I purchased a mattress a bit less than two years ago from American Furniture Warehouse. Multiple sales reps touted the Kingscourt mattress as the best - it offered the adequate firmness for great back support and a pillow top to "cradle you softly as you drift to sleep." (their words) A few of them had even bought that same mattress so they were supposedly, or at least convincingly, speaking from experience. When the mattress arrived the delivery man said, "Good luck getting out of this one." I was confused by his words then but realize now that he foreshadowed my experience with this bed perfectly. Owning this bed has been a long, frustrating, not to mention sleepless experience.

When the bed was delivered, the pillowtop padding had already shifted. It was not spread evenly along the top as it was in the floor model, rather it was bunched up in the middle, creating a concave effect on either side. I called AFW and they said that was normal occurrence during shipping and that everything should settle back in due time. They also told me it would take sometime to get accustomed to the new mattress and congratulated me on the great decision I had made in purchasing that model. The bunching in the middle did not go away, and after a month or so, I called back to discuss what was going on with the mattress. They again, said it was normal and that it will take time for me to adjust. Another month passed and not only was the bunching still there, but the top fabric on the bed also began to shift and bunch. When I called to complain about this, the representatives became rude. I spoke with three people on different occasions (after my initial two calls) and each promised to send warranty paperwork to me first via email, when that didn't work by fax, and when that didn't work, by regular mail. I never received paperwork through any means. I made more calls, that resulted in me getting passed around from person to person, and even hung up on a few times. After trying to work with AFW intermittently for a year, I finally was able to talk to someone who was able to get the warranty information to me (he was even nice too). I received the paperwork, filled it out, and faxed it back. A representative was sent to my house to survey the mattress. I later found out that his determination concluded that the mattress was indeed defective - the side walls had collapsed, the bunch in the middle remained, three inch depressions appeared on both sides of the bunch, and the fabric had shifted and bunched creating waves atop my bed. I was thrilled that someone had finally verified the validity of my complaints and was eager to start the process of getting a properly manufactured mattress, however, despite all of the problems I had with the mattress and AFW they were only willing to give me a store credit for 60% of the original purchase price. Jode, the person at AFW in charge of mattress returns said that because it was so long and the manufacturer had gone of business because the quality of their mattresses declined, said that I was lucky AWF was even willing to give me that since they are not legally obliged to me at all. He said they were being so generous merely for the purposes of customer retention. I respectfully argued that had their customer service been professional, honest, and diligent (as they are advertised to be) the mattress would have been determined defective while the manufacturer was still in business, and therefore my warranty would have been intact. Also, if they were genuinely interested in customer retention, they would readily back a defective product that they had sold. Jode said that he would give me an 80% store credit, but that was it. He repeated emphatically that he didn't have to do anything and that I was lucky he was willing to work with me at all. He also told me that I would be able to get a mattress comparable to the one that I had (not defective however). I asked him how I would be able to accomplish this with $300.00 less to spend on it.

I am not sure what to do at this point. I've attempted to get a new mattress at AFW. I've visited on five occasions and can find nothing comparable in the range of what they've credited. The mattress I did find that was comparable, was $160.00 more than I was told I had to spend, and despite the frustrating experience I've had with AFW, I was still willing to give them more money. At the checkout however, the women told me I would have to pay an additional $200.00 restocking fee, making the total extra out of pocket, $360.00. Entirely helpless and frustrated, I thanked them for their time but told them that I could not make that purchase on account of the pricing discrepancies. I went to AFW initially because of Jake Jabs' reputation in the community as a great contributor to the disenfranchised and I have had nothing but horrible experiences. I just want the descent mattress I was promised, or something comparable. I haven't slept in almost two years behind this fiasco and their defective products and I don't know what to do. I don't think that I should have to give them more money (though I was willing to). I think that AWF needs to exhibit the "good business" they claim to practice.