Please Help

[phoenix]

Hi tonycerv1,

I don’t need any reply to this, thank you.

There are many other forum members that will read this topic over time so I usually reply to posts with an eye to clarifying some of the comments in them so that other members can benefit and learn from the conversation as well.

Just to clarify – there was no ‘bad choice’ involved here. I specifically told them I wanted one as close as possible to the one I laid on in the showroom, which was much softer than what I actually received. I told them I was a big guy and a side-sleeper and couldn’t handle a firm bed – yet that’s exactly what I got.

I think you made a good quality/value choice in terms of the quality and durability of the mattress but this is a very different issue from making a choice that is suitable for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP.

There is also more about the 3 most important parts of “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here which can help you (and others of course) make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists based on suitability, durability, and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you (including the price of course and the options you have available after a purchase if your choice doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for).

There are also quite a number of reasons why a mattress may feel different at home than it felt in a store and many of them are listed in post #3 here.

Two weeks after the purchase, I called them about it and was told I needed to give it some break in time.

This was good advice because there will be a break in and adjustment period for any new mattress or sleeping system as the mattress loses any of it’s “false firmness” and the cover stretches and loosens a little and the materials settle and your body gets used to a sleeping surface that is different from what it is used to (see post #3 here). This would typically be a few weeks but it can be shorter or longer depending on the specifics of the person and the mattress (higher density materials like latex can take longer) and it can be surprising to many people how much their sleeping experience can change over the course of the first month or so (and on some occasions even longer).

Two months after the purchase now, I’m being told they don’t have any type of exchange policy for this and I need to look for a topper on Amazon. He didn’t even ask me who I was on the call this morning – that’s how completely uninterested they were in doing anything about my situation. That’s flat out just bad customer service, regardless of any bedding expertise anyone has or how long anyone’s been in business. From what I understand, Casper would have shipped me a topper for free in similar circumstances, for a much less expensive mattress purchase. I’ll just call them next time.

With a local purchase and for the majority of people … careful testing (using the guidelines in the tutorial) and some good guidance will usually result in a mattress choice that is well inside a suitable comfort/support range and will generally be “close enough” so that if any fine tuning is necessary it would be relatively minor and involve different mattress pads, sheets, mattress protectors, or perhaps even a topper if a mattress is too firm (see post #4 here and post #10 here).

For those that are making an online choice where they can’t test a mattress before a purchase, have a history of choosing mattresses that are unsuitable for them even if they have tested them, have body types or health considerations that are more challenging and make choosing the most suitable mattress more difficult, or that for whatever reason are more uncertain about whether their choice is “right” for them … then the options you have available after a purchase to fine tune the comfort or support of the mattress or to exchange or return the mattress or individual layers can become a much more important part of each person’s personal value equation. Of course the other side of this is that exchange or return options are built in to the cost of a mattress so they can add to the cost of a mattress and the majority of people who don’t return or exchange a mattress or a layer are the ones who pay for the minority of people who do (see post #3 here and the posts it links to).

While I wasn’t on the call so I can’t make any meaningful comments about what was said or “how” it was said or understood on either side … I do agree that it’s always a good idea in terms of good customer service to be polite and courteous on a phone call with a customer. Even if what they told you was accurate information … sometimes “how” something is said can be just as important as “what” is said.

For some people the exchange or return policy of a manufacturer or retailer you are purchasing from (and any costs involved) can certainly be a more important part of the “value” of a mattress purchase and each person’s personal value equation than it would be for others but this is something that is an important part of your research to find out and make sure you are comfortable with before you make any mattress purchase.

You can do whatever you want to your own website, but this is a relevant experience to anyone who may be interested in a similar purchase at the same company. It’s also relevant to the company in case they’re interested in improving themselves. So I’m documenting it here in the place that I found them.

I completely agree that any of the pros and cons that are part of purchasing a mattress that would make a suitable, durable, and good “value” choice based on all the criteria that are important to different people is certainly relevant to others and I always appreciate the comments and feedback of the members here but some of these choices and trade offs aren’t as “black and white” as many consumers believe and different people can have very different criteria that are important to them when they purchase a mattress.

My goal is always to make people aware of “how to choose” so that they can take all the different criteria involved that they may not otherwise be aware of into account when they are deciding on which mattress to purchase and to the degree possible replace hindsight and the possibility of buyers remorse with foresight and research into the pros and cons of all the different factors that can be involved with any mattress purchase before the purchase is actually made.

Phoenix