Got my new mattress Sunday, and it’s very comfy, for something that’s sitting on the floor with no boxspring and no real sheets. My experience with Sleep Country was unfortunately mixed; I would love to give a glowing review to the nice sales people who worked in the stores that I shopped in, but I cannot as the delivery was dreadful.

The Angry, Ranting Saga of Sleep Country

At the Summerhill store, I was given excellent service and put a hold on a mattress I liked at a decent price, and a salesman named Don helped me at the Crossroads store near my home, being extremely patient with my mother and I as we made the final selection and completed my purchase – but the overall experience was severely marred by the terrible experience of delivery!

On Sunday, January 2nd, I was told my bed would be delivered after someone phoned our house between 8:30-9am, to give us a three-hour expected delivery window. I was also told, repeatedly, and have read on the Sleep Country website that my old mattress would be picked up and disposed of.

I woke up early and waited at home all morning for the initial phone call, which didn’t happen until 11am, and was then told that my mattress would be delivered between 4 and 7pm that evening. I dutifully stayed home all afternoon and evening, and no van arrived, nor did the doorbell ring.

Finally, at around 7:20pm, the delivery person called to say that they would be “about another half hour, at the most”. They finally arrived at quarter after 8pm, and after ungraciously asking me to bring my old mattress and box spring downstairs for them (I should note that they were two fit gentlemen, and I am a young woman of 5’4″ living in a rented apartment).

I dragged the mattress downstairs and was then told that they would not accept it for disposal because it was a foam mattress and these are not covered under the removal clause. I had never read or been informed of this previously.

At that point, I mentioned that the box spring would be too cumbersome for me to handle on my own, and the two gentlemen came upstairs into my bedroom to remove the old box. One put on your mandated protective “booties” (which he later discarded on my lawn), and the other wore street shoes.

The delivery men had a bad attitude; they were grumpy and belligerent about maneuvering my old bed out and the new bed in, and after some roughhousing with my doorjambs and stairwell walls, informed me that a flat box spring was simply impossible to get upstairs, and I would have to have a split delivered at a later date.

They gave me a piece of paper to sign acknowledging the necessity for a change in order, told me someone would call with a new delivery date (which hasn’t happened yet), and then departed, without a “goodbye” or “have a nice night”.

Now, having looked into your policies to see if this is indeed the sort of service I paid over a thousand dollars to have brought to my door, I noticed that these gentlemen seem to have run roughshod over every “guarantee” in your book.

Under the “Respect for You and Your Home” section, there are several specific entries that I feel have been overlooked:
the delivery team was far from ‘courteous’; they certainly did not treat my home ‘gingerly and with respect’; they left without offering to help me remove the plastic or lay down the bed properly on the frame. Removing unwanted packaging materials was a luxury I was not treated to, as the plastic covering for my mattress is now clogging up my front porch and booties are bedecking my lawn.

Under the ‘Free Removal of Old Mattresses’ section in your ‘Delivery’ link, I can only see the following: “Upon delivery of your new purchase, we will remove your old mattress and box spring free and donate them to charity.” Nothing AT ALL about foam mattresses being unacceptable or against policy. I FINALLY discovered it under the tiny ‘FAQ’ link, beneath the misleading question, “Do you really donate old mattresses?”

The matter of which mattresses you will and will not take with you should be addressed more clearly than this, under ‘Delivery’ where it can be easily accessed, and every Sleep Country employee should offer a customer *at the time that they are making their final purchase* the caveat that their old mattress is ineligible for pick up if it is a waterbed, futon, or foam bed.

I would have appreciated having this information divulged to me well in advance of delivery day, since garbage pick-up is bi-weekly in my neighborhood and I now have my old mattress propped precariously upright, creating a huge eyesore in my living room for the next two weeks, since there is no room for it in my bedroom anymore.

I don’t know if these gentlemen were subcontracted, on their last delivery of the night and ready to go home, or just plain cantankerous, but I do know this. I chose Sleep Country on the high recommendation of family members and friends, and they were all appalled to hear my (apparently uncommon) story of poor service.

I am writing both to soothe my own anger, in the hopes that my complaint will ensure that no other customers are treated this way without the explicit knowledge of Sleep Country head office, and to see whether or not you really do stand by your guarantees and your good name.

If it were you in this situation, what sort of compensation would you be looking for? I’m upset and I would like someone to offer me a reason why, in future, my family and I shouldn’t buy a mattress anywhere else.

Sincerely,
M