**UPDATED** **READ FIRST** DORMO DIAGNOSTIC/KINGSDOWN/SLEEPYS: NO, NO, NO, and WARNING! AN EXPENSIVE MISTAKE
Written: Dec 11 '04 (Updated May 05 '08)
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Pros: Comfortable for the first month or so.
Cons: Significant sagging within 6 months. Lied to by SLEEPYS (NY based distributor). Bad experience overall.
The Bottom Line: SLEEPYS and KINGDDOWN have partnered to deliver a premium priced mattress that sags within a month! Hello insomnia and body aches. Poor response to owner complaints.
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| foveator's Full Review: Kingsdown Ultimate Pillow Top |
The DORMO DIAGNOSTICS is the high end version of this bed, selected after a sleep test on a pressure sensing cot device (now called BODYDIAGNOSTIC) at SLEEPYS, the large New York based distributor here. We specified that we did not want a mattress that had to be flipped or rotated. The salesman led us to this choice. Showing us that there were no handles because "it doesn't have to be flipped or rotated", he joked that "even some box springs have to be rotated". We all chuckled about how stupid someone would have to be to buy that sleep system. The diagnostic computer zeroed in on an ideal softness and, a test rest and few thousand dollars later, we were done. Delivery was prompt and on time. Old bedding was removed. Delivery guys were very nice.
The mattress is an inner spring covered with a soft foam and a plush felt-like covering. It tends to trap body heat so anyone who tends to overheat in bed might find this a reason for concern. The boxspring actually flexes absorbing some of the movement from the mattress. The components appear to have been designed as a well thought out system. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. While most mattresses come with a 10 or 15 year warrantee, this comes with a LIFETIME warrantee. I was surprised that there was no specific information about the warrantee -or the mattress- when the mattress arrived, but I had my receipt. The first few nights were comfortable, although I always felt that my head was lower than the rest of my body and that the bed must be tilted. It wasn't. It appeared that the sides of the mattress tend to sag. In reality, the sides are contoured so the center of the mattress is higher than the four sides. The sides and head and feet are slightly lower. You'll have to fill the gap with pillows to be even. I questioned the salesperson and was told that it was going to take a few weeks to really get comfortable. My wife seemed to like it so I got a few extra pillows to prop up my head and level out the mattress. Before the test period ended, we discussed returning the mattress, but decided that my perceived sagging must be in my head. I found it quite annoying.
At six months, the LIFETIME mattress was definitely sagging in several places. Particularly in the center, where we sleep, and at the contoured edges of the mattress were measurable depressions. Knowing this was never going to last more than another few months, we called SLEEPYS, who said they would send out an independent consultant to check it out. He arrived, looked at the mattress and decided to flip it. With my wife watching, somehow, an owners manual "fell" out of the space between the mattress and the box spring. (This was quite interesting as I had removed the mattress and box spring from the frame two weeks earlier to polish the wood on the fancy Thomasville bed and never spotted this booklet.)
Imagine our surprise when the consultant said that the problem was due to "not rotating and flipping" the mattress! The instruction booklet said that it should be rotated and flipped quite often AND that the box spring should be rotated also!
I was fuming! I was lied to by the SLEEPYS salesman. This salesman for SLEEPYS, THE MATTRESS PROFESSIONALS was a professional con man. Then, somehow, magically, this instruction booklet suddenly appears. It has been a month since the "inspection" and I will find out what the store feels is equitible next week.
My purpose writing this is to warn everyone to avoid SLEEPYS and KINGSDOWN/DORMO DIAGNOSTICS. I will update this when I hear from the company, but the mattress failed within 6 months of purchase. We are not heavyweights. This should not have happened. Our old mattress, a $500 Sealy Posturpedic lasted 9 years before feeling like this.
Price was no object when we purchased this mattress. Apparently, the truth and integrity was no object to SLEEPYS. And quality is no object to KINGSDOWN.
Stay tuned.
1/3/05 Follow up. The mattress inspector decided that the mattress was functioning as designed and that there was no defect in quality or workmanship, so tough luck, buddy. I spoke with the customer service department at SLEEPYS and was repeatedly told that, regardless of what I was told by the salesman, I did sign for delivery of the mattress. After 20 minutes of SLEEPYS making excuses for their sales person ("You should have known that mattresses have to be flipped and rotated."), I explained that I no longer wanted an exchange; I wanted a full refund. SLEEPYS had switched me to a product I specifically said that I didn't want; it misrepresented the KINGSDOWN/DORMO DIAGNOSTICS mattress as a "no flip" mattress and my next call was to the state Attorney General's office and Connecticut Consumer Protection. I was quite annoyed that I was made the scapegoat for allowing their salesperson to guide me to purchase this particular mattress, after specifically insisting that I did not want a mattress that had to be flipped or rotated. Does this sound like a type of "bait and switch"?
