New Mattress is causing serious pain

Mattress Talk Needs & Personal Preferences
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I joined Mattress underground because I’m really hoping I can get some help with a recent mattress purchase. I thought it was time to retire my 14 year old Sealy posturepedic mattress but there really wasn’t anything wrong with it- it still functioned and was useable. So I bought a futon mattress I found in a local shop. In the shop, it seemed comfortable and I never had a bad experience sleeping on a futon before, but after setting this current futon up, it’s been awful. It’s truly the most uncomfortable mattress I’ve ever slept on in my life. Its hard, stiff and offers no cushion, no give. I tried reaching out to the retailer and was informed all sales final. I then reached out to the manufacturer and initially spoke with someone who assured me they would talk to the owner but I never got a response. I tried a few more times by phone and email and zero response. This was when the mattress was new, unwrapped, un-opened and I asked for an exchange for a different futon made without boric acid. They ignored me for almost a month so that’s when I decided to open the mattress and try to use it.

I learned several thing with this mattress purchase but now I wondered what my rights are? I reached out to BBB last week to hopefully remedy the situation too. This isn’t a matter of ‘breaking in’ a mattress either I’ve slept on new beds that need broken in, and futons kind of work different because over time they don’t get softer they get more compact and firmer from the cotton batting. Sleeping on this mattress is so painful even with a 2 inch 100% wool topper that I wonder if its defective or what’s going on to make it so hard. It was advertised as soft plush and has a foam center, but laying on it you’d never know that. Its just rock hard. Yesterday I ordered an Avocado latex topper (soft-plush) to see if that will help, but don’t know if I can stack that under the wool topper or not?

Any ideas? I’m just really disappointed in this whole matter.

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Hey Serenitystar80,

Welcome to TMU :slight_smile: ! Thanks for joining in and for your question.

I am sorry to learn of your disappointing shopping experience, Serenitystar80; your frustration level reads loud and clear. There are some cautionary tales here that were unfortunately learned at your expense. It was thoughtful of you to shop local and support small businesses in your area; however, it seems that the shop didn’t clearly communicate their “all sales final” policy to you or you would have been prepared for no further remedy options from the beginning. Without knowing who the manufacturer of your futon is or where it was manufactured, I’m not necessarily surprised that they didn’t respond to a complaint of a non-warranty issue as exchanges and returns of product are generally handled at the retail level. Just a sidebar here not related to your question per se: boric acid is used as a natural fire retardant within the cotton batting, providing FR assistance to the futon. It is also thought to provide some level of natural allergen protection from dust mites, mold, and mildew as well.

[quote]I learned several thing with this mattress purchase but now I wondered what my rights are? I reached out to BBB last week to hopefully remedy the situation too. This isn’t a matter of ‘breaking in’ a mattress either I’ve slept on new beds that need broken in, and futons kind of work different because over time they don’t get softer they get more compact and firmer from the cotton batting. Sleeping on this mattress is so painful even with a 2 inch 100% wool topper that I wonder if its defective or what’s going on to make it so hard. It was advertised as soft plush and has a foam center, but laying on it you’d never know that. Its just rock hard. Yesterday I ordered an Avocado latex topper (soft-plush) to see if that will help, but don’t know if I can stack that under the wool topper or not?

Any ideas? I’m just really disappointed in this whole matter.[/quote]

TMU provides research resources for consumer education, as well as industry experts who offer mattress design experience and product knowledge to consumer subscribers. We do not claim to be legal experts and decline to give any advice regarding consumer rights, as is the specialty of the Better Business Bureau. Hopefully, they will have some ideas for you or can suggest how you should best proceed with your complaint. Do let us know how your situation is received by them and how things go, I’m sure that other consumers will be interested in your outcome.

Sensei

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Thanks Sensei for your response.

Sorry for not being clear, I wasn’t asking legal advice, just advice on if a manufacturer is supposed to stand behind its products? Particularly if the mattress is causing pain to the consumer?

