I've shared this on here a couple times before, but a couple years after I retired and moved into this new apartment, I got rid of my big clunky bookcases, big clunky sofa, big clunky dining table, big clunky bedroom furniture.
I got a new bed from IKEA with a modern metal frame (above) that I just loved and still do--but the mattress sits on wood slats, not box springs so it's much lower to the floor. I had some difficulty adjusting to it, until it occurred to me to buy a mattress topper. I bought one from Bed Bath & Beyond for $119.00 and it was just right. Well made, alternative down filling, a nice loft. I rotated or flipped it every 2 weeks when I changed my sheets.
But it only lasted so long, and after 5 years it was time for a new one. That particular one was no longer available, so I bought (what I assumed was) a comparable one from Amazon for only $55.00. There's a reason why it was so much less in price--it was rough, scratchy, lumpy, uneven. I complained about it to my neighbor who offered to take it off my hands.
I bought another one from Amazon that was a little better, but not much. I grudgingly used it these past two years, then a few weeks ago decided to replace it with a good one like I had before. This time I went to Wayfair. I searched for "FULL SIZE ALTERNATIVE DOWN PREMIUM TOPPER" and then for one with the most positive reviews.
I wound up with a couple to choose from, but both cost under $65.00. That worried me. I wasn't looking to save money, I wanted quality more than anything and was willing to pay for it. But I went ahead and bought one anyway.
Big mistake--in the days waiting for it, I was bombarded with emails from Wayfair, 19 emails in 3-4 days. (In the days that followed, another 13.) When it arrived, the package was so small it surprised me. 12"x 18", the size of a standard pillowcase folded in half. It was encased in an inch of packing tape and Chinese symbols, and said "NO KNIVES! YOU MUST CAREFULLY REMOVE!" and then in tiny print, to let it decompress for 72 hours. I did as instructed, and wound up with a floppy, oversized (too big for a full size mattress, smaller than a queen) topper with puckered stitching, a funny burnt smell, a papery-feeling exterior and a cobwebby feeling interior. I really got scammed.
Disgusted with Wayfair, disgusted with myself I bunched it up, took it downstairs and piled it into the dumpster behind the building. I will never buy from Wayfair again.
A few days later I'm on my laptop, did a google search for "higher end mattress topper", scrolled past all the sponsored links and came up to a few names I'd never heard of before. Boll & Branch, Sferra, Parachute. I went on the Parachute website and found a mattress topper that looked great, for $260.00. That's a lot of money! I decided I needed to think on this.
A couple days after Christmas I returned to the site and saw it was part of an After-Holiday sale for $180.00. It also said "Number remaining in stock: 17". When it suddenly dropped to 13, I decided to stop pussyfooting around and bought one.
For a company located in Culver City, California it came amazingly fast, in 2 days via UPS. (Shipping was free.) I was surprised when I went downstairs to the lobby and saw a 4 foot tall box down there. It was HUGE. Doesn't theirs come compressed like all the others? Nope.
Brought it upstairs and lifted a very large white handled item from the box that looked like a piece of soft luggage, with PARACHUTE on the side. Fancy.
Pulled out the topper--absolutely wonderful. It's dense, very heavy, but in a good way. The material felt luxurious, premium. It has a 100% cotton shell, made in the USA and doesn't mash down easily. First rate construction and the exact same size as my mattress. No smell whatsoever.
Here's 2 photos of the new topper. Just letting you know, I'm not getting paid to write about this or receiving a discount or anything for putting this on my blog. This isn't one of those phony blog ads! I'm just relieved & happy to find such a good quality topper.
Maybe I could've found one of comparable quality at a lesser price if I had shopped around, but at this point I don't care. I got EXACTLY what I was looking for. And I wasn't deluged with thirty "Please take our survey" "You might also like" "Douglas check these out!" "Rate Your Experience" etc. emails either. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.
