Tempur - retailer with no humanity

Litchi

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I'd like to share our experience with the mattress brand Tempur. The weeks before my mother in law passed away, she had trouble sleeping as her back hurt terribly. To ease her discomfort, my husband ordered a Tempur bed for her on Saturday, 30th May. His credit card was charged on Monday 1st June. On Tuesday 2nd June, my mother in law stopped breathing whilst taking an afternoon nap. She DIED the next day. On that very Tuesday, my husband called Tempur to inform them and to initiate a cancellation. He didn't discuss the details with them until the following Friday as this was the last thing he wished to deal with during this awful time.

Eventually, Tempur came back with this: Initially, they offered a full refund in voucher. (Useless obviously) Then they offered a 50% refund in cash and 50% refund in voucher (as only my mother in law had died, and my father in law was still OK). Finally, after much pleading, they offered us a full refund with a 9% deduction of $1,187.73 for administration and credit card fees.

Given the extraordinary circumstances, we were disappointed with how Tempur has dealt with our situation. This isn't us changing our minds frivolously. My husband's MOTHER DIED! Charging $1,187.73 in admin fees is outrageous! And Tempur writes to say that this is their gesture of goodwill. I suppose we should thank goodness they didn't stop at the 50% refund offer since my father in law is still alive.

I'm not sure what recourse we have to get our money back...I'm really upset...But my husband is still grieving the loss of his mother and is reluctant to pursue this at this juncture. I urge anyone contemplating giving their business to Tempur to reconsider! This is a retailer with no humanity!
 

derrickgoh

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I'd like to share our experience with the mattress brand Tempur. The weeks before my mother in law passed away, she had trouble sleeping as her back hurt terribly. To ease her discomfort, my husband ordered a Tempur bed for her on Saturday, 30th May. His credit card was charged on Monday 1st June. On Tuesday 2nd June, my mother in law stopped breathing whilst taking an afternoon nap. She DIED the next day. On that very Tuesday, my husband called Tempur to inform them and to initiate a cancellation. He didn't discuss the details with them until the following Friday as this was the last thing he wished to deal with during this awful time.

Eventually, Tempur came back with this: Initially, they offered a full refund in voucher. (Useless obviously) Then they offered a 50% refund in cash and 50% refund in voucher (as only my mother in law had died, and my father in law was still OK). Finally, after much pleading, they offered us a full refund with a 9% deduction of $1,187.73 for administration and credit card fees.

Given the extraordinary circumstances, we were disappointed with how Tempur has dealt with our situation. This isn't us changing our minds frivolously. My husband's MOTHER DIED! Charging $1,187.73 in admin fees is outrageous! And Tempur writes to say that this is their gesture of goodwill. I suppose we should thank goodness they didn't stop at the 50% refund offer since my father in law is still alive.

I'm not sure what recourse we have to get our money back...I'm really upset...But my husband is still grieving the loss of his mother and is reluctant to pursue this at this juncture. I urge anyone contemplating giving their business to Tempur to reconsider! This is a retailer with no humanity!
You need to understand that Tempur is a business. It is not a charity. Yes its not your family's fault that your mother-in-law died but its also not their fault that she died.

For any business, money is bottomline. If they are going to be kind hearted and make exceptions for anyone with a sad story, they are going to go broke one day. And when that happens, people are going to be jobless. So who will be responsible for these jobless people?

And mattress is considered a personal item as someone has slept on it. Would you buy a second hand mattress? Doesn't matter if the person slept on it for 1 day or 1 year, its still second hand. So if they allowed you to return the mattress and refund you in full, they are going to make a loss as no one will pay full price for it. Is that fair to them? You keep talking about unfair to your family, but is this fair to Tempur?

There are other people in your family, why can't one of you use the mattress? Why do you have to insist on returning it for a full refund?

9% fee is reasonable. The bank would have charged Tempur anywhere between 2% to 5% depending on type of card and the bank will NOT refund this. And in all fairness, don't expect Tempur to absorb this cost.

The remaining 4 to 7% admin fee is reasonable. Firstly they have to send someone to come and collect the mattress. Petrol costs money. Time costs money too. Secondly, the Finance department now has to do the reversals which is an extra job for them and again, time is money so expect to be charged for this inconvenience. Lastly, as I said, its unlikely anyone will want to buy a second hand mattress at full price so even if they sell it at a discount at some warehouse sale, they still make a loss. So everything thrown in, that's where your so called admin fee comes in.

You can go to CASE, you can go to Small Claims Tribunal, you can hire a lawyer, you can complain to your MP. Waste of time & money. BTW you do know that you have to PAY before CASE or SCT even looks into any incident right?

Why waste of time & money? Read the sales agreement. Did it say anywhere that there is a no questions asked, full refund policy? Some electronic shops have that in case you buy and regret. If I'm not wrong I think Courts has a 7 days policy. If they don't have such a policy, then you have nothing to argue on. Even if they have such a policy, read the fine print to see if it says the full refund excludes credit card charges and admin fee. So from a purely legal perspective, you have no case at all.

Since Tempur has no money back policy it is within their legal right to give you NOTHING. Now they are giving you a refund less admin fee & credit card charge. They have already made an exception for you. And yet you still want them to waive that? Based on what? Based on compassionate grounds? Sorry, not admissible in court.

Tempur has no obligation to be compassionate to you. They have every right to give you nothing. Even if they give you nothing there is not a thing you can do. As a goodwill gesture they have given you a refund less fees. Take it or leave it. Or waste money by going to CASE or SCT.
 

derrickgoh

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BTW you do know there are possible legal ramifications from posting such stuff online don't you?

There are many such cases but two more recent ones I recall were:

- One joker complaining that his Bosch washing machine spoiled after warranty expired. Posted here and kena lawyer letter. Dunno what happened to him now. Probably paying off the legal fees.

- Someone complaining about the contractor. Posted here and kena lawyer letter.

Seriously, good luck sia.
 

Nakedtoes

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the mattress haven deliver right? if delivered who going to buy
 

Melody Chan

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They will not consider your reason though its valid. They are into business and they are having rules to comply too.
 

derrickgoh

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No sound no picture. I think TS tio lawyer letter liao. :s13:

When will people learn sia. How many cases liao? Post all these sensitive things here and some more name the company. :s8:
 

Litchi

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Please la. Nothing happened to me.

Just to clarify, mattress had not been delivered. There would have been no cost to Tempur to simple sympathize with a grieving family and just refund us the full cost. In the end the credit card company helped us by waiving the fee. That is what makes and keeps customers - heart.
 

Sooner

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It is highly not possible that the Bank can reimburse you or wavie the changes without the Merchant agreement or approval so most likely Tempur has already given the Green Light in your case hence I don't think its as what you mentioned as heartless which personally the heartless one is always Bank which we all know that its all about dollar and cents in the banking industry. As what Derrick as mentioned, I also agree that every brand has a business cost to run which they will try their best to fulfill the needs of the consumer as I too run a service business myself which at many times we faced tough decision to either compromise my company interest by satisflying the customer or be firm and follow the guidance. Nonetheless, I am glad you manage to get your wavier and also my condolences to the loss of your monther in law. Best
 

Cloverfield

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You received the refunded bank fee from the bank directly or Tempur? Banks will not simply waive off credit card fees if no action taken by merchant or consumer, don't be naïve. Tempur must have tried asking the bank, as their merchant, to waive the fee on your behalf and then refunded it back to you. They need not done that, not especially if they know that you've blasted publicly on your frustrations. While they need not announce to the world what they've done for you, we as consumers should sometimes learn to be grateful for things and not just complain based on one-sided perspective.
 
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