Mattress Forum

Unfortunately...even if Tempurpedic DOES work warranty with you...your 20 year warranty is NOT non-pro rated, so there is likely to be a charge...and that's only IF you can talk themn into fixing the issue. Tempurpedic will also want you to get the bed to them. You'll likely have to use the store you bought it from as the go between and they will likely charge you a delivery fee to pick it up for service and another delivery fee to drop it back off.

Now , I'm not here to support or bag on Tempurpedic.  Do yourself a favor, when you buy a bed...lie down on it for awhile...don't make a hasty desicion. Try it out...leave the store...come back another day and try it again. Most people make the mistake of walking in and lying down on a bed for 3 minutes and then lying on another bed for 3 minutes and making the choice to buy the mattress they're going to use for the next 10-15 years. You can research online all you want...but it's going to tell you NOTHING about hpw the bed will feel to YOU.

Me? I like latex. Last a helluva lot longer than memory foam, feels better, sleeps cooler, and retains it's supposrt for decades! Great stuff.

People constantly ask me..."which bed would YOU buy?" I tell them that's a bad way to shop. There is almost NO chance that I and them will like the exact same product. I'll make suggestions based on the feel types they seem comfortable on,as to which of the products I think will hold up longest, or with which bed the best value is, but that's it.

Hello Bruce,

Thank you for trying to contribute to the forums.  But I may have to add, that this is really not the place for self-promotion. 

I would also assume the OP did more than a few minutes laying down...but even if they had laid on the bed for a few hours, it would not convey 100% how much memory foam softens with use.  This is really a pretty unfortunate situation, I am not sure what I would suggest as a topper, it is fairly difficult to add something to the top of the bed and firm it up...perhaps a really high ILD 1" layer of latex foam?

Is the surface still flat?  TP's warranty requires a visible depression of at least 3/4 of an inch, & unfortunately all it takes to cause back pain is for your hips to sink in a little too far, which can happen even if the surface is still visibly flat when you're not on it.  And that sink is still going to be there under any firm topper you stack on top, but it can't hurt to try.  Considering this level of investment, I'd also at least attempt to get TP to do something.

Too many reports similar to yours, after after just a year or even a few months in some cases, then for some reason others seem to last for many years without a problem.

I think they all soften...most people just are not sensitive enough to notice.  

• (this is not that point, it is just a story) I know a guy who made the claim that where he slept, had a pocket that did not come from "conditioning" (or lack of it) but was a definite bubble where his back was. He ended up getting a replacement (he had the Rhapsody for  2-1/2 years). There was no visible impression when not in the bed, but they ended up with an inspector making the determination that this guy's claim was correct.
• I tell customers about how to condition a mattress (any) to make it feel more like the one in the store quicker than normal usage will allow. Some people have looke at me llike I am an idiot, but I see too many other things that get a "break-in" period or process, why wouldn't a mattress:
  • driving a new sports car under 80mph for the first 100 miles to allow the fluids to get conditioned and the engine/transmission to become properly conditioned...
  • washing your new jeans so they become softer
  • walking in your new dress shoes/heels for a brief period of time before wearing them for that "big" occassion (otherwise, the grimace on your face makes people think you are constipated)
  • letting the dough rise when you make bread so that it "works" properly when you begin to bake it
  • walking on your mattress in an even pattern head-to-toe and side-to-side to evenly break-in the sleeping surface and reduce the "drastic" difference in the feel of where you normally sleep and where you don't
• the common occurrence in a king size bed of the "hump" in the middle is not as much the breaking down of where you sleep (although it definitely contributes) is largely dependent on two factors:
  1. when enough of the oils, salts and sweat from your body get into the materials (quilting, etc) of your mattress that they no longer fluff back up; AND
  2. when the areas least used begin to be visibly noticeable.
• if you were to look at the mattress from the foot of the bed to the head and starting about 2 feet from the end, it would probably look something like this    -_^_-   the center is the ridge most people feel and unless they use their "playground" often enough, the center does not get broken in; the lowest points are where you actually sleep for 6-9 hours and the edges are where you sit on, enter and exit the bed. If you were to walk on the bed on the highest areas only, it would reduce the drastic difference and give the bed a lesser sense of dipping
• I know, I know... why should I have to work to make my bed do what it should do by design? Think of it more like maintenance: an oil change for your car. washing your jeans once a use/week/month. glass of wine or piece of ginger to cleanse the palate... all of these are done to give the end user a "fresh" response or more like the first response as possible... to make the pleasure last longer.
• Hotels use MANY methods to ensure the comfort of their mattresses for extended periods of time despuite the fact that any and every size, shape and activity takes place on them day after day... mattress pads (water resistant to water proof), mattress pads for comfort, feather toppers, high thread count sheets, multiple pillow selections, etc. the number one request I get as a consultant from a first time shopper is in reference to a hotel experience and how to reproduce it. The mattress may only be $1000 to do that, but the entire system is closer to $2000
• My job is to help people sleep better and to educate (with as many options as possible) so that the client makes the best decision for his/herself

CONLCUSION: Try to condition the other parts of your mattress...or, if you feel a toper is necessary, try latex as it will both keep your body temp from getting into the Rhapsody (so it doesn't adjust as drastically) and if it is firm enough, may even provide the support you are not currently receiving.

Hope this helps... sleep well fishstick!

Just as I thought. It softened and now you are stuck.

As for other advice - try latex. Forget latex. It is not pressure relieving.

Latex will create a new pressure for you. It is called "pushback".  even soft latex.

If they tell you to try organic latex. tell me are you going to eat the mattress? Dirt is organic too.

 I guess that rhapsody cost you big time. good luck.

Explain to me if I am wrong on any of these points - 

Cheap poly foam breaks down quickly, it sags and softens and is generally poor quality.

Latex provides 'pushback' and no pressure relief whatsoever (even though there are many that would disagree with this) and there fore is also no good.

Memory foam softens and is also no good.

So what kind of mattresses are we left with?  Beds with no foam of any kind...Hastens, Vi-Spring, Lavital? 

Not asking this to be controversial or at all grumpy- just asking as I continue my own search. As you've probably read, I too had had problems with a pillow top bed (no surprise there- lesson learned- just wish I'd found this board before that mistake). I love everything about latex on paper, but in real life I just could not adjust to the 'push back'- but, I think I had an all latex from SleepEZ that ultimately was just too firm. And, while I do love the 'cush' of a nice memory foam, our Sealy Embody is mushing on us far too quickly :( That is unfortunate, bc I loved the feel of this mattress for a few months and now it's just so so. Many mornings I have pretty bad back pain, other days not so much. But, unlike many posters with lower back pain, mine is always middle to upper back. I can't speak to Tempurpedic- I have many friends that swear by them, but my husband just doesnt like the feel, so we havent taken the plunge. The Embody has a bit of a bouncier feel to it, so we tried that.

So- as Roy was making his 'push back' argument, I got back to thinking about good quality, high count coils with about ~2" of medium to soft Talalay latex. That's sort of where we are leaning. We do want the many benefits of latex, but for us, an all latex (8") mattress just didn't seem to be the right fit- probably b/c I do like just a little bit more contour- or sleeping 'in' the mattress. Not a ton, but just a little. Wondering if 2" of natural talalay over springs might give us some of the benefits of latex, but maybe a little more sinking or contour from the pocket springs? Yet- still very durable?