Sealy failurex2 and replacement frustration!!

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

Hi everyone!

I’m new to the boards and wishing I had found them about 5 years sooner. Five years ago, we bought a “top of the line” sealy posturepedic pillowtop from Ashley furniture. It was great for the first year, then dh and I started waking with stiffness, aches and pains. After about a year of this, someone suggested that we call and have our mattress checked for defects. We did and the guy took one look at it, taped off a whole corner with painter’s tape and took a bunch of pictures, said it was indeed defective and that Ashley would be in touch. He told us we should opt to reselect if offered because he had seen the same defect in this mattress multiple times. Ashley called, offered an identical replacement or credit for the full price of the mattress for reselection, along with a credit for the box spring if we chose a different line.

When we went to reselect, the sales person told us that if we wanted a different mattress, we needed to “upgrade” to Stearns and Foster (S&F) because we had the highest posturepedic they carried, that we would get free delivery and credit for the box spring since we needed a s&f. We chose a s&f plush because I had read that pillowtops have a higher failure rate. This mattress did not feel right from the moment it was delivered. I thought it just needed time to break in, but after a month on it, it was hurting my back and hips so bad that I told dh that I think we chose the wrong type of mattress. He said his side was great, and he was shocked that I didn’t like it. We rotated the mattress that day and after a week, he started to get aches and pains. He called Ashley and they said we just needed to give the bed a little more time to settle and that s&f were very rarely defective.

Well after 3.5 years on this bed, we were miserable. We don’t even want to stay in it to sleep in on the weekends because it causes so much strain on our backs. We called again, this time the tech found a depression/sag of over 1.5 inches and we again have been offered a credit to reselect or the s&f beth plush as a replacement. The customer service department said that if we chose to go with a different line, we would again be credited for the $200 that we paid for the non-defective box.

We are losing our faith in innerspring mattresses and sealy products. We went to the showroom, felt like the salesman and manager were rushing us through the reselection process and were rude at times. We told them we were interested in memory foam or latex and they only carry sealy optimum and tempurpedic high end (which we cannot afford to upgrade to). While trying to decide between memory foam (radiance) and latex (dreams), the manager told us we would not get credit for our box because the sale they were offering included the box free and that we would have to pay $100 for delivery. This means that a set that is $400 more than our defective set will actually cost us $700 more. The manager tried to explain that Ashley does not want to eat the cost of a $200 box that is not defective because we want to upgrade. I tried to explain that I really do not want to upgrade or eat the cost, I just want a bed that won’t hurt me!

Right now we are in limbo… This all happened Friday evening. The manager said she would contact customer service about the box credit and get back to us Saturday. She never did, so finally dh called and she said she was too busy to deal with it and would call us back. Again no call back. Sunday he called and she said that customer service said they would credit us, but since the box is free with the set we chose, that they did not actually put a $200 credit in the system and that she needed to contact them again. Now we are waiting to hear the result. We chose the optimum radiance, btw.

At this point, I am wondering if we would be better off telling them to forget it all and take the money that our upgrade would cost and buy a dream foam from amazon. Is there any chance at all we could get them to settle on a partial cash refund rather than a replacement? Does anyone have any recommendations or insight on our situation? We are so frustrated and tired of waking up tired and still!

Thanks in advance,
Tina

2

Hi Daubernurse,

I don’t think that this has anything to do with innerspring mattresses as a whole (if the comfort layers use good quality materials) but unfortunately your experience is not so unusual with major brands with the exception of being able to make multiple warranty exchanges because many mattresses don’t have a visible impression deep enough to qualify for a warranty exchange even though it has softened enough to have lost its comfort and/or support and needs to be replaced. It’s also not limited to Sealy because most of the major brands use lower quality materials in the comfort layers which are the first to soften, impress, and break down.

They would certainly be “happy” if you decided to “forget it all” but there may be other options available to you that may not involve as much extra cost. Post #2 here and the other posts it links to has more about some of the options you have and the approach I would take when you are caught between a “rock and a hard place” with a mattress exchange and there are few good quality/value options available to exchange for. I don’t know which direction you would be better of with (that’s something that only you can really decide) and I would leave that to your best judgement based on the final details of an exchange that you end up with. You can see the details of the Radiance’s construction in post #48 here that can help you make some meaningful comparisons.