After the customer service representative spoke with a supervisor (who I suspect was listening in on the conversation), SLEEPYS relented and said I could exchange the set, for a $199 "comfort exchange" fee and $59 delivery charge, for an equally priced or more expensive alternative set, only as long as the exchanged mattress and box spring are in pristine condition. (It is.)
One recommendation is to pay with a credit card for the protection afforded by the card issuer. I chose to take advantage of the "1-Year Free Financing" offer, which is done through a 3rd party and affords you NO recourse if you have a problem with the mattress or the distributor. You get what appears to be an easier way to pay off the mattress, but lose the protections and safety net of using a credit card. The credit card companies have a thousand times more clout than an individual. SLEEPYS' easy financing sets you adrift alone in their sea of predatory edicts. Next time, I'll use a credit card!
By the way, we discovered that salespeople get a LARGER COMMISSION (double!) when they sell a KINGSDOWN/DORMO DIAGNOSTICS bed, so there is no wonder that it is always so highly recommended. This is a very serious conflict of interests that should be disclosed before any discussion of mattress purchase is begun. Also KINGSDOWN/DORMO DIAGNOSTICS uses a pressure sensing cot to help determine which firmness you require. It asks for your weight and if you have areas of your body that ache when you are in bed. It doesn't ask if you are a side sleeper, which is a significant omission. You lay on your back for the test, although in the picture on their web site, the pretty lady sleeping on a DORMO DIAGNOSTIC mattress is sleeping on her side. The results were dead wrong for me, recommending a mattress much softer than my back and side could take. This is a misleading test for an average consumer. The delivery guys who picked up the returned $2700. mattress said that they take these mattresses back "all the time". That tells me that this pseudo-scientific testing system is a sham. If not, it still needs a lot of development and improvements to be accurate.
We replaced the mattress with a latex foam mattress, which has much more support without being too firm and gives the full support to the very edge of the mattress. No contoured edges either so the mattress lies flat on the foundation. We put a 2" "memory foam" topper on top of it and it is very comfortable.
One thing that I can say in defense of KINGSDOWN/DORMO DIAGNOSTICS is that when only one person slept in the bed, it was very comfortable. Sleeping in the center of the bed minimized the support and sagging problems. When you share the bed and sleep toward the side, the support drops off significantly. If two people happen to meet in the center of the mattress, it overwhelms the mattress' support system and really sags. It becomes very uncomfortable and this happens within MONTHS, not years, of purchase. We felt that we were being dragged into the black hole of insomnia. Little did we know that dealing with SLEEPYS would be worse.
August 2005 update- I originally gave this mattress 2 stars, but have discovered that either KINGSDOWN or its distributors are stacking positive reviews in this forum to confuse and mislead Epinions.com members. Therefore, I am lowering my review to 1 star and recommending that anyone seriously considering buying this mattress take a deep breath and go elsewhere. Be thankful that you didn't make the same painful, expensive mistake that many of us did make.
WARNING! Beginning in August 2005, an effort began by the manufacturer or distributer to flood this forum with glowing (almost infomercial-like) reviews. Do not be misled! These are the same underhanded, misleading tactics that are used to convince you to buy their product in the first place. If the reviews seem like they came from a fairy tale, they did. Trust me on this one; they will do anything to trick you into buying this mattress. If they would just be up front and honor their "lifetime" warranties and solve the problems caused by their mattresses, this would not be an issue. As you have read in this forum time after time, that is not the case. Proceed with caution when it comes to KINGSDOWN and SLEEPYS.
When you read the positive reviews on this site, most of them are from brand new owners. They should wait 6 months before reviewing the mattress and then decide if the mattress is acceptable. Most of the negative reviews are from owners who have had their KINGSDOWN mattresses for 3 months or longer. As I mentioned above, this was a very comfortable mattress initially. Unfortunately, it began to fail within the first 3 months. Consider yourself warned.
PS Be sure to read the comments below.
Recommended:
No
Mattress Size: Queen
Mattress Firmness: Somewhat soft
Amount Paid (US$): 2,700.00
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Epinions.com ID:
foveator
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Member: Jeff
Location: East Hampton, CT USA
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 5 members
About Me:
Eye doctor in CT. Interests include healthy homebuilding, energy efficiency and technology.
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