Tuesday, February 19, 2013

2/19/2013 Cold Front Coming Through

(Arizona City, AZ)

Brrrrrr,,,,a cold front came through the desert last night and it looks like its going to hang around for the next week or so.

I went into town today to start shopping for a new mattress.  I want to see what’s out there and what the choices will be.  It’s been quite awhile since a new mattress has been on the shopping list and I got a bit of sticker shock!  There are three mattress stores in Casa Grande, American Sleeper, a store I had not heard of before but it carried brand names that are household words.  There is also Ashley Furniture and a mattress liquidator outlet.  At first I was a little put off the idea of liquidator thinking it would be no name mattresses made out of horsehair but I was surprised to find Serta, Beauty Rest, Sterns & Foster and a few other brand names I knew.  Curious, I just had to ask how this whole liquidation thing works and why these brand name mattresses were in liquidation to begin with.  Well, it turns out, its nothing more than the “line” name changing or the fabric covering changing.  Serta might have 47 sets of a certain line left in stores all over the country and will pick them up when they deliver the “new” line (different fabric) and sell them to liquidators to get rid of them.  They are brand new, still in the plastic wrap, still covered under warranty just not the current line that the manufacturer is selling.  The prices were in line with the other stores but they are willing to deal.  Something this Queen of Cheap will keep in mind when the time comes.

Of course they were all touting their President Day Sales but when isn’t there a mattress sale?

I wrote to DRV, our RV manufacturer, about how this mattress has failed so miserably in a short amount of time once before.  I got an answer of, “Yeah, you’ll have to go buy a new one, most people do.”  Today I got thinking about that answer and it just didn’t sit well with me.  So I wrote another email.  Now here’s the funny part.  The very first guy I ever dealt with is named Greg who gave me the answer above.  A month ago I wrote to him and he passed my email on to the appropriate person, another man with the same first name.  When I addressed my email today I picked the second Greg when I thought I was clicking on the first Greg’s address in my email list.  With me here?  So I get this answer from Greg # 2 saying this is the first he’s heard about our failing mattress and to give him more details.   Hmmmm…..maybe there is hope after all.  So I sent off an email with my concerns and he wrote back right away to send pictures.  Pictures?  How will I show a sagging mattress?  It’s a wonder what you can do with a broom stick, a four foot level and a camera.  I took the pictures which clearly showed the sagginess and wrote explanations of each one.  The next morning I had an answer.  They are writing us a check.  Now Greg made the “mistake” of asking if the offer was acceptable.  Uh. No.  I’m going to plead my case for more money.  I figure all he can say is no.  In that case, I’ll take what he offered and smile rather than laugh all the way to the bank.

After a stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things I hightailed it back home to settle in for an evening of TV and Words With Friends on the computer.

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