The Radiance is basically 2" of 3.5 lb gel memory foam over 2" of 4 lb memory foam over a 6" 1.5 lb density polyfoam support core. I would also keep in mind though that the quality/density of the materials don’t say anything about how a mattress will “feel” for you in terms of PPP but they can help you make some better comparisons in terms of the quality of the materials.

I don’t know all the specific numbers involved or the price you are being charged for the Radiance (how it compares to other retailers) but I would tend to take a polite but firm and insistent approach that goes up the line of authority as far as possible before making a choice about what to do. I would also check to see if there are any other mattresses may be a suitable exchange either with or without a topper or credit for your box spring. I think your chances of receiving a refund, partial or otherwise, would be very low.

While I can certainly understand the frustration … you are also in a better position than many others who can no longer sleep on their mattress but don’t qualify for a warranty exchange at all.

Phoenix

3

Thanks for your response! Looks like I have a lot of reading and research to do :slight_smile:

4

Just an update, dh spoke with the store manager today. They will not be crediting us to replace the box, and we are going to have to pay for delivery, so it looks like we are stuck with a stearns and foster, unless we want to continue to sink money into the sealy brand. From what I can tell, there aren’t any of them available in their inventory with less padding than what we had, so we are just going to have to accept a replacement of the Beth mattress. Instead of plush, we are asking for firm in hopes that it will help prevent breakdown. Thanks Phoenix for your advice and wish us luck!

5

Hi Daubernurse,

That’s unfortunate but it’s also the norm for a warranty exchange. Just to clarify though … Sealy and Stearns & Foster are the same manufacturer (Sealy owns and manufactures the Stearns & Foster brand).

I’m not so sure this is the case (depending on the specs of the mattress you had) and hopefully you aren’t being “upsold” but firm mattresses generally have less padding. Even if they aren’t able to tell you the density of the foam in their mattresses … they should be able to show you a spec sheet with the layers and components inside any mattress they carry so you can make a more informed choice.

Which mattress are you considering for your exchange?

Phoenix

6

Hi Phoenix-

Our current mattress is a Stearns & Foster that was discontinued and replaced with the “core Beth luxury” mattress. Ours is not a pillowtop, though there are pillowtops in the core beth line. Besides the core beth line, the store that our credit has been issued through also carries the estate and lux estate lines. We are thinking our best bet at this point is taking the "identical’ replacement. We have a plush and are asking for the firm instead, though. From what I am reading, the beth non-pillowtop mattresses have the least amount of foam in the comfort layers.

I am copying the little info available about the core beth luxury firm layers below:

[color=#8800bb]“Composition:
Comfort Layers 1” HD Foam, 1" HD High Performance Foam
Top Quilted with 1" Hypersoft, .5 oz Fiber, 1" Hypersoft. The luxurious silk-infused cover regulates heat exceptionally well. It is both warm and breathable which helps you maintain a constant sleeping temperature year round.

Construction:
Coil Count 825 Coil Density
Coils and Support Individually Wrapped Titanium Alloy Coil Innerspring provides conforming comfort and support while reducing unwanted motion. Mattress also features 1.5 oz. Resilium base insulator.

Edge Support 2.5" Foam Encased Edge System provides substantial support for a comfortable sitting and sleeping edge."

[/color] From what I can see, the comfort layers in the other lines all have 3 inches or more of foam in the comfort layers. Also, I did know that S&F is a sealy product. What I meant was that I have an S & F box, which they claim is only suitable for an S & F mattress. If we chose to downgrade to a Posturepedic, or upgrade to hybrid or memory foam, they say we need to replace the box spring which will cost us around $200 more because they will not credit us the $200 we paid for our current box. We asked about using the box spring on the others and were told its not recommended and will void the warranty. (Of course the warranty isn’t all that wonderful anyway, but since we have had our first 2 mattresses fail, I don’t really want to void it!)

