Mattress Return Distance Selling Regulations

Orrin

Savvy_Consumer wrote: »

The same brand that is the only brand to produce a double-sided 'memory foam' pocket mattress that Deegan continuously promotes here on MSE.

If you want a double sided memory foam pocket sprung mattress and would rather not buy from Tim you could always get one of these (and save yourself £100).

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Apollo-Calypso-Pocket-Memory-Foam-5-King-Size-Mattress-/390240896106

Savvy_Consumer

Orrin wrote: »

If you want a double sided memory foam pocket sprung mattress and would rather not buy from Tim you could always get one of these (and save yourself £100).

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Apollo-Calypso-Pocket-Memory-Foam-5-King-Size-Mattress-/390240896106

Nice find - so 1 of 2 equally obscure brands that produce this gimmick...

The Ebay one doesn't come with a 'good' returns policy though eh, so not so easy to find via google... although I am sure that company are up to speed on DSR's and Consumer Rights...

Orrin

Savvy_Consumer wrote: »

Nice find - so 1 of 2 equally obscure brands that produce this gimmick...

La Romantica was founded by a former director of Apollo so that might explain it.

Apparently Tim used to sell Apollo mattresses too.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=6246892&postcount=81

Funny that the Apollo Calypso and Eros mattresses in that anecdote about the osteopath become the La Romantica Madrid and Venice mattresses on his website.

http://www.!!!!!!-beds.co.uk/section/0/Memory-Foam-Mattresses

Perhaps it was a different osteopath, or maybe the brands are the same. Who knows.

WallyBird

I read this thread with interest, as another customer of the same company, though my experience has been different. I recently bought a mattress and two divan sets from Tim's company and have found him to be very helpful. I think it is unfair to say that he is advertising, when people clearly want him to tell them his company name and he always refuses. So they have to do a search - which is what I eventually did - to find out for themselves. It took me a while to realise that I could find him this way: I spent ages looking for a post that would tell me what exact mattresses he was recommending. You could say that was clever marketing on his part, but I take responsibility for identifying his company myself - he did not tell me.

Anyway, Tim has been very helpful. I could not decide between the La Romantica Madrid and the Venice, eventually went for Madrid, but am finding it a bit too firm. He has been extremely reasonable, suggested I sleep on it for two weeks (with the mattress protector which I got from him as well), and then if I want I can have another week to be sure. If I still find it too firm, he says he will swap it for the Venice. This is exactly the reason I chose to buy from his company and seems fair to me.

And just in case anyone suggests I am Tim in disguise, you can look back at my posts over the years, they are nothing to do with mattresses!

WB.

Rdel

I'd been looking over threads for a while but I joined this forum specifically to ask questions about mattresses and like wally I have to take responsibility for specifically searching for Tim's shop. after hearing (ok reading) his different advise on different beds and different questions posted by people. I PM'd him and asked him what his company was called to which he replied he couldn't tell me and that's not why he was on the forums. I specifically googled different things in order to find his store because I decided that after hearing what he was saying I specifically wanted to buy a bed from him, sounded knowledgable, would chat to me about what I was looking for and if I didn't like it he would swap it for something else more appropriate taking into account my feedback from the first one. As far as I'm concerned that's the perfect bed salesman.

After a week of sleeping on the bed I emailed him to say I felt that there was a slight chemically smell from the mattress to which he replied was prob from the memory foam and if I aired it for a day it would disappear. I emailed him again after 4 weeks to say I felt it was still there but I would air it again and let him know how I got on to which he replied he wasn't happy with that and he had now already ordered me a replacement as, as far as he was concerned it should have disappeared by then. By the end of the week I had a new mattress.

From the start has been courteous, helpful and very quick to respond to questions or concerns.

As as a side note I bought the Romantica Madrid. I agree with Wally that it is very firm and did take a while to get used to it but 8/9 weeks in I think it's great. Best nights sleep I've had in ages and the mrs also thinks it's great.

allstar4eva

As for advertising I guess everyone has their own view but we have 4 or 5 people on this thread alone bought beds from Tim who would most likely never have heard of !!!!!! Beds or La Romantica but for MSE forums.

