
Dan of Carlisle, PA on March 9, 2011
I have sent a detailed and certified letter regarding the issues I have experienced with Mattress Warehouse to the company president (Mr. John Ahern) on February 23, 2011, requesting a response no later than March 4th, 2011. To date, I have not received a response. I have outlined the contents of that letter here. This experience is a culmination of effort spread over five months to request, process, and fulfill a warranty claim.
My wife and I are repeat customers of Mattress Warehouse and have spent a considerable amount of money with this company. October 9th, 2010, I visited the Carlisle, PA store to open a warranty claim. The Serta mattress we purchased in 2007 has become intolerable for me and my wife to sleep on. We are both suffering from back pain upon waking in the morning and both visually inspected the mattress and can see deformities in the mattress. A few weeks later, a representative from Mattress Marshals, the independent third-party company sought to review warranty claims, visited our home and inspected the mattress and box springs. We received an emailed letter dated October 25th, 2010, stating "Mattress Marshals determined your box spring/foundation does not meet manufacturer's acceptable specification and the vendor will accept this merchandise back as a defective product."
November 2010: I visited the store on November 7th and presented my letter and claim number to Byron who processed the warranty claim. I was told that I needed to pay a $65.00 delivery fee of which I provided a credit card for. Byron told me he would call to schedule the delivery of my new box springs at a later date.December 2010: I called the store on December 4th as I had not heard from Byron. I spoke with Chris who stated that he would call me back to schedule the delivery of my replacement box springs.
I called the store again on December 29th as, once again, I did not hear from Chris or anyone else at the store to schedule the delivery of my replacement box springs. I spoke with Chris who scheduled the delivery on January 8th, 2011. He stated that I would receive a call early in the morning from the delivery team to tell me what time I should expect their arrival. January 8th, 2011 I awaited a call or visit on January 8th; delivery team was a no-show. I once again called the local Carlisle Mattress Warehouse store on January 27th and spoke with Drew. I explained the situation and he assured me that the delivery could be made on February 4th, 2011.
February 2011: I took the day off from work on February 4th to accommodate the delivery of the box springs. Unfortunately, once again, the folks at Mattress Warehouse failed to call or deliver my replacement box springs.I decided to visit the store on February 5th and spoke with Drew in person. At this point, he was familiar with the situation and explained that they recently replaced management at the store because this type of stuff was happening. He was agitated by my questions, which I did not appreciate or deserve. He also noted that they should have never set-up a delivery for replacements on January 8th (a Saturday) because Mattress Warehouse does not perform warranty deliveries on Saturdays.
Drew processed the claim again, copying all of my paperwork and faxing it. He called someone during our conversation. After getting off the telephone he said, "That guy is the problem." I had no real interest in what he was telling me. I just wanted my replacement box springs to be delivered.
After he handed me the paperwork, I asked him if the box springs he was ordering were the low profile box springs like my current ones. He stated that they were not and said that he would need to re-do all of the paperwork. As you can imagine, this fueled my frustrations; however, I was happy to catch the error in that I hoped it saved me any issues on delivery day. Drew was anxious to get back to a couple that was interested in purchasing a bed and less interested in helping me resolve this issue. I presume a normal reaction to a person who is likely paid on commission.
Finally, Drew and I chose to schedule delivery of the box springs on February 18th. February 18th arrived and we received a call early in the morning stating that the delivery would occur sometime between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.
The delivery team arrived around 9:00 a.m. The gentlemen greeted my wife who opened the door. They promptly moved my mattress and removed the two alleged defective box springs. Upon installation of the two new box springs, I noticed that they did not appear to be the same model and appeared to be of lesser quality. The outline of the wood structure within the box spring did not appear the same nor did the outer material which covered the box spring. The alleged defective box springs also included embroidered designs which matched the mattress. The new box springs were plain white. I asked them why they did not match. They did not know. I also noticed a draft and realized that they did not close the front door of my home upon entering, which remained open the entire time.
One of the gentlemen asked me to sign some papers. I asked him for copies and he said, "No copies." I stated that I would make copies and then sign the papers. I copied the papers, signed them, and noted my observations above on the form. I am not convinced that I received the correct box springs as replacements. Upon closer review of the papers presented to me, I noticed that the delivery ticket noted the item as TRANQUIL-LPTXL-FND. The return ticket noted PERFDAY-LPTXL-FND. It appeared that although I corrected a mistake Drew had made (ordering full height foundation box springs), I did not catch the error in which he ordered the incorrect model box springs.
To make matters worse, as the delivery team left, I happened to be walking into my home office and noticed them pulling out of my driveway, and I noted a large amount of mud on the tires of the delivery truck. I decided to take a walk outside and found a rather unpleasant site. It appeared that upon pulling up my driveway and leaving my driveway, the driver was not able to keep the truck off of my lawn. Given the past warm days and the snow melt, my lawn was quite soggy. I found large ruts from both the front and back tires on both sides of my driveway. Unfortunately, this was not limited to a small area, as you will see in the enclosed photos. (Photos were sent as an enclosure to the letter)
I am beyond frustrated. I believe I have been flexible, patient, civil, and understanding throughout this entire process of which has now been dragged out for almost five months, and it appears that it will continue for some time given the outstanding issues. As the Mattress Warehouse website states, "We couldn't do it without our customers - our number one priority!" Given my recent experience, I do not believe I, your customer, am your number one priority.
March 2011 I continue to wait for a response from Mattress Warehouse on all of the issues noted above. We also continue to have back pains and have decided to swap our bed with another from a guest room as it continues to be intolerable and a solution to these issues appear to be nowhere in site. In my letter to the company, I outlined corrective measures I believe to be fair.1. Replace the box springs with the correct make and model of which matches the originally purchased mattress and box springs. 2. I am also interested in learning how I can better approach your staff to further correct the issues I continue to experience with the mattress. Ultimately, I believe the mattress is defective and needs to be replaced or a credit offered to me and my wife to purchase a suitable replacement. 3. Allow me to hire a professional landscaper of my choosing to repair (strictly) the damage done to my property by your delivery team. Mattress Warehouse would pay for these services directly. 4. Refund me the $65.00 delivery fee, given the numerous failed delivery attempts. As stated, I requested a telephone call or email response no later than March 4, 2011; however, did not receive a response. I am now looking for alternative methods to resolve this issue.