"Sleep Wars": Mattress Buying Scams

Let me start by saying “I LOVE my mattress”. Just thinking about making a change sends chills down my spine, but it’s been twelve years and I’ve been told, by my husband of course, that it’s time to make a change.

So, against my better judgment, we started checking the mattress market and quickly found out that buying a mattress can be a challenging experience. That is a nice way of saying that buying a mattress can feel akin to buying a used car. While not all mattress retailers are trying to pull a fast one, there are some “scams” that mattress retailers have been using for years.

Your chances for getting both the right mattress for you at a great price will go up drastically if you start your hunt for a new mattress armed with information on mattress buying scams..

Let’s start with the longest running scam in the mattress industry ...
 

 

1. The Changing Brand Name Scam

This is an oldie but goody. This has been going on for decades, and is a basic way mattress retailers try to keep customers from comparison shopping. Did you know that while all mattresses of a particular name brand manufacturer (Serta, Sealy, Simmons, etc.), are made at the same factory, the factory will put different names on the exact same mattress that is going to different retailers. That way, if you shop for a mattress with a particular dealer, you will find that you can't comparison shop the same mattress (by name) with another dealer. This little trick protects each retailer's turf, and also allows them to try to sell you on their own "personalized" line as somehow better than the identical mattress from their competitors. Since it has a different name, the consumer has no idea that the whole thing is a bunch of hooey.
Forget looking at the particular brand names and buy a mattress based on its inner components. Of course the problem with this approach is…

2. The Mystery Components Scam

So now that you are wised up about the Changing Brand name scam, you decide to buy based on the quality of the particular components of a mattress. You do your research, and you are looking for a particular coil count, checking out the layers of good quality foam or maybe even latex or memory foam if you are trying to go for the more high-end, quality components.

What happens then? Well, you quickly find yourself drowning in a bunch of esoteric mattress lingo mumbo jumbo. It is like trying to herd squirrels to get a straight answer out of the salesmen to basic questions that might allow you to compare one mattress' ingredients to another.

Being unable to get the basic specs on a mattress' innards just makes comparison shopping about impossible. But even if you somehow can pry the information out of them, you run into the next hurdle…

 

3. The Comfort Scam

If you do get lucky enough to get the details on a mattress' construction, the next step would be to lie down on some mattresses to see which one might be comfortable for you. But, again the mattress industry is ahead of you - unfortunately, for many mattresses, the feel and comfort of the mattress in the store just isn't what you can expect on that particular mattress in your own home.

This seems to make no sense - why would a mattress feel different in the store than in your own home? Here's the inside scoop:

Mattress manufacturers use layers of comfort material (foam, cotton batting, etc.) on the top of the mattress to give it a nice comfortable, even luxurious feel. But they have found that they can use relatively inexpensive foams, and layer them, to get the same comfortable feel of a more expensive comfort layer made of the good stuff (dense foam, latex, or high quality memory foam). This way, the mattress manufacturer makes a lot more money on a mattress (since the lower quality foams cost a lot less than the good stuff). So you can end up buying a "premium" bed that feels great at the store, only to find that in a relatively short time you are back to a too firm, uncomfortable bed.

Some materials either take time to break in or they may be harder or softer in different environments. An example of this kind of problem is the components used in memory foam mattresses (both the dense "core" support foam layer and the memory foam top layers). In a show room, a memory foam mattress may feel pretty comfortable, but often people find that the new bed that arrives at their home is much firmer. This is because the core support foam layers have not been broken in (unlike the one in the store, which was broken in from all the previous customers that were lying on the bed).

What you need to realize is that you can only tell so much about a mattress in the showroom - and that the feel of the mattress at home may be very different. This means that it really is vitally important to be able to try the mattress in your own home, in your own bedroom's environment, to really know if the mattress will work for you or not. Since it may take a bit of time for the different layers to break in, you need to be able try it out for a period of time - it can take a month or even two for some of the denser core foam layers to really break in. But that isn't a problem, right? The retailer always has a "money back guarantee". That is where they get you with the next one…

4. The Money Back Guarantee Scam

So the mattress isn't comfortable. You can take it back to the retailer and get your money back - right? If only it were so. In most cases, what you will find instead, is that the dealer will let you exchange the mattress for another of equal value (but you may have to pay delivery charges all over again). Or you might get store credit if no other mattress suits your taste. But in most cases, you will not get your money refunded to you.

So you need to ask upfront - can I get my money back if I don't like the mattress? On the very slim chance they would offer this, ask if they would have any fees they might take out (restocking, etc.), or any requirements about the mattress (that it be in new resellable condition, for instance, which in reality means they will never take it back (since a dealer can't legally resell a used mattress). Bottom line - you really need to watch your back on this one.

 

 

5. The Spring Scam

I've saved the most insidious scam for last, because it is one that pervades the entire industry. What most people in the U.S. consider the prototypical mattress - the innerspring mattress - just isn't inherently a comfortable mattress.

As the years have gone by since the introduction of the innerspring mattress, people have demanded a more comfortable and luxurious feeling bed. As a result, innerspring mattresses have become absolutely gigantic in size because of all the comfort layers that manufacturers put on their mattresses to overcome the inherently uncomfortable steel spring core of the mattress.

This is all due to the inherent design flaw of using an uncomfortable material (steel) as the core support feature in a bed. But technology has come a long way since the innerspring mattress was first developed in the 30's, and these days you have lots of options for a more comfortable mattress…

 

6. Getting to the Core of the Problem

The fastest growing segment of the mattress industry in the last 10 years has been what it termed the "specialty mattress" segment. What is this? The specialty mattress term encompasses the latest technologies in the bedding industry: memory foam mattresses, latex mattresses, and air beds.

While these specialty mattresses do differ greatly from each other in both construction and what types of sleep issues they may work best for, they share one common bond. Unlike the innerspring mattresses, they are comfortable at their cores. That isn't to say all memory foam mattresses, latex mattresses, and air beds are alike. These broad groups of mattresses have somewhat different feels and attributes and so appeal to somewhat different types of people.

The best way to avoid getting scammed is to make sure you deal with reputable dealers -- ones with a good, verifiable track record. Both in business dealings generally and also in regard to the products they sell.

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