Attention Mattress Giant: If you knew the bed was bad, why did you sell it to me?
The trend that I hate the most, really hate, is that it takes most service personnel two times, at least, to get things right. We used to live in a nation where almost everybody got things right the first time.
Now you hire somebody to do something, most likely, they will have to come back because they didn’t get it right the first time.
Recently, for example, the security alarm guy from ADT visited Watchdog Nation HQ to help protect our top-secret investigative files.
He was back again the next day. He forgot to alarm the back door.
The new brakes that were put on Watchdog Nation’s Batmobile the other day? We had to return and get them replaced after 24 hours. Defective parts.
But the one that stands out in a week of second chances is the Mattress Giant.
Last week, we bought a new bed. Of course, when they delivered it, they forgot to bring the bed frame.
No problem. I went to the store and picked it up. Yeah, second chances. I half expect the incompetence.
By the second night, however, the box springs were so creaky we couldn’t stand it. Every move on that bed sounded like a stack of plates crashing to the floor. LOUD. CRASH. WAKEUP.
We returned to the store, and the woman at the counter apologized. She told us there might be a $59 exchange fee.
I started reading their statement of principles hanging on the wall to her. Standing behind their service. Quality. Blah blah blah.
She got the fee waived.
Then I asked her how come the box springs made so much noise?
She explained it was part of “a bad batch” that came from the bed factory in Cleburne, Texas.
I asked, “If you knew the batch was bad, why did you sell it to me?”
She replied, “Well, some of the bad ones got mixed in with the rest.”
EXCUSE ME?!
Have you ever heard of bar codes? Inventory control? Finding the bad ones in the lot AND PULLING THEM OFF THE SHELVES??
I believe Mattress Giant knowingly sold me a bad bed. How else to explain how they knew the batch was bad and still sold it anyway?
I called Graeme Gordon, the vice president of marketing and advertising for Mattress Giant (sted on the company Web site as the PR contact), to discuss this with him. If he calls back, I’ll update this post.
An employee at the International Bedding Corporation in Cleburne, Texas told me she wasn’t aware of any bad box springs, but if there was a bad lot, “We sell it to Mattress Giant, and if they have an issue, they’ll talk to our production manager. If you have a problem, talk to Mattress Giant.”
I’m talking here. Right now.
UPDATE: After this blog post appeared, within seconds, Mattress Giant sent me a message via Twitter. A few minutes later, Graeme Gordon, who didn’t call back yesterday, called today to respond to this post. The vice president for marketing and advertising apologized.
Here are excerpts of his remarks:
“We’re in the middle of a meeting and I wanted to step out to let you know that I know what was going on…
“This comes down to someone at the store level who unfortunately isn’t aware of what is going on.
“The reason we know something wasn’t right was because we saw returns jump from 1 to 5 percent… There was a flaw in the design.
“The manufacturer told us they were completely redesigning the box springs. So there’s no excuse for getting it mixed in…
“I’m not one to give excuses, and honestly, there’s no reason that should have happened….
“If anyone calls and says they’ve got the same problem, I’ll bring them one tomorrow. I’ll give them a pillow, whatever it takes to get the problem solved…
“I’m going to ask you: Can I send you a pillow to make up for this?”
I said, “Thank you for the gesture, but I’m not in this for the free gifts.“
Published in Bad Business, August 4th, 2009 by Dave Lieber
August 4th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Wow. That’s getting action any way you can get it. And fast. These guys need to have someone on their tails pestering them to do the right thing. It’s nothing like The Customer Is Always Right days, when, if you caught a mistake, they’d instantly rectify it. Nosireebob.
Well at least one good thing came out of it. Even though it was defective, at least it wasn’t made in China!
August 4th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Saying you’re with the newspaper had been enough. Saying as a consumer you were writing a corporate executive — and following through — used to be enough. But retail management is getting the memo that the Internet is forever, that a posted complaint gets cached.
Cash was king, now it’s cache.
Long live the customer.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Good one Ben! Cache out!
August 5th, 2009 at 1:14 am
This case study is interesting. Sears still stands behind its slogan, "Customer satisfaction guaranteed or your money back." So what I don’t get is why Mattress Giant didn’t offer you a brand new, free box springs. Maybe more people should buy their beds at Sears.
August 5th, 2009 at 8:43 am
Good work. Could get addictive. Hope your wife has a lot of life insurance on you.
August 5th, 2009 at 8:49 am
I also think part of the problem is a lack of training — training the people who deal face-to-face with customers. The person you dealt with at the store clearly wasn’t equipped to handle this right. There has to be a corporate culture of doing things right from the very top to the very bottom. Obviously some gaps there at Mattress Giant.
August 5th, 2009 at 10:56 am
It doesn’t say a lot about quality control when you get box springs that would have made a great prop for The Three Stooges. Not only did you set yet one more instructive example for consumers, Dave, but I’ll bet you lowered the unemployment rate. I envision dozens of new hirees bouncing like jumping beans on those box springs to prevent the next call from a Watchdog devotee. On the upside for the company, maybe the ones that fail they can sell to the sitcoms.
August 5th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
And so David slays another Giant.
August 6th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Mattress Giant just sent me a postcard asking me if I was satisfied with my customer service concerning this bed purchase. So to save time, I just printed this post and comments out and stuck it in the envelope. It said also that I would get a thingie to put over my eyes when I sleep. First a pillow, not a blindfold….
November 9th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
You would think they would have given you a discount or even a new mattress to try and make up for this. It doesn’t sound like the service was too great!