The bed-buying nightmare
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About 14 years ago I went through all this, then again about 3 years ago. Way back when, I'd bought a cheap twin-size air bed and found I couldn't sleep on the air mattress. The store wouldn't give a refund, but offered an exchange. I couldn't decide what to exchange it for and drove myself crazy until the exchange period expired and I was stuck with it. However...this type of mattress has a zip-off cover and you can open it up and put whatever you want inside. So out came the air mattress and in went a bunch of bricks (to raise it up a bit) a board that I had cut to fit and a thin piece of dense foam. I slept really well on that for a few years. I have fibromyalgia -- which requires soft cushioning -- but a bad back that needs firm support. After a few years it started bothering my back, so I took out the foam and replaced it with a wool mattress topper. Oh, now that I recall, I put the foam under the piece of wood to keep the 'stuffing' high enough. This combination was really firm with just enough cushioning to protect my tender points. After another few years this started to bother my back, so I took out all the stuffing and put a broken-down cardboard carton under the board (between the board and the piece of foam) to counteract a bit of flexing that had started to happen in the board. This worked well for another year or so and then it seemed like nothing would work -- I was opening that damn thing up on a weekly basis and rearranging or changing its contents. Now that I'm reading everyone's posts here I'm wondering if it might not be such a bad idea to find another mattress with a zip-off top and build my own custom creation by buying foam from a foam cutter. Hmmmmm. Right now I'm sleeping on an IKEA frame with standard slats and two mattress toppers -- one from IKEA (can't remember the name) and another from Sears (pretty much just foam with a nice cover). I tackled the mattress buying nightmare a few years ago and got trapped in an endless cycle with Sleep Country. They absolutely will not give refunds, and their exchange guarantee is really only good for one exchange. If you cry and plead, they'll give a second exchange; if you pay a 20% restocking fee, they'll give a third exchange. But since all they sell is "S" brands, nothing in their store worked for me. I finally sold the fourth bed to my brother, who -- lucky for him -- can sleep on anything. After all that I've slept much better on $800 worth of frame and foam for two years, and frankly I think it's not all that bad to replace the toppers every 3 years rather than buying a $2,000 bed that would be useless after a few years. One of the beds I tried was a Talalay latex by S&F. It actually had a box spring with real springs. Thanks to other posters here I found out I wasn't crazy finding the latex too "boingy" for my back. It felt like hands were pushing my rib cage up while the rest of me was sinking in. I ended up with a memory foam mattress topper on the box spring and that was actually quite comfortable. But since Sleep Country wouldn't let me get just a box spring with my exchange, I couldn't pursue that option. It's still in the back of my mind to go in that direction if I can find another S&F box spring at a store other than Sleep Country. I'd never deal with them again, though I do appreciate that they were willing to keep giving me exchanges, because of their no-refund policy. Has anyone heard of a Canadian mattress maker called Federal Mattress? They are hand made by one guy and the prices are quite reasonable. I honestly don't know what questions to ask to find out about the quality but their business is built on repeat customers. Please excuse my rambling, but I know this is the place where people truly understand my frustration! Cheryl in Toronto |
Re: The bed-buying nightmare
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Hey Cheryl: There is a Hastens store in Toronto now. Might be fun to check that out! It's in the Distillery building 55 Mill Street, Suite 8
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Re: The bed-buying nightmare
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i couldn't stand full latex beds either. since you mentioned hastens see my other post here. i personally didn't like all the animal products in the hastens. plus i found what i got to be a way better value. you may hate what i got but you can check it out if a showroom by you has it. i tried the $50,000 hastens bed and simply could not see why it costs that much. maybe it lasts longer i don't know. it's comfort level(to me) was below what i got. simmons has two new(more expensive) models out since i got mine. i was very unimpressed with those. for once i am happy with my mattress purchase. i never have been able to say that before even after just 2 months. ymmv of course. |