Check guarantees, store policies before you buy

Your Voice

By: Letters to the Editor | Hickory Daily Record
Published: October 07, 2009

I want to warn customers who purchase mattresses locally to get a satisfaction guarantee on the mattress whenever you purchase it. I purchased a mattress and box springs that is too hard to sleep on. At the time of purchase, as I was writing my check, (without any comment as to why), I was asked to sign the bill of sale. I did not read it thoroughly, but learned the next day that it stated that the store has a no return policy.

I tried to sleep on the mattress that night, but it was so hard it aggravated my arthritis. In addition, I am a caregiver for my husband who is disabled, and he could not sit on the bed so that I could dress and undress him, because the mattress is too high.

I called back to the store the following morning to tell the manager that I was not happy with the mattress, and he made me aware that they have a no return policy. He said he could sell me a shorter box springs that would lower the mattress by three inches for $90 or a bunk board for $40, but that I couldn't return the box springs either.

I called the mattress manufacturer, and was told that it would be up to the store I bought the mattress from as to whether it could be returned.

The local store representative finally made the offer to sell me another mattress at cost, and suggested that maybe I could dispose of the hard mattress within my family.

I had to have the mattress moved to my guest bedroom, and the older mattress that was on that bed moved to our bedroom.

I have checked with another store, and it has a 90-day satisfaction guarantee return policy.

A mattress is a big investment, so buy from someone who gives you a satisfaction guarantee.

Betty Jo Pierce
Hickory

VA provides perfect care for father

I wish to address the commentary on Oct. 1 concerning the VA and Medicare systems.

It is a given that both are far from perfect. They are behemoths saddled with millions of patients, an aging baby boomer population, dwindling funds and a burdensome bureaucracy.

I can attest to the attentiveness, thoroughness, and professionalism provided to my father, particularly since his stroke six years ago. During the spring and summer of this year, he suffered from a cough attendant with blood.

His private physician ordered several x-rays during this time and changed a medication that did have a side-effect to include coughing. The cough continued and my father chose to seek a second opinion from the Hickory VA clinic. The VA physician ordered a CT scan and advised my father of the findings the same day. The scan revealed lung cancer. The physician at the VA scheduled a consultation with a specialist at the VA in Salisbury.

This specialist saw my father on time, every time, scheduled appointments with Wake Forest Baptist Medical center in concert with the VA and provided his cell phone number for us to contact him anytime. All involved in his care have gone above and beyond their obligations.

I was totally surprised and impressed with the compassion and care provided to my father through the VA system.

My father has received nothing short of perfect care under the VA system, and I can only hope there is a minority of those who have not.

Debra McGregor
Troutman