Complaint Review: Sleepy's

On Wednesday we bought a new mattress at Sleepys, model Kingsdown, Body Essential that was truly pushed by the sales person claiming that it was one of the best mattresses, and that Kingsdown was one of the best mattress companies around. Sleepys and Kingsdowns little gimmick of analyzing your back via computer was also very impressive though now in retrospect it is nothing but showmanship to reel people in. The fact that it is an employee owned company as stated by the sales person also appealed to us tremendously.

The mattress was delivered on Thursday night, today is Sunday, and comfortable sleep is yet to be had. The mattress quality varies greatly from the one we tried in the store, I can feel a spring in my back, and my heads position is lower than the rest of my bodys position giving a feeling of sliding down towards the headboard. One can push the mattress all the way down to the bottom., the mattress feels incredibly hot forcing us to lower the temperature of our central A/C considerably. It does not feel like the mattress we had ordered at all, it seems to be considerably higher also. I have been forced to sleep on the couch to get some sleep since the mattress is causing great back and neck pain as well as a considerable headache. Pain I didnt even experience on our old mattress.

Since Friday I have done what I should have done before we bought a new mattress: research. What I found was scary, frustrating, and giving me a feeling of fighting Goliath. Kingsdown mattresses seem to have a history of poor quality, and Sleepys is anything but a great example for quality customer service.

Today we went back to the store, and as we had expected nothing but excuses. We went equipped with information collected from various consumer websites, as well as settlement information between Sleepys and the NYC Dept. of Consumer Affairs in May of 2007 and New Jersey State in 2005. We just wanted to be prepared to deal with Sleepys aggressive tactics. The sales person in the store was less than helpful providing all kind of excuses. When checking the law tag on the store mattress we noticed that the information is different from the law tag on our mattress! When we pointed this out to the sales person, she replied that this was just the law tag which didnt provide any useful information. She went by the Sleepys price tag and told us that it was the correct mattress according to Sleepys price tag. We demanded a refund even though it isnt store policy, but given all the negative publicity surrounding Sleepys, and its less than honorable business tactics, we just dont want to deal with them anymore, nor do we trust them after all the information we found out about this company.

The sales person called customer service for us. When we spoke to the customer service rep we gave her the exact same info we had given the sales person. There was quite same silence after I was done speaking stating our case and all the facts I had found out about Sleepys, and she transferred me to her supervisor. This guy was something out of Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross. He didnt let me finish my sentences, was condescending, and dared me to contact the BBB and the Dept. of Consumer Affairs, as well as the Small Claims Court after I had told him that we were going this route. He further accused me of lying and switching my story. My husband took over the conversation since at the point my frustration had turned the conversation into a screaming match with this guy. He told my husband that no refund would be issued as per store policy, and provided his phone number so my husband could call him back.

30 minutes after we arrived at our apartment my husband called him back leaving a message. He called back a little time later. This supervisor is a bully supreme and puts Alex Baldwins character in aforementioned movie to shame. Again, we described all the problems and that the mattress did not match the quality of the one we had chosen at the store. Further, we explained to him that we dont want the same mattress model because of all the bad reviews, and its apparent history of shady craftsman ship. He kept telling my husband that we are switching our story, that he will only replace the mattress with the same model. He further went on to say that he was generous enough to take our word for it instead of sending out on inspector which seems to me that they in fact do know about the problem with those mattresses. The only way to get a mattress from a different brand is to pay the exchange fee. I could kick myself for not reading up on Sleepys before. I am starting to believe that Sleepys has interest invested in Kingsdown, and therefore pushing a product that is expensive, but which quality is way below the cheapest mattresses on the market.

We are highly frustrated, and given all the negative reviews regarding Kingsdown we have collected in only 2 days, we will have to spend another $250 for exchange fees to replace the current mattress with a different and more reputable brand. We really dont trust Kingsdown, and are afraid that we will keep receiving a poorly manufactured Kingsdown mattress since this has happened to other customers.

However, we are going to send a disclaimer to Sleepys via registered mail that the only reason why we opted for a mattress from a different manufacturer is exactly because of reasons stated above. We are considering taking this to small claims court as well as the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs.

It seems that Sleepy pushes the sale of Kingsdown mattresses knowing about its mediocre quality which leads us to assume that Sleepys is expecting that consumers will exchange the Kingsdown mattress for a different brand, and dishing out another $200 plus for exchange fees. What a quick and dishonest way to earn money!

Also, originally we had intended to buy two mattresses for our sons next month, I had even looked at some mattresses for them the same day we bought our mattresses, and told the sales person that we would be back in October. However, given the poor customer service we are going to take our business somewhere else, and Sleepys is going to lose out on additional money.

I just hope that other consumers who wisely conduct research before making such a major investment will learn from this.

Gabriele
brooklyn, New York
U.S.A.