Simmons Beautyrest mattress and foundation set - The Do Not Disturb Mattress - within two months of use noticed pain in lower backs - bed developed gullies

# 6 for September 27, 2003

Complaints.com received the following on September 26, 2003:

From:

RE: Simmons Beautyrest mattress and foundation set - The Do Not Disturb Mattress - within two months of use noticed pain in lower backs - bed developed gullies

My wife and I searched long and hard for a mattress set that we felt would provide us with years of restful sleep. In the end, we selected a king-size Simmons BeautyrestR mattress and foundation set, which Simmons refers to as The Do Not Disturb MattressT.

The mattress is one-sided and does not require flipping or rotation. The independent coils of this system are supposed to better support the body and also minimize the disturbances caused by your partner's movements during the night. The set we purchased was on sale for $1700. When we first began to sleep on our new mattress set, it was quite supportive and did seem to minimize the detection of one another's movements. However, within several months, we became aware of two things. We noticed pain in our lower backs when we would first lie down at night.

This pain was much worse upon awakening and lingered throughout the day. The second thing we noticed was that the bed was developing gullies; one where each of our bodies lay each night. Theoretically, compared to similarly sized beds offered by others, this bed is supposed to have more area that one can utilize for sleep. As time passed, it became increasingly difficult, and eventually impossible, to sleep anywhere but within these gullies, and, as a result, the sleeping area was decreasing rapidly. Try as we might to sleep elsewhere on the bed, we always rolled downhill into them. In reality, the gullies effectively limit the available sleeping areas to the width of the bodies that use the bed. As a result, there is really no need for a queen or king size bed if the only areas one can sleep on are such gullies.

Due to the lack of support that is present in these areas, and the endless effort expended during the night to get out of these areas, the overall amount of disturbance is significantly greater with this bed than others we have slept on. Our sleep is both disturbed by our own desperate efforts to find a nonpainful and comfortable place to sleep on the bed and those of our partner.

After enduring this situation until the point that it became unbearable - when heating bandages and hot water bottle applications during the day, and rolled-up towels, pillows between the legs and/or under the knees at night, just wasn't cutting it, we contacted Simmons. Simmons arranged for an "authorized service technician" to come out to inspect our bed. He inspected our bed and measured the gullies, and then reported back to Simmons. Simmons in turn, sent us a form letter, replete with a badly digitized signature (suggesting to us that they send out quite a few). The letter stated that, "In assessing your claim, we find no structural failure in either the mattress or box springs/foundation. In addition, the compaction of the panels in this style of bedding is to be expected. The compression does not affect the product's durability. As with other beds of this type, the thicker and more luxurious the filling materials are, the more susceptible they are to compaction. Please note that this should not be considered a defect. The mattress is merely contouring to the shape of your body." If you consult their website, as one might do prior to buying their product, you will find that Simmons never mentions that these gullies are a feature of their BeautyrestR mattress, or that such features are normal. Instead, they state that "Simmons' new patented "no flip-no rotate" single-sided design allows us to build a mattress so durable, it never needs to be flipped or rotated.ever. It's maintenance-free, constructed using the latest technology to prevent the sags and valleys you could traditionally avoid only by flipping and rotating your mattress." Unfortunately, their warranty states that "Body impressions are a normal characteristic of premium bedding and indicate that the comfort level is conforming to your body. Impressions of 1 1/2" or less on the mattress in all sleeping areas are not considered a manufacturing defect." This has been such a painful and frustrating experience that we have posted a website on the matter, which can be found at http://home.mindspring.com/~uglyunrest/index.html Judging by how our claim was handled, and how others have been dealt with, it would seem to us that Simmons believes, in my opinion, that it is perfectly reasonable for their customers to develop, suffer from, and live with chronic back pain that can affect both the quality and quantity of their sleep as well as their quality of life. And paying $1,000-2,000 for that privilege is all the better!