Does this sound right to you?

Purdy_1

Please move this thread if I have posted in the wrong place.

On September 1st 2008 my husband and I purchased a Ruby mattress (memory foam and pocket sprung) from Dreams in Kidderminster for the price of £529 (this was in the half price sale) £35 for the 10 years guarantee and £32 delivery. Total cost £596. We took delivery about 3 weeks later. We read the guarantee cover to cover and turned the mattress accordingly.

After 7-8 months of usage you can feel the base of the bed through the mattress when you lie on it. We contacted Dreams who sent a "Independant Assessor" from EcoMaster who came to my home, examined my bed, lay on my bed, took photos of the condition and agreed to our faces that there was a problem and in his opinion the springs had toppled over. We were asked if we had turned the mattress which we told him we had, even pointing out that the receipt and 10 year guarantee gave conflicting advice about when to turn it.

Yesterday when we contacted Dreams for the outcome we were told that the report stated that "the springs had toppled over, this was normal wear and tear and that we had not turned the mattress". They said if we wanted another inspection it would cost us £40, if we wanted a copy of the report it would cost us £10. We will be putting in a complaint against this assessor because he told us one thing and told Dreams something else. He asked if we had turned the mattress which we told his we had but told Dreams we had not.

When we purchased the mattress we asked the salesman lots of questions about what their guarantee covered and what it did not. We asked the obvious question about being on a slatted base and he told us it was not a problem.

Do you think paying over £500 for a mattress which was in a half price sale and only getting 7-8 months wear out of it is normal?

We have contacted Trading Standards and they are sending us a pack out in the post. They said it was riddiculous that they call it normal wear and tear after only 7-8 months.

Atelier

Regardless of the price and extended quarantee, you should expect to have many years of use from a mattress.

Your arguement should be that if the mattress failed after 7/8 months then it was not "fit for the purpose" and needs to be replaced/remedied.

If you are not making progress then start going up the management chain, store manager, regional manager . . . Next step would be the small claims court but I know little about that side of things.

Also don't let them fob you off that the manufacturer is responsible for fixing things. They sold the mattress so the "contract" is with them and it is for them to sort out. They are the ones that need to go back to the manufacturer, not you.

Best of luck

olias

As stated, regardless of the guarantee, the mattress is less than ! year old, has failed due to springs toppling over (they have admitted this), and is therefore not fit for purpose. I would demand a replacement or full refund or take the matter to small claims court where i am Sure you would win (apparently costs less than £100 and is very straightforward).

Do not let them get away with it!

Olias

Tim_Deegan

There are actually a few other posts on MSE from people with the same problem. It seems that the "Independant Assessors" aren't as independent as they make out. After all Dreams pay them.

The 10 year guarantee is more likely to be a warranty. Most manufacturers guarantees are for 12 months. When you see a longer warranty, it is usually on a sliding scale. All products must have a design life. So for example if something has a design life of 5 years, and develops a fault due to materials or workmanship after 4 years, then the manufacturer must pay towards the cost of replacement or repair. But you would have to pay 80% plus delivery. So when manufacturers give a 5 year warranty, then they are only doing what they are obliged to do by law, but they are using it as a sales gimmick.

As other have said, no mattress should fail after 7 months, and springs toppling over would usually indicate a faulty mattress, a poor design, or being used on the wrong type of base. I allways advise people not to lay a pocket sprung only mattress directly on slats with gaps of over 1". However many retailers and some manufacturers will say that their pocket sprung mattresses can be used on slatted bases. They can, but they won't last as long.

So it sounds like a combination of "not fit for purpose", and being given wrong advice, combined with a dodgy report.