After finding and reading this forum for about 3 weeks, doing endless searches in the archives (btw,  the day after we purchased a Serta Opulence Plush king size) we ordered a king 13000 today from Shawn at SleepEZ .  We felt totally comfortable in our decision thanks to all the data I was able to glean from this forum.  I am so excited!

As a background, I am a 62 year old female, 5'9" and 175 lbs, my hubby is 62, 6'1" and 215 lbs.  We slept for 15 years on a Simmons Beautyrest.  I have had two lower back laminectomies and have a weak back that doesn't bother me too much in day to day life, but the mattress, with fox holes present now, has been giving my back fits for about 6 months. I wake up daily with a backache and while traveling, my back rarely hurts.

  A month ago, I never dreamed I would even think about buying an "all foam" mattress, much less buying it in 8 pieces with a zip cover and on the internet!!   After reading the problems with a latex bed from a "S" company, we stopped delivery of our Serta and, I must say, they were  nice about the whole thing.  I was so worried Mattress Firm would not refund our money, but the young lady at the store said she  understood and credited us back every penny (This was 4 days after the sale, but before delivery)  She told us we could not find a 100% latex bed "out there" and we told her we could.  Initially, she had told us theirs was an all latex, but we found after reading the law label that it was 61% latex and 39% "other items".  The saleslady confirmed it had a poly foam sidewrap (for strength)  and a soybased foam base.

We then took two hours and went to a local latex mattress store, Sovn European Sleep Systems in Dallas.  We loved the feel of their all latex bed. It was 2" soft talalay and 6" medium talalay. But its cost for their 9" king bed was $5000+ with euro slats.  We knew we weren't going to purchase there, but I definitely wanted to lay on an all latex before I ordered one.  I'm so glad we did. 

Our king bed from SleepEZ cost $2095.  There is one item I want to mention about their exchange policy.  We were told we could exchange once and we only had to pay the return shipping.  If we wanted to exchange a 2nd or even 3rd time, we could and the only cost was shipping both ways, not the cost of the entire layer.  Shawn confirmed this with us on 2 different phone calls.  And of course, we have 90 days for a full refund.  Considering the lower price we are paying, I liked this and felt if we needed to swap out even 2 or 3 times, we would still be ahead of the game as far as cost.  And, since we are getting the 4 layer bed (soft, med, firm, x-firm combo) we will have all pieces to do any combination we want in determining what comfort level is best for each of us.  He even said if we decided we only wanted the 10", we could return 2 layers and the cover and he would send us another cover and refund the difference.  We are getting the 4 layers because we want a higher bed look.

Anyway, I just wanted to tell my story and let you know how much I've enjoyed these forums and the knowledge I gained.  Do you think all my decisions and conclusions work?  I will let you know how this works out after we receive our bed next week.  I would appreciate your input/comments.

MissMac: this is from SleepEZ's web site.

Sleep EZ 90 Day Trial and Return Policy

We have a 90 day layer switch out policy on latex mattresses . This means you may return any one of the layers in your mattress in exchange for a layer of different firmness. We pay shipping of new layer to you, and you pay shipping back. Shipping is approximately $30 depending on location. To make sure you are not inconvenienced in any way, the process is as follows: notify us of the desired firmness, we ship new layer to you, and you return switch out layer to us in the same box. Subsequent layer replacement would be at current price of 2.8" layer, plus shipping.

Sorry for the formating. but this is how it copied and pasted, using Firefox.

If they have changed there policy they should change there web site. I feel they are loosing business because of this factor.

Did you buy all natural or blended latex?

I hope you love your bed.

Does SleepEZ have a full refund policy? I thought you could only exchange...

Aren't  those King sized priced outrageous! At least the saying "everything is bigger in Texas" has been dented. Here I NY,  City Mattress is quoting $7199 for their product!

Hope we both find the bel we're striving to build. I'm leaning toward FloBed cause of the liberal swap policy.

