I bought a Dr Breus bed in 2011 and it has been a nightmare dealing with Sleepys customer service department. Last summer, I contacted them about the bed. They sent a “tech” to my house with a camera and a piece of string who made note that the mattress had indeed sunk, and that on one corner of the mattress, the stitching had come undone… for over 12 inches.
My wife and I had previously been to a local Sleepys to complain about the fact that the mattress doesn’t sleep as cool as they boasted, but the rep told us in so many nicer words, “too bad”.
When I was phoned about the mattress by Sleepys, they told me they couldn’t do anything because the mattress had stains on it. I informed the lady on the phone that I had not done anything that could cause it to stain, I had a mattress cover on it , and that it was very light. She told me that the warranty clearly stated that they were absolved of responsibility of the mattress had any stains. Folks, I’m not talking about “my bed saw way too many partys” types of stains, we’re talking about light haze from normal body pirspiration that leaked through the mattress cover. And it has been cleaned, which is apparently also a warranty voiding event-cleaning. I don’t understand why the stains matter since they’re legally not allowed to resell the mattress.
The rep them informed me that I should have purchased a mattress cover, to which I responded that I had, and it didn’t protect it enough. I also informed her that the sales rep that sold me the mattress had told me I didn’t need a super expensive cover, just a simple one, and that sleepys guarantees all their mattresses, regardless.
Bottom line: I fought for a while work them and the only thing they did was tell me that the attaining on the mattress voided the warranty, and they’d only give me 700 bucks off a new mattress (I paid 1600). Let me ask the community: if the law prohibits the resale of a used mattress, and your customer says that the mattress is failing and coming undone, why would the staining matter? I was so displeased with Sleepys that I canceled the sale of a new mattress. At this point, if Sleepys doesn’t exchange the mattress, I may have to initiate a class action suit. Unfortunately for mattress companies, this may mean a ruling that revises their “staining” loophole… If anyone else feels as I do, speak up and let’s get together and let our voices be heard.
Hi jediengineer,
I’m sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience with Sleepy’s. While they are normally one of the many stores I would avoid (see the guidelines here) … in all fairness a stain or evidence of stain removal is an almost universal warranty exclusion in the industry regardless of the manufacturer.
To make matters worse … the manufacturer of your mattress (International Bedding) also went out of business in Dec 2011 so none of their mattresses have a valid factory warranty at all.
Used mattresses such as comfort or warranty returns can be and often are resold through mattress liquidators or at clearance centers. There are state regulations that govern the sale of used mattresses that vary from state to state but they can either be sterilized and resold or they can be rebuilt using some of the used materials inside them. In most states a rebuilt or sterilized mattress must have either a red or a yellow law tag indicating that it has been sterilized or rebuilt with used materials instead of the white law tag that is on new mattresses. In the more “shady” part of the industry they are sometimes rebagged and sold as new mattresses as well (see post #2 here and post #8 here).
An additional issue with stains on a mattress is the potential risk of health issues from exposure to whatever may have caused the stain in the first place when the mattress is handled.
While they aren’t obligated to do anything to replace your mattress … at least they are offering you something although this type of “deal” would still be profitable for them and would be a way that they can further increase the profits they make from you through the exchange process although of course it would be less than selling you a new mattress.
Unfortunately every manufacturer can set their own warranty criteria and retail stores also have the right to set the terms and conditions of their return or exchange policies (and they aren’t required to have one at all) so unfortunately a lawsuit for this type of issue isn’t likely to have any chance of success if a manufacturer is abiding by the written terms of their warranty for the mattress you purchased.
While I can certainly sympathize with your situation … given that the manufacturer of your mattress is out of business and that even if they were in business a stain or evidence of stain removal would void their written warranty (which is available to every consumer at the time of purchase) you unfortunately have very little in the way of recourse outside of anything that Sleepy’s is willing to offer you or if you are more adventurous perhaps with “mattress surgery” (see post #2 here)
Phoenix