Consumer Watch: Mattress shopping can be confusing

What big purchase did you make over the Labor Day weekend?

I bought a mattress.

Buying a mattress can be a dreadful experience.

Here's what I scribbled on a notepad as I headed out with a fistful of mattress sale circulars and a checklist of wants: "12:30 p.m. Headed out to shop for a mattress. I'd rather eat dirt. Can we make this quick?"

Two hours and 45 minutes later, still at the first store, after trying out six different mattresses for about 15 minutes each, I wrote: "No. 6: I think this is it! Enough coils. Supports all of my body. Free set-up-and-haul-away of my old mattress. Priced within my budget. No mail-in rebates. Feels good."

I bought it.

But even though I went to only one store, I could see how shopping for a mattress can be a nightmare, as Consumer Reports magazine confirmed in its October issue, which includes a mattress-buying survey of 17,444 subscribers.

Mattress shopping can be confusing, it said. It's hard to tell if one's better than another without seeing their guts, and nearly impossible to compare apples-to-apples because manufacturers sell the same models under different names.

Of consumers who bought new bedding in the past few years, the survey found:

• 16 percent regretted their mattress choice.

• The top choices for satisfaction were Tempur-Pedic (median mattress priced at $2,408), Original Mattress Factory (median price of $891) and Select Comfort (median price of $2,125).

• Denver Mattress, Simmons, Kingsdown and Serta ranked in the middle for satisfaction.

• Sealy, Stearns & Foster and Spring Air ranked the lowest for satisfaction.

• 78 percent of the biggest spenders -- those who paid more than $4,000 for a mattress -- were highly satisfied with their purchase.

• 66 percent of those who spent less than $1,000 were highly satisfied, too. So a comfortable mattress doesn't have to cost a fortune, the magazine said.

• Only 36 percent haggled over price. Of those, 72 percent got their mattress for less.

. . .

Here are some mattress-buying tips:

• Try before you buy. Take off your shoes and recline on several mattresses for about 15 minutes each. Be sure the mattress supports all parts of your body evenly. The best bed is the one that's most comfortable to you.

• Don't fret over coil count. Anything more than 390 coils should be sufficient. More coils don't guarantee a better mattress, according to the Better Sleep Council.

• Find out the return policy. Where I shopped, you must call within three days. If you return a mattress, the store withholds a 15 percent restocking fee.

• Write "no-substitutions" on the contract. If the mattress you selected is out of stock, you don't want one you haven't tried out.

• Don't put faith in the warranty. An inspector will come out and look for reasons to void the warranty. Abide by the fine print.

• Inspect for damage at delivery. Don't accept a defective mattress.

. . .

I had two unpleasant surprises at the store.

That free delivery-set-up-and-haul away offer was changed to $49.99 after the sales associate learned how far away I lived from the store. Then the price changed to $69.99 once at the register. I balked and paid $49.99. It should have been free, as originally stated.

I also turned down attempts to up-sell me a $99 mattress pad.

Contact Iris Taylor at (804) 649-6349 or . Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/RTDIrisTaylor.