On our way to purchase a Simmons.....

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

when we came upon your website.

Needless to say, we haven’t left the house yet! I’ll have to do a bit more homework first.
I’ve done a forum search for manufacturers in our area (Portsmouth, NH 03801) but have only seen results in the Boston, Portland ME, and central NH area. Do you know of anyone here on the seacoast?
Also, we haven’t made up our minds yet, and are still open to suggestions, but are leaning towards a “conventional” innerspring mattress. We are thinking of skipping the boxspring, is that recommended or not?

Thanks,
Bill

2

Hi BillC,

The better options that I’m aware of that are within reasonable driving distance of Portsmouth, NH are listed in post #2 here including some options around the Portland, ME area.

I thought I would spend a few hours this morning to see if any of the retailers that are closer to you would be worth considering as well (since I didn’t have a list in the Portsmouth, NH area) and list the brands they carried that I would consider on a “mattress by mattress” basis. I looked at about 15 or so different retailers (and one manufacturer) and the ones that I would most seriously consider are …

http://www.portlandmattressmakers.com/ or http://www.boatmattress.com/ Factory direct manufacturer in Portland, Windham, ME and Portsmouth, NH. They make a wide range of innerspring, memory foam, latex, and hybrid mattresses and have some good quality and value available. They would be well worth considering.

http://www.thecleanbedroom.com/ Kittery, ME. Carries Naturepedic, Natura, Royal-pedic, Greensleep, Savvy Rest, SleepTek brands. These all use high quality materials but also have premium prices as well (lower value) compared to many other mattresses that use similar quality materials and sell for significantly less. They would be a good place to test various latex options. (NOTE ADDED June, 2016 … The Clean Bedroom is now closed so I am keeping their listing on the list for the time being just for reference)

http://www.petesbargainbasement.com/ Dover, NH. Carry Therapedic made by MattressMaker (in Brockton). Carries the basic one and two sided innersprings and will disclose foam densities.

http://www.hubbingtons.com/ Hampton, Barrington, NH. Switched their line and currently sells Kingsdown (which I would avoid) and Pure Talalay Bliss which are a line Talalay latex mattresses that use good quality materials.

http://www.jandmfurniture.com/ Somersworth, Raymond, NH. Carries Therapedic memory foam, gel foam, and traditional innersprings. Told me they would call the factory for foam specs if they didn’t have them.

http://mattressdepotma.com/ Salisbury, MA Talked with Al here and he carries Therapedic and Gold Bond. We had a long conversation and he understands the importance of knowing the density and quality of the materials in a mattress.

Outside of the options that are in the other list I linked … these are the ones that are more local that I would be more focused on.

Hope this helps.

Phoenix

3

Great info, thanks very much for your time and effort.
I was wondering, what do you think of “Bob’s Furniture” mattresses? Specifically the “myBob” line?

Thanks again,
Bill

4

Hi BillC,

I had an interesting experience with them a couple of days ago. They come up from time to time in various areas where they have a store and I’ve listed them as a “possibility” in various lists (which like all possibilities I list in the forum is subject to the ability to confirm what is in their mattresses) so I thought I’d see if I could find out a little more about what was in their mattresses.

For their memory foam mattresses … they don’t list the density of the polyfoam base layers and since their memory foam is made in China I also wanted to check if it was made by one of the Chinese foam pourers that was Certipur certified (you can see my criteria for memory foam mattresses here) and I would make sure that you have also read post #6 here about mattresses that are imported from China. There are also a lot of Chinese memory foams that use cheap filler to achieve foam densities that make it look like they are better quality than they are. Without this information about any mattress like this I would pass them by. For their Naturally Bob’s latex hybrid … I wanted to find out the density of the polyfoam base layer and also find out the type and blend of the latex they use (which determines the quality/value of the latex). Once again … without this information I would also pass them by.

So I called a store to find out. They had absolutely no idea about any of my questions although I did talk for about 20 minutes with one salesperson who was interested enough to ask me a lot of questions and ended up being amazed at how little he knew (to his credit he wanted to know more about mattresses). He said he had never been taught any of this “stuff” about mattresses and all they know to do is to tell customers just to pick the most comfortable mattress and then they can exchange it if they don’t like it with the comfort exchange option they offer. Of course this would not be an option after 60 days so if the mattress used low quality materials and took longer than 60 days to soften too much this would have no value and like all warranties … foam softening and the loss of comfort and support that goes with it isn’t covered. He suggested I call head office to find the answers to my questions which I did.

Well when I reached their head office it turned out that they only have an accounting department and a bills receivable department and there is not a single person there that knows a single thing about the mattresses they sell. All they do is refer all customer service calls to a store. I was amazed and she repeatedly said the same thing and didn’t have a clue who I could talk to outside of a store. So I asked if she knew a store that may be able to answer my questions and she connected me to a store that may be able to help.

Of course this store also knew nothing about what was in their mattresses and after a short discussion (with a friendly enough salesperson) they also suggested I call head office. When I told them I already had he gave me a different number. I called this number and reached the same switchboard person (much to my frustration) and once again it was explained to me that nobody there knew anything about their mattresses. When I asked who the salespeople would talk to if they had a question they couldn’t answer she said repeatedly “I don’t know” but with no desire to find out. I was transferred back to another store with the same result and realized that this was just part of the culture and that the odds are very low that I would connect with anyone who knew anything meaningful about their mattresses. In the last call of several to their head office I asked specifically and pointedly if she could find out from someone … anyone … who their store salespeople would talk to if they had a question about their mattresses. She put me on hold for about 15 minutes and then the phone disconnected. Needless to say I gave up.

I guess the moral of this story is that I wouldn’t consider buying anything from them unless you are able to find out the information that I couldn’t so you can make a meaningful assessment of their mattresses and their quality/value. I will also link this post to any of the lists where they appear in the hopes that one of their stores has a salesperson who knows something about their mattresses.

Phoenix

5

Wow, thanks Phoenix (again) for all the legwork! Interesting story regarding Bob’s (I wouldn’t have the patience for that sort of thing) .
So, we visited Daly’s in Biddeford and purchased one of their “Maiden Maine” products. The shopping experience was relaxed (no pun intended) and friendly. No gimmicks such as “sale pricing” or “interest free financing”. They will deliver it today.
Did we get good value from this purchase? I guess only time will tell. However, I like knowing what’s inside the mattress, meeting the people who made it, and the fact that it’s made locally. Over time, if we have any comments, positive or negative, we’ll let you know.

Thanks again,
Bill

6

Hi BillC,

You did the same thing I would have done if I was in your area.

Based on the criteria that I would normally suggest including the material considerations that make meaningful quality and value comparisons possible … you certainly did IMO.

As you say though … time is the real test but by any more “objective” standards I’d say you did very well.

I’m looking forward to your feedback once you’ve had the chance to sleep on your new mattress.

It reminded me more than anything of some of the “endless loops” that happen on my computer from time to time.

Most of all … Congratulations on your new mattress :slight_smile:

Phoenix