Recently, while purchasing a bed from Sleep Country, I was subjected to the worst service imaginable, completely inconsistent with their advertising. I feel that it is my obligation as a consumer to alert others of the poor service.

I needed a bed and selected Sleep Country based on their ads promising good price, excellent service, express delivery, and the removal of the old mattress. As it turned out, some of these promises have no relationship to reality.

On January 4, I went to the location at 799 York Mills Rd. and bought a Sealy Merlot set with a frame. In spite of the promise of express delivery, the earliest delivery date available was eight days hence - hardly speedy. However, I went along with it. The saleslady assured me that the old bed would be removed, and, that, while the staff could not take the old frame with them, they would move it downstairs. Although the latter was specified on my invoice, it didn’t happen.

As promised, a bed was delivered in the 11 to 2 time slot. The delivery staff refused to remove the old bed frame. “ Not my problem” - said the man. I didn’t like his attitude. After all, it was promised. Then I noticed that the wrong bed was delivered. I wasn’t happy - I had to wait 8 days and now I might have to wait some more. I called the store 3 time in the space of about 45 minutes. No answer. It is Friday mid afternoon and nobody is picking up the phone. Great service indeed.

During my first visit, the saleslady gave me her card and told me to call in case of any problem. Why call, if nobody bothers to answer. Had someone answered, I would have gotten the customer service phone number and would have resolved the problem immediately. I would have avoided a very stressful and humiliating experience.

I decided to go over to the store. The saleslady was busy with a family, with another client waiting. Politely, I explained my problem. She could have taken a moment from her sales pitch and given me the number to call. I would have called them and the problem would have been solved. Instead, in a discourteous fashion, she told me to move away as she was conducting “confidential discussions”. So, although increasingly unimpressed with the service, I did as she asked. This went on for 15 - 20 minutes.

After they left, I again approached her and politely, although this was getting difficult, explained my problem. Now, even more rudely that before, she told me that another person was ahead of me. Again, it would have taken just a moment to give me the phone number. So I continued to wait, quite a distance away from where she was serving the client. Then, amazingly enough, she approached me and told me that I was “being disagreeable” and asked me to leave.

“It is not my problem” she said and finally gave me the customer service number on a card with the other saleslady’s name. Not surprising, given her behavior that she wouldn’t give me her own card. (It seems that “It is not my problem” would be a more truthful slogan for the company than the platitudes in the ads. She could have easily helped me at different points in time - by answering the phone, when I first arrived or after she finished with her first client. By the way, she kept ignoring the phone the whole time I was there.

Throughout the ordeal, I maintained my civility and waited patiently while my stress level increased. I am a respectable member of the community. At no time in my life, was I ever kicked out of any place. It was a profoundly stressful experience.

After going home, I phoned the customer service number and the person there offered to have the right bed delivered the same day. Although loath to deal with the company, I made the expedient choice of going along thus saving myself additional aggravation.

There is a profound contrast between Sleep Country’s marketing slogans and the reality of the service they provide. From the outset, the service I received ranged from inadequate to downright offensive. The facts are that the staff ignore phone calls during business hours, that the only thing that matters is making a sale, and that, once a sale is made, the customer can be treated like garbage.