Last September, after sleeping in our backpacking tent for six months, we decided to buy a mattress. We walked into Mattress Discounters and we’re allured by the Tempurpedic mattress, and even bought a queen-sized bed. We asked if it would be okay to put on the floor, and we were told yes. We asked if we needed to buy a foundation for it, we were told no, only if we were getting a bed frame. This was our first major purchase and we went all out with buying a protective mattress pad and nice sheets. We were so happy to be sleeping in a bed instead of blankets piled on sleeping mats at the bottom of a tent. Before that, we slept on two twin mattresses on the floor.
This is what the mattress looks like after two weeks of treatment (vinegar, baking soda, vacuuming, vinegar+hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, vacuuming). Most of the spores seem to be gone now, and we are left with all of these stains.
Fast forward a few months and the rainiest weather San Francisco has had in a couple years, and Louie discovers mold growing on the bottom of the mattress. He calls Tempurpedic to ask for advice on how to clean it and is informed that you need a foundation to prevent mold growth and there have been a lot of complaints, especially in San Francisco. And there is nothing they can do because the warranty is void without a foundation. He’s told to take a photo and bring it to the store. Louie goes to Mattress Discounters and is told by one sales rep that he should know better and expect things to get moldy in San Francisco, and that she’s had to throw a lot of things out due to mold damage. First of all, has she ever thrown out a thousand dollar mattress? And second of all, if you are selling a product in San Francisco, is it wrong to assume that you know what your talking about? Another guy tells Louie that he can’t do anything because the purchase is “locked” after 90-days and to call the Mattress Discounters customer service line. Louie calls and is told that you can put the mattress on the ground, to which he responds that he called Tempurpedic who told him that the foundation is a must. She gets off the phone to talk to her boss who tells her to email Tempurpedic. When Louie follows up the next day, she tells him there is nothing they can do because the warranty is void and Tempurpedic said you can put the mattress on the floor, but there is a risk of moisture damage.
This past Monday, I sent an email to Mattress Discounters’ main customer service email explaining the issue and asking for a replacement mattress. I think it’s only fair since their due diligence should be to (at the very least) warn us of the possible moisture damage caused by not having a foundation. If the sales rep had told us that, we would have spent the extra money to buy a foundation, instead of risking damaging our mattress. I gave them until Friday to respond, and did not receive one. So yesterday, I called at 11:04am (they open at 11) and got sent to voicemail. So, I left a message. I did not get a call back.
I’m pretty sure we’ve passed the limit the “in good faith” part of trying to resolve the issue. So now, I’m going to call the credit card company tomorrow, and see if we can just stop making payments. We have about $400 left to pay off (the total for everything was around $1700, including tax, the mattress cover, and bedsheets).
And where are we sleeping?
Well, we are back in our cozy tent until we can figure something out.
This picture was taken during lunch after Mass yesterday. For any of you super geeks out there (I married one), you may recognize the symbols we are wearing. It’s the symbol of the Blue Lanterns’ power rings, which are fueled by the emotion hope (there are different colored lanterns, with different symbols, that are fueled by other emotions). I also love their oath (which they use to recharge): 
