Monday, March 12, 2012

First Adventures in Mattress Shopping

OK, a few of you have mentioned that you have bought mattresses recently.  Why on Earth didn't you warn me how expensive this is????

In our area, there are 2 major mattress retailers, and a few smaller places.  We were lucky enough to send the kids to an activity last night that freed up 2.5 hours to ourselves and we were able to visit the two major places.

We go to place one, and I am looking at the salesman and he looks so familiar.  I guess he was doing the same thing....because a few minutes in, he says....I know where I know you from....you live down the street!  Turns out he is a neighbor (lives at the opposite end of the street, but his granddaughter is at the bus stop with my daughter).  Score!!!

I won't bore you with the details, but eventually we found a mattress we both liked.  Then we asked the dreaded question.....how much? Before I tell you, I have to say that I was expecting that the salesman would of course start with the higher end stuff.  Additionally, we didn't really look at anything beforehand that would give us an idea of what kind of price range would be appropriate.  So both of those things combined really did us a disservice.

So the mattress......$4800.  *jaw drop*.  We are NOT spending almost FIVE THOUSAND dollars on a mattress.  No freakin' way.  BUT....he offered up that as an employee, he can help us out with the "Friends and Family" discount, being that we are neighbors and all.....which would bring it down to about $2600.  Almost 50% off....

We went into the store thinking we would be in the $1,000 range.  We were now 2.5 times that.  *sigh*

Next we went to Store 2, and more or less they had the same things.  We didn't care for the salesman, and after trying about a dozen mattresses, we really didn't find one we liked.  There was one that "would do" if we had to get it.  This is where it got interesting.

The ticketed price...about $1200.  Then the salesmen said he could do it for $999.   THEN, he said "let me make a call."  At this point, we had already decided we weren't getting this mattress, but he was an older man, and we just wanted to let him do his thing.  He wanted to give us a written quote, so "when" we came back, we could still get the best deal.  He gets on the phone...and then comes back and says if we did it TODAY...they could do $699.  We still said no, we aren't doing it today.

But just like that....the price had dropped 40%.  These things have to be WAY marked up if they can drop the price left and right and still make a profit.

There are a few more places we want to try.  We are still having a hard time with $2600 for a mattress.  But after trying the $1000 ones....we aren't that thrilled.  (We have different sleep styles, so finding a mattress that we both like is tough).  I have a feeling that we will just bite the bullet.....but WOW. 

29 comments:

  1. I am absolutely BLOWN AWAY that mattresses cost that much! The last one I bought was $499 and it was wonderful! (Not a Tempurpedic or anything, but still an awesome mattress.) Maybe you guys need to come to Kentucky to do your mattress shopping - I'm sure prices have gone up in the 10 years since I last shopped for one, but I KNOW they aren't that much!

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    1. We looked at the major brands, the store brands....And $1000 was "cheap." As we got into the bed, we could feel the metal bar that went around the mattress that held the coils.

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    2. I'm with Andrea, KY is definitely the place to buy. In Bowling Green, there are new mattress stores opening every day. There are about as many mattress stores as there are banks and places to eat... and let me tell you, that's a LOT.

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  2. Something doesn't seem right, we bought a mattress (king size) just 2 years ago, top of the line with the box springs and delivered was just under $1,000.00. I would check around more,coming of the price that much and that fast seems odd to me as well. Glad you held off until you check it out

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    1. Not sure where you are, or where you got your mattress...but around here....there is NO WAY we would get that.

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  3. Mysti, we had this exact dilemma last year - trying to pick between a $4,400 bed or a $1,000 discount model.

    There's a "Choice Magazine" article that explains some of the differences in the prices and materials used - http://tinyurl.com/7vz94jq

    In the end, we went with the $4,400 model. It has really changed our quality of sleep (and life!) but I'll never know if we would have been just as happy with the $1,000 model.

    Whichever one you pick, ANY new mattress will make a great difference to you life (ours was 15+ years old, lumpy, torn and just ewwwww!) It's nice to be getting decent sleep again with the new mattress.

    Good luck!

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  4. There's also a "Mattress Satisfaction Survey" that is really great, here: http://tinyurl.com/6ueoucu

    I wish we'd seen this before we paid our $4,400!

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  5. Sorry...comment bombing! but while our mattress was very expensive, it also has this "memory foam" (designed to minimise partner disturbance.) My hubby is a really big man (6ft 4in and weighty) so this was a very significant issue for us.

    We have never slept better than with this mattress.

    More so than price, the features have to match your needs for something as central to life as your mattress.

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    1. Thanks for all the links! My hubby is also 6ft4in and he is a side sleeper, where I am a tummy sleeper.

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  6. I'm next! we also need to replace ours soon, just remember, you will be on this thing for the next 5 to 8 years so spend a little bit more and get what you really like.

    HS

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  7. Wow! I am not really surprised. We just bought a new twin mattress for our son, since we moved hime out of his crib, and I was astonished at the cost of them. We did score and got a Serta for $100 at Big Lots, because they were doing a big closeout. I am NOT looking forward to looking for a queen mattress for our bed which we hope to replace in the next year! Good luck on your mattress hunt!

