Bensons for Beds

[Annoyedatbensons]

Hi All,

 

I wondered if someone may be able to give a bit of advice relating to our problem with Bensons for Beds.

 

My partner suffers with a degenerative spine disease and a muscle disorder. This means that he has problems with his neck, shoulders and back. He has been using the same osteopath for 15 years.

 

We purchased a mattress from Bensons for Beds in May 2011. The bed was a Miracoil 8 Colour 180cm One Piece, Super King Size. This mattress is made of springs and latex. We then decided to purchase the divan bed base from them once we got home after ordering the mattress. The mattress was on a promotion so we received 2 pillows and a quilt for free.

 

The mattress itself cost £749.99 plus the delivery charge of £37.50, which may partner paid on his credit card.

 

When we were in the store, we advised the sales assistant of 2 things. One, that my partner has health problems and believed that the Miracoil 8 would be beneficial to him, and two, that we live in a cottage with a small stair way. We asked if it would be a problems when they delivered it, and she said that as long as the mattress is not bent (due to the springs inside), then it would be fine.

 

However, when the mattress was delivered 15 days later, the mattress was pushed and pulled up the stairs and then got stuck. They couldn't get it upstairs, without bending it slightly. The delivery men did not make any notes that they had to bend the mattress.

 

After approximately 5-6 months of using the new bed, we noticed that it started to 'dip', despite turning the mattress every week, sometimes every few days. My partner called Bensons for Beds to advise them of the problems the mattress was causing and that the delivery men had to bend it. They asked for pictures of the 'dips' and that they would look into it.

 

A week passed, and they still hadn't repsonded to the E-mail, so my partner called them. They advised that they hadn't had the E-mail, so we resent it. Again, no reply. My partner called them again, and they said that they cannot see the dips in the mattress - the dips are not clearly visable by photograph.

 

After more telephone calls, they finally decided to send out an independant third party, Homerserve. Now, I used to deal with Homeserve at my previous job, and they were a nightmare, so already I was not convinced. When the man came, he said that the mattress is in tolerance levels and he would let Bensons for Beds know.

 

The dips on the mattress are now considerably worse and my partner is stuggling to get a good nights sleep due to this.

 

We spoke to them again and obviously at this point, we were exasperated with them, so we advised we are going to get the furniture ombudsmen involved. We have filled out their form which is now in the post to them. We are aware that this process will take numerous weeks to resolve.

 

My partner woke up in agony this morning, and was straight on the phone to Bensons for Beds and told them he wants the matter resolved today. He spoke directly to a supervisor, who just kept repeating the same thing and said there was nothing else they could do and would not be giving a refund. He told her that he has had to spend over £500 in osteopath appointments because of the mattress. My partner then said that the only way forward was to either to sue them or go to watchdog or rip off britain. She didn't answer to that, by then my partner was so annoyed he had to hang up.

 

He has had to have 2 osteopath appointments last week and another today just to 'fix' him after we have been using this mattress. His osteopath told him that he has been correcting the same problem in his spine for the last few months, and this could possibly be due to our bed - my partner hasn't changed anything else in his lifestyle to cause the trouble he is having with it. He also asked the shop owner of another bed shop (who he has bought various mattress from previously) and he said that the mattress should not dip that badly within the space of time it has.

 

We have contacted his credit card company today, to reverse the payment to Bensons for Beds as we are not getting any joy out of them. We will have to fork out more money for a mattress that actually does what it's supposed to - not from Bensons for Beds.

 

 

Anyway, thank you for reading and I apologise it has gone on forever, but I wanted to give you the full story without missing bits out.

 

Any advice would be extremely helpful!

[Tim Deegan]

The Miracoil spring system is a continuous spring system. They are well known for being very unreliable. In fact many manufacturers used to use them, but stopped due to them being so unreliable and noisey.

 

They make out in the adverts that Miracoil is the best thing since sliced bread, and gives really good support. However it is based on an open coil spring system, and isn't very supportive at all. In fact a Which Magazine report actually said that it was the cheapest spring system to produce.

 

If you read through many forum sites you will see people complaining about SN groups products.

 

Bensons are notorious for being extremely difficlult when it comes to customer service.

 

If I were you I would contact both Trading Standards, and Watchdog.

 

And have a look here for advice before buying a replacement: [EDIT]

Edited January 26, 2012 by dx100uk
as last time - please do not advertise without permission of admin - dx