I thought spamming was not allowed yet type this into your browser URL and see how many returns you get…

[site:moneysavingexpert.com "proper satisfaction guarantee"]


BTW… The site terms and conditions for this site look familiar…

http://www.themattressemporium.com/terms-conditions.php

WallyBird

allstar4eva wrote:

As for advertising I guess everyone has their own view but we have 4 or 5 people on this thread alone bought beds from Tim who would most likely never have heard of !!!!!! Beds or La Romantica but for MSE forums.

This is true, but is one of the main reasons I use the MSE site, to help me find things that people recommend and to help other people. After reading the forum, I wanted to find Tim's company, because other people on the site seemed happy with his service. It is the next best thing to a personal recommendation.

Tim would be stupid to misuse the site by advertising, because he would get chucked off and also because he shouldn't need to. If his customers are happy, they will do the job for him. If not, they will complain. Getting these kinds of customers (us!) is a double-edged sword, as whatever happens is likely to be reported, whether good or bad. So, if the majority of reports are good and people find Tim's advice helpful - what is the problem?

I have used MSE to find an estate agent (HouseNetwork), an MP3 player (Sandisk Sansa Clip+), a give-away stuff site (Freegle), or a pair of fitflops, for example, so why not a mattress?!! I probably would not have used HouseNetwork without reading about it on this site, but it saved me a small fortune and I was very glad I did. So I wrote about my experience to help people who might also be considering an online estate agent. Similarly, lots of bad reports about a company would put me off using them, so those are useful too.

But anyway, I am going off the point. My story is that I am testing a mattress and Tim says I can exchange it if it does not suit me. That is exactly what I was led to expect from reading the reviews on this forum. So far, so good!

WB.

allstar4eva

WallyBird wrote: »

This is true, but is one of the main reasons I use the MSE site, to help me find things that people recommend and to help other people. After reading the forum, I wanted to find Tim's company, because other people on the site seemed happy with his service. It is the next best thing to a personal recommendation.

Tim would be stupid to misuse the site by advertising, because he would get chucked off and also because he shouldn't need to. If his customers are happy, they will do the job for him. If not, they will complain. Getting these kinds of customers (us!) is a double-edged sword, as whatever happens is likely to be reported, whether good or bad. So, if the majority of reports are good and people find Tim's advice helpful - what is the problem?

I have used MSE to find an estate agent (HouseNetwork), an MP3 player (Sandisk Sansa Clip+), a give-away stuff site (Freegle), or a pair of fitflops, for example, so why not a mattress?!! I probably would not have used HouseNetwork without reading about it on this site, but it saved me a small fortune and I was very glad I did. So I wrote about my experience to help people who might also be considering an online estate agent. Similarly, lots of bad reports about a company would put me off using them, so those are useful too.

But anyway, I am going off the point. My story is that I am testing a mattress and Tim says I can exchange it if it does not suit me. That is exactly what I was led to expect from reading the reviews on this forum. So far, so good!

WB.

WB,

Thanks for the respectful tone of your posts.

I did exactly the same as you (funnily enough I also have a Sansa Clip although not recommended from these forums but sound quality is better than many ipods for a fraction of the price) in searching for Tim's company due to his posts here and he wasn't hard to find. I think the main difference is that you obviously feel that the mattress may improve over time whereas I wasn't convinced so wanted an exchange which was refused until I had slept on the mattress. With a new mattress it is likely to become softer over time but as my mattress was already soft at the start there was not much point in me sleeping on it.

It may be that as long as you do what Tim says then he is fine but there was an arrogance and rudeness in my situation which was not necessary and others have experienced this from him.

allstar4eva

I will admit I was probably too quick to judge Sunshinetours and I have no reason at all to believe WB is not genuine but I am still suspicious of RDEL. I am amazed that he hasn't mentioned the smell of the mattress in any of his previous posts - not even in the ultra detailed review below - no mention of smell. I am also surprised that this info re: exchange was not mentioned when I first asked him what Tim had done to exceed customer expectation as judging by the timing of his posts he should have had the replacement mattress by then.

Rdel wrote: »

Hey Bert,

OK had 12 sleeps in the Madrid now. I've delibrately not posted since my last post in order to give it a fair shot.

