Sleep Number Bed (Select Comfort) PART 4

Continued from The Sleep Number Bed (Select Comfort) PART 3

Yup, there was mold embedded into both air chamber fibers on my Sleep Number bed, and the chambers were wet. I checked recent news websites and learned there was a pending class action lawsuit against Select Comfort for mold in their beds. (See update below for lawsuit information.) And the company was telling customers mold in beds was normal and to scrub the chambers with bleach to kill the mold.

I tried the bleach scrub before calling the company just to have that already done when I called to demand a refund, but as I suspected, it did nothing.

When I called, they told what they had been telling other customers--to scrub the air chambers with bleach and that mold was normal. Having done it, I rebutted that it didn't work and mold in beds is not normal. The Select Comfort representative countered with, "How do you know? Have you ever seen the inside of a mattress."

"Yes. As a matter of fact, I have." And I explained how I had seen the inside of an innerspring mattress, that there was not mold in that old bed, and that my husband Jim was allergic to mold and had been suffering daily migraines upon awakening.

The rep didn't know what to say. I demanded a refund even though the bed was six years old, and insisted Select Comfort also pay for return shipping, which they normally do not.

After much rebuttal and my persistence, Select Comfort finally agreed to my terms, but I had to supply the return shipping boxes. No problem. They probably figured it was better to have me out of the class action lawsuit, for if Select Comfort refunded our money, I'd have to be excluded from the suit.

It took forever for the refund to come because it kept getting lost in their system, but many weeks later, we finally received it.

We slept on the floor for about six months after that on our memory foam mattress topper, and the first night on the floor, I slept far better than I had for the previous six years. And then I noticed the body impressions in our mobile home floor. We needed a replacement mattress soon, or we risked going through the floor. So I asked God for a mattress.

That week--I kid you not--my mom called. "Do you want a bed?" she asked. My mouth dropped and I almost didn't know what to say.

It turned out that the homeless shelter where her husband, Tom, worked had been given a new queen sized mattress and box spring by a local mattress company, but they had no one who could use it. The shelter didn't want to turn it away and lose future mattress donations, so they asked Tom if he knew someone who needed a bed. He instantly thought of Jim and me.

So, after six years of suffering with the Sleep Number Select Comfort bed because I believed their deceptive advertising, God took it away, refunded our money, and gave us a new replacement bed for free.

That new mattress set is what we're sleeping on today, and nights are much more comfortable. Jim no longer awakens every night with migraines, he hasn't had severe back pain every day, and my back/neck/head/shoulder pain is nowhere near what it had been, although I seem to have permanent shoulder damage from my shoulder getting crushed on the Sleep Number bed each night.

Overall, if you are determined to purchase a Sleep Number Select Comfort bed, buy the model with the most foam on top, but you're better off going with a foam only bed.

Read the report on the Sleep Number bed by Consumer Affairs and see what consumers say on epinions.com about Select Comfort mattresses before you buy.

UPDATE (June 30, 2008): A class action lawsuit has now been filed against Select Comfort Corporation for mold in their beds. Please see the Select Comfort Class Action Litigation Web page for more details if you own a Select Comfort bed purchased between 1987-2005.

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