Mattress/Tempurpedic question ... I am about to purchase a used "1 year old" Tempurpedic mattress from a local person (via Craigslist). He claims it is a Deluxe model ...

May 14, 2009 8:14 PM

Mattress/Tempurpedic question ... I am about to purchase a used "1 year old" Tempurpedic mattress from a local person (via Craigslist). He claims it is a Deluxe model ...

I went to his house and the mattress looks and feels good, but I would like to verify that it is indeed a "Deluxe" model (mostly in regards to negotiating price).

I understand from the Internets that a Deluxebed is 10" thick, but when I was there I neglected to measure the thickness.

When I go to pick it up tomorrow (I haven't paid him yet), is there anything I should look for to determine that it is not a different Tempurpedic model (eg. "Classicbed")?

posted by Dave. to home & garden (11 comments total)

Something to look for where someone would try to get rid of a great matress earlier thn expected... hmmm... Bedbugs?

But, at a year old - I'd also look for original documentation to see if the warranty was transferrable (most matresses have warranties far longer than 1 year). Plus, an original sales receipt and documentation should give you an idea as to whether this is actually a deluxe model.
posted by Nanukthedog at 8:25 PM on May 14

I don't know if this helps, since you don't say how much you are paying for the used Tempurpedic, but I got a *new* high-quality memory foam bed from Bed-In-A-Box for $475 delivered (they are based in Tennessee).

My girlfriend (who shares the bed every night) used to have a Tempurpedic and says that the BIAB is just as good, if not better. With Tempurpedic you are paying a hefty fee for their brand name and their marketing budget... Expensive does not necessarily equal better quality.

Just letting you know you have some (possibly cheaper) options.
posted by bengarland at 8:27 PM on May 14

Where do you live?

It doesn't really matter how you answer that question, unfortunately. It's happened in Boston, it's happened in New York, it's happened in San Francisco, and what happens those three places is bound to spread to the rest of the country.

The only way to be sure is to cut the mattress open and have every square centimeter of it tested in a lab. If you see black spots on the outside or the inside, even tiny black spots, then at least you'll have an obvious sign; but that only happens at the end of their life cycle, when they're completely engorged with the human blood of their hosts, and by then they've reproduced and spread. Most likely they're invisible to the naked eye; and since they can live for at least a year without feeding or even moving, well, you're pretty much out of luck.

Don't buy the mattress. Don't ever buy a used mattress. Take it from someone who's suffered bitterly to learn the lesson: furniture ain't nothin' to fuck around with.
posted by koeselitz at 8:30 PM on May 14

Really: I learned this lesson through six months of my wife waking up every morning crying after she'd found the latest bites; six months of (totally ineffectual) exterminations every three weeks or so; six months of dry-cleaning every single piece of clothing we owned every time we had the extermination done; six months of moving in and out of hotels before being assured (wrongly) that this would be the last time; six months, in short, of pure hell. Buying a used mattress carries the same risks (if not greater risks) as having sex without a condom; and while bedbugs can't kill you, they are at least as troublesome and pernicious as some venereal diseases. If you wouldn't have sex without protection, don't buy a used mattress.
posted by koeselitz at 8:36 PM on May 14 [2 favorites has favorites]

I guess having sex without a condom on a used mattress would really suck.

I do not think this person is knowingly selling you a bug ridden bed considering he let you into his home to view it and test it. It does seem a little odd that you are picking it up tomorrow and have still not yet negotiated a price though.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:20 PM on May 14

Previously.
posted by halogen at 10:02 PM on May 14

JohnnyGunn: I do not think this person is knowingly selling you a bug ridden bed considering he let you into his home to view it and test it. It does seem a little odd that you are picking it up tomorrow and have still not yet negotiated a price though.

Bedbugs are invisible, and often people have thick enough skin that the bites aren't noticed until their last stage of life. He may have them and not know it. Or he may know it; the tiny bite marks aren't obvious, and are probably in a place covered by clothing. The bugs themselves are almost impossible to detect, even for experts; most exterminators couldn't give us straight answers even after an hour or so of inspecting our apartment, since the only way to know is to actually find a bug, and since these things are generally (a) too small to see and (b) completely transparent. We knew we had them when the bites started appearing.

I didn't pick that metaphor randomly; it really is like a venereal disease. There's almost no easy or quick way to see if someone has them; they lie dormant and manifest sometimes a long time after you catch them; and, most importantly, you not only have to trust the person when they say they don't have them, you have to trust that they've actually tested and paid attention. And you're not only trusting them; you're trusting every piece of furniture in their house, especially the wooden stuff (bedbugs love to hide in the tiny holes in wood and upholstery; that's why they're impervious to fumigation) and the places they got those items, trusting that they haven't gotten any furniture off the street or from people who might have had the bugs.

Really, I've gotten to the point where I only get my furniture (a) brand new (from discount places like Ikea, since I'm not really rich) or (b) from friends that I've known for a long time, friends who have owned the furniture in question for over a year and haven't shown symptoms.

Yes, I'm trying to scare you. No, I'm not making any of this up.
posted by koeselitz at 10:04 PM on May 14 [1 favorite has favorites]

Manager for a store which sells TempurPedic here. The deluxe is 10" and the classic is 9". The deluxe also is a softer bed than the classic is. Your best bet other than measurement for telling the difference is to find a local store selling them and take 10 minutes to go lie down on the deluxe. As far as the generic brands go, some are better than others I sleep on a generic myself, but it was very much a price decision for me, as I do prefer the feeling of the TP bed. My advice for the potential bedbug situation is to get a full zip breathable mattress protector such as one made by protect-a-bed, see protectabed.com. Don't cheap out and get the vinyl zip up cover as that won't allow any air to circulate through the bed and you'll be hot when you sleep. Also the cover on the mattress itself is removable and washable (although kind of a pain to put back on) And the last of my $.02 for a year old mattress he should be making you a heck of a deal.
posted by kojak666 at 11:03 PM on May 14 [1 favorite has favorites]

One thing I happen to know about TempurPedics is that they can break down in quality over time, leaving it extremely uncomfortable to sleep on because the actual support of the material degrades. My mom, who has fibromyalgia and extremely bad back pain, had a TempurPedic, and just from her own weight sleeping on the mattress, it's degraded enough that it no longer provides enough support for her to sleep comfortably. And she has attempted all kinds of MacGyvering to get it to be comfortable again because she certainly can't afford a brand new one, but nothing is making it go back to normal. So just for that reason, I would personally never buy one of those used.
posted by so_gracefully at 11:31 PM on May 14

Bed-in-a-box. It's well-worth the money and you will NOT be sorry. MONEY BACK GUARANTEE.
posted by goml at 10:00 AM on May 15

I don't like the memory foams that Tempurpedics are made of, but I can't imagine sleeping on anything other than a solid core latex mattress. The synthetic ones are pretty affordable, and you might look into that as an alternative. They break down, but only after about 15-20 years.
posted by Caviar at 8:09 AM on May 21