So to summarize, to replace our mattress with the beth luxury firm, we must pay $105 for delivery. To reselect a posturepedic, we must purchase a new box spring and it will cost us around $300 for delivery and the new box spring. To upgrade to memory foam or hybrid, it will cost us $300 for the box and delivery, plus the difference in the price of our mattress.

Dh called the store manager back tonight and began to explain that we are choosing to replace rather than reselect because we are not interested in spending any additional money on sealy products or in their store after the way we have been treated by their sales staff. The manager asked for the whole story from the beginning which my husband calmly relayed. The store manager after hearing the whole story (about how we’ve been told twice that they will credit us for the unusable box spring, only to be told twice that they won’t; how the sales people, when we called them told us they were too busy to deal with our situation right now and would call back but never did, how they treated us in person, etc, etc.) has told us to hold on a little longer while he works his way up the management line to see if he can work something out for us. I’m not holding my breath. :blush:

I hope that answered all your questions.

Thanks,
Tina

7

I forgot to mention, there are no ultra-firm choices available to us!

Thanks again,
Tina

8

Hi Daubernurse,

Thanks for the additional information.

[quote]“Composition:
Comfort Layers 1” HD Foam, 1" HD High Performance Foam
Top Quilted with 1" Hypersoft, .5 oz Fiber, 1" Hypersoft. The luxurious silk-infused cover regulates heat exceptionally well. It is both warm and breathable which helps you maintain a constant sleeping temperature year round.[/quote]

That’s a fair bit of polyfoam (4") along with some synthetic fiber and most of it is likely to be lower quality/density so this could be risky.

They carry some of the higher end Stearns & Fosters that use better quality/density foams (such as marvelux) but these are considerably more costly and you may be throwing good money after bad.

They also have the Sealy Optimum Dreams which has 3" of latex over a polyfoam support core which are higher quality comfort materials than the Strearns & Foster and would likely be more durable although the support core is 1.5 lb polyfoam so I would also be a little cautious of this if you are in a higher weight range. I don’t think this would require a new box spring.

If he “volunteered” this then it sounds somewhat promising so hopefully he will come back with something helpful.

Phoenix

9

Hi Phoenix-

Thanks for your response. What qualifies as a higher weight range? We are both between 170-200 lbs. We were considering the optimum dreams, but it will also cost us $700. For that price, I think I would rather replace with a more reputable co, like dream foam.

Tina

10

Hi Daubernurse,

While there is no specific “cut off” point … I would begin to think about this once you were over about 200 lbs.

I also agree with you that if the Optimum Dreams would cost an extra $700 you would probably be better off with the Dreamfoam which is in the same range, uses high quality Talalay latex in the comfort layers, and you could even choose a mattress where you could exchange the comfort layers if you needed to change the firmness after a purchase. In King size you can also “split” the layers on each side so that each of you could choose your own firmness level.

There is also the possibility of getting the warranty exchange and then selling it and using the proceeds towards a better mattress.

Phoenix

11

Thank you Phoenix! We are going to wait and see what the general manager comes back with, then go from there.

12

Unfortunately, the furniture store continued to flip-flop on us. On one hand they would tell us that they would credit us for the box, then whenever we would try to order, they would not credit it. After this horrible experience with customer service and Sealy products, we decided we are not going to spend anymore money with these companies and asked them to just send us the “identical replacement” but in the more firm version and we will save our money for a better quality mattress from a reputable manufacturer when this replacement inevitably fails. Thanks Phoenix for all your advice!!

13

Hi Daubernurse,

It sounds like you made the best of a difficult situation and made the “best possible” choice with your circumstances.

If your mattress ends up being too firm then a topper can help with additional pressure relief and can also extend the useful life of the mattress. It also has the advantage of being replaceable if it softens or breaks down sooner than the mattress without having to replace the entire mattress.

If you do decide to go in this direction after sleeping on your new mattress by itself then the topper guidelines in post #2 here and the posts it links to may be helpful.

I’m glad the site was able to help … at least to some extent or as much as was possible in your circumstances.

Phoenix