Hi lnov,
I had to go back to previous posts and contact QSS to make sure I was accurate with my timeline, so I apologize for my delay in commenting upon your post.
I hope you had a fun time in Europe this summer. I’m sorry you still don’t like the comfort of the Katherine Latex Soft mattress that you chose, but hopefully you were able to gather some information about the many beds you sampled in Europe, or at least have a grasp on the comfort that you preferred.
QSS changed over from Talalay to Dunlop at the beginning of 2017, so your mattress most likely contains Dunlop latex. Regardless of Dunlop or Talalay, the floor models were representative of what they were shipping, and a Plush latex mattress, whether Talalay or Dunlop, will still be a quite soft product.
There is always a break-in period for any new mattress where it loses its “false firmness” and this can be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending upon configuration and materials being used, as well as the top of bed products being used at home.
It’s curious that it would take you about 9 months to “get up the nerve” to contact QSS, when you did so after only a few weeks of having your original mattress. Even with your summer travels, you had plenty of time in the winter and spring to contact them with any concerns regarding your product.
QSS does not resell mattresses. They donate them to charity if they fall within the original comfort exchange plan. I asked Tim about this, and when asked about you returning a second mattress, his statement of, “It’s not like we can sell it or anything,” was meant to convey that there is no value in a mattress 300 days old and it’s even beyond the timeframe where they can donate it to their local charity. So this is a misinterpretation of his statement.
You’re being treated exactly according to the return/exchange policy that QSS maintains.
Around December 2016 you purchased the standard Emily mattress from QSS. You felt that it was not a proper fit and wanted something softer, so you came back and chose the Katherine Latex Soft as a replacement product. The Katherine is offered in a Soft, Medium and Firm (all three are featured on QSS showroom floor), and in choosing the Soft you selected something that is significantly more plush than your original Emily mattress. Your replacement mattress was delivered January 10, 2017.
You next contacted QSS in November of 2017 (approximately 300 days after your original purchase) complaining that you were having issues and wanted a full refund for your mattress, which QSS denied per their 100 night trial policy, which is clearly posted on their web site, and you had already taken advantage of the one mattress exchange allowed per this policy. Which brings this to the present day.
I don’t know why you would expect QSS to extend their policy by 200 days and add an extra exchange (or a full refund). A business is under no obligation to modify their stated policies, and doing so for one (or multiple) customers would be no guarantee or entitlement that they would do so for anyone else. The reasoning for such policy exceptions are of course at the discretion of the business and the specific situation in question, including even the disposition of the consumer, but in the end it is a subjective determination the business alone is entitled to make, not the consumer (but requests of course can politely be made and it never hurts to inquire). Having clearly defined return/exchange policies serve as both protection for the consumer as well as the retailer.
I’m sorry that the mattresses you chose didn’t work out for you, but despite your efforts to pick out something that you thought you might like, and QSS providing you two different products, there of course is no guarantee of comfort and appropriateness, and even with an exchange option, it’s part of the risk when purchasing any product that is subjective in nature.
As you’re starting your search process again, be sure to refer back to the mattress shopping tutorial and the steps listed there to assist you along the way.
Most of the pressure mapping systems are specific to a certain line of mattress and aren’t really relevant to mattresses as a whole which have different constructions. They also only measure surface pressure (which you can often feel in your own personal testing) but don’t provide input into alignment or how the pressure is distributed in the deeper body tissues or include the differences in physiology between people (pressure affects different people differently). There are a few more comments in post #2 here and post #4 here about pressure mapping systems.
Good luck in your new search!
Phoenix