Eagle2 - Yes, we discussed this with Shawn and I even read that line to him and he said they had never charged a customer for a 2nd or 3rd layer, only shipping in BOTH directions after the first exchange.  I don't know why he doesn't change that wording.  I think I will email him about what you said.  We purchased talalay blended.

jimsocal - they have a 90 day full refund policy but you do have to pay shipping to return the mattress. He quotes that at $100 to $150 probably, depending on size, location, and number of boxes.

Based on these facts, I would say they have nearly as good a refund policy as Flobeds and the way I look at it I am saving enough up front compared to Flobed's cost, that I can afford a few shipping costs

AND by buying a king with 8 pieces of talalay blended latex to play around with, we should not have but maybe one or two exchanges.

Shawn was very accommodating and our bed, ordered yesterday afternoon, is shipping today and shows to be here via tracking numbers by next Tuesday, 3/2.

I'm happy and just hope I will be after sleeping on the bed a month!!

Thanks again for all the good information here on this forum.

I've never talked to Sleepez or Shawn, but from all reports he's a stand-up guy.  Still, I would take the extra step of asking him to give you the return/exchange policy he verbally quoted you *in writing.*  The written policy is a good piece of insurance to have.

KimberlyH wrote:
I agree with Kimberly!

Sean is doing SleepEZ operation a very big disservice by not correcting his website if their actual policy is more liberal than they are saying. Just remember the old lawyers adage, "A verbal agreement is not worth the paper it is written on!"

I always try to approach business dealings with a methodology that goes like this. "If I were to have to appear before a judge in a court of law how would I prove my case?" The simple answer is I would have to have written documentation, or a quite revealing video, or an audio tape. Something that the judge could look at as being non-subjective and truthful.

If they are allowing more than one exchange for their layers without charging for them than they are doing themselves a very big disservice by not stating that on their website. There is no telling how much business they have lost to FloBeds because FloBeds states quite explicitly that you have unlimited exchanges for 90 days with you only paying the return shipping costs for your layer that is being exchanged. Everybody who has bought a FloBeds has found this to be true. Flobeds words on their website match their deeds.

From everything I have read on this forum SleepEZ is a good and reputable company. They are certainly less expensive than FloBeds. But this business about having to pay for any layers beyond one, was one of the principal reasons that I did not do business with them but instead bought a FloBeds. So, this is one customer that they lost by not stating on there web site what they now say is the truth regarding exchanges!

I love the way my foam layers feel when I sleep on them. Maybe it's just me, but that quilted mattress casing SleepEZ sells with the layers totally takes away from the experience. They should come up with something a lot better. I ordered the terrycloth mattress covering from Foambymail.com instead. Once I removed the quilted covering I didn't have any issues with my broad shoulders aching in the morning. I'm no scientist but I do know it ruins the consistency of the latex. That's why you buy it. It's supposed to give in all the right areas, not all over. I don't know. It's like the quilted covering creates that sagging effect when you lay on it for a few minutes but there isn't one. There's no sagging when I sleep on the layers without the quilted casing. The latex cradles me just right.

london79 may have something. I and others on this forum feel that the closer we get to the latex the better off we are. Sometimes just the difference between a very thin mattress topper and a slightly thicker topper can make a difference.

I have never heard anyone complain about a SleepEZ mattress cover before. I have a FloBeds and the cover for it is quite soft and pliable. My guess is without actually seeing and feeling the covering for other beds is that the FloBeds cover is constructed to be a softer configuration. One thing nice about a FloBeds cover is that you can completely unzip it and take off the top piece. A person could then put on what ever type of top cover they wanted.

I found that when I completely removed any type of cotton topper, particularly if the thermostat was set to a warmer temperature, that the bed felt too hot to me. A simple solution, since it's winter, was to turn down the thermostat 2 degrees Fahrenheit.

I feel one thing has been proven on this forum regarding latex. Very slight differences of surface configurations can make a tremendous difference in the way the mattress feels to the individual.

So are there more of you out there that have problems with their covers?  I haven't read anything about this until now.  I have laid on a few layers locally and didn't think a lot about it.  Do you think it affects more people with pain issues?

