I have been notified by Tuft & Needle that they no longer wish to provide a discount to the forum members here and they have asked to be removed from the membership list … which I have done effective today.
They have apparently been receiving complaints from some of their customers that weren’t members of this site when they made their purchase that the forum members here have been receiving a discount that they didn’t also receive and didn’t consider this to be “fair”. Some of their customers were also apparently trying to “game” the system by registering here and making a post just for the sake of receiving the discount and they were concerned that they weren’t using this site as a legitimate source of research although most manufacturers or retailers would welcome this since the members here only represent a small percentage of their business and registering on the forum and reading any of the information here would confirm whether they are making a good quality/value choice regardless of the reasons why they initially registered.
While in my opinion the bonuses or discounts that are provided to the members here are something that they have “earned” and certainly “deserve” because of the time they have spent before their purchase on the type of more detailed, objective, and legitimate research that helps them to make better quality/value choices out of all the many options that are available to them … I also understand that not everyone has the same perspective and of course they are free to make the choices that they believe are best for them and the brand that they are building.
I have made this post a “sticky” post that will remain on top of the forum for a while so that those who are considering a Tuft & Needle mattress will see it more easily and know before they make their purchase that they will no longer receive a discount as a result of their membership here just in case the discount is an important part of why they are choosing a Tuft & Needle mattress or in case they would rather purchase from one of the many members here that also sell good quality/value mattresses (either locally or online) that rewards the forum members here for the time and effort that they put into researching which mattress is the best choice for them and of course also helps to support the time and effort and expense involved in making the information here available to consumers as well.
Well, that’s quite disappointing to hear. I have been “lurking” here for a couple of months now and was literally about to finally register here to take advantage of the T&N combined AMEX and TMU discounts (not to mention the excellent return policy) to try out the Tuft & Needle mattress in my home.
Like many others, I suspect, I hadn’t bothered to register yet, because I hadn’t yet had a question to ask, but the research here has proved invaluable in the decisions I have been considering (including the decision to return my latest “S” brand mattress to Mattress Firm before I left town for a 2-week vacation to see my parents (so that I was still within the 100-day trial period). I had planned to ask a couple of specific questions about my own weight range and PPP before making the final decision. T&N may well have lost a potential customer with that decision - if only because the service you are providing is truly necessary to consumers and has provided me with such a wealth of important information.
I realize that, assuming the T&N mattress is a good fit for me, $39 is not all that big of a deal in the long run - however, keeping this site alive and running and the services that it provides consumers is. I hope that T&N will reconsider their position on this - and perhaps I will then reconsider my decision to purchase their mattress. In the meantime, I plan to use my membership to communicate some specific questions regarding my own mattress situation to you in the hopes that I can find a good mattress match for myself soon.
Many thanks again for all your time and efforts and I look forward to discussing mattresses with you in the very near future.
Regards,
One of many non-registered “members” of The Mattress Underground who was not looking to “scam” the system by simply registering because I heard I could get a discount here, but one who has been diligently reading articles and forum posts in detail for a while now,
Trish
There will probably be a relatively short period of time where they will make some exceptions for those that are in similar situations to yours so it would probably be worthwhile calling and asking them.
It’s not likely that they will reconsider their policy for the time being but who knows what the future may bring. They were very adamant that they no longer wished to provide any discounts across the board because of how they wanted to build their brand. While the AMEX discount is still available at the moment … they consider this to be different because it comes from AMEX and not from them even though it’s also not available to everyone so from a consumer perspective there is still some “inequality” in the prices that some of their customers will end up paying compared to others.
Hope they re-consider. There are a lot of mattress research websites that offer different discount codes to different manufacturers.
Maybe if it were something like this that was entered at the time of purchase, rather than a call “after the fact”, other consumers wouldn’t feel like they missed out.
Unfortunately most of these are just revenue sites that will promote any mattress that they are given for free or that they can make money promoting (or are given to use as a giveaway promotion to increase rankings) … regardless of the quality or value of the mattress. In many cases they have very little experience in the industry or knowledge about mattresses or materials and say little about the quality of the materials inside them. They are basically a new version of a very old problem in the industry where people who know little about mattresses or mattress materials will repeat the marketing information that is provided to them for the sake of earning a commission just like most of the commissioned salespeople in the major chain stores (see post #11 here and the posts it links to).
If a discount was available to anyone regardless of whether they have “earned” it or not then it would be easier to just reduce the cost of the mattress itself and the discount would really be no different from all the “fake sales” that are so common in the industry.
I’m in the same boat as TDen and waited until the last minute on the Amex promo too in the hopes that I would have a little bit of clarity by the end of the month and my upcoming move date… Guess we’ll see if I can beg forgiveness from T&N given that they changed their mind under a week ago (and the fact that it will be offset by taxes for unfortunately living in one of their few warehouse states). Still appreciate everything you’re doing spreading general awareness though!