Mattresses-Who Knew?!

We set out on a mattress buying journey at the beginning of the year. The one that came with this trailer was all wrong for me and I was waking up in severe back, neck and shoulder pain every morning. It was a really tall mattress and it was really hard for me to get in and out of or move around on. Bob and I talked it over and we decided that I simply needed a new mattress that was better suited for me.

I went to Mattress Firm's website and found a Tulo 10" Memory Foam Lavender Mattress. It was a super reasonable price. I called the toll-free number and talked to a nice salesperson, was told that I had a 120-night guarantee or so I thought. This person told me that the carton, that the mattress was shipped in, had lavender flowers in there so that it smelled good.

I grow lavender. I use it in my home. I ordered the mattress.

The mattress showed up and we put it out in our shed for about a month. We had other things that needed to be handled and we needed to find a home for the mattress that was in here. I posted the old mattress on Facebook Marketplace and it was gone by the following day.

Bob brought the Tulo Lavender mattress in and set it up.

By the next morning, I felt like I couldn't breathe. I lost my voice. My sinuses started bleeding again. I got a bad headache that I could not get rid of. I was continually wheezing. Just walking up to the bathroom was making me run completely out of breath and I was just sitting there, gasping. I started coughing up horrid green junk. I didn't put two and two together until several days later, while I was out of the house and breathing a bit better, that it could possibly be that mattress. We decided that we would utilize that 120-night guarantee and find a new one so that we could get that toxic lavender one out of here.

I have to say that I don't have many good things to say about Mattress Firm. I called the toll free number and was told to go to the local store to find a new mattress that was less poisonous/toxic to me. We did that. We found one that cost $170 more. We paid for it after being told that Mattress Firm would deliver our new mattress the very next day and remove the toxic one.

By this time, I was desperate to breathe. I was using my nebulizer 4 times per day and using my albuterol inhaler in between. I imagine I felt like a fish does when it's out of water.

The delivery truck showed up the next day, as promised, but they tried to tell me that they couldn't remove the old mattress because there was a stain on it. They claimed it was a blood stain. Like he double toothpicks there was! If there was a stain on that mattress, it was on there when they packed it in plastic. They wouldn't let me speak to the warehouse person who made the decision that the delivery drivers could not take the toxic one. They hung up on me because I kept asking to speak to that person. They wouldn't give me their names. Nothing. The delivery drivers left and took my new mattress with them and left me to suffer with the toxic one.

I wound up calling the store. The person who sold me the new mattress told me that he didn't have the number for Mattress Firm's corporate office. Funny thing is, about that claim, I'm fairly certain that the corporate office address would be on his pay stub. I looked it up online and got a direct phone number. I called the corporate office and told them what was happening to me. The lady put me on hold for quite a while and, apparently, listened to the initial sales call because I told her I was flat lied to. There were no lavender flowers in the box. This thing was infused with a toxic smelling chemical and, if I couldn't get it out of my house, I was going to have to go to the hospital. I went on to tell her that if that happened, I would be filing a lawsuit against Mattress Firm for not honoring their 120-night guarantee.

After about 10 or so minutes on hold, she came back on the line and told me that they would be taking the mattress back and delivering the new one. I'm quite grateful to her for that.

That toxic smelling mattress was picked up this morning. My new mattress was put on my bed. We have the roof vent open up there, even though it's not exactly warm out, and it's airing out. My breathing has done a 180. It's not back 100%, but the second that toxic mattress was taken out of here, it got better.
I was able to get up, do the dishes, walk around and, most importantly, I haven't felt the need to use my nebulizer or an inhaler since that toxic thing left.

The moral of this post is that finding a good mattress is important. Knowing all the possible things that could go wrong is even more important. Getting a good night's sleep is the ultimate goal.

I hope that, by posting this, I can stop someone from going through what I've just gone through. I seriously thought I might die because it was that hard for me to breathe.