Hi Redhummingbird,
Your experience was certainly valid but by “unheard of” I meant that I have never seen so many latex mattresses “fail” for one person and that I don’t have any explanation about why this may have happened to you. My replies were meant to help you not to invalidate your experience.
The mattress shopping tutorial (and my last reply) includes this simpler version at the end which may be less “overwhelming” for those that don’t need or want as much detailed information …
Similar comments (some of which unlike yours have been very aggressive or “attacking”) have been made from time to time over the course of the years that the forum has been in existence and I completely understand them because there are so many sites all over the internet that are really only “revenue sites” and provide very little in the way of education or reliable consumer information and guidance and for the most part are only “parroting” information that they have been provided by a manufacturer or retailer without any independent analysis and are generally little more than a “marketing arm” of the mattresses that they are recommending for the sake of the referral fees that are available to them so it’s always good to have a chance to reply to them once again.
When I first started the site over 5 years ago now there were only about half a dozen members initially and the list has grown to now being over 50 and over the coming years it will continue to gradually increase. The process of membership is somewhat “organic” and is generally a side effect of my ongoing conversations with many hundreds of retailers and manufacturers throughout the industry over a longer period of time as I come to know more about them and they come to know more about the goals and ideals of this site. I don’t generally “seek out” new members and generally don’t talk about membership until they ask about it. I also “point to value” regardless of whether a manufacturer or retailer is a member of the site and membership is a recognition of the quality, value, and service that already existed before they were a member here and their membership here certainly isn’t what gives them their value. Of course I would certainly read something “positive” into a manufacturer or retailer that is a member of the site but I wouldn’t read anything “negative” into those that aren’t and for those that would otherwise qualify for membership but haven’t yet become members … most often the reason is that it has just never been discussed.
I do recommend the members of this site “as a group” because they have “earned” it and I believe they compete well with the best in the industry in terms of their quality, value, service, knowledge, and transparency but I don’t make specific recommendations or suggestions for mattresses, combinations of materials and components, or specific manufacturers because there are too many unknowns and variables involved that are unique to each person. the current list of members is still relatively small and thinly spread across the country, and because there are also many other sources of good quality/value mattresses across the country or online that aren’t members of this site (at least yet).
The information and guidelines on the site are also more specific and “objective” and are designed to help you with “how” make more informed and “fact based” choices based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you and would apply equally to any manufacturer, retailer, or mattress in the industry regardless of whether they are a member here or not.
Based on years of feedback on the forum, thousands of hours of phone calls and many “thank yous” from many retailers or manufacturers that aren’t members of this site … I would guess that over 75% of the mattress purchases that are made as a result of the information on this site are made from manufacturers or retailers that aren’t members here which I have included in the hundreds of forum lists in almost every area of the country or online and which also have good quality value and service and the experience and knowledge to help their customers make better choices because I “point to potential value” regardless of whether a manufacturer or retailer is a member of the site
It’s also true that any project that requires 12 - 16+ hours a day of work and research 7 days a week and 365 days a year for over 5 years now requires some form of income or it can’t continue. The members here provide that income not as a form of advertising (there are many requests for membership here that wanted to “advertise” that are not listed as members and there is no advertising allowed on the site) but as a form of recognition of what they already are and because of their desire to support the goals and values of this site so that it can continue. They well understand that they are competing with the “best” in the country and are happy to do so. Most of the requests for membership that I receive (including some of the largest retailers in the country) are denied because they don’t meet the criteria for membership and it would be fair to say that well under 10% of the stores in the industry would qualify for membership.
There is also more information about how the members are chosen and the criteria for membership in post #2 here and the other articles and forum posts it links to.
It can save you time to deal with the members of the site because they have already been “vetted” but if you follow the specific information and guidelines on the site then you will certainly be able to make a great quality/value choice regardless of whether you are dealing with or purchasing from members of the site or not.
Phoenix
PS: If you are interested you can read a little more about why I started the site in post #404 here and some of the history behind it in post #4 here and if you are in a lighter mood you can also read the “alternative” version of why I started the site here.