Hastens - Yay or Nay
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I dunno if it's the horsehair topper or the mattress/spring bedspring combo but it's a winner ! Whatever it is, I like it more than the Dux or Shifmans I tried Love both the 2000T and Excelisor . The 2000T is like instant comfort and the Excelisor takes about 30 seconds for the comfort factor to sink in.....at a $8000 discount. For those who have been in the same boat.....what other alternatives should I be looking it. At this point, let's say 12 years at $1333 cost per year out of life of a good mattress, I'm willing to do that ..... |
Re: Hastens - Yay or Nay
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Is anyone else on the market making a horsehair topper like Hastens ? I dunno if it was the combo of the double springs - mattress and box, but the topper was divine as well. It has some give but has some resiliancy to it as well. |
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I was looking for something and stumbled on a website--apartmenttherapy.com--or something like that. Below are a couple posts--one from a dealer and one from some extremely "unhappy campers." The site is worth perusing. [BTW, there was a poster on there who sounded a lot like confusedbedbug's setup (just guessing)]. "Hi Everyone! I just came across this site and felt compelled to add a comment regarding Hastens beds. My wife and I purchased a 180cm x 210cm Continental in June this year. We based our decision on a number of factors including price, construction (we wanted an all-natural, non-toxic bed), longevity, and most importantly our own past experience sleeping in a Hastens bed. We had a positive experience in a hotel. We saved money for 3 years to buy a Hastens. The bed cost around $12,000. We spent several hours during multiple trips to the store trying diffent beds before making our choice. Shortly after receiving our bed we found that the construction was defective. We ordered a Medium, and one side was very soft, while the other was somwhere between soft and medium. We immediately contacted Hastens and they sent a representative to inspect the bed. Two weeks later she arrived and agreed that the matress was not constructed properly and agreed to replace it. We waited another 5 weeks t before the replacement matress was delivered. There was no improvement in the matress that was delivered as replacement. We notified Hastens 2 days after delivery that we wanted to return the bed and get a refund. They actually argued with us and tried to tell us WE were wrong and the bed was fine. This despite the fact that we were both now feeling back and shoulder pain which had never happened before. They again offered to replace the matress. When we decilned to have it replaced and asked for a refund their attitude changed significantly. After weeks of telephone calls and several letters, they finally agreed to upgrade our purchase by replacing our bed with a higher quality model. We agreed to allow this on the condition that if there were any problems, we would be able to return it for a full refund. We went to the store and selected a 2000T as the replacement. The store manager phoned her boss and got the approval to do the exchange. We left the store feeling satisfied, albeit a bit uncomfortable with the quality of service (I'm leaving allot of detail out here concerning the store personells attitude, suffice it to say it was not nice). I sent a short letter confirming our agreement and asking for a timeframe to deliver the new bed. The next day I recieved a call from Hastens saying they would not replace the bed. Needless to say we were shocked. We immediately went back to the store where we spent the next hour negotiating for a refund. They finally agreed to refund 85% of our purchase price within 5 days. That was 7 days ago and we still have not seen our money. We now have to get a lawyer to help resolve this. It has turned out to be a nightmare. We wish we would have read this and many other threads concerning Hastens and their problems before making this purchase. We have subsequently been in touch with many other unsatisfied customers who share our experience. Our advice from firsthand experience is that although there are many satisfied customers of Hastens, there are also many unsatisfied ones such as ourselves. Think long and hard before you buy from them, and be sure you get everything you agree to in writing." posted by dlglobal1 on 2007-09-30 08:48:56 view dlglobal1's profile |
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Followup: Here's the dealer's post. Of course it's self-serving, but it confirms what we have discovered/discussed re: support: "Hello all, I am a retailer of Hastens and Carpe Diem Beds of Sweden. I also sell other brands such as Stearns & Foster, Englander, Sealy, Tempur pedic, and more. Hopefully this post will answer a few of your questions. It is possible to simulate the feel of a premium quality bed like Hastens and Carpe Diem, but unfortunately, no one can give you the support and comfort together, not to mention the longevity of their beds. 
As you probably know most U.S. mattress manufacturers are building beds with one sided construction. Very convenient for us, since we all hate flipping our mattress. These manufacturers are loading up one side of the bed
with tons of foam and other upholstery materials to achieve a soft comfortable feel. The problem with that design is that we as people hold the majority of our weight in our rear ends. Even though the bed feels great, the spine is not in its natural position. Your butt will sink in more then the rest of your body as the support (spring system) is way at the bottom of that big one sided mattress. What happens is you fall asleep fine, but you wake up with soarness or still tired despite the 6-8 hours of shut -eye you just got. The reason being, since your mattress failed to evenly distribute your weight, your muscles, instead of sleeping, were called to the job. I have heard various complaints throughout my years in this industry, but most of them came when mattress manufacturers decided to make half a bed. Two of the biggest complaints are; that 6 months after purchase, the bed feels signifantly softer than when they first took it home, and the other are those 1 1/2" body impressions that develop rather quickly. Both of these examples are normal according to the manufacturers of these one sided, more convenient sleep sets.
