Best to sample product before buying on-line/site unseen
Written: Aug 06 '03
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Pros: If you are looking for a firm foam mattress - this is for you
Cons: Extremely poor customer service and return policy
The Bottom Line: The product itself is average - a decent firm foam bed at an affordable price. Customer service and merchandise return process was unprofessional and discrediting.
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| gradgal's Full Review: Bergad Isoform Mattress |
We purchased a king size mattress, foundation, bed frame, leg pillow (which was out of stock) and king pillows from Bergad. We did quite a bit of research on mattresses before making our purchase. We had initially wanted to purchase a Tempur-pedic bed but were hesitant due to the high cost. We actually made our final decision based on the reviews on epinons. But not all experiences are the same.
For us, the bed was too firm. I have a strong arch in my lower back. That area of my back did not seem to sink into the bed as I had hoped – and I woke up with lower back pain. My husband had a similar experience yet not as severe as mine. (He prefers a firm mattress.) I’ve read that foam beds take some time to break in and soften up – but it wasn’t worth it to us. Sleeping on this bed made me realize that what I need is a medium bed – not firm. So after a week of feeling this way upon waking we decided to return the bed.
Having said that – my opinion is now that I will probably never buy a large item on-line site un-seen. Bergad mattresses aren’t in any stores in my area and we weren’t able to actually test out the bed before purchasing. If you are looking for a firm bed – and you feel confident about spending $1000 on an item you have never seen – go for it…but as I am about to explain…the experience we had returning the bed to Bergad is an experience I hope to never repeat.
We paid $1152 for the items mentioned above including shipping. (Again the price is another reason why we went with Bergad as it is much less than Tempur-pedic. But as they say – “You get what you pay for.”) On the Bergad web site they advertise a 90-night sleep trial stating that if the bed “is not everything you expected out of a mattress return it for a full refund of the purchase price - Excludes shipping costs - must be returned in like new, donatable condition with no stains, spills, tears, or punctures.” This made us think that Bergad was a company like Tempur-pedic since Tempur-pedic has a similar return policy. Boy, were we wrong.
The individuals my husband dealt with at Bergad –John W. and Saul – acted as if they had never dealt with returning a mattress. They were confused by the return shipping costs/procedures and took a very long time in getting a shipping price back to us. We, naively thought that we would pay the amount it cost to have the bed shipped to us when shipping the bed back to Bergad for return– which was $112. The first shipping quote given to us was $463 for us to ship the bed from Georgia to Pennsylvania. That is more than four times the original shipping price and more than half the cost of the mattress. Obviously we were not going to pay that amount. We were really shocked to hear the quote – and John, the Bergad representative –informed us the high return shipping was because we were a residence and not a business. After a lot of unreturned phone calls, my husband called the shipping company direct and got a quote of $229 – which was still unacceptable to us. At this point another Bergad representative got involved – Saul. Who - I would like to clarify is NOT the owner of the company as a previous epinion reviewer stated. When my husband asked Saul if he was the owner, Saul replied “No” and when asked if he could please state the owner’s name – Saul replied with “You don’t need to know that information.” Now we were feeling as if we were being cheated or somehow manipulated. Why withhold that information? Saul finally admitted that the owner would be really ‘P.O.’d’ if he knew how our situation was being handled on their end. (Well - a simple search on Lexis-Nexus gave us more than enough information on the company and owner. I guess Saul doesn’t realize that in the age of the Internet and publicly accessible databases – almost any information can be accessed.)
We kept in constant contact with the shipping company after we shipped the bed back - to ensure the whereabouts of the merchandise. We found out – on our own – not from Bergad – that Bergad had refused the return shipment of our bed and the freight was being held at the shipping company. We found this out after the boxes had been sitting there for a week. Bergad did not callus to let us know. After an additional series of un-returned phone calls regarding the un-accepted freight – coupled with the strange answer about the owners from Saul – we decided to put the matter in the hands of our bank. Fifty-eight days after the purchase of the mattress we had the bank credit our account/deal with it them selves. (After 60 days consumers lose their rights to have the bank/credit card people handle such issues for them…did Saul know this and this was the reason for the un-returned phone calls and delay?)
All in all – the bed was not a bad product – too firm for us – but not a bad product. (When we first called to return the item, John W. informed us that Bergad had a less-firm bed to offer if we would like to try it out. We declined. Why wasn’t this option on the web site?) The experience we had returning the bed was unacceptable, unprofessional and discrediting to the company. Bergad is not like Tempur-pedic…we found out the hard way. I guess Bergad is able to get away with the outragouse charges for return shipping because their 90-noght sleep trial statement does not state (like Tempur-pedic does) that they will reimburse your full purchase price less only the ORIGINAL shipping charge. I also did a little research on the complaints dot com web site and found that someone had a similar experience with Bergad.
After this whole ordeal – we went to a local mattress store and bought an Englander “Lifestyle of Stockholm” pillow top (memory foam top) mattress for $1100. It has been over two months sleeping on it and we love it!
If you are looking for a firm foam bed, feel comfortable buying a big ticket item on-line, AND you absolutely 100% know for sure that you will not need to return the item – Go for it. Otherwise don’t bother – it’s not worth the headache
Recommended:
No
Mattress Size: King
Mattress Firmness: Extremely firm
Amount Paid (US$): 1152
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Epinions.com ID:
gradgal
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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