Mr. Mattress store located in Catonsville at 5120 Baltimore National Pike, Baltimore, Maryland 21228

Mr. Mattress store located in Catonsville at 5120 Baltimore National Pike, Baltimore, Maryland 21228

To Whom It May Concern, Please reference enclosed document containing customer complaint details, made against Mr Mattress in the purchase of a mattress. I have also enclosed the receipts associated with the purchase. We are not asking to cancel the order, we are willing to accept a mattress that better meets our needs at no additional cost. Thanks in advance for any assistance you can give us in resolving this matter.

We Had A Bad Experience Buying A Mattress From Mr. Mattress On 2/21/05 my husband and I went to the Mr. Mattress store located in Catonsville at 5120 Baltimore National Pike, Baltimore, Maryland 21228, to purchase a mattress to replace the king set we had at home. We ask the salesman, Jeff Haddaway if a California king mattress was larger than a regular king mattress. We told him the king set at home was uncomfortable and not wide enough to fit the frame of bed. Jeff told us the California king mattress would meet our needs because it was in fact wider and longer than the regular king mattress. I asked him between Serta and Simmons, which was the best type of mattress.

He said they were similar, so I asked which was the most popular and he told us Serta. He sold us the Serta Seascape model, according to him their top mattress for Serta. The mattress was on sale but still more than we wanted to pay. Several times we started to leave to check out the mattresses at Hecht Company, and each time he lowered the price until the price was discounted by a little over $500. The price, the fact that we were getting their top product and because Jeff confirmed the mattress was wider than the king and would fulfill our needs, we brought the California king. As consumers we relied on the expertise of the salesman in this case we relied on and trusted what he told us. It wasn't until 3/7/05, the day we received the mattress that I discovered there must be a problem in the measurements. The bed did not fit our bed frame width or length wise plus the box springs were narrower than the top mattress. The box springs did not fit snug against the frame. I measured the mattress and got a 70.5x81 measurement and each box spring measured 34x80. I called the measurements into the store and the manager, Vincent Arrington told me the measurements were off for a California king mattress. He told me it sounds like the bed was specially made for someone, a cross between a California king and a king mattress. He told me he would send someone out to inspect. I ask him could they do it today and he told me no, we would have to schedule another day. I asked him about Wednesday 3/8/05 and he told me the guys who would be coming out were the delivery guys and they do not work or deliver on Wednesdays. I ask him about my old king mattress, the guys have taken the mattress and box springs, what are we suppose to sleep on? Vincent told me to, by all means sleep on the mattress they delivered, enjoy it until they get this matter straighten out. On 3/10/05 I arranged for my mother to be at my house to receive the guys doing the measuring. She said the young guys that came out, that looked to be about 19 years old, did not seem to know what they were there for. They did not have any tools to measure the mattress, and although they used my measuring tape they never wrote measurements down, in fact they did not seem to know what to do. I reported this back to the manager, Vincent on 3/10/05, after I spoke to my mother around 2:00 pm that day. Vincent told me the inspectors would be sending a report to him, and once he got the report he would call me. I asked him if he would get it that day, he said it was possible, but most likely he would not know anything until Friday 3/11/05 evening or Saturday 3/12/05. I told him we would be out of town on Friday but I would try to call Friday evening.

I didn’t call back until Saturday 3/12/05, at that time he said he still did not have the report but rumor had it that the bed frame we had was not a California king. On Monday 3/14/05 I spoke to Vincent again and he told me the report said the bed measurements were correct for a California king. Again I told him what my mother told me about what happened the days the guys came to measure. I told him I was uncomfortable about their measurements, and would feel better if he came out to measure. Vincent asked me where I lived, and I told him in Randallstown. He said he would get back to me. The Serta representative, John Cerbone, later called me that day, and asked me what was the problem I was having with the mattress. I told him about the incorrect measurements. He told me he could measure a mattress 100 different times and get 100 different measurements but as long as it was only an inch or inch and a half off that was normal. I convinced him to come out and measure anyway. We made an appointment for that Wednesday 3/16/05. He came over on 3/16/05 to measure the mattress, he told me a California king mattress would not suit my needs because a California king mattress was 4 inches narrower than a king. He measured the length of the mattress, and I pointed out to him that he was bending the tape measurer. He said because it was rounded on the top, not flat it would be hard to measure. I told him he could measure from the side since that was flatter. So he did with my help, and it measured a little over 81 inches.

