My husband and I went to Gardner White in Warren, MI, to buy a mattress in September of '06. We were first looking at some living room furniture and asked a salesperson their return / exchange policy. He said items could be returned/exchanged within 7 days from the date of delivery with a 25% reselect fee.

We come to the mattress section of the store and our sales person was a guy named Scott Gdyra. We decided on a mattress and asked Scott if he could talk to the manager about any discounts. At first he said he couldn't do it, but afterwards brought in a guy named Salim Ahmed and introduced him as the manager. Salim gave a final price of $2395 (incl tax) and said it would be delivered in one or 2 weeks.

We got the mattress on a Saturday morning and after laying on it for a couple of nights, realized it is too soft and we needed a firmer one. We went back to the store 5 days after and asked if we could exchange it for a firmer one. Scott immediately told us that mattresses could not be exchanged/ returned.

We asked if we could talk to Salim, who was apparently somewhere inside, and waited for him. We waited for more than an hour and were finally told that Salim was busy and couldn't come out to talk to us. This whole waiting time was so suspicious and cast doubts as to whether Salim is indeed the manager. Scott actually lied that Salim is the manager. Scott said that there was nothing that could be done except get used to the mattress. He also said that there was a federal law that prohibits return of mattresses once they left the store. We returned home disappointed after spending so much and knowing we couldn't use the mattress. We were actually quite surprised that neither Scott nor Salim ever mentioned that mattress sales were final. There was no sign/note ever in the store that mattress sales are final. Even in a small dress store in America, if a dress cannot be returned, they put up signs all over. Why couldn't Gardner White put up a sign somewhere in the store about their policy, especially when the cost is huge? We now have a $2400 dollar mattress that we stopped using a week after we bought it.

Only recently, we went to Art Van to buy another furniture set, and asked about their exchange/return policy on mattresses. We were told that all returns/exchange should be done within 30 days. We were very surprised that Scott had told us there was a federal law that prohibits return of mattresses once they left the store. Is there anything that can be done in this case?

Thanks,
Sravya