Day 1: Mattress arrives and is SOLID! Very heavy and looks and feels very well made. A bit firmer than I expected but then all new beds need 'bedding in'

Day 2: First morning of waking up and have a sore lower back Quite disappointed. Also the 'feel' of the memory foam is very different from a none memory foam bed(I know this sounds obvious but not sure I like it).

Day 3: Second morning of waking up and sore lower back again. Between this morning and say day 5 my wife has had to take paracetomol twice in the morning as she has a sore back. I've googled 'best bed' and most pages with back people agree pocket or pocket/memory foam is the way to go but maybe this is just the wrong bed for me as everyone is different. The company I bought the bed from give you 14 days to try the bed out and will exchang the mattress for another if not happy with it. I'm ready to phone them to get the exchange. Have even picked out the one I want to exchange from their web page. It's dearer and has no memory foam but I'm happy to pay the difference if it means years with a mattress that's better for me.

Having read a few reviews and looking at companies that sell memory foam mattresses they all say that it takes time to get used to the new mattress and some guarentees actually stipulate that you MUST sleep on the mattress 30 to 60 days before they will talk to you about returning it so I decided to stick with it a few more nights as nothing to lose I want to give it a proper chance.

We are on day 12 now and must admit I'm liking it much better. Days 9 and 10 I have had an amazing night sleep. The best night sleep I've had in months and months and no sore back. Woke up in the exact smae position I went to sleep in so no tossing and turning in the middle of the night. Day 11 I did have a slight sore back but then I've been shovelling snow and carrying groceries all day so the slight sore back I had is worse but nothing to do with bed.

Even though I've been saying that I sometimes wake with a sore lower back it has been getting less and less as time goes by and I also have to admit that I do like the 'feel' of the bed now and lying in it at night is very comfortable. Got a memory pillow as well, which I don't like for sleeping with but is ideal for sitting up reading a book. Looking on other threads on MSE others have said they had a sore back for the first couple of weeks but now 6 months in they think it's brilliant and never have a sore back......to be fair I could lift about my old mattress by myself where as this new one is defo a two man job. The old one was starting to sag and the new one is much firmer so it could be that it is just so different from my old used one that it's taking time to adjust.

The last few nights I've looked forward to getting into bed and actually like the bed enough that I've decided not to exchange and take it on faith that the niggles will work themselves out.

Sorry I couldn't just say 'it's brilliant' or 'it's rubbish'! Let me know what one you finally go for mate

Rdel

Allstar you remind me of a girlfriend I used to have. The relationship is over. It's time to move on. It was nice while it lasted......ok that's a lie but the rest is true! The only reason I keep addressing you in these posts is because you keep bringing up my name.

I like how I 'amazed' you. If that's true you really need to get out more.

ok here goes......I didn't mention the smell because I didn't think it was relevant or important. I assumed it was to do with the newness of the mattress and had heard this sometimes happened with a new memory foam product. I also assumed it would just go in a few days. After I wrote the review(two weeks after actually) it was still there. I contacted Tim who swapped it. Also to add I didn't ask him to swap it. I was just contacting him to say it was still there and I was gonna air it for another week and see how I got on, he was the one who initiated the swap. In my book that's how reasonable people act. I don't expect you to understand.

As for not mentioning it after you asked me what Tim had done to exceed my expectations you'll notice that I didn't respond to your post at all for the simple reason that I was fed up explaining myself to you.....and yet I find myself doing it again! You're simply too much work. If you look back over previous posts all I get from you is, 'I'm amazed that', 'why didn't you mention', 'I find it extremely unsual', 'Also I find it strange'....on and on and on and on and on.....which ties in nicely with the old girlfriend reference above.

Not only do trades people on here think your a high maintenance customer and wouldn't want to deal with you but I find it high maintenance just to answer your posts!

If you really want to analyze the situation ask yourself this, 'If Rdel was more than satisfied with the service he got and Tim seems to have dealt with him very fairly......same seems to be for Wally......same seems to be for the 1500+ people who responded positively on his ebay shop....is it because these people are special in some way or is it because I am a pratt?'