee) provide money back guarantees but we didn’t like the Berkeley all latex so I suspect we will not be very fond of a Flobed.
Is anyone aware of another manufacturer that makes a combination of triple coil with natural latex that would be similar to the Berkeley Astor in comfort and quality but also provides a money back guarantee. Since we have never slept on anything other than an innerspring Simmons mattress we would like too know we have the option of returning the bed without loosing almost $1500 (including the slat system).
I’m glad you were able to use the material here to help inform you as you begin your mattress shopping quest. As you’re already aware, Urban Natural is a site member here, which means that I think highly of them. And I also thinking highly of Berkeley Ergonomics.
Berkeley is not an online-specific retailer, and as such any return/exchange policies would be the decision of the brick and mortar store selling those items. Some retailers may offer to customize (if it’s possible) a mattress within a timeframe after a purchase (usually with a fee), others may allow for a return (also usually with a fee), and others may not offer a return policy at all. Charging a percentage for the return of a product is a manner that a retailer can attempt to recoup some of their cost instead of passing this along as a surcharge added into the price of every mattress they sell, where everyone essentially ends up subsidizing the very few who might return a product. Knowing Urban Natural as I do, I would not believe at all that they would be reselling used items. I’m not sure if they donate these or offer them to resellers who resell used items or if they have a return/clearance warehouse for returned items, of it they simply dispose of the item. You’d have to inquire with them about that.
Return/exchange policies are built in to the cost of a mattress and consumers that don’t return or exchange a mattress are the ones that pay for the ones that do. There is more information about return and exchange policies in post #25 here and in post #3 here ). While they aren’t as important with a local mattress purchase that you can test in person … with an online purchase they can certainly lower the risk of buying a mattress that may not turn out as well as you hoped for and a return/exchange policy can certainly be an important part of the “value” of an online purchase and each person’s personal value equation .
An all-latex mattress will certainly have a different feel as compared to something with multiple micro-coil units, but unless you were comparing the exact same Talalay latex layers from the same foam pourer with the same ILDs and the same covering, an all-latex mattress from another manufacturer will have a different feel from what you tested in person, but the feels can still be in the same “ballpark”.
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Is anyone aware of another manufacturer that makes a combination of triple coil with natural latex that would be similar to the Berkeley Astor in comfort and quality but also provides a money back guarantee
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The Berkeley Ergonomics design of the mattress you’re considering is quite unique, and off the top of my head I’m not aware of another manufacturer that produces the exact same style of product. European Sleep Works makes some similar products. Spink & Edgar does something with multiple microcoils on top, but different toppings. You can look at the Naturepedic EOS. You may wish to contact a few of the online retailers listed in post #21 here to see if they would be able to configure a custom product like you desire. There may be more knowledgeable members who can come up with other options for you as well faster than I can.
There is more information in post #9 here about the different ways that one mattress can “match” or “approximate” another one. Every layer and component in a mattress (including the cover and any quilting materials) will affect the feel and performance of every other layer and component and the mattress “as a whole” so unless you are able to find another mattress that uses exactly the same type of materials, components, cover and quilting, layer thicknesses, layer firmnesses, and overall design (which would be fairly unlikely) then there really isn’t a reliable way to match one mattress to another one in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your Personal preferences) based on the specifications of the mattresses (even assuming that you can find out all the specifications you would need for both mattresses you are comparing in the first place).
Thank for the quick response, how do you find the time. I finally found that European Sleep Works and European Sleep Design are different retailers (duh), the latter sells Berkeley mattresses and the former looks interesting but as you say nothing is better than a personal test drive. I see that Naturepedic EOS has a showroom in NYC. We’ll see if we can check them out this weekend, will post our experience.
Well, we did some more shopping and selected a mattress. It was delivered on Tuesday but before I provide all the details I have a question and depending on the answer we may be back to searching.
When the mattress was first delivered on Tuesday I noticed a mild odor (farm animal/petting zoo). By evening the odor could be detected when ascending the steps to the bedroom. It’s now Friday and no relief. We run fans and open windows to no avail. Assuming the materials are venting, how long do we need to wait before returning it. The mattress composition is coils, Talalay latex, organic cotton cover and pure organic wool. The restocking fee is significant so hoping to hear good news like “smell will be gone in a week”.
The smell will get less over time, but it tends to be stronger in more humid environments and I would try to air it out for a few days (unzipped) to see if the smell of the wool is reduced enough to be acceptable to you. Some people are just more sensitive to certain smells that others don’t seem to notice or at least doesn’t bother them. Unfortunately, the only way to know if you are more sensitive to certain smells that most people would be fine with will be based on your own personal experience. The dissipation of the smell can also be a function of where it is within the mattress, the ability to get air (or sun if the cover zips off) to the item, and the amount of wool, to name a few things.
My Green Mattress has some suggestions here for airing out a new wool mattress that you may find useful. I’d also contact your retailer/manufacturer to see if they have any other specific suggestions.
I hope that everything works out for you and I’ll look forward to your comments.
A long overdue update. It’s just over two months since we purchased the Astor triple coil mattress from Urban Natural. The smell has gradually dissipated so that I barely notice it now. After some great guidance from the guys at Urban Natural we managed to customize the Euro slats so we are each very comfortable. They offered a free comfort exchange on the top layer but adjusting the slats was all we needed to get a good custom setup. We’re very happy with the purchase and want to thank you and the guys at Urban Natural for your advice along the way.
Thank you for the update! I’m glad that you’ve been able to adjust to the new mattress and find a configuration with your slat network that is comfortable. Adjusting those slats can be tricky, which is why it’s invaluable to have the advice of a knowledgeable retailer like Urban Natural.
I hope you’ll be able to provide further updates on your mattress “down the road”.
It’s been almost two years and still love our Berkeley Astor triple coil. In fact it’s so comfortable I didn’t even think about rotating it. Any advice, between the combination of latex and coils I don’t know if, how or when it should be rotated.
Thanks for the post. Most mattress companies recommend rotating a mattress “once a year”, some companies even more often than not. Berkely’s products are made with such high-quality materials it seems like this would be overkill.
Have you asked Berkeley what they recommend? It really is best to get the manufacturer recommendations. My cursory check of their webstie and I did not see this info, you may have to call or email them.
My question was forwarded on to Ali at Urban Natural Home in Paramus NJ soon to be Bloomfield NJ. His recommendation was to rotate the Berkeley Astor triple coil every six months. I have a king and both sides are the same firmness so I’ll do a 180 every six months going forward.
