"Joe Knows Sleep!"
Joe also knows how to keep his money in his pockets.
In looking for a new bed, we had shopped all over town and one night we saw a commercial for All-American Mattress and decided to pay a visit. We found a nice Sealy for $600 that seemed a lot like the bed we were replacing and pretty much decided on it, but decided to lay on a couple of other models in the store. Joe's Mom suggested we try a Southerland "Capella" model which lists for $1399. I was concerned about its gel and memory foam padding because I sleep hot and previous experiences with memory or "visco" foam has been miserable. The mattress was comfortable enough, even though we're not a fan of pillow tops as they are too soft for our backs. Joe's Mom assured us it was the same mattress she slept on and she didn't have heat issues and it gave her plenty of support. Joe wanted to deal, so he knocked $200 off the price of the mattress and box springs and waived the delivery fee.
Before leaving, we decided to look at adjustable bed frames and wound up buying a floor model. Since we didn't need a box springs, I asked if Joe would go lower on the mattress we had just purchased and he said no, that he had already come down off the price and waived delivery & set up. We waited almost two weeks for the delivery, and after we received the bed, I couldn't sleep on it. It was like sleeping on a cotton bale. No, a cotton bale actually has better side support than the Capella had. It was also hotter than Mars.
We go back to the store and Joe shows us the Serta iComfort Hybrid Applause II mattress and it's listed at $999. This time we are charged a delivery fee of $75. Joe exchanged the Southerland mattress for the Sealy, so now he's essentially sold us a lower cost mattress at FULL price with no box springs, and has still received his intial $1100 with no mention of refunding the $200 difference between the two mattresses or offering us an official store credit.
Two days later, when retrieving our garbage and recycling receptacles from the end of the driveway we discover that our gate post had been knocked down by the mattress delivery guys and neither of them said a word to me about it. It's wooden post and had been completely snapped at the ground. One of the delivery guys had propped up the fence post and maneuvered the trash cans on either side of the post so that we could not tell the post had been damaged until we moved the receptacles. I emailed Joe photos of the damage, but received no response, so I dropped by the store to talk to him. I was informed that he uses a delivery truck and team provided by another local mattress store. Since Joe didn't technically employ the drivers, he gave me the number for the other mattress guy and sent me on my way. To date, I'm still waiting on resolution about the fence post between our property management people and the other store. Neither store owner offered to cut me a check for the damage.
To sum up this very long review, after sleeping on the Serta iComfort Applause II Firm for 3 and 1/2 months, all I can say is that it's just an okay bed, and it's already already developing divots. Like I said, Joe knows how to keep his money in his pocket. The invoices for All American Mattress are very clearly marked "No Cash Refunds - Store Credit Only." I want to point this out because yes, I am aware of the policy, and you should be as well. There are other stores and online dealers who WILL refund your money if you aren't happy. Lesson learned. read more