There is nothing like a good night's sleep! I agree, it is worth it to pay for high quality bedding. I'm in need of a new mattress, so the process begins. I'll look to see what Consumer Reports recommends. It's such a pain to have to return it, you want to make the best decision the first time. Congrats on finding the perfect topper!
ReplyDeleteCarole
Carole, thanks very much and I couldn't agree more--if you see this and remember, I would love to know what kind of mattress you wind up with and why. This is something I'll be needing to do too in the next couple years.
DeleteSo happy for the ending! It is rough to try to purchase items on line. I try so hard to look at the descriptions, read the reviews, google the item at other retailers. Since Walmart came to our small town in the late 90's one by one all the small retail stores disappeared. The fabric stores, the appliance stores, the furniture stores, even Kmart. We were able to go to Big Lot in person to get mattresses for beds for our grandkids but they are gone, too. You are purchasing blind!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you lucked into the right vendor for sure!!! (I am still thinking about the smelly one).
I know what you mean about the emails. Just thinking about that this morning as I was deleting the 68 new emails I woke up to. Buy one thing from a vendor and you get emails for life. I do "unsubscribe" but it doesn't seem to stop the deluge. Worse is when you are researching an item, purchase it and continue to get advertisements on every form of social media since elon and zuckerberg are still trying to entice you in spending money.
Miss Merry, thank you and I hope you know how much I enjoy your comments! The same here in regards to Wal-Mart and in fact, I think they should start putting mini stores on Main Streets like in my own neighborhood, where they drove the local stores out of business. Now we have a row of empty shops. As for Wayfair, this was like my third purchase from them in the last couple years that seemed chintzy to me, I don't think they are what they used to be. And YES you summed up the email extravaganza perfectly!!
DeleteAh, the reason I order very little online. I only order from established companies who have a brick and mortar where I can return items that I might not be sure about. I do, though, try to go TO the store to make my selection and purchase.
ReplyDeleteWaiting for a package to arrive makes me nervous. Right now we are waiting for a box of ink pens that can only be purchased from the manufacturer. They will arrive on a day we may not be at home but I've given our house sitter a heads up. Had we known they would take so long to ship we would have waited until we were back home to place the order. It's been 2 weeks now since we ordered. I'm thinking the company may have shut down for the holidays.
Thanks for sharing dkzody, I hope you get your pens--as for shopping online, I know it can be a disaster. I bought a leather chair a couple years ago online and got something in burnt orange, nothing like the picture. They let me ship it back but it was a major hassle. The thing is, I sold my car a few years ago and there's no place convenient for me to shop. In the future however, I will purchase no major pieces of furniture online. :^)
DeleteIt is so hard to order these kinds of things! It looks soft and comfy. I’ve been called the Princess and the Pea, cause I’m super picky, about pillows especially. And the emails, wow. Joyce
ReplyDeleteJoyce you made me laugh out loud--ever since this whole thing began, I've been thinking of that Princess and the Pea fairytale, and feeling guilty for being so picky. Thanks for sharing, I'm glad you can relate :^)
DeleteDug, your new mattress topper looks great. Glad you finally found one that worked. And yes, you generally get what you pay for... But you didn't say whether or not you returned the ones that didn't work (well, you said your neighbor took one, you used one for 2 years, and you dumped one in the dumpster). I never buy anything from Amazon that doesn't say, "Free Return". But I've never bought anything that was big/huge like furniture, etc. - not sure how that could be returned to our neighborhood Wholefoods?
ReplyDeleteWe bought a new mattress about 2 years ago... at Mattress Firm. Also got one of those adjustable frames so I can sleep with my head lifted. I love it (with my possible sleep apnea and eye surgeries, it has been great). But making that king size (2 twin) adjustable is NOT easy. It takes both DH and I together to change the sheets!
