Beautyrest & The Beast
Written: Nov 11 '00 (Updated Aug 18 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The most comfortable bed I've ever slept on.
Cons: Your old sheets don't fit & your old dogs are too short.
The Bottom Line: Our once dream come true has turned into a nightmare. Do not expect the Plush models to not break down.
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| Mrsfitts's Full Review: Simmons Beautyrest Mattress |
Update
Nearly two years have passed, and what was once a "Happily Ever After" story has become a "My Prince Turned Into a Frog" story.
Despite our constant flipping and turning of this mattress, we now have two huge dips on both sides. The dips are more than 6" in their lowest spot.
The warranty is really a joke, there are a million reasons why this mattress doesn't qualify for replacement.
I now have long squishy pillows tucked under thick mattress pads to try to compensate for the dips until a new bed is decided on.
This problem only occurred with the Plush model, not the firmer one we have downstairs. That bed is still flat after many years of use.
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Once Upon A Time
Earlier this year two things occurred at the same time to convince us it was time to get rid of our 11-year-old bed and buy a new one:
I. Tax Refund
II. My husband suffered a pinched nerve in his neck.
Jack & Jill went up the hill.
Our old bed had two huge pits in it that required very strong abdomen muscles to lift yourself out of just to reach over for a good night kiss! If either of us wanted to snuggle or cuddle, one wrong move & we'd go rolling down into the other depression.
I really wanted a new bed, but the prices of good quality mattresses were making my head spin! It was easier to stuff stiff things between the water-filled baffles of my Somma® bed and the foam mattress top to try to fix the depressions, than to try to convince myself to spend large quantities of money. When the two significant events happened at one time, the issue of buying a new bed was decided.
"Look at all the pretty flowers, Toto!"
All the newspaper, radio and television ads tell you that their stores have the lowest prices, and they will match any advertised price around. What they don't tell you is that the same mattress set from one store to another is given a different name. That way, it's almost virtually impossible to find a lower price mattress set. This took only going into 3 different stores to figure this out. I'd swear that the mattress at Mancini's Sleepworld™ looked and felt the same as the mattress set at The Bedroom™, yet when I asked about the price difference and the price guarantee, I was told that this was an exclusive model, so the one at The Bedroom™ couldn't be used for the Low Price Guarantee.
"This one's too hard, this one's too soft"
We went to most of the stores available in the Santa Clara Valley. (& that's a lot of stores!) We finally settled on The Bedroom™ for our purchase. The store is full of signs, displays and salesmen that explain the difference in beds, and how to test them out. We were comfortable here really giving their beds a "test-drive".
Now onto the real testing of the mattresses.
Here's the fun part if you aren't an introvert. We got to try out all the mattresses. Ok, so we did have to keep our clothes on, but we got to flip & flop, toss & turn, scrunch, roll, fling, bounce and snuggle on the beds. After testing out Serta®, Spring Air® and Simmons® we were convinced that only Simmons® Beautyrest® would allow my husband to rest undisturbed by my active sleep habits.
Some of the beds I would lay on and immediately know that I couldn't ever find a comfortable spot to sleep. Some beds I laid on felt like they would swallow me up and never let me go. I did try to test the mattress sets starting at the lowest price and working my way up. Of course the one I liked best was one of the most expensive there! I think that this is one of Life's Rules. Hubby liked a mattress set that was a few hundred less, but I found it to be too hard on my back. It was a very firm mattress. I have all those "Tender Points" from FMS and within one minute a firm mattress feels like it's bruising me. I found a Medium mattress with a very soft pillow-top. When I laid on this mattress, I felt like a large, snuggly being had taken me into it's arms and was gently rocking me to sleep. It felt so good to be in this bed! Hubby is aware of the problems I have with sleeping, but he was worried about this mattress being too soft for his neck and shoulder problems. We discussed this with the salesman and he mentioned that the kind of foundation we were planning on using would decrease the softness by 40%. This seemed like a good compromise to us both, and so after hopping into bed for over an hour for this salesman, we had chosen a bed!
Now for the Nitty Gritty
The first rule of bed-buying is:
Everything is negotiable!
We only needed the mattress, not the box springs since we were going to use our set of box foundation from our other bed. We did get some talk about certain warrantees not being covered if we didn't buy a complete set, but we ignored that. The $1,800 Simmons Beautyrest World Class® "Heritage Washington Luxury" king size mattress was delivered to our house for around $1,200. Our old mattress system was taken away as part of the package. I'm glad that hubby negotiated the delivery and set up because that mattress is very heavy by itself and getting it up my narrow stairway took the strength of the two big strong men they sent!
Pros and Cons.
Now that I've had my Simmons Beautyrest World Class® "Heritage Washington Luxury" king size mattress for over 6 months I can pass on my experience.
*I still get into bed every night loving the feel of this mattress under my body. I do not regret this choice at all! But there are some drawbacks to this mattress:
* Regular sheets and mattress pads do not fit this 13" mattress. Emergency trip to J.C. Penny's for a whole new set. But we couldn't find electric mattress pads in that size during the late Spring season. I really hope we can find them now because it's getting cold at night!
* The Pillow Top design makes it difficult to sit on the edge of the bed. You tend to slide off from any side or corner.
* My Dogs can no longer jump up onto my bed. 6 extra inches was too much for their old, arthritic bodies. I have a foot stool at the foot of the bed that the younger dogs can use (10 & 12 years old) but the 16 year old must be lifted onto the bed.
* We still have to flip and rotate this Better Sleep Non-Flip Design™. After just a couple of months we noticed that we were leaving impressions in our bed.
We have reached a verdict, your honor.
I love my mattress. Hubby did not have the anticipated problems from a too soft mattress. The salesman was right about the combination of that mattress and our box foundation (different from box springs -ours is solid, while box springs have, well, springs!) Hubby's pinched nerve is a thing of the past, and I do sleep so much better.
I have since discovered that there is a new level of product called the Simmons Beautyrest World Class Exceptionale™. These mattress sets are about $1500 more than the Simmons Beautyrest World Class® mattress we bought. The model we bought was top of the line of that class. There is the starting point that is one step below what we bought. That class is just called Simmons Beautyrest®. King sets in that class run about $599.
For more information on sleep or mattresses, go to www.simmons.com
Recommended:
No
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Mrsfitts
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Member: Pam Fitts
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
Reviews written: 203
Trusted by: 442 members
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