This is my first time experiencing pain from sleeping on a mattress and yes I’m extremely disappointed in spending money on a mattress that literally hurts me and being ignored by the manufacturer when I reached out to them. This manufacturer has another shop that sells their mattresses and easily could have worked with me to exchange the one I bought and allow me to pay the difference for another mattress but they chose not to.

Aside from that, other than buying a topper is that the only way to soften this mattress in order for it to be useable to sleep on? And can I use my wool topper on top of the new latex topper or would that not provide enough breathability?

Thank you.

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Hey Serenitystar80,

Thanks for your reply :slight_smile: .

That’s a tough question to answer as it is more of a conditional nature. The manufacturer sets the policies for which they will accept a return from the retailer, and these are generally based on defects in manufacturing or product quality; in other words, warranty issues. Comfort preferences are not considered warranty issues and are not covered in any mattress manufacturers’ warranty policies. At the retail level, stores set their own policies for how they are able to manage returns. Unfortunately in your case, the local shop apparently enforces an “all sales final” approach, which is within their rights as a business owner; however, if not communicated clearly, the resulting frustration for the customer is a major disappointment to say the least. Sadly here, the Consumer Law 101 phrase of “caveat emptor”/ “let the buyer beware” comes to mind…

I am terribly sorry that you are experiencing such extreme discomfort with your futon, as well as a lack of response from the manufacturer. Your exchange/ upsell solution seems reasonable enough; but, if they do not accept returns, they likely do not offer exchanges either. Again, without knowing who the manufacturer is or the reseller, we have no way to understand what, if any remedies are available.

No breathability worries with using the wool topper over your new latex topper; the latex topper should be fine. The wool topper will likely have a more firmer feel by nature. If you find that to be the case, simply remove it and enjoy the more conforming feel of your soft/ plush latex topper. Hopefully, your new latex topper addition will provide comfort relief to your current futon setup :wink: . Do you have any updates since your last post, Serenitystar80?

Sensei

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Thank you again for your thoughtful response Sensei.

I hope BBB can help but so far their still processing my complaint. (its understandable we just had a holiday)

This futon is seriously messed up, there’s no other way to describe it. I’ve only had it opened and attempted to sleep on it for about a week and a half and it’s still so unbearable. I can usually only handle 2-3 hours and then I go to my couch. All the money I spent is a waste for this mattress/ futon at this point.

Two things though. 1. ) I looked at the manufacturers store where they sell their mattresses directly and the futon that closely resembles what I purchased at my local retailer specifically says for occasional use only, not used for everyday use. Well I didn’t know that and the shop owner actually walked me over to the one I bought … and he knew I wanted it for sleeping because at the time I told him it was time to upgrade my Sealy posturepedic that was 14 years old. So either he withheld that from me or didn’t care.

Does that mean anything? that he never even told me its use isn’t for everyday sleeping and says so right on the website?

2.) Today I went to a local shop that is geared for more natural, eco-friendly mattresses & bedding and found a 1inch coconut coir bed rug made by Savvy Rest. I bought that hoping the extra padding will help under the terrible futon mattress. Because I think I’m feeling the wooden slats underneath and that is what is hurting also. :frowning:
Do you think the coconut coir padding will help any? I haven’t assembled it under the mattress yet.

I honestly think if the latex topper from Avocado doesn’t help I may just need a different mattress, because so far this isn’t useable more than 2-3 hours a night and that’s still being achey/sore.

Thanks again for listening!!! I really should have done better research before my mattress purchase and not after. I learned the hard way.

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Hey Serenitystar80,

Thanks for the update :slight_smile: !

Sorry I missed your reply earlier; somehow, I was confusing your last post response with this one ? . Yes, let’s hope that the BBB can lend its support and review your situation further, the process will undoubtably take some time.