He measured my bed frame by measuring the distance from the mattress to the end of my frame and said it was about 4 inches off and that what we needed to fit our bed frame was a king mattress. I told John this was not what we wanted we did not want a mattress that was narrower, we wanted a mattress that was wider. I told him we were told by the salesman that a California king bed was wider than a king. He said no, he got it backward; a California king is narrower by 4 inches than a king. He said that was an easy mistake to make. He also said that because the mattress was covered in plastic there should not be any problems returning it to them. He gave me his number and told if I need him to say that he would. He called the store where I purchased it and talked to our salesman, Jeff since the manager was not there. I over heard him say …the mattress would not fix our bed frame. That we needed a king bed. I heard him say …the mattress was covered in plastic; we did not take the plastic off… It should be no problem it’s in the plastic…that’s between you guys…Since Vincent isn’t there maybe you can ask Stephanie to make the discussion or wait until Vincent comes back tomorrow. After his conversation with Jeff, John told me to make sure I point out to them I never took it out of the plastic, I still have it in the plastic. He made it a point to tell me, that he told Jeff at least 3 times that the mattress was in the plastic. He told me that was smart of me to do that. He never finished the measurements of the mattress and box springs, nor discussed further about the fact that he only measured 81 inches length wise of the mattress. He told me Jeff would be calling me and left his number if I needed him. I called the salesman back and asked him did he talk to John, he told me the Serta rep would not take the mattress back, we ordered a California king mattress and that’s what we got. I told him that was not what John said, I asked him why he was lying, and he asked me..."Well what did he say?" I told him John told him the plastic was still on the bed and we needed a king mattress. I told Jeff the California king mattress did not suit our needs. He led us to believe we were getting a mattress that was wider and longer than the king we originally had. I told him we did not want the mattress, would they please come get it.

He denied he ever told us the California king was wider than the king mattress and he told me they could not pick up the mattress until this matter is resolved. He told me he knows the customer is normally always right but not this time. I told him I wanted to talk to the manager, Vincent. He told me Vincent is off today, he will be back tomorrow. I asked him for Vincent’s last name and he refused to give it to me. I told him to call Vincent at home and tell him I need to talk to him today. Jeff refused at first but later changed his mind. He called back and told me he talked to Vincent, and Vincent said he would me back but not right away because he had something to do first, however he promised to call back later that day. He never did. On Thursday 3/17/05, I called Vincent. I ask him if Jeff gave him my message, and he told me he did. He told me he did not call me yesterday because he was going to a meeting and did not return home until late. I ask him if Jeff talked to him about what was going on. He said Jeff told him John, the Serta rep said he would not take the mattress back. I told him I was listening and did not hear that. He told me those guys sometimes talk in codes. I told him we trusted Jeff that he knew what he was talking about. He told him how Jeff lead us to believe the California king was wider than the king mattress. He appolized for Jeff misleading us. He told us Jeff was new and he wished we had mentioned our requirements to him. He said if John says he will take the mattress back, that would be the battle solved right there and it would not matter what Stephanie said. I did not it at the time but he was referring to his boss. He told me he had to be honest with me, that if John would not take the mattress back, he would represent my interest and try to convince John to take the mattress back; however it would be difficult and may take a copy of days. Vincent called back on 3/18/05, and told me John would not just take the mattress back. He would switch it for the king mattress only under one condition, that is if we paid the difference for what the king mattress cost today, plus taxes, and $70.00 freight cost. Total additional cost to us $542.50. I told him they must be crazy, we were not paying any additional money. He told me that was the best they could do, that they didn’t want to do that. I asked him who his boss was and who his boss’s boss was. He gave my Stephanie Murgtah as his boss and Gary Brawerman as Stephanie’s boss. He told me they worked in the Corporate Office. He told me Stephanie would not be in until Monday 3/21/05 and he talked to Gary before talking to me and he was leaving for the day. So I called the corporate office several times throughout that day and of course as Vincent said Gary was gone and Stephanie’s message said she would be out the rest of the week returning on Monday 3/21/05. We could not talk to anyone until Monday 3/21/05. On Monday 3/21/05, when I retrieved my messages from work, I noticed one from Gary. He had called on Saturday 3/19/05. I called the corporate office and asked for Gary or Stephanie, they asked me my name, I told them and they connected me with Stephanie. Ronald my husband was also on the line. I told Stephanie I was very disappointed with our purchase from their store, giving her the date of purchase and delivery date. I told her one we were told by the salesman that the California king was wider and longer than the king mattress. Second the dimensions of the bed we got do not match that of a California king anyway. She said that’s right the measurements can be one thing one time and another the next time you measure. Lastly I told her we were told that the seascape was top of the line, but it wasn’t that comfortable. She said lying on it for that short while in the store does not always give you the true feel of the mattress. I told her we were willing to exchange the California king mattress for a king of equal or greater value. Stephanie defended her employees. She said she was going by what they told her. She knows they did not make a mistake, especially Jeff. She said she would only offer an exchange for 542.50 as Vincent provided. She already had her mind made up as to what she was going to do and whose side she was going to take.