Rian your bed sounds very large, I can just imagine what it takes to make that in the mornings! But I'm glad you're able to sleep with your head lifted, especially with your recent eye surgery. I didn't bother trying to return the Wayfair topper. Technically there was nothing wrong with it (besides being shabby) and after I decompressed it, no way to pack it back up to return. It was under $60.00 and I wrote it off as a loss. I just know I have to be a lot more careful what I buy online in the future.
DeleteThere is no limit to the price I would pay for a comfortable bed! I'm glad you eventually found the mattress topper but it must have been SO frustrating along the way. John has a topper on his bed and it's comfortable. He still claims that my pillow top mattress is more comfortable. However, I'll have to replace it some day and I'm nervous about making the wrong decision!
ReplyDeleteThanks Margaret! I love pillow top mattresses, my sister had a really nice one in her guest room that she offered me a couple years ago. I've slept on it and it is very comfortable. But I was looking for something for my own mattress just to raise it higher up from the floor, more than anything. I didn't realize these mattress toppers could wind up being so comfortable. 🙂
DeleteHi Dug! Thanks for stopping at my blog today. I'm so glad you found the right topper after all that hassle. I hate when you order something and get inundated with emails and sometimes texts. We got Dining room chairs from Wayfair several years ago and they were good quality and turned out to be a great purchase. But you just never know till the order arrives.
ReplyDeleteSleep good!
Thanks Mari, nice to meet you! I appreciate what you said, and I'm glad your chairs worked out for you--but this is just what I mean, several years ago I liked Wayfair too and bought several items there. It just seems in the last few years, their quality has gone downhill. Anyway thanks again and I plan on making that tasty crockpot breakfast of yours :^)
DeleteI assume you sleep on top of that because it looks just like my doona (or duvet, depending where you’re from).
ReplyDeleteFortunately, my bed is the right height (base plus the mattress) – I can back into it and sit down without thoughts that I’m falling, or alternatively, having to stand on tiptoes.
I’m glad you finally got what you wanted.
Thank you Maestro, and yes sir; it goes under the fitted sheet. Okay you just gave me a laugh here Peter, I had to go and back into my bed to see if I experienced falling. I did not. 😄
DeleteTotally agree with you, Wayfair emails and communications are over-the-top annoying. I made one purchase from them and opted out within a few days of delivery. I was happy with my purchase but the barrage of emails really ticked me off!
ReplyDeleteI'm happy you found a topper that works and appreciate your recommendation. I've always wanted one but every time I start to shop, I get overwhelmed with the choices and give up. 🙁
Thanks Bobi, and see you're right, I've gotten a couple of things from them too before that I did like; but it's not worth all the hassle! And I appreciate what you said about being overwhelmed with choices, that's precisely why I kept putting off getting a new one. 🙂
DeleteI dislike ordering things on-line as you just never know what you will get. Sadly, so many retailers aren't keeping the stock they used to, so one is forced to look elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found a good company, not only providing exactly what you wanted, but doing so in an efficient manner. Enjoy your new topper, it looks very comfortable!
Maebeme you said it, thank you. I wasn't going to share this but I sent Parachute a thank you email for exactly what you said here. They did respond and said thank you and found their customers preferred how they conducted business. I will shop with them again. 🙂
DeleteI am another who feels the Wayfair business model has gotten out of control - like substituting a barrage of marketing for actual quality products! Never again, and its too bad because I have some really nice linen sheets from there many years ago that are finally getting a bit threadbare and it would be nice to start looking for a replacement, but it won't be from Wayfair! And I had never heard of a mattress topper - sort of a super deluxe mattress pad?
ReplyDeleteAlways something to learn!
Ceci
Thanks Ceci, I got my bedroom curtains from Wayfair 7 years ago and they were really nice; but I don't know what to think now I have been hearing various accounts that they've gone downhill. It's too bad. I'm surprised they don't advertise these mattress toppers more, because they really are nice things if you get a good one! I think the gel ones are more popular, I've never had one so I don't know. I just like the alternative down filled. It's pretty comfy. Good luck with your linen sheets, I think I need new ones too. 🧐
Delete