Hastens and Carpe Diem beds are built not only to be the most comfortable beds in the world, but to offer decades of support as well. They do this with all natural materials and the most advanced spring design to date. The spring in these beds is what is supporting your back and giving you the comfort. Both companies use an individualy pocketed coil which has twice the amount of turns
per coil than the best Amrican bed. This allows each coil to conform perfectly to the part of the body that compresses it with out affecting the performance of the coil next to it. The bed actually evenly distributes your weight so perfectly without applying pressure that the sleeper almost experiences a sense of weightlessness. With the bed containing no foam that detiorates, Hastens and Carpe Diem promise 
decades of comfortable restorative sleep. You don't need to spend 20 or 50k to experience this, ever Hastens and Carpe Diem bed offers this starting around 5k. 
If interested, I have some Hastens models that I would discount from 10% to 40%.
I hope this has been helpful, if you would like to contact me, please do so at: tsnakes1@optonline.net" |
Re: Hastens - Yay or Nay
| Yup, that was me! It is an interesting site to read up on the Hastens' stuff. |
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ConfusedBedBug - Just curious.....were you able to ever come something amicable with your Hastens ordeal ? |
Re: Hastens - Yay or Nay
I am not the writer of the post with all the Hasten's horror stories - just the brief comment about using the Hastens' topper with the Beckley bed - which we like.  |
Re: Hastens - Yay or Nay
| Correct. BTW, for everyone's edification, how thick and how much (if you don't mind) are the toppers? |
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Sure, the queen topper was, if memory serves, about $1300 and it is about 3" thick with horsehair, cotton and wool. 2" of memory foam was from Healthy Foundations and was about $200. Expensive toppers but they give the feeling of a very comfortable bed with good springs and horsehair at a fraction of the cost of the hastens or McRoskey for that matter. Is it as good as a Hastens - who knows? I loved the feel of the 2000T for the little time I got to spend on it in Chicago, but it is not in the budget right now. As well we are larger folk and we have back issues and seem to need a firmer mattress so, I'm quite pleased with what we put together for the money and enjoy crawling in every night! This message was modified Feb 27, 2008 by confusedbedbug
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Just for the sake of balanced reporting. As an owner of a Hastens (I don't work for them or their competition) I believe some of these ant-hastens comments about construction to be without merit. I have owned my Naturally for almost 4 years and have had no mold, no bed bugs, no sign of wear in the topper, and no flaws in the construction. The comment about the medium vs. soft only exists because Hastens actually gives folks the option of firm, medium and soft at each price point which means you have to pick wisely. This is a good thing. The cooling effect of the cotton works exactly as advertised and this is one of the best features of the bed. While it's true that there are some artificial materials the may "wick" moisture away as well or better, that would defeat the point of a Hastens, which is to use natural materials. Pour a bucket of water on any bed and you will have a wet bed. Hastens topper is another great feature. Instead of promising a 10 year life for a one sided foam monstrosity that doesn't last 10 months like the "S" companies. Hastens warns (in writing) that their toppers may not last as long as the rest of the mattress and makes them removable, flippable and replaceable. This is called honesty and is also a good thing. As I mentioned, after almost 4 years there is no sign of wear in my topper so i will get more then 5 years out of it. Hastens are way too expensive for the average purchaser and this I can't debate, but they are wonderful mattresses otherwise. Best Wishes, Ian |
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I provided a positive and a negative view, and suggest that going to apartmenttherapy would be worthwhile. I'm sure the great majority of Hastens buyers love their mattresses (they had better) but it sounds like a large number may not. Regarding wicking, you've turned the point on its head. Hastens claims that cotton so much better than synthetics. It's not. In fact it's worse. Cotton is a great material, but not for moisture transfer (other than absorption). And it's not the best natural material for that purpose either. That language is just marketing fluff. But if someone finds the topper to be great, and doesn't mind spending @$1300 after 5 years to replace it, that's OK. Personally, I find that too steep on top of the initial price (and I hate any high priced product which can be found "on sale" for 40 to 50% off--that shows how much mark up is there to start with). Confusedbedbug--what do you know about the coil system used in the Beckley? Who else uses that Holland coil? Is it manufactured by L&P (L&P manufactures roughly 75% of U.S. coils)? Thanks. |