mattress shopping - what's it really like?

While it's fresh in my mind, let me tell you the story of how I bought a mattress.

Went around to a couple shops and finally found a mattress that I wanted. This mattress was sold at Sleep Train, Mattress Discounters, and an online retailer called Slumberland (which I discovered later after searching). Sleep Train and Mattress Discounters both offer to beat any price by 5% and that includes internet pricing as long as they ship to California. The mattress I chose is the Stearns & Foster Eureka Springs Luxury Plush Queen size. This is what happened. I asked Chuck at Sleep Train how much the mattress costs. He immediately took 10% off the price of $1800 to bring it down to $1620. I then told him I was going to go to Sleep Train to see what they could offer. Chuck then took me into his confidence by honestly telling me that Mattress Discounters and Sleep Train are owned by the same person. Wow! He is so honest! Chuck then said that I should go to Sleep Train where they will match the price of $1620, take another 5% off, and give me a much better return policy and higher level service. I was amazed at how honest Chuck was, and I was sold right there. Chuck even said he would call Sleep Train so they could split the commission. Everything made so much sense, Chuck wasn't giving away his sale, he was just looking out for me, his customer. I immediately went to Sleep Train where I spoke with Bob (the manager) and I set up the purchase.

I was happy with the purchase, which at that point totaled, $1539 + tax = $1685. I also agreed to buy a water proof mattress pad costing $50. I also wanted the better frame, adding an additional $70. Total was $1539 + $120 + tax = $1816 I felt that Chuck from Mattress Discounters was very honest, and I got an excellent deal from Sleep Train b/c of him. Then I searched for better online pricing, and the lowest price I found was on Slumberland selling the mattress for $1300. I called Bob at Sleep Train and he immediately agreed to lower the price of the mattress to $1300 (but then explained that the box spring which was sold to me for $200 would now have to be raised to its regular price of $250 now that I was price matching just the mattress). That saved me about $60 bringing the total to $1485 + $120 + tax = $1757. Once again I was happy. They had matched the price and I was getting a good deal.

I went home, saw my flatmate, and then became depressed about the whole purchase. You see, my flatmate informed me that I should be aiming for a 40-50% markdown on the price. He described his shopping experience for a mattress, and it was amazing and depressing at the same time. Lucky that since Sleep Train offers a 100 day price guarantee, and a 100 day return policy, I knew I could go back and ask for more money off or ask for my deposit to be refunded.

Now I started to search a lot more for pricing. Here's the thing, the Eureka Springs mattress is sold under so many names. In order for retail stores to make sure you can't try out a mattress in their store, and then order it online, many mattress manufacturers sell the same mattress under a slew of names. For example, the Eureka Springs is the same as the Kimberly, Raven Hill, Hearthstone, Ferndale, Fiona, Kearsley, Monet Garden, Elgin Court, Rosalie, Montgomery Place, and Deacon Ridge. (I haven't confirmed each of these, but this is what http://lowestpricefurniture.com lists on their ad for the Raven Hill.) Once I realized this, I started searching even more. I finally found a great deal on http://www.gotomattress.com/ offering the Kimberly Luxury Plush Queen mattress for $1349 without tax! They also give a free gift and of course free shipping. I compared specs that I saw on Slumberland with those on GoToMattress, and they were identical! I was flabbergasted! And angry, hurt, upset, embarrassed, and all sorts of other feelings. After all, I was just sold this same mattress at an original markup of almost $300. And above that, I went to a different Sleep Train, showed them the advertisement, at which point they lowered the price by 5% to $1282, gave me the mattress pad like the advertisement gave, removed the tax, and saved me over $400 from my last price at Sleep Train. I also found that Mattress Discounters was willing to match Sleep Train's price, and instead of lowering it, they were willing to upgrade the frame. I went back to Sleep Train and they also agreed to give me the upgraded Queen Instamatic frame.

All in all, I saved around $475 from what I had originally felt was a good deal on a mattress. I finally feel like it's a decent price since Mattress Discounters was very hesitant about lowering the price another 5%, but preferred to throw in an upgraded frame instead.

This experience has taught me that mattresses are marked up by at least 90%, that mattress salesmen have no problem charging such inflated prices, and that they are smarter than me when it comes to making me feel like I've made a good purchase. Watch out, and be very wary of salesmen when buying a mattress. If you cannot get the specs for a mattress in order to compare, you shouldn't buy the mattress. Also remember to shop around. Each drop of 5% means you can go from store to store matching prices to finally get a decent price on a mattress. DO NOT TELL THEM exactly which store. I can tell you for sure that Mattress Discounters and Sleep Train will send each other emails to stop you from price matching between their stores. If they ever offer to split commissions, it is because you are paying a very high price on your mattress, and you should continue price matching with other locations.

Good luck mattress shopping.