Complaint Review: Serta

In September 2003 we paid over $1400 for a brand new Serta Perfect Night Mattress and Box Springs. Shortly afterwards we began to notice impressions which were becoming deeper and occurring in several places throughout the mattress.

We diligently rotated our new mattress as instructed. Finally the depressions were bottoming out so we contacted Serta to report our problem 8 months after purchasing the mattress set, includign box springs.

Serta replied with a "Dear Valued Customer Letter" which in our view was "conditioning us" for what was to come.

An "independent" bedding inspection service was sent to our home. The inspector offered no verbal comments about the results of his inspection except that he could find no remnants of the Consumer Tag (or evidence that there had ever been a Consumer Tag stitched to the bed) that was supposed to be on the mattress--we did not remove the tag and explained that to him. Ultimately his report stated "we sincerely regret that the manufacturer's warranty does not extend to the problems you describe." The report mentions nothing about the missing tag.

We contacted Serta and were told that the inspector's findings indicated the depressions were less than 1 1/2 inches deep and therefore did not fall within guidelines specified in the warranty. My wife and I measured the depressions to be 1 1/2 to 2 inches deep depending on location.

For us, the bottom line is workmanship and comfort not some meaningless measurement. The mattress cushioning is breaking down after only 9 months of wear. The last mattress we had (Simmons)lasted over twenty years. We mentioned this to the Serta Customer Service Rep in Phoenix and her statement was "they don't make things like they used to". What a fiasco...now we're out $1400!!!!

Kathleen
Phoenix, Arizona
U.S.A.