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  8. We have discovered that many people have an stress about bedding shoppin and choice, more than with other fixtures buys.

    upc code

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  9. I suspect, since CT has more millionaires per capita than most any other state in the country(ranked 4th last I heard), that your area's stores tend to overprice anyway. Where a wealthy person will walk in and buy a $5K mattress without batting an eye or even ask the price, then the store prices them at that....but then if the customer balks, they can magically accept way less that sticker price for the same mattress. Maybe that's why your experience seems diff. from other parts of the country. ;-)

    As for beds.....We changed from a traditional mattress with metal springs, etc. about 5 years ago, for a memory foam mattress. It's a Tempur-pedic all foam type, but we got a generic one off of Overstock dotcom as the name brand one was too rich for our blood. We set it up on a platform bed(no box spring)and we haven't looked back. We have never slept as well as we have on this bed.
    We paid $699 in 2007 for a Comfort Dreams 14 inch king size model. They still sell them today and it's $10 cheaper!lol It's 6" of memory foam on a 8" urethane foam core. The traditional mattress companies now make a mattress with a memory foam top on a traditional springed bed....totally NOT the same!! It's still a bed with metal springs inside. The memory foam top makes the trad. matt. more comfortable but it can't overcome the deficit of being a metal coil framed matt.
    Hubs likes a soft bed and I need a firm bed but this has worked for both of us. The lack of pressure points is wonderful. You do have to get use to NOT having the metal coils that help you "move around"(turn, flip, etc.)on a trad. matt. When you go to turn over, get out of bed, you actually have to make an effort, as there are no springs pushing against you , aiding your movements. That part is weird at first, having slept on only trad. springed mattresses before.

    Email me if you have any ? about memory foam mattresses.

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    1. Thanks for all the info. The one we were looking at was a foam mattress. It was multi-layered, and had a gel layer to control heat.

      We were looking at O.co. Just worried about spending the money without having the opportunity to try it out.

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  10. That seems really high. We bought our king size mattress and box springs a few years ago from Macy's during a sale. Regularly $2200 for $1100 and it's a quality Serta mattress with pillow top. I love sleeping on it.

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  11. Mattresses are the most marked up piece of furniture sold. Honestly unless they are foam they are very cheap to make. Pillow top and all. Most mattress and box spring sets can be pumped out for under $100.00 in product. It is all factory work and we have many factories in Idaho. I would not pay over $700.00 for any size mattress.

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    1. The one we liked was foam. But I was really surprised HOW marked up they were.

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  12. I'm with slugmama on the memory foam. we bought ours from costco for ~$800 (king). AMAZING. With the costco ones though - check that they don't have the extra heat adding layer: it gets WAY too hot (and this is from someone who is ALWAYS freezing). The great thing about costco: if you don't like it, return it. we did that with the matress that was too hot - we returned it and then turned around and bought one without that extra layer. i've always had back problems, and the memory foam helps immensly. and it works for both myself and my spouse who have completely opposite bed tastes :)

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    1. I get hot when I sleep. I think that is why we liked the gel layer to control heat.

      We don't have a Costco anywhere near us. We have Sam's....

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  13. 3rd the Memory Foam mattress, we also bought ours at Overstock. I would never pay 4 or 5k for a mattress, driving to another city would be cheaper.

    And @ SlugMama - your comment about wealthy people not caring what they spend and not asking about price is insulting, wrong, rude and ignorant.

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    1. Were you worried about not being able to try it out first?

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    2. Not much, I've been an online shopper for many years so I'm used to reading the reviews closely and good at deciding if each complaint or praise is relevant to my own situation.

      We also tried a small topper 1st (a 2" I think? maybe it was 4) with deep pocket sheets and that was good for a couple of years until we were ready to commit to the whole mattress.

      It's kind of scary to buy something so expensive w/o knowing for sure that it's going to comfortable for many years. Is it possible for you to drive to a big city and actually try lying down on a Memory Foam (10-15minutes for it to relax)? Good luck, I know it's a long process!

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  14. I don't think you need to spend upwards of $3k for a good mattress personally. I'd keep shopping around. Hubby sleeps on his back, I sleep on my stomach, I don't get how one mattress can make a difference in one way or another. lol! Good luck with your choice!

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    1. I don't think we need to spend this much either. I was just surprised!!!

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  15. My (very wealthy) cousins swear by these: http://www.bedinabox.com/

    They have them in all 5 bedrooms in their house and swear they won't go back to standard mattreses. Good luck!

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  16. Hubby and I did our research. We wanted a Temperpedic, but didn't want to pay full price. We went to Bobs for a Bob-o-Pedic and were shocked at how much these were. Hubby then went on Amazon and did tons of research. He found the EXACT SAME matress that we saw at Bobs/Tempurpedic for only $800 With FREE SHIPPING.

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  17. @Susan said
    "And @ SlugMama - your comment about wealthy people not caring what they spend and not asking about price is insulting, wrong, rude and ignorant."

    Gee, how do you really feel about me? Seriously, I'm suppose to take this from someone who hides their identity?
    What part of my comment asked for YOUR opinion?

    You don't know me lady, and you don't know what my experiences have been, so stop calling names.
    I know wealthy people, I grew up around walthy people....actually some people would call me wealthy people. I have experiences. Did I say wealthy people are the only ones who don't ask price?...and just how is that rude?..or ignorant?
    Get a life and get out of mine.

    Sorry to do this on your comments Mysti but she hides on blogger so I can't go tell her directly. ;-)

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  18. Oh and another thing about a foam mattress.
    We took a leap of faith on getting one on Overstock(the whole not being able to try it out).
    It's scary and if you can't afford right now to make a mistake(buy one sight unseen and then realize it's not right for you), you might want to find someone in real life who has one that you can sleep on(trade houses for a night? or if you have family you can stay with and try their foamie out?), I'd do that before ordering online. Or find a place like Costco with discount pricing on foams that you can return it.

    And whoever said they are very warm mattresses is correct! I am always hot anyway and Hubs is always cold....he loves that the foam is warm, me not so much. But I can always throw off my covers to compensate so it works for us. One thing is for sure since we got it we have no need for flannel sheets in the winter! 8-)

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