[quote]This futon is seriously messed up, there’s no other way to describe it. I’ve only had it opened and attempted to sleep on it for about a week and a half and it’s still so unbearable. I can usually only handle 2-3 hours and then I go to my couch. All the money I spent is a waste for this mattress/ futon at this point.
[/quote]

It is quite disappointing to hear how uncomfortable your futon is, Serenitystar80. I’m guessing that you are still waiting for a call back from the manufacturer?

[quote]Two things though. 1. ) I looked at the manufacturers store where they sell their mattresses directly and the futon that closely resembles what I purchased at my local retailer specifically says for occasional use only, not used for everyday use. Well I didn’t know that and the shop owner actually walked me over to the one I bought … and he knew I wanted it for sleeping because at the time I told him it was time to upgrade my Sealy posturepedic that was 14 years old. So either he withheld that from me or didn’t care.

Does that mean anything? that he never even told me its use isn’t for everyday sleeping and says so right on the website?[/quote]

Did you take a snap of that “for occasional use only” information for your records? Is your futon model specifically featured on the manufacturer’s web site? You mention above that yours “closely resembles” what you purchased at your local retailer, but do you have any sort of product ID numbers for comparison? Unfortunately, there is no way to speculate as to the retailer’s thought process while he was working with you. Yours is certainly a cautionary tale to remind consumers to research all store policies and get all remedies in writing before parting with your hard-earned dollars and finding no recourse.

Coconut coir bed rugs are used to promote air circulation where mattress breathability is a concern. Savvy Rest’s bed rug is a one inch mat made of coconut fiber and natural latex, designed to rest over the bed’s platform and underneath a mattress. The coconut coir bed rug is a firm-feeling material that could make your slats feel firmer. What type slatted foundation are you using and what size is your setup?

[quote]I honestly think if the latex topper from Avocado doesn’t help I may just need a different mattress, because so far this isn’t useable more than 2-3 hours a night and that’s still being achey/sore.
[/quote]

I wondered if you had received your topper yet and how that was working with the futon. Hopefully, you will find better sleep soon, Serenitystar80, and good luck with things… :wink: .

Sensei

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Hi Sensei,

I always appreciate your courteous and thoughtful responses! Thank you :slight_smile:

The manufacturer finally responded to the BBB complaint and basically said, " Sorry you don’t like our product, but we can’t and won’t do anything further" and “for me to contact the retailer.”
It’s quite unbelievable to me how this ‘local’ manufacturer literally refuses any communication; no reply to emails/phone calls to customers of their manufactured product and then literally responds to a BBB complaint with sorry, but basically they don’t care.

This whole mattress fiasco was a huge learning opportunity for me to really do my research and understand who I am buying from in the future. Who stands behind their products. And who gives a darn about their current and future customers.

So I called the retailer I don’t want to because he was really rude and disrespectful to me when I initially reached out to him when he informed me of their all sales final rule, but I did.
And it didn’t go well, I tried to talk respectfully but explain the problem and hopes we could come to a solution, but NO. Instead I was told to buy a topper and deal with it. Then he started being really mean to me saying things I got upset about and found unprofessional.

Never again will I buy anything mattress related that doesn’t offer a 100% guarantee and offer some sort of customer service.

Even though I rejected the response from the manufacturer on the BBB site, I just don’t see how anything else good can come from it. The manufacturer most likely will get a poor rating but apparently they do not care at all. I did try to fix this situation, several ways.

Concerning the Avocado latex mattress topper. It came the other day and I loved the softness and comfort but the smell was so strong for me. My throat hurt and it made my heart race. I tried several times over a 12 hour period to try and see if it would work, but didn’t. Afterward I googled and several people said the same thing about their Avocado mattress and topper. However, to their credit that business is responsive, respectful and stands behind their product and is working with me on how to donate this topper to help someone else.

I think I’ll start another thread in search of a topper.

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I forgot to mention the coconut coir mattress rug from Savvy Rest actually did help a little. Even though it’s only 1inch thick it did create a buffer so I don’t feel the slats. I like their products a lot especially after trying them out locally at a shop near me. If their mattresses and toppers were more affordable I would definitely buy one.