The Mattress Giant in Orange City, FL had quite a scam going. A little over a month ago, my wife and I purchased a Simmons "World Class" bed for a retail price of $1,899. At the time we made the purchase, our salespeople (who seemed nice enough) told us that we could exchange the bed for another one if we decided we didn't like the one we purchased.
Given that this was a fairly major purchase, it gave us some peace of mind to know that we could do that. We certainly didn't have any intention to take them up on the offer, but it was good to know it was there if we needed it. I should also note that when we selected the bed we bought, our "second choice" in the store was the Simmons "Relaxation" Hotel bed, which had a price tag at that time of $1,399.
Almost immediately, my wife and I both realized that the bed we had purchased was a bit too plush for our liking. Nevertheless, we figured we'd give it a few weeks (on the advice of our salesperson) and see if perhaps the bed would "break in" and be more comfortable for us.
Last week (Monday, July 7 to be exact), my wife and I returned to the store to let them know that we would like to go ahead and switch to the "Relaxation" bed. At the time, the salesperson (the same one who sold us the original bed) asked us to wait an additional five days to fulfill the 30-day break-in period and if we still wanted to exchange the bed, she'd go ahead and take care of it.
We knew we didn't need another five days to determine that we didn't want the bed, but we went along with the plan anyway. Lo and behold, we called the store today (Wednesday, July 16) to request the exchange and were informed that the "Relaxation" bed no longer had the "sale" price of $1399 and that the new price was $1999.
The salesperson (again the same one who sold us the bed) tried to put a positive spin on the situation by telling me we weren't going to be charged any more for the new bed and that we could actually choose a bed with a price of up to $2999 and still not have to pay any more than the $1899 for which we were already on the hook.
What we weren't going to get, however, was a $500 refund for the less expensive bed, which we feel we were entitled to. What's more, the salesperson told me the prices went up "about a week" ago, which was at least two days AFTER we were in the store and made it clear that we wanted to exchange the bed.
This just seems like a shady way to do business to me. Clearly, the bed we want is considerably less expensive than the one we purchased ($500 less at the time of the original purchase and $1,000 now).
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