I purchased an "Elegant" mattress (the best one they make) with boxsprings/frame from the sales representative of Kingsdown, Mattress Giant. I purchased a warranty. Kingsdown is out of Mabane, NC. This "sleeping system" was installed by Mattress Giant. Within a month it becamse evident to us that the mattress was "sagging" in the middle substantially and to the point of not being comfortable.
I informed Mattress Giant about it and requested a warranty claim be made. Several months passed and I called back and was told that "oops" they forgot to make the claim. They advised that they would correct the situation. Many weeks passed and I received a package from Kingsdown. It included a camera, a weighted string and a paper ruler. The instructions were to strip the bed and place the sting across the center and place the ruler in the middle.
To make a long story short Kingsdown makes its "sagging" decisions based upon how the bed appears without weight distribution diagnostics.in my case the mattress is a pillow top and the top layer is resilient and not part of the problem. The failure is obviously in the lower mattress structure. Utilizing a sting across the bed is totally inadequate to test or measure how a mattress performs "under pressure". I wrote a letter and sent the requested information and photos to Kingsdown. Additonally I took my own photos of the differential wieght distribution problem (sagging) and noted that the center sag was in excess of 4".
Kingsdown responded by sending a "mattress marshall" out who advised me that my photos did not turn out. All he did was photo the bed and perform the "string" routine. He was not interested in discussing the weight distribution problem with the bed. A few weeks later my warrenty claim was denied by Kingsdown. The mattress marshall advised that he works full time for a number of mattress manufacturers doing inspections daily. He noticed a "hump" in the middle of the bed and said he would pass it on. (This abnormality is caused by the inner structure failure).
I explianed all this to Mattress Giant and the manager was going to "talk" to his superior about what they can do about it. I have not heard from them. If I get a positive resonse to this from Mattress Giant I will revise this report. Please note that Mattress Giant is an "agent" of Kingsdown when selling their product or warranty, so they are not "off the hook".
In sum, and in consideration of similiar problems, it appears the you can wipe your hindsight with Kingsdown warranty. Their testing performance relys on superficial measurement that is ludicrious at best. They say that your mattress has to be sagging at least 1 1/2 " before it is considered "sagging". Unfortunatly this is nowhere represented in the warranty language of their policy. Therefore their conceptualizations are spurious and random.
Take heart Florida residents (and perhaps other states). Florida is one of the few states that considers Warranties as "insurance" and therefore must abide by the Florida insurance statutes, specifically FL 634.422. First of all, all warranty companies and their representative are required to be "licensed". The grounds for compulsary refusal, suspension, or revokation of license or of sales representaive, two of which are:
1) Willful misrepresentation of any service warranty contract or willful deception... Done either in person or by any form of dissemination of informatin or advertising.
2) Demonstrated lack of adequate knowledge and technical competence to engage transaction authorized by the license or appointment.
Obviously Kingdown can lose thier license to sell warranties in the State of
Florida if the above can be demonstrated. Since warranties are considered as "insurance" there is also the queston of punative damages due to "bad-faith".
Speak out America! Stand up! Your not alone. I am going to give Mattress Giant a chance to make things right depite Kingsdown's deception. If they they do I will revise this report. I am really not counting on it however. If they do not, I will file in small claims court locally and challenge them. I will document the sagging pictorially and support it with testimony. I would hire an expert but I know of no "mattress expert" to call. If you know of one please let me know. I will use the above arguments.
Additionally, since I live in Florida, I have made an official complaint to the Department of Insurance and have requested verification of their current licensing. I will keep you informed.
Tom
port charlotte, Florida
U.S.A.
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