The Mattress Name Game

At one store, you might find the "Harborview." Down the street, another store might have the same exact mattress, the same brand, with a different fabric cover (called "ticking"), and call it the "Bayview." Sales staff at both stores will proclaim their mattress is "exclusive" to their store, even though all of the meaningful construction elements - the coil unit, the padding, the comfort layers, the edges, the surface pads - are exactly identical. It's like a car dealer painting a car a different color, then proclaiming it's a different model.

It's an industry-wide practice, a time-honored way of confusing customers and preventing them from comparison-shopping.

Worse, this becomes the basis for stores to make empty low-price claims and guarantees in their advertising. When you see these claims, remember that not only do they have the lowest price for that item, they also have the highest price for that item because they are the only store selling that item under that name at any price.

At Create-A-Mattress, we don't play this game. We offer you simple choices on the most meaningful construction differences. Our labels have two names: Ours and yours."

For more examples of classic store deceptions, read our list "Top 10 Ways People Get Ripped Off at the Mattress Store."