First of all, I wished I had found this website before buying a mattress!!!
My husband and I were in desperate need of new mattresses. We shopped in various stores in the Scottsdale area and ended up in a Sleep America Outlet Store. I have back and neck problems and need a firm mattress with a somewhat soft top to accommodate pressure points in hips and legs. After trying out a few mattresses, the sales person - very pleasant and no pressure - recommended a Simmons Beautyrest Europtop. When the mattresswas delivered we noticed that there was a defect on one side where the top padding seemed to bulge up or the buttons in the mattress had come loose. I went back to the store the next day to discuss this matter and the sales person recommended that I try out the mattress a bit longer since this bulge could be from storage in the truck and, in order to take advantage of Sleep America’s so-called “comfort exchange”, we should contact customer service and request an exchange by the manufacturer since this exchange could only be made once. We followed that advice but it appeared that the process would probably take up to 10 days or 2 weeks. so we decided to exchange the defective mattress with a new one from “Sherwood” or “Shurwood” ( kingsize with a organic cotton pillow top and the "newest on the market,middle part in latex) This we did, after I had spent several afternoons at the store trying out several different brands and mattresses. Of course, to lie for 5 or 10 minutes on a mattress in a store or sleeping on it for 8 hours day after day are two different things.
Now, after sleeping a week on the 2nd new mattress, I have more back problems in my lower back and inspite of the $ 100 tempurepedic neck pillow, my neck and entire back feel as though I had been run over by a truck.
Here is my question to whoever would have an answer: The areas where we sleep on either side seems to go down more than what is comfortable for my back and which the middle of the mattress does not do.
ARE MATTRESSES FROM OUTLET STORES RETURNED ITEMS THAT HAVE BEEN SLEPT ON BY SEVERAL CUSTOMERS AND RETURNED WITHIN THEIR GIVEN 60-DAY TRY-OUT PERIOD? This was my first question when we entered the store the first time and the answer was “no” “they are sometimes last year’s models”.
I feel we are stuck with a $ 1100 mattress and still backs that hurt and no restful sleep. Thank you!
There is no real way for me to answer this for certain because it can depend on the outlet, their ethics, and on how closely they follow the law in their state. In some cases the answer would be yes and in others it would be no. When a store has a comfort exchange policy though … it would be reasonable to wonder what happens to the mattresses that are exchanged and this would certainly be a fair question to ask them and see if you could confirm their answer.
It’s not at all uncommon that the center of a mattress becomes firmer than the sides because it is used less. This could also be connected to the type of foundation underneath (especially if it is a Split King). Putting the mattress on the floor or putting a piece of plywood over the springs will quickly find out if this is the issue. Foam in a mattress (particularly any polyfoam and memory foam in the upper layers) will go through an initial softening period over the first 90 days or so and this is followed by a more gradual softening over the longer term. It is not unusal at all for the middle to stay firmer for longer because it is used less. If this happened very quickly … then of course it could be evidence that the mattress had already been used or was a floor model.
If your original mattress was actually damaged or defective … then it would probably have been better to have tried a warranty exchange (if it was actually defective) rather than a comfort exchange so that you saved your comfort exchange for the second mattress.
While Sherwood does make some better quality mattresses … quality doesn’t mean that any particular mattress is an appropriate choice for a particular person and if the part that has softened is now too soft for good alignment … then this mattress may not be the most appropriate choice for your needs and preferences. This is usually a bigger issue in the larger sizes … especially king size … because the middle is used much less than smaller sizes where two people sleep closer together.
So I would first make sure what the source of the softness really is (foundation or foam softening) and give it a little time to make sure that the neck issues (often connected to a pillow) and back issues (identifying the source of this would be important as it can have several causes) is not part of a “normal” adjustment period for a new mattress. I would talk with the outlet in the meantime and see what they have to say if your issues continue. Hopefully they will make allowances for your initial circumstances and allow you a comfort exchange for a mattress that has better support if it turns out that is what is needed.
Thank you Phoenix for your explanation on the mattress matter. It does confirm in some ways my concern about mattresses, having comfort exchange policies, may have been used even several times before.
That was actually my very first question when we entered the store. I will, of course, give it more time but what bothers me is that the sides are giving already after one week of our use, whereas the middle part is undoubtedly firmer.
Of course, a salesperson can only do so much, it is ultimate us who have to know what’s good for our backs but that cannot be determined in a short try in the store. Also the sample mattress in the store was a queen size. We obviously needed either 2 twins (we had those in the past in our Copenhagen European bed) or the king. All sales people assured us the king mattresses are now made in such a fashion that one does not feel the other one move around. And that, indeed, is not an issue.
Anyway, if it really does not work out, we’ll try to negotiate with the store.
Thanks’ again.
This is not all that uncommon because of the more rapid initial softening that polyfoam and memory foam go through in the first few weeks of use before the softening slows down and becomes more gradual. This also depends on the quality and density and thickness of the upper layers of the mattress. The middle will eventually “catch up” so some degree and flipping a mattress (when possible) or rotating it (1/4 turn with king size and 100% with other sizes) can also help depending on which parts of the mattress each person uses during the course of the night. Lower density/quality and thicker foams and larger mattress sizes (where the middle is used less frequently) will have this problem more than others.
Selling a “used” mattress as new though is also a big problem in the industry and the larger chain stores are not immune from having suspicions about their sales practices as you can see in just a couple of examples here and here. This is also a big problem with some liquidation outlets depending on the real source of their mattresses.
It may surprise you to know how effective someone with knowledge and experience (what I call “mattress people”) can be working with you to make a choice that will be effective for your alignment and support needs in the long term. Working with these types of people (and you generally won’t find them in a mass market outlet or chain store) can take into account any changes in a mattress over time, the qualities and properties of certain types of materials and layering … and the alignment that they can see as you are lying on the mattress. Pressure relief and comfort issues are easier for most to “feel” with mattress testing (although some are very sensitive to alignment and can “feel” this more than the pressure relief qualities of a mattress) but a good salesperson can also be very effective in helping you with the choices that are more difficult to “feel” when you are testing mattresses in a showroom.
The “highly managed” environment of many mattress showrooms is part of the reason why a choice of manufacturer or store can be just as important or even more so than your choice of a mattress. Most of the “mass market” outlets use sales techniques that are very subjective and focused on making sure you buy a mattress before you leave and the “feel” of mattress in a store like this is highly “managed” which means that to different degrees they can make you feel whatever they want you to feel and benefits their sales the most using certain techniques.
Motion separation will depend to a large degree on the materials and construction of a mattress. While there are certainly more mattresses now that have reduced this … there is still a wide range of effectiveness in this area between different types and styles of mattress. This is one of the things that can be “felt” in mattress testing as long as both people are testing at the same time (which is always highly recommended as part of mattress testing).
This is always a good idea and every store has certain circumstances where they will make exceptions. The first “NO” or even the second or third doesn’t have to be the final word
