Hi PurplePigeon,
I switched your post into a new topic with a more appropriate subject.
Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences with Saatva and I’m sorry to hear that your mattress didn’t work out for you as well as you hoped for but at least you had a good trial period that let you try the mattress in your bedroom instead of a showroom where the only risk was the time involved in trying it and the cost of shipping when you returned it.
As you probably know from your reading here … there are no “standard” definitions or consensus of opinions for firmness ratings and different manufacturers can rate their mattresses very differently than others so a mattress that one manufacturer rates as being a specific firmness could be rated very differently by another manufacturer. Different people can also have very different perceptions of firmness and softness compared to others as well and a mattress that feels firm for one person can feel like “medium” for someone else or even “soft” for someone else (or vice versa) depending on their body type, sleeping style, physiology, their frame of reference based on what they are used to, and their individual sensitivity and perceptions. There are also different types of firmness and softness that different people may be sensitive to that can affect how they “rate” a mattress as well (see post #15 here) so different people can also have very different opinions on how two mattresses compare in terms of firmness and some people may rate one mattress as being firmer than another and someone else may rate them the other way around. This is all relative and very subjective and is as much an art as a science.
In other words … it can be somewhat risky to purchase a mattress based on other people’s definition of soft or firm.
This could be the result of using a support system under the mattress that is sagging in the middle but if your mattress is higher on the edges than in the middle with nobody on the mattress and you are using a suitable support system then it could certainly be a defect in the mattress because this wouldn’t be the norm (you can see some pictures of the Saatva mattress here and as you can see they have a slight crowning in the middle).
There are many people that make a successful online purchase and there are also many people that make a successful local purchase as well and there are pros and cons to each of them although online choice are still a relatively small part of the industry compared to local purchases (although they are growing rapidly). Some people are very comfortable with an online purchase with a good return/exchange policy (and there are many that don’t have any costs involved with a return at all) but there are certainly many others that prefer to try a mattress in person before a purchase. There are also consumers that do some extensive local testing so they have some general reference points for the type of materials and mattresses they tend to prefer and the firmness levels that seem to work best for them and then end up buying a mattress online instead.
There is more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for in post #2 here.
Any specific mattress may be the “best” match for a relatively small percentage of people, a “good” match for a larger percentage, and an “OK” match for a larger percentage yet but the only way to know for certain whether the mattress you end up choosing will be a “good enough” match for you to keep it (even if it isn’t the “best match” out of all the mattresses that you “could have tried” instead) will be based on careful testing and/or your own personal experience when you sleep on it.
One of the advantages of trying mattresses locally is that you can try many different types and styles and firmness levels and compare them to each other in “real time” based on your actual experience rather than just “theory” instead of trying one mattress and not knowing how it compares to the other mattresses that you could have tried or purchased instead although many online return policies are better than local stores or manufacturers which certainly lowers the risk of an online purchase.
Online retailers and manufacturers also provide access to some great quality/value mattresses when there aren’t many good quality/value choices available locally which can be the case in some areas of the country,
Now that you are starting over again … if you let me know your city or zip code I’d be happy to let you know about the better options or possibilities I’m aware of in your area.
Phoenix