Does anyone know differences between the Serta Perfect Sleeper beds sold at Sam's Club vs. other stores like Colders?

My husband and I went to Colders yesterday and found the bed we want: Serta Perfect Sleeper Choice Edition Eurotop. It has 660 coils, 2.5 Ultrasoft Foam, Foam encased edges; Colders is sellling it for $1819.99.

I found a similar mattress at Sam's Club website: the Serta® Grandis Super Pillowtop Set for $998.00.

I was unable to determine what the differences were between the two so I called Serta. They told me that they didn't know what the differences were and that the composition of the padding they were unable to disclose to the public. They advised me to call the retailers. So I called Sam's and they couldn't tell me anymore than what Serta had written and is posted on the Sam's website which is very basic. I called Colder's and they told me that Sam's club made inferior version of Serta mattresses that won't hold up and that Serta made a "special" mattress that only they sell.

Does anyone know the truth in this? Has anyone bought a Serta Perfect Sleeper Grandis mattress from Sam's and has it help up? Is $1819.99 for a mattress too much?

Thanks for any help you can give me! :)

This is one of the reasons many people on this forum have turned to mattress kits and Frankenbeds. Manufacturers and merchants collude to prevent the consumer from knowing exactly what they are buying or from comparison shopping because the same mattress is sold under a different name at every store that carries it.  The manufacturers won't help you because they want to protect their merchant's "exclusivity." And most retailers are very cagey about exactly what's under the hood.

Occasionally you can find those cutaway samples that show you what the construction is but even if you do you'd have to find another one somewhere else to compare it. I've only come across one chain--Mattress Giant located on the east coast and midwest, that actually provided a detailed list of materials used in each of the mattresses they sell on their website. But they still play the exclusive name game.

If you have perused this forum you will know that mattresses made with PU foam don't hold up no matter how much money you spend. The general rule of thumb is to buy one with the least amount of padding. Stay away from pillowtops. You'll be sorry if you don't. Get it as firm as you can and put your own comfort layers on.

Oh. and one last word. A salesman will always tell you the mattress he sells is better than the one someone else is selling--even if it's the same mattress. That's their job.

And yeah, $1820 for a mattress is way too much--considering it's going to last three years if you're lucky, less if you're not. 

Thanks so much for your advice! I've been reading more about what Bill is doing with building his own bed and I'm thinking of doing something similar. My husband and I really like innersprings though. I am thinking of buying a Serta Perfect Sleeper without a pillow top and instead buying egg crate or 2" of PU foam to put on top of it from foambymail. We really like the coil system of the Perfect Sleeper for the support it provides.  Before we were married by husband bought a 3" memory foam topper from Overstock and put it on top of an old Simmons mattress. When we were married that whole system had to go. I hated the memory foam topper because when we laid next to each other we formed a canoe in the middle of the bed. Maybe I would like the memory foam but the 3" was just too much. We hate Visco memory foam even though it's better than the cheaper memory foam supposedly. That's why I was thinking of possibly putting 2" of PU foam or egg crate or both on top like what mattress companies do for the Pillowtop. What do you think? I know that PU won't last but since it's only the topper we can always replace it. What do you think?