She got rude and cut us off several times in the conversation. Three or four times she told us to hold on. I thought she was trying to call into the Catonsville office to conference in Jeff and/or Vincent, but I assumed it was still too early, because we started talking to her about 9:15am and Jeff and Vincent don’t get in until about 10am. Later we discovered that the reason Stephanie kept putting us on hold was because she had us on mute and was trying to listen to our conversation. She told us this herself. When she mentioned my husband saying he had a California king frame and my telling him to stop saying that. I told Ronald to stop saying he brought a California bed frame because that was not right it was a king as proved by John Cerbone. He said that’s what the guy in Korea told him. At one point Stephanie got upset with me and told my husband she could not talk to me, however she agreed to talk to my husband since he was the calmer of the two of us in the matter. She agreed to talk to him but never came to a reasonable decision or what we thought was reasonable. She continued to only offer the switch at $542.50. She said Gary was not her boss but her partner. She said they owned the business and there was no one above them. My husband asked her who was the quality assurance representative, and she said she was. She said if they took the mattress back it would just sit in their warehouse and in order to sell it she would have to reduce it to almost nothing and that would be a big lost for her company. I asked her about our lost and why couldn’t we get a king mattress at an equal or greater value at no cost, after all the California king was priced higher than the king, we had to pay extra for the California king, so why couldn’t we get the king which was of a cheaper cost the day we purchased the mattress. On 3/24/05 I talked to the owner and partner of Stephanie, Gary Brewerman to give him an opportunity to hear the story and see where he stood in this matter. He told me he was fully aware of the story from Jeff and Stephanie and he believed Jeff’s side of the story. He said Jeff said we came in there looking for a California king mattress. He said Stephanie said she over heard my husband and my conversation and he stated that we had a California king frame. I explained to him that that was what the man who sold him the bed frame overseas told him. However clearly we had a king bed on it originally and John Cerbone stated from his visit that the bed frame we had was a king. He told me Jeff quoted us the dimensions, I do not recall that but if he did that did not mean anything to us at that time. Again we as consumers trusted Jeff and what we told us. He told me that before we purchased the mattress we should have written the dimensions out and gone home and measured our bed frame. I told him how Jeff kept lowering the cost trying to get us to make a discussion before we left. Gary told me …of course he’s a salesman, that is what he is expected to do. So I asked him what was he saying, that the customer’s needs and

requirements are not important when trying to sale a product? He told me

we made a mistake and they were willing to accommodate us by giving us a break and allowing us to change products for an additional fee of regular price, plus tax and freight cost. He told me he believed his salesman and he would be crazy to have made that mistake. He told me to go ahead and take whatever steps you needed to take, because they were not budging. He hung up on me, when I told him my husband and I knew a lot of people.

Now the manager and the salesman are saying it is our word against the salesman's word and they will do a switch only if we give them additional money. I filed a complaint with Better Business Bureau on Monday 3/18/05, and one with the Email User on Monday 3/21/05.

Donna D

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