BEWARE of Natura World Green Series Mattresses
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Beware of the Natura World "Green Series"!!! After purchasing their mattress (Manufacturer: Natura World, Line: Green, Model: "Pure") and bringing it home I read the little white label that says that the product legally meets fire retardancy standards and not to remove unless you've purchased the product and yada ya.... This product contains Polyurethane foam!!! The ingedient is hidden under the descriptions of "high quality quilting foam," and "this mattress is 98% natural." Both I and the owner of the store I purchased the product from called the company and found out that the cover OVER the all-natural latex contains an inch of polyurethane memory foam! Now, anybody who is conscienscious enough to buy an organic, natural (what does that word even mean these days?), green or "environmentally friendly mattress" knows that this is the FIRST substance in mattresses to avoid! Less important, but also worth noting that the company tries to skirt around and carefully word their advertising descriptions to evade... The fire retardancy standards are not met with the wool (as the advertising for this product would lead one to believe), the sides are doused in Boron (they hide behind that one by advertising "natural fire retardant" which is true, but this is an added factor in the evidence that this company is trying to cut corners and mislead their customers. The cover and top of this mattress are also made of a "60% cotton, and 40% polyester blend, although the advertising description just states "natural cotton." Finally, the bright green shiny tag on the mattress states that "this product is free from all harmful chemicals and substances!" I can handle the cotton polyester blend and the boron flame retardant but regarding the 1 inch of polyurethane foam that tops this mattress, it is safe to say that this statement is an outright lie, as I got the head customer service representative I spoke to over the phone to admit to me. The other two mattresses in Natura's "Green" line also contain this polyurethane foam in addition to the above, and are advertised as I believe, 93% and 92% natural. Further, this company also produces many "conventional latex mattresses" (about 17 or so), but the latex used is trademarked as "NaturLatex"..... and is mostly synthetic!... 60% synthetic and 40% natural, specifically. The company does not try to lie about this, but actually touts the synthetic blend as being superior to all-natural latex. However, the name which they chose to trademark their synthetic blend is quite misleading, to me. Although on the contrary, I have only heard good things about their truly Organic, "Eco" line (although they are very pricy), clearly, this company, Natura World, does not have the best interests of the discerning customer or the "organic and/or natural" movement in mind. Their marketing is deceptive in more than one instance and when I called to question these marketing tactics, I was treated rudely by the company representative and told that "see we cannot actually change the physical properties of the mattress you purchased (although that is only the tip of the issue!) and this is purely an issue between yourself and the store you bought our product from." I am not saying that for a substantial price, Natura is not producing a few truly organic and truly environmentally conscienscious products (although from what I hear, even the all organic cotton/wool all-natural latex Eco-Line is manufactured in the same facility as their conventional mattresses (of which there are many models), chemicals, toxic fumes, off-gassing and all. However, their marketing for the majority of their products is deceptive, misleading, and dishonest, and they do not provide nearly the amount of product information as companies such as Savvy Rest does. Their customer service leaves something to be desired. This is NOT a truly Eco-friendly company. If you are really looking to both get a truly organic and/or natural product, as well as do your part to support the environmentally sustainable, organic movement, choose another more stand-up mattress company such as Sleeptek, Savvy Rest, or Suite sleep. If you're not a customer that is concerned about properly investing in a truly organic, natural, sustainable product, and are not concerned about the health risks associated with petroleum based substances in Polyurethane foam, this is quite honestly a great mattress, although it is NOT cheap for what it is considering. It is so darn comfortable I am sad to let it go but I must as I am going to stay true to my intentions to conscientiously purchase a truly natural mattress free of harmful substances. To sum things up, it is less the actual product that I am knocking and more the corporation behind it's ludicrous, blatantly dishonest marketing and poor customer service. To a person only concerned about the comfort of the mattress and not about detrimental effects on the consumer's health and the environment, this may not sound like a big deal. However, I find it unacceptable to let big corporations get away with outright blatant lies in their marketing schemes and this needs to be addressed before all the small, ethical companies disappear and get drowned out by corner-cutting, monopolizing corporations. Natura is clearly on its way to becoming one it seems, but I do believe that the company started out ethically and got too big for its britches. |
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Re: BEWARE of Natura World Green Series Mattresses BillB
(Jan 2, 2009 12:49 AM)