Consumer scams are designed to confuse and get you to part with
your money. But some are perpetrated by companies
under the rubric “marketing”, or just mediocre service. Often consumers, through ignorance and trust
in the retailer/manufacturer, are none the wiser. My hobby horse is the mattress industry.
A Strand-based manufacturer’s website states its Cover Concept
range is the “most luxurious mattress in the world”. That’s a lie: that honour goes to Sweden’s Hästens Vividus costing £120 000, and which lasts 25
years. Each Vividus bed takes 320 hours
to make. (They also make more “reasonably”
priced mattresses and beds from about R70 000.)
No-one, especially people in the trade, can claim “luxury”, “bespoke”
or “high quality” when exemplars of the real deal exist, particularly when consumers
can google it. But this is symptomatic
of the mattress industry – scams and misinformation most consumers are not
aware of when they are making a major investment, financially and for their
health.
Typical industry scams: do-not-turn “technology” (sic), memory
foam, labelling and “firm/medium/plush” comfort level (there’s one spring
tension across the range designed for people who have the body mass of rugby
players) scams . They use organic-sounding words
like “wool”, “bamboo”, “oxygen” and “100% natural” when the products are usually 99% petroleum-based
synthetics (excluding wire frame).
The majority of bed shop staffs I’ve met are not knowledgeable
about their products – they know price lists and obvious things one can read
from labels – and I’ve been better informed than them. Incidentally, getting exact specifications either
from them or manufacturers is impossible.
The exception to the above chain store brands are quality/luxury (so far)
European brands, of which to my knowledge three
are available in Cape Town. One of these
I tested (from R50 000) was in another league compared to chain store riff raff
– natural fibres, Talalay (100% natural) latex, hand-made, multi-zone and
available in spring tensions based on body mass ranges, excluding tailored accessories. Unfortunately I can’t afford it.
But similar quality can be made locally, and not at imported,
European wage rates. I don’t know why the
local industry doesn’t take up the challenge, but indicates the lack of vision
and innovation the moribund South African economy is renowned for.
The (local) mattress industry has no national standards I’m
aware of, which is exacerbated by low barriers to entry for anyone and his dog
to set up a business. While this
creates competition, which is good, the lack of standards are bad for the
consumer who are misled and misinformed, deliberately or by omission (which happened
to me), when they are making a substantial investment, which they later find is
a pig in then poke that lasts five to seven years at best.
The National Consumer Commission should investigate.
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