Mattress Forum

I have been a long time lurker and this is my first post.

Let me share my story with you first as to why I am not asking for a latex or memory foam mattress (which would be my choice).

A year and a half ago my fiance and I bought a new Spring Air Four Seasons Ultra Plush mattress from J.C. Penny.  We spent about $1,300 for the mattress and loved how amazing it felt in the store.  Prior to this, I had a Plush Sealy Posturepedic that was about 10 years old and still was great, but when we moved in together I sold my furniture as my cal king bedroom set was too big for the bedroom.  Since my plush Sealy Posturepedic was so comfortable and durable, we though that an ultra plush Four Seasons would be the ultimate luxury.  Oh how we were wrong.

Fast forward to today... I wake up with increadible back pain every day.  I get only about 4 hours of sleep a night because I toss and turn so much because I am so uncomfortable.  The mattress that was so great for the first few months now sags multiple inches whenever we are in it.  I'm only 120 lbs, but my fiance is about 175 so he sinks much deeper in than I do.  Since we have only a queen size, I end up rolling into his hole, which just makes it worse. 

We tried to exercise our warranty only to find that Spring Air went out of business.  JC Penny also only has a 7 day return policy. After doing extensive research into latex/ foam mattresses, we went back to JC Penny, told them our story and they are sending a rep out to inspect the mattress and (with hope) give us the full amount of credit that we paid to select a new mattress.

First, how will they inspect my current mattress?  I see that the warranty from Spring Air (mind you, this will be JC Penny person who inspects) indicates that the warranty is voided if we get rid of the box spring.  We purchased the mattress with the box spring, but subsequently threw it out when we bought a platform bed with slats on the bottom.  Will this be problem?  Second, how will the actual mattress be inspected?  How do they measure the sagging?  Is this done with us in the bed or just measuing while the mattress is laying flat in the bed.  Other than that the mattress looks brand new in color, etc, no stains, etc.

This brings me to my reason for posting.  What is the best firm innerspring mattress from the S brands?  It appears that the only latex mattress JC Penny offers is the Simmons Natural Care latex mattress, which has received poor reviews.  My thought at this point is to get the firmest Stearn & Foster mattress with no pillow top and then buy a 1in. memory foam topper.  We plan to use this mattress for us for about 3 years and then use it as a guest bedroom bed.

The brands carried are Sealy, Stearn & Foster, and Simmons.

Thanks everyone!