Shera Nealon is still waiting for the comfortable nightβs rest she sought two years ago, when she first walked into a Mattress Firm store in Green Valley.
Nealon and her husband, Dane, have since exchanged two Mattress Firm mattresses she says sagged and hurt her back, and have been waiting two months to have a third one picked up from their home. At the moment, sheβs out over $2,000 and, she says, is still stuck with a mattress that sags.
Unaddressed complaints like theirs are what has earned the national chain an F rating from the Better Business Bureau, said Leah Napoliello, senior director for investigative services with the BBB of South Texas and Greater Houston, which is where Mattress Firm is based.
Mattress Firmβs complaint volume is not high for a corporation its size, she said.
Nationwide, there have been about 650 complaints filed, with 442 of those unanswered and eight considered unresolved, which Napoliello said means the business responded to the customer but βfailed to make a good-faith effortβ to resolve the problem.
The company βdid reach out to the BBB recently to work on these issues and is still in the processing of resolving them,β she said.
Nealon is one of 19 Tucson-area customers who have filed complaints since Mattress Firm stores started opening here more than two years ago. So far, seven complaints have been left unanswered and one is considered unresolved.
Meeting the needs of customers is a βtop priority,β said Sunni Goodman, Mattress Firmsβ vice president of communications.
βWe take it very seriously and are sorry to learn that the BBB has open complaints logged on their online system,β she said. βWe are continually working with the BBB to resolve customer service complaints β as we stated before, customer satisfaction is a top priority.β
Goodman said Mattress Firm has a customer service process available online at www.mattressfirm.com, as well as various outlets for customers to share concerns in stores and online.
There are now 35 Mattress Firm stores in Pima County, with the corporation buying out many of its competitors and leaving fewer choices for local customers. Mattress Firm has nearly 3,500 stores and 80 distribution centers in 48 states, Goodman said, and is the largest mattress retailer in the country.
Complaints about customer service sometimes occur when businesses experience explosive growth, the BBBβs Napoliello said, but she said itβs unclear if thatβs whatβs happening with Mattress Firm. The company has had complaint issues dating back to 2012, she said.
Nealon, who lives in Sahuarita, said that when she and her husband bought their first mattress from the company in July 2013, they received a 100-day comfort guarantee. Shortly after their purchase, they decided the mattress wasnβt quite right.
They returned it and got a new one, but after 60 days realized that the latest one was uncomfortable, too. They filed a warranty claim and got approval to exchange it for a new one, but were disappointed to find no improvement.
βThis time we went right to Sealy,β she said, βbut they told us we had to go directly to Mattress Firm.β
It took two months to set up an inspection, she said, and another month before the inspection was carried out. That was in the first days of December, she said, and she hasnβt heard anything since.
Tom Shambo is also waiting for a resolution. He said he purchased a mattress from the company in August and was told the delivery would be between noon and 3 p.m.
βAt 3:30 that day, I called the store,β he said. βWe had plans for later in the day, and I wanted to make sure it was on its way.β
Shamboβs mattress didnβt arrive until 5 p.m. and he was told heβd be reimbursed for the delivery, since company policy requires a refund if the delivery is late.
Shambo is still waiting for that $80.
βEvery other week or so, we would call to ask where we are at,β he said. βThey kept making excuses why we wouldnβt have it yet. They just give you the runaround.β