MissMac wrote:
I don't know about them, but it really bothers my hip with bursitis, and the other side that doesn't have bursitis.  I use a blanket over the latex layers; but I still have pain issues but I have too soft of latex over the hard spring mattress right now.  But when I used a mattress pad I was in worse pain.  It is a trampoline type of feeling when you lay on mattress pads that are too tight.

I am looking to buy a new latex mattress in the future and I just can't decide if it is worth the money getting one with a cover that I will probably end up removing.  I am super sensitive to mattress pads and the mattress quilting itself.  I guess you won't know til you try either Sleepeze or Flobeds mattress covering.

Just to clarify. What SleepEZ sells with the latex layers encases the latex. It's not just a cover. You place the latex inside then it zips up so it looks like a traditional mattress.

What is the difference between the Sleepez zippered mattress cover and the Flobeds zippered mattress cover?  The Flobeds one is knit cotton and wool. . . . very comfortable.

I do not know the difference but I know my FloBed mattress cover is wonderful.  The first one sent to me was not as nice.  The zipper had a rip in it which I was told by Dave would be replaced but I should wait since they were making nicer covers. The new mattress cover is wonderful and soft to sleep on. It also has protection so the latex does not get caught in the zipper like the first cover.  This all happened in the year 2007.

For clarification's sake, I think we need to differentiate the way we are using the words, "mattress cover", and, "mattress topper".

The way I have interpreted these two terms is as follows.

A mattress cover used by manufactures like SleepEZ, Savvy Rest, and FloBeds, the mattress cover completely incloses the foam layers, holding them tightly. I believe in the case of SleepEZ that there top cover piece is zippered on three sides, I believe Savvy Rest top cover piece will come off completely, but I'm not positive about that. FloBeds zippered top cover can be completely removed as it is zippered on four sides.

A mattress topper can be several different things but it usually fits over the mattress cover as a protector for the cover, and in some cases gives extra cushioning ,IE. wool and so forth. It fits over the mattress cover with a stretchable skirt arrangement to help hold it in place.

It's always good to get things in writing, but on the other hand, there is something to be said for trust. Personally if Sean at SleepEZ told me he would give me a certain deal, I would trust him to do so. I might only clarify with him one more time that we are both "on the same page", and I understand correctly the deal he is offering.

After I had so many car dealers promise me the world orally and then not deliver, I make sure everything is in writing.

london79 wrote:
What was SleepEz quilted mattress cover/casing made out of and how thick was it?  I am hesitant to get Flobeds cover because I can't even stand a mattress pad over the latex without anything else over it.  It really negates the softness, and my shoulders too would ache.

My cover allows the latex to feel through it and I think it is because I have it snug but not too tight like it was when I had all size 3" thick natural latex cores and the 2" convoluted topper under the cover. With each side a 2.8" blended latex core, two 3" natural latex cores and a 1" topper, the bied fits snug but not too tight and I can feel the latex underneath when I only use a fitted sheet and no mattress pad over my zippered up mattress cover. I also feel the latex pillow helps a lot.

Well, The cover from SleepEZ is a cotton cover quilted to wool.  Our mattress is due to be delivered tomorrow so we will try it out tomorrow night.  I will try to leave a report on all aspects of the arrival, setup, and feel of that first night.

We have slept on our king 13" mattress for 8 nights now and I love it!  Before latex, I was waking up nearly every morning with a back ache (2 back surgeries) and I have had no back pain in the mornings at all the last 8 nights.  And...this is even with an ever so slight sag which I attribute to our old box springs we are using until we decide what we want to purchase to take their place.  The latex is configured from top down as soft, med, firm, xfirm.  My hubby likes his side, but my side may be just a bit soft.  I am going to move my soft layer down a couple of layers and if I like that, I may trade in my soft for a medium.

MissMac, Congratulations on your new Latex Bed!  I feel you will be happier with the medium on top for more support. I am glad you are liking your bed. Please keep us updated.  I only wish I bought a latex bed years ago instead of in the year 2007.

Congrats! I'm so glad you're happy with your new bed! I'm a newbie FloBeds owner and am still configuring mine. That's what makes layers so great, being able to change them as necessary.
You also get great advice from the experienced posters here.

I'm glad you're pleased with your bed!  